STUDY IN GENESIS: PART 7
- Feb 15
- 19 min read
REST & RESPONSIBILITY
God finished creation… and then He rested. Not because He was tired, but because the work was complete. In Genesis 2, we see something powerful:
God sets apart a day as holy. A rhythm. A pause. A reminder that life isn’t sustained by our effort, it’s sustained by Him.
But this message goes deeper. It challenges how you think about:
Rest
Sin
Truth
Your responsibility as a believer
You were not created to run nonstop. You were created to walk with God. And at the same time, you were called to represent Him in a world that desperately needs truth.
So the question becomes:
Are you living in Him… or just claiming Him?
KEYWORDS
Genesis
Creation
Sabbath
Rest
Apologetics
KEY POINTS
God’s work in creation was complete and intentional
Rest is about trusting God, not stopping all activity
The Sabbath exists to benefit you
Death entered the world through sin—not before
Truth comes from God’s Word, not culture
You are called to live as a representative of Christ
Your lifestyle influences how others see Jesus
Knowing what you believe is not enough—you need to know why
BIBLE VERSES
Genesis 2:1-3 - The seventh day of creation and God's rest
Matthew 12:9-13 - Jesus healing on the Sabbath (man with withered hand)
Mark 2:27 - "The Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath"
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What does “resting in God” actually look like in your daily life?
Do you treat rest as a priority or an afterthought? Why?
How confident are you in explaining why you believe in Jesus?
DEVOTIONAL
Study In Genesis Part 7: Creation, Rest, and our Apologetic Responsibility
Day 1: The Foundation of Faith
Reading: Genesis 1:1–5; Hebrews 11:1–3
Devotional:
“In the beginning, God created…” These opening words establish the foundation of all truth. Everything we believe rests here: God spoke, and reality came into existence.
When your faith is challenged, remember—belief in a Creator requires less faith than believing everything came from nothing. The same God who commanded light into darkness speaks truth into your life today.
Your faith is not blind. It stands on God’s Word. What you believe about creation shapes what you believe about your purpose, your value, and your eternity.
Reflection Question:
What area of your faith feels shaky right now, and how does Genesis 1:1 speak into that?
Day 2: Rest in His Finished Work
Reading: Genesis 2:1–3; Matthew 11:28–30
Devotional:
God’s rest wasn’t exhaustion—it was completion. He finished His work and called it good.
In the same way, Jesus invites you to rest in His finished work on the cross. You don’t earn salvation—you receive it.
True rest isn’t about doing less—it’s about trusting more. Stop trying to prove your worth through effort. Your value was set at creation and confirmed at the cross.
Today, choose to rest in God’s presence—whether you’re working or slowing down.
Reflection Question:
Where are you still striving instead of trusting what God has already finished?
Day 3: Death's Origin and Jesus' Victory
Reading: Genesis 2:15–17; Romans 5:12–21; 1 Corinthians 15:20–26
Devotional:
Death entered the world through sin—not by God’s design. That matters.
If death existed before sin, then sin didn’t cause death—and Jesus’ death wouldn’t pay for it. But Scripture is clear: death is the result of sin, and Jesus came to defeat it.
God didn’t create a broken world. He created something good—and He is restoring it.
When you face loss, fear, or suffering, remember—it’s not final. Jesus has already secured the victory.
Reflection Question:
How does understanding the origin of death change the way you see Jesus’ sacrifice?
Day 4: Prepared to Give an Answer
Reading: Genesis 1:1–31; 1 Peter 3:15–16; 2 Timothy 2:15
Devotional:
Many people walk away from faith because they were told what to believe—but not why.
God calls you to be ready with answers. Not arguments—but understanding.
When your beliefs are questioned, respond with clarity, gentleness, and truth. Your life and your words both matter. People are watching.
You don’t have to know everything—but you do need to be growing.
Reflection Question:
If someone asked you why you believe in God, what would you say right now?
Day 5: Living as God’s Image-Bearers
Reading: Genesis 1:26–31; Colossians 3:17, 23–24
Devotional:
You are not random. You are created in God’s image—on purpose.
That truth shapes everything. How you live. How you treat people. How you see yourself.
Every person you encounter carries that same image. Every moment is an opportunity to reflect your Creator.
You won’t be perfect—but you can be consistent. Let your life point people to Jesus.
Reflection Question:
What would change today if you truly lived like you were created in God’s image?
SERMON TRANSCRIPT
We've been in the book of Genesis, as you know, since the beginning of the year.
