Command 4: The Sabbath

[0:00] Oh, it's just good to be together this morning. And it's good to have our sins forgiven.

[0:11] It's good to know the Lord Jesus Christ, isn't it? It's so much better than going to a church and going to walk in a door and just to make yourself feel better. And just try to get rid of the sins that you've done over the week.

[0:25] You walk in hoping you can confess it or that you can get it taken care of. And we can come in here knowing that they're taken care of already. So thank God for that. Let's just enjoy that liberty that we have this morning.

[0:38] All right, Exodus chapter 20 and kind of the antithesis of liberty is the law. And we're studying the Ten Commandments right now, making our way through the book of Exodus. And last week we studied the third commandment, which was found in verse 7.

[0:54] Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. For the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. We saw that this was not dealing with talking dirty or locker room talk, but this was specifically dealing with the name of the Lord.

[1:11] And this name that he revealed earlier to Israel in chapter 6, it was a special name that he had not revealed to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Noah, anybody before them. This was for this relationship that God intended for this people to be his, for him to be their God.

[1:27] And so his name is Jehovah. And with such respect, that name is not written, but very few places in the Bible. For the most part, you see capital letters, L-O-R-D, in place of that name.

[1:42] And that's the name of the Lord thy God. And I mentioned to you last week that the Jehovah's Witnesses, they get all excited about this commandment because they love to point out what the name is.

[1:53] And I told you last week, just because that's the case does not give them any pass or credit for the rest of their false doctrines that they teach associated with the Lord Jesus Christ or the Word of God or the soul of man or hell and all of their false doctrines.

[2:10] They love Jehovah so much, at least the name of it, but they're pretty off on a lot of other things. And likewise, we're going to see another cult that comes back into the Ten Commandments today and jumps all over commandment number four.

[2:23] And let's just get right into that. So let's read today now verses 8 through 11 for the fourth commandment where the Bible reads in verse 8, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

[2:36] Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work. Thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.

[2:55] For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

[3:08] Now I'm going to start right away with pointing out a flaw in one of the cults of our day and that is they call themselves Seventh Day Adventists. And they named themselves after the seventh day or the Sabbath day, which is called here the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.

[3:26] And they, among other things, they believe in worshiping on the seventh day of the week, still today. And so I want to point out some doctrinal things, some flaws that they have as we go through this study of the fourth commandment.

[3:40] And again, I'm going to give you just the outline that we're going to cover. It's going to be five things. First of all is the revelation of the Sabbath. Then the relation of the Sabbath as far as how it relates to man.

[3:51] And the third thing will be the ruination of the Sabbath, how it was destroyed and really kind of distorted and perverted. And then what Paul teaches about the restoration of the Sabbath.

[4:03] And then the one final thing that's going to be really important for us today is the representation of the Sabbath. So let's start with some kind of doctrinal things to understand some important stuff that we don't get mixed up with today.

[4:17] And the first is the revelation of the Sabbath. Now, I'll take you around the Bible just a little, little bit here to start. So would you please find Nehemiah chapter 9. Nehemiah.

[4:30] Now, before you get to Esther and Job and the Psalms, you'll find Ezra and Nehemiah. So they're in the Old Testament. Chapter number 9. And I'm going to show you, I'm starting here on purpose, but this isn't where the Bible starts.

[4:53] It starts in Genesis, then it gets to Exodus. And if we just built our doctrine from back there, we might confuse ourselves. But I want to start with something that's revealed later on in Nehemiah. And it's an important note.

[5:05] And as we do this, then we'll go backwards to Genesis and Exodus and put it together so that we understand what the Scripture teaches in its entirety. In chapter 9, the writer here is giving kind of a history of the nation of Israel, of them being in Egypt in verse 9 and the signs and the wonders and dividing the sea in verse 11 and leading them out in verse 12.

[5:35] You see the cloudy pillar and the pillar of fire in verse 12. Verse 13, it came us down also upon Mount Sinai. Well, that's right where we're at in Exodus. And spake us with them from heaven and gave us them right judgments and true laws and good statutes and commandments.

