Acknowledging God.

Heb 4:10  For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. 

Heb 4:11  Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

Ceasing from our own works.

Is it possible at all in any way that perhaps God created the Seventh Day Sabbath so we would have an opportunity to learn to cease from our own workings and trust Him?

Remember this---

Lev 16:29  And this shall be a statute for ever unto you: that in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, ye shall afflict your souls, and do no work at all, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger that sojourneth among you: 

Lev 16:30  For on that day shall the priest make an atonement for you, to cleanse you, that ye may be clean from all your sins before the LORD. 

Lev 16:31  It shall be a sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever. 

The Day of Atonement was a special SABBATH. People were to 'afflict' their souls and 'do no work at all'.

There is a very important lesson we need to learn about God's RESTING. 

We are to do NO WORK.

Read this--

Exo 16:14  And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. 

Exo 16:15  And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat. 

Exo 16:16  This is the thing which the LORD hath commanded, Gather of it every man according to his eating, an omer for every man, according to the number of your persons; take ye every man for them which are in his tents. 

Exo 16:17  And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. 

Exo 16:18  And when they did mete it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating. 

Exo 16:19  And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. 

Exo 16:20  Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. 

Exo 16:21  And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted. 

Exo 16:22  And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 

Exo 16:23  And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. 

Exo 16:24  And they laid it up till the morning, as Moses bade: and it did not stink, neither was there any worm therein. 

Exo 16:25  And Moses said, Eat that to day; for to day is a sabbath unto the LORD: to day ye shall not find it in the field. 

Exo 16:26  Six days ye shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is the sabbath, in it there shall be none. 

Exo 16:27  And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. 

Exo 16:28  And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? 

Exo 16:29  See, for that the LORD hath given you the sabbath, therefore he giveth you on the sixth day th

e bread of two days; abide ye every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. 

Exo 16:30  So the people rested on the seventh day. 

These people were journeying in the wilderness and needed rest.  They needed spiritual rest as well as physical. The spiritual rest goes back to creation- God created the seventh day as a rest day. To teach the people God gave them manna in the verses above you know what happens.

God- needs us to rest.

God needs us to CEASE from our work.

God worked and rested, man was to follow suit, even in the garden before the fall.  Setting aside SPECIAL time for God is a must. When we OBEY the Sabbath rest we are SUBMITTING to God fully, our whole being, all of us. Admitting we need to submit on such a strict level is admitting God should be first in all things.  We can go about our lives- having our soul-self submit to our spirit-self and we are TAUGHT this on a grand level in the Sabbath.

Can we rest in God as the Sabbath rest every single day? No. We weren't intended to make every day the Sabbath. The closest a person comes to keeping the Sabbath rest every day would be if they became a preacher- but that still would NOT ever be the seventh-day rest day. We were to live our lives in God always with the spirit first, not the soul, our WORK was to be done in the spirit with God, but in working our minds would NOT be focused fully on God. In the Garden as Adam and Eve went about tending it daily  they were not RESTING in God.  They were one with God, but the time with God renewed in a very special way. The Sabbath is GOD'S command to give up ALL of ourselves to him. When we do this, when we give up ourselves to Him for that seventh day rest we are acknowledging Him as our God in a very unique way.

If we can't give ourselves up to God for the seventh day rest day - acknowledging Him wholly as our God, can we expect to give ourselves up to Him throughout all our days?

More on this tomorrow- by the GRACE and WILL of our GOD, now and forever!

In the Lord, Jesus Christ our Savior.

Amen.