And so I'm gonna continue in that today.
And how many have read a book before?
How many readers do we have?
All right, good.
So you often find in a book or a manuscript, a star calling your attention to a footnote or an explanation.
That star, the printer calls an asterisk.
But all the stars of the night's heaven are asterisks, calling your attention to God and all observing God.
Are every nerve a divine handwriting?
Are every muscle a pulley divinely swung?
Are every bone sculptured with divine suggestiveness?
Are every eye a reflection of the divine eye?
Aren't you thankful today?
We are uniquely and wonderfully made.
Praise God.
So let's continue in this study of the book of Genesis, creation.
In the Genesis series that I've shared with you to this point, we have learned that God through Moses described the first three days of creation.
We have learned that the word yom is the Hebrew word for day used in Genesis and that it means 24 hours a day.
We have also learned that the fight between creation and evolution is actually a fight between God's word and man's word.
The book of Genesis clearly teaches that the one true God is sovereign over all that exists.
Darwin didn't invent evolution.
He just made the idea popular for a pagan culture desperate for a life without God.
We have learned that in God's word, there are three heavens that are mentioned throughout scripture.
We learned that on the third day, God separated the waters from dry ground and brought forth vegetation by his spoken word.
we learned that the platypus was created by god to look like it does it is not a mistake or an evidence of macro evolution it is actually degenerated from its ancestral platypus according to the fossil records found both in south america and in australia
We learn that the earth is roughly 6,000 years old, and we get this figure from the genealogy sections found within the Word of God.
Day four gives the account of God creating the lights within our day and night sky.
On day five, God spoke into existence the birds of the air and the animals of the water.
The sea creatures that I'm terrified of, he created them on day five.
And these include the dinosaurs of the air and the dinosaurs of the water.
On day six, we learned about radiometric dating and how it does not prove that the earth is millions or even billions of years old.
And I also explained the existence of large creatures mentioned in the Bible and how the term for these creatures, dinosaur, did not even exist until the 1800s.
Also on day six, we learned that dominion does not mean that humans have an abusive power over creation.
And folks, that brings us all the way up to day seven and beyond.
All right, and that's where we're at today.
In your Bibles, if you would, please turn to the book of Genesis chapter 2.
Say Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis chapter 2.
There you go.
We're going to be reading verses 1, 2, and 3 this morning.
Verse 1, 2, and 3 of Genesis chapter 2.
Here's what it says.
Thus...
The heavens and the earth were finished and all the hosts of them.
And on the seventh day, God finished his work that he had done.
And he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it, God rested from all his work that he had done.
creation would you join me as I pray this morning dearly father we just humbly come before you God we first of all thank you for what you've done in our lives the blessings and the gifts that you have given us and then God we also thank you for what you've done in this service this morning for the lies that you touched for the healings that have been made God and then God we thank you for the future what you're gonna do in the future
I'm somewhere in the future, and I look much better than I do right now, God, and I praise you for it and give you thanks.
Father, we pray, anoint your word as it goes forth.
Open the ears to hear, and Father, bless these lips of clay that they would speak your word properly.
Father, this day we pray in Jesus' name, amen and amen.
The work of creation has been finished.
Earth is habitable, life has been created, man is in charge, and food has been provided for all.
God's involvement, however, didn't end with day six.
His sustaining power continues even unto this day.
On the seventh day, the Bible says that God rested.
Rested here means that God abstained from further creating, having ended his work.
Does this mean that God does not do anything from 6 p.m.
on Friday night to 6 p.m.
on Saturday, and thus we are not to do anything during this same time?
The answer's no.
In fact, Jesus, he was faced with that very same issue.
You know, opinions, everybody has one.
They all stink.
The only opinion I am interested in is the opinion of Jesus and God's word.
And we find that in Matthew chapter 12, verses nine through 13.
And here's what it says.
He went on from there and entered their synagogue.
And a man was there with a withered hand.
And they asked him, is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath so that they may accuse him?
He said to them, verse 11, which one of you has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it and lift it out?
Or how much more valuable is a man than a sheep?
So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.
Then he said to the man, stretch out your hand.
And the man stretched it out, and it was restored healthy like the other.
The Sabbath is to be a holy day set aside to God.
The Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Mark 2, verse 27.
The day benefits us.
We don't benefit the day.
And there are gonna be different interpretations and convictions of what that rest is in God.
what that rest is in God.
Now to some, it may be laying in a hammock all day long.
To others, it may be doing good works for other people.