[5:51] And now notice verse 14. And made us known unto them thy holy Sabbath. He made it known to them right there, back in the wilderness, by the mount.

[6:08] He made known to them the holy Sabbath. We're starting with the revelation of the Sabbath. And I want you to get first thing is that this was revealed to a generation of Hebrews that were pilgriming through the wilderness on their way to the promised land.

[6:24] It was not revealed before that. It was at Sinai or just before with the manna. But as far as the holy day, it wasn't quite yet revealed in its entirety until God spake to them with the law.

[6:37] Now, if we backed up a few chapters in Exodus, I think it's 16 when he gave the manna. You remember they were instructed to collect it for six days, but on the seventh, they weren't to go out. Some of them did.

[6:48] They weren't put to death, but they didn't get to eat. They didn't find anything. Some of them were, you were to gather two portions on the sixth day. He was already initiating and revealing to them his Sabbath day, but it wasn't commanded until the law as far as the six days labor and the seventh day rest.

[7:08] Now, it was revealed, though, I'm pointing out from Nehemiah, that God made it known unto them. Thou madest known unto them thy holy Sabbath.

[7:19] Now, come back to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2. As we read in Exodus 20, that six days the Lord made heaven and earth and the sea, and then he rested the seventh, wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath and hallowed it.

[7:40] And now we're going to see the very place where God does this. Genesis chapter 2. Let's read the first three verses together. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host of them.

[7:59] And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

[8:17] Now, several things we need to note. One, this is written after the fact. This is Moses writing. 2,500 years have passed. And then Moses, in retrospect, writes about the seventh day.

[8:33] Something that he understood and knew from God's command in the law, by the way, of not working on the seventh day because God didn't back then. And so when he writes in Genesis 1 and he writes in Genesis 2 now, he talks about God resting on the seventh day and he says that he sanctified it and that he rested from his work that he created and made.

[8:55] Seventh-day Adventist loved to imagine that the Sabbath was sanctified in the beginning and it has been perpetually sanctified and carried forward for all the human race and it's always been the proper day to worship God.

[9:14] This is their doctrinal teaching. I want to point out that on the seventh day in Genesis chapter 2, when God sanctified that day, he sanctified that seventh day.

[9:28] Why? Because he had worked six days prior and that day, the seventh, he hallowed and said, I'm not working, I've finished my work and I'm going to rest.

[9:39] Verse 1 says in Genesis 2 that the heavens and the earth were finished. Just remember that for later. They were finished and then he ended his work and rested on the seventh day.

[9:52] That was the day that he hallowed for himself. Nowhere in Genesis or even up to now the next 2,500 years is there any shred of any biblical evidence or command that any man rested or hallowed the seventh day.

[10:12] Not once. It's until Exodus with the children of Israel being called out of Egypt does he, in this special relationship, make known a holy Sabbath.

[10:23] God rested on the seventh day. Adam didn't rest on the seventh day. Adam was created on the sixth day. The very first morning he woke up was his actual first day.

[10:38] You might call it his second day. He didn't rest. He hadn't done six days of labor. The day wasn't hallowed for Adam. The day was hallowed or sanctified for God.

[10:50] He's the one that rested. And that's why he hallowed it for himself in the beginning. We're going to come across this again. Just let it kind of settle in your heart there for the moment.

[11:02] The revelation of the Sabbath doesn't come until later in Exodus. So, in Exodus chapter 20 and verse number 8, the command is remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

[11:18] Again, the seventh day Adventists jump on this command and they suggest that the word is remember. Did you notice that? It says remember. And they pretend or imply that Sabbath worship has always been in effect and the command isn't thou shalt worship God on the seventh day but the command is to remember it as if it's already been in effect.

[11:42] And there's a flaw with that logic. It's false. The word remember doesn't have anything to do with the past and remembering Noah and remembering all the generations.

[11:56] Cain, did he keep the Sabbath day? Doesn't say anything about it. Jubal Cain? Seth? Enoch?

[12:08] Noah? Did any of these keep the Sabbath day? Did their father Abraham keep the Sabbath day? There's not a shred of biblical evidence to say that he did. Remember the Sabbath day.