To yet others, it may be mowing their lawn and taking care and manicuring that which God has blessed them with.
We are to be stewards and take care of that which God has given us and placed within our care.
It may be taking care of your animals.
Maybe, you know, you have to feed them and pet them or whatever you do with your animals.
I'm not an animal person, so some of y'all already know that.
But whatever you do with your animals, guess what?
They don't stop on the Sabbath.
And you do it as unto the Lord.
Everything we do, we must do as unto the Lord.
And in fact, scripture tells us that every day is to be a Sabbath.
Every day is to be a day we rest in Jesus.
Every day.
Our confidence and everything we gain from him, we don't gain it from ourselves.
If we gain it from ourselves, it is on shifty ground.
It is going to crumble and fall beneath our feet.
What was it like in the garden?
What was it like in the garden?
It was beautiful and pristine, in order, it was fulfilling.
History tells us that within the garden, God placed two specific trees along with the other trees that were present, tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
All fruit could be eaten except the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
Again, just like the Sabbath, this command was made for man, not man for the command.
Ignorance was bliss.
Once the fruit was eaten, death and destruction entered the perfect world that God had created.
Whose fault was it?
Adam or Eve?
Both.
They are both to blame, just as you and I are to blame for our decisions and our actions.
Some within the Christian faith will attempt to squeeze millions and billions of years into the Bible, just like there are those within the faith that will take things out of the Bible because it's uncomfortable, or it's old fashioned, or you're a bigot if you believe that, or whatever the case is.
But I will tell you today that it should not be culture that directs and drives the bus of the church.
It should be the Holy Spirit that is at the steering wheel driving the bus of the church.
The Bible, however, is explicit.
It is clear from cover to cover that death is the consequence of sin.
Death did not exist before sin.
Our sin brought death into the world.
If millions and billions of years were true, that would mean that death existed long before man or sin.
It would make God the author of death who looked down on each day and called it good.
That doesn't make sense.
if death was part of God's original good creation, then why would he describe death as the enemy that would one day be destroyed?
I hope you understand what I am saying to you today.
I am discounting every single person within the church of Jesus Christ and outside of the church of Jesus Christ that believes in millions and billions of years.
How convenient for them to believe in something that no one has a record of.
However, we do have a record of the time that the earth has been around.
We do have a record of what happened in the very beginning.
We don't have to make it up.
We have history telling us right here what took place and what happened.
I've said to you over these weeks, it takes, I believe, more faith to believe that it accidentally happened than to believe that there was a creator.
No one in this room today believes that your clothes were accidentally made, that they just went poof in the air and became a reality.
No one in here believes that.
If you do, you're a moron.
Yeah, your pastor just called you a moron.
Logically, we can't believe that someone made these clothes.
Someone created the pattern, and then another person wove the cotton or whatever the fabric is that was used to make your clothes that you have on this morning, and then another person stitched them together, and it became a coat, it became a shirt, it became jeans, it became shoes.
The same way is with creation.
It takes more faith to walk outside on a starry night and look up at all those stars and say, huh, that accidentally happened.
Huh.
The Earth is exactly where it needs to be to sustain life, and no other planet that we know of, no other planet is in that spot.
Now, we have astronomers and the scientists that are saying, you know, Keblar B and all these other places in space could sustain life and everything, but they don't know that for sure, because they haven't been there, and they're never gonna get there.
Hello?
I can say that confidently.
I confidently believe with all my heart that before that ever becomes a reality, that the trumpet of God is gonna blow and we're gonna be outta here.
Okay, I like watching shows like Star Trek, you know, but that is not reality.
That is not gonna happen.
Just not gonna happen.
And if it does, I'm not gonna be here anyway, so I'm right.
No one can prove me wrong.
I'll be gone.
I'll be in glory, man.
Praise in Jesus.
Hallelujah.
In person.
Hallelujah.
But I can confidently tell you this morning that millions and billions of years is wrong.
And you cannot, as a believer in Jesus Christ, believe that and try to put that in the Bible somewhere.
That is just as wrong, as I have said, as taking something out of the Bible.
And we are explicitly told to not add or take away.
Take it for face value.
Some of it is symbolic.
We know that.
Some of it is literal.
Some of it is history.
Some of it is poetry.
We have to know the difference and the only way you're gonna know the difference is to actually study it and to pray that the Holy Spirit gives you direction and get involved with Bible studies where you can learn from other people.
Hello, somebody.
I'm gonna start preaching at some point in this service today.
The hope for every Christian is that God will one day restore the world back to its pre-false state, and that is going to happen.
One of these days, there's gonna be a new heaven and a new earth.
Now, I don't know whether that means literally a new earth,
Or once he burns this rock up, because the first judgment was by water, the second judgment is going to be by fire.
So once this thing is burned up and this rock is burned up, you know, God can take this and he can reuse it.
Or he can just scrap it and create another one.
He's God, I'm not.
He can do anything he wants to do, and I am very limited.
He has no limits.
So however he does it, it tells us that God is going to put it back to the way it was before the fall of man.
and it will never go back to the way it is right now.
It will always stay that way, will always be healed, will always be the perfect temperature.
Now come on y'all, if your perfect temperature is 68 and mine's 65 and another one's is 50, I just gotta believe that new glorified body is gonna be thermostated to that degree, whatever it is that you need it to be.
It's gonna be perfect.
nobody's gonna complain I can't tell you how glorious it's gonna be for me to be in paradise in the presence of God and I hear nobody complaining about how cold or hot it is I had that for years and I was playing with that thermostat trying to make everybody happy finally I just said it and said forget it you're gonna be happier you're not gonna be happy but you you're gonna get happy one way that my dad used to say you know what you better get glad just as quick as you got mad
I used to hate that when he said that.
I use the same phrase now, too, myself.
It happens, right?
It happens.
We become our parents.
And we need to become our father in heaven.
See, how do you like that piece right together?
Thank you, Jesus.
Praise God.
Death is presented in the Bible as the payment for sin.
But if you have millions and billions of years of death before sin, then sin is not the payment for sin.
And if death is not the payment for sin, then Jesus' death does not pay our sin debt.
If sin always existed, if death always existed, then why didn't Jesus come sooner?
Why didn't he come before day one and redeem us?
and set free because it didn't.
Sin was the result, or death, excuse me, was the result of Adam and Eve's sin in the garden.
And we have to contend
with all the nasty things that happen on this earth.
People will say, well, why would God allow famine?
Why would God allow cancer?
Why would God allow sickness and pain to come on a child or an elderly person?
Why would God allow that accident?
Why would God allow?
You know what?
We're the ones that brought it into the world.
You know what the answer to that is?
Sin is the reason why.
We are the reason why, not God.
God is doing what he is doing to restore it.
He has built the ark.
The ark of safety has been built.
Jesus is the ark.
Jesus is the ark.
His sacrifice on the cross paid our debt.
And when we believe on Him, when we receive Him as our Lord and our Savior, as our leader in our life, we go on the ark of safety.
But one of these days, that door is going to be shut and judgment is going to come.
Anyone inside of the ark will be saved.
Anyone outside of the ark will die.
And that is an unpopular subject to preach in the 21st century, but it is a necessary subject to preach nonetheless because souls are in the balance.
People are dying every second of every day, and most of them, the majority of people that are dying in our world are going to a devil's hell.
Have you realized that?
The majority of those who die go to hell.
And unfortunately, a lot of them go without anyone ever saying anything about their faith in Jesus Christ and giving them a way of escape, giving them an opportunity to give their life to Christ and not go to hell.
Folks, it's up to you and I. God has tasked us
to tell them about Jesus.
He has established you as his mouthpiece.
He's established you as his... When they look at you, they need to see Jesus.
When they look at you, they need to know you are a Christ follower.
And so many,
by their lifestyle, and the way they carry themselves, and by what they do, are not representing Christ well.
Now, I'm not talking about those that he's still working on, because he's still working on me.
If you follow me any point in my life, if you follow me throughout the day, you're probably gonna see me, or no, let me rephrase that.
You are going to see me stumble and fall.
People are going to aggravate me.
I'm going to get aggravated to something.
And probably going to be an employee at work right down here on the second row.
It's going to happen.
I'm going to let you down.
I'm going to say something.
I'm going to do something.
It's going to be like, wow, he's a pastor?
Yeah, believe me.
I'm not supposed to be getting amens from a wife.
No one is perfect.
None of us, none of us have reached the pinnacle of perfection.
He's still working on us.
So I'm not talking about those mistakes that we make.
I'm talking about someone that's habitual in their sin.
And they flaunt it, they almost flaunt it.
And they almost test God to not do anything about it.
That's arrogance.
That's pride.
Yes, he died for us.
Yes, there is freedom in Jesus.
But my freedom cannot be whatever I wanna do because that may not be beneficial for the kingdom of God.
My freedom needs to be, okay, is this gonna benefit God?
Is this gonna benefit the kingdom?