[12:21] That does not mean remember something that is occurring and is recurring from the past but that's not the case. The command is to remember it as in to observe it or to give attention to it.

[12:34] And you need to understand the word remember doesn't always refer to things in the past. For instance, in Galatians, Paul said, remember the poor. Let that sink in for a minute.

[12:45] Remember the poor. Is he talking about remember those people that were poor hundreds of years ago? He's talking about give attention to the present poor people telling them to remember them or not neglect them.

[12:58] And so the command is to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do thy work. The word remember has nothing to do with generations and 2,500 years of Sabbath keepers because that wasn't the case at all.

[13:16] And you can't prove that with the Bible so don't try to. I think they're fudging the word remember to get a teaching that doesn't exist. And they're misapplying Genesis chapter 2 what God did to get a teaching that also doesn't exist.

[13:31] I'll point this out stronger here in a moment. So the revelation of the Sabbath, it's important to understand that God made known to them the Sabbath outside of Egypt.

[13:41] They were not keeping Sabbath in Egypt but He made it known to them outside of Egypt in the wilderness. Number two, the relation of the Sabbath meaning how does that day relate to man?

[13:55] Now the first thing you're going to think of well it's a day of rest. And yes that's true but we'll get to that later. But there's something else and I think this is a little stronger. And so would you turn to Exodus 31 where the Lord's going to repeat something about the Sabbath day and say it very strong.

[14:13] Exodus 31. Let's read from verses 12 to 18.

[14:23] And the Lord spake unto Moses saying Speak thou also unto the children of Israel saying Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep.

[14:39] Now why does it say Sabbaths plural there? Well there's several Sabbaths. We won't get into all of that but there's quite a few of them not just the one of the week of days but even of years and others.

[14:50] So it is a sign get that it is a sign between me and the world. No, no. The Sabbaths that God gave to Israel are a sign between me and you throughout your generations that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.

[15:15] Ye shall keep the Sabbath therefore for it is holy unto you. Everyone that defileth it shall surely be put to death for whosoever doeth any work therein that soul shall be cut off from among his people.

[15:31] Six days may work be done but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest holy to the Lord. Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day he shall surely be put to death wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant.

[15:52] It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed and he gave unto Moses when he made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai two tables of testimony tables of stone written with the finger of God.

[16:14] So there he's going to reaffirm and state this Sabbath thing and it's pretty strong in this chapter but you caught that didn't you? This Sabbath of rest is called a sign.

[16:28] A sign between God and the children of Israel in verse 17. It's evidence of their covenant with the true God. A sign is something that tells something.

[16:41] It declares something and signs are not without significance as in the first four letters of significance is sign. And observing the Sabbath day is yet another means by which Israel reflects in their culture the ways of God or the person of God.

[17:03] It's kind of them replicating the ways of God or displaying his character to the world. He rested on the seventh day and from now on they're going to do the same.

[17:15] So in essence this sign bears the mark of their creator God. He mentioned that in chapter 20 that for in six days the Lord and here again in chapter 31 he tells them why at verse 17 in the middle of the verse for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth.

[17:32] That's why you're doing it because I did it. So you're going to follow my lead. You're going to work six days and rest on the seventh and it's a sign. The continual observance of this is going to ultimately point to the creator God.

[17:50] Now let me ask you this. If the Sabbath was instituted in the beginning for all mankind of the world forever why is it now a sign between Israel and him?

[18:03] What does that prove or what does that bear? That doesn't make any sense. There has to be something happening in this moment for it to have any significance.

[18:16] God is now making it a sign that as they rest on the seventh day the world's going to say why are you resting on the seventh? It's a perfectly good day. What are you doing? Why are you not leaving your homes?

[18:28] Why are you staying put and isolating yourselves for a full day? And the answer is because God created this world in six days and on the seventh day he rested and sanctified it and hallowed it and it's holy unto him.

[18:43] It's a sign that's going to point others to the creator and somebody's going to argue well I'm not tired and somebody's going to argue I've got a lot of stuff I need to get done I can't afford to rest on this seventh day and God replies you sit down and you stay put and so important is this to God and so serious that he instituted as we read the execution of anybody that violates this holy day it's a day of rest except you might notice that there's not one place in this book I don't mean Exodus I mean in this Bible where God confronts any non-Jew for not keeping his Sabbath day holy you won't find where God threatens other Gentile nations for not observing the Sabbaths he never tells Israel to go kill them because they violated my Sabbaths if you want to take it a step further and we're not going to study this out but you can read Leviticus 18 and find out some of the reasons why God said these people these

[19:49] Canaanites are getting kicked out of this land and not one of them has to do with the Sabbath that they weren't keeping however because his people weren't keeping Sabbath and because they weren't keeping it according to his law with the resting the land and things he kicked them out of that land for a very specific amount of time 70 years one year for every 490 that they hadn't been letting the land keep Sabbath so he's keeping track of it but it's only on his people it wasn't on the people before him if you understand what I mean there now the relation of the Sabbath how does it relate well we know it's a day of rest but in this case it's a sign it's a sign to everybody else this people this people doesn't they don't work on the seventh day they don't do anything on the seventh day they stay put and so the relation is it's a sign that proclaims a relationship to the creator now let's look thirdly now at the ruination of the Sabbath this hallowed and sanctified sign this

[20:53] Sabbath of rest over time had been transformed had been perverted into something that it was never intended to be what Moses taught them and even in these passages we read what Moses taught became distorted became perverted into something that God never commanded to his people was never God's intention in his relation to his people but this thing became ruined and I'll show you some cases I think many of you are familiar with these but would you turn to Mark chapter 2 the Jews have ruined this day and they've even accused God in the flesh the Lord Jesus Christ and his disciples on several different occasions accused them of violating the Sabbath look at

[21:54] Mark chapter 2 and we'll begin in verse 23 and it came to pass that he went through the cornfields on the Sabbath day and his disciples began as they went to pluck the ears of corn the Pharisees said unto him behold why do they on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful he said unto them have you never read what David did when he had need he was in hunger he and they that were with him how he went into the house of God and in the days of the high priest did eat the show bread which is not lawful to eat but for the priest and gave also to them that were with him he said unto them the Sabbath was made for man not man his disciples because they were plucking ears of corn they weren't harvesting they didn't have a sickle and were clearing off the field they weren't laboring in the field no they were just driving a snack and they got accused of violating the

[23:01] Sabbath look at Luke chapter 14 this is the ruination of the Sabbath day Luke 14 and the first five verses and it came to pass as he went into the house of one of the chief Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath day that they watched him and behold there came a certain man before him which had the drop sea and Jesus answering spake unto the lawyers and Pharisees saying is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day and they held their peace and he took him and healed him and let him go and answered them saying which of you shall have an ass or an ox fallen into a pit and will not straightway pull him out on the Sabbath day they could not answer him again to these things so isn't that interesting he puts the question before them and they just kept their mouth shut but we know the answer that they had and we see it in their character in other places look at

[24:02] John chapter 5 it's going to get very clear here John chapter 5 there's a man that's impotent and he's been in this case for 38 years according to verse 5 38 years and in verse number 8 Jesus saith unto him rise take up thy bed and walk and immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked and on the same day was the Sabbath the Jews therefore said unto him that was cured it is the Sabbath day it's not lawful for thee to carry thy bed he answered them he that made me whole the same said unto me take up thy bed and walk they asked him what man is this which said unto thee take up thy bed and walk and he was healed with not who it was for Jesus had conveyed himself away a multitude being in that place afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple and said unto him behold thou art made whole sin no more lest the worst thing come unto thee the man departed and told the

[25:06] Jews it was Jesus which had made him whole and therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day in verse 18 in the middle of the verse it says because he not only had broken the Sabbath is what they considered him healing this man with his words his voice look at chapter 9 one last place John chapter 9 and here's a blind man and he spits on the ground he makes clay of the spittle he anoints the eyes of the blind man with clay tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam verse 6 7 and later on he catches up with him but first look at verse 14 it was the Sabbath day when Jesus made the clay and opened his eyes then again the Pharisees also asked him how him how he had received his sight he said to them he because he keepeth not the