And not that I need to do anything to benefit him because he's God.
However, for you, I need to benefit him.
Because when I'm doing as unto the Lord, it's an example to you.
And you never know the person, because you're being watched.
I always feel like somebody's watching me.
Okay, you 80s people know what I'm talking about there.
You are being watched by people.
People are watching you.
As soon as they find out that you're a Christ follower and a church goer, they're gonna watch you.
And some people will be changed because of you in a good way.
They'll be encouraged because of you in a good way.
And then some people are gonna be turned off in a bad way.
Let us watch what we say, what we do, how we act, how we carry ourselves because we are ambassadors of Jesus Christ.
Praise God.
Now, do you see the error of the belief in millions and billions of years?
As we continue to move throughout this series, we will learn of the world's first murder.
That'll be next week.
Where Cain got his wife.
Giants and Noah's flood in the Tower of Babel or Babel.
However you say it, we're going to learn about that.
And we're gonna continue to grow in our apologetic ability to be able to give an answer to the questions that we are confronted with in this world.
I read an unfortunate article this morning.
I like reading different articles and this article was actually about a Christian school principal.
And he was real proud of the fact that they had had
a lot of the kids from their particular town go through the Christian school.
And in the Christian school, they had Bible class, they had different curriculums for teaching kids about Jesus and about the different accounts that are found within the Bible, like Noah's Ark and Moses leading the Israelites and different things like that.
And he felt very confident that he was equipping
the children, as they grew through the years of Christian education, that they would be well equipped going into the world.
Yet he found that 26% of their graduates fell away from their faith in Jesus Christ when they went to college.
And the reason why he found it, he was bewildered, the article said, in the beginning, because he's like, we're teaching them all this stuff.
What they were missing is they weren't teaching the children how to give an answer for why they believe what they believe.
And when they were going to college, they were being challenged on those things.
and they couldn't give an answer.
Why does this happen?
Why is this here?
Why is that going on?
And these Christian kids weren't taught the answers that are found in here.
They were taught about Jesus, which is wonderful.
They were taught about all the things of salvation, but they weren't taught why there was a salvation in the first place.
Where did salvation come from?
Why did Jesus have to die?
And I believe those are important questions, and it's important for us to have the answer to those questions.
Let's not flee from when people come to us and ask questions.
I gotta tell you, there's people that ask a lot of questions, especially when they find out I'm a pastor.
Hey, I got this question.
And I don't have all the answers.
I don't.
And I will tell them, I don't know, but I will find out.
And there are things that aren't in here.
are things that aren't in here like who created god that's a question you get an awful lot who created god well no one created god god has always been and the reason why that's not in here i mean it talks about god in creation is because he is the beginning of the end
But there is no time with God.
We have a beginning and an end.
He's a beginning and the end for us.
But in eternity, in that dimension of time, there is no time with God.
There's no space with God.
He's not confined in a square or a circle or a triangle.
He's not confined by anything.
So he's outside of the scope of time.
He's outside of the scope of space.
He's outside of every single thing and the way you and I think.
And that's why it's hard for us to fathom it.
That's why I always go back to, how did this happen?
Did somebody just dig it up one day?
And all the electronics within this, it's a clicker, by the way, for those of you who can't see it.
It's a clicker.
It's electronic.
It has a battery in it.
This just didn't happen by accident.
It was created.
This was created.
These things were made, these things were created.
And nature is no different.
The earth was created.
And I go as far as to, I go way out on a limb.
God created this, God created this, because every material that's in this came from the earth.
I heard last week when I showed you that video,
the most buffoon thing that anyone's ever said.
Maybe I showed this video, maybe I just watched it on, I don't know.
I watched so many things to get information.
But he talked about how we came from stardust.
Your right arm may have come from some nebula out there and your left arm came from another nebula.
I'm like, are you kidding me?
I mean, seriously.
And you wanna make fun of me for believing in Jesus?
And your arm came from some nebula over here in the galaxy far, far away, and the other one came from over here, and somehow they were just mysteriously put together, making your right arm and your left arm.
That is so buffoon!
It's crazy!
Nuts!
Yeah, but that is how our society feels.
about science, and that's what we're up against, and that's why this series is so important for you to learn, to be able to go out there and have an answer as to why you believe what you believe.
It's not enough for you to say you're going to heaven or hell if you don't believe it.
What's that?
I mean, it's the truth, don't get me wrong, that is the truth, but you gotta have more than that, a lot more than that.
for the people of this world.
Comments