[26:09] Sabbath day so they had a problem with Jesus Christ God in the flesh the very creator the word that was made flesh they accused them of violating the Sabbath day and this is what I'm showing you is the ruination the deterioration the falling apart of what God had commanded and set in place for his people part of that covenant he had with them has been destroyed now I want you to consider something here you need to just take a moment when I say this I want you to think so get ready the Bible calls the Sabbath day a day of rest a Sabbath of rest a holy day of rest unto the Lord where does it say it's a day of worship just think about it for a second where in the Bible does it say that the Sabbath day was a day of worship I'll give you a hint it doesn't it doesn't say it at all Christ said that the Sabbath was made for man in

[27:10] Mark chapter 2 that's what the day was made for man to rest take a break stay home don't work where did we get the idea that it was a day of worship where do we get the idea that it was the Jewish day of worship in the Old Testament find me Bible to show me that that that was the day the Jews worshipped God that day wasn't set apart for God to be worshipped it was set apart for man to rest just like God rested from his work in the beginning where did that come from I want you to know that Christ said the Sabbath was made but that has crept in hasn't it the ruination of the Sabbath not only did the Jews destroy it and its purpose and make it something that it wasn't but so have Christians they've come to misunderstand what that day was instituted to be and they've adopted the first day of the week as our

[28:14] Sabbath now don't you agree wouldn't you at least admit that you've heard this or been influenced by this there's a lot of Christians today that have a very deep rooted belief and conviction that we can do no work on Sunday it's a sin to work on Sunday you've probably heard that or even just believe that where did you get that belief did you read it in the Bible is my question or did you hear it from the church and from the pastor telling you you need to be in church and give your tithes and don't be at work now don't take this as your way out of church because I'll just say God instituted this place it's his institution for the New Testament Christians to gather together and to assemble and to worship him and all of this is of him just because you have the opportunity to work on Sunday doesn't mean you should that'll tell us where your heart is but the point I'm getting at is the

[29:14] Bible says the Sabbath was a day of rest now it's true that the New Testament church meets on the first day of the week in connection to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ and it's in the New Testament that is the day that they assembled together that they took up offerings and gatherings and that they worship the Lord Jesus Christ that's true and so the first day of the week is the right day to get together but it doesn't mean that the Sabbath day of the Old Testament is now the first day of the week for the church that's nonsense now I don't I generally I'm not going to work too much and doing anything on Sunday I told you before I lived on church property for years and some days I just wanted to go mow that grass because it rained and I couldn't do anything but I felt like my hands were tied because somebody would see me and they get all upset and for testimony sake I didn't do those kind of things just for testimony sake but you don't have a verse of scripture not that I know of that tells you that the first day of the week is hallowed and it is a day of rest for

[30:18] New Testament believers that's an Old Testament sign that was given to the Jews made us known unto them a sign between me and the children of Israel and it's a day of rest so don't skip church on Sunday and say that well I'm going to work today because that will be between you worship somehow that got drifted in and inserted into the church and has been taught and preached and that's not Bible so alright so moving on number four the restoration of the Sabbath something you should be aware of turn to Colossians please Colossians chapter 2 and there's a couple Old Testament passages I'm not going to take the time to go to if you want to scribble them down you can look at

[31:18] Isaiah 66 and verse 23 you're going to find that the Sabbath day comes back in the future and if you want to read it even more in depth in Ezekiel chapter 46 you'll read about the new kingdom millennial temple and the Sabbath being reinstituted in that day so of the Sabbath the day that has been ruined by man and has been dissolved in a sense it's going to come back into play let's look what Paul says in Colossians chapter 2 verse 16 and 17 he says let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days which are a shadow of things to come Paul writes to the church that the Sabbath days holy days things that people observed in the past are coming back in the future and the prophets concur that in the future when

[32:26] Jesus Christ come back some things are going to be reestablished that God put in place with his people back then it's not something that you need to worry about observing today God is temporarily according to Romans chapter 11 he has cast aside or cast off the Jews he set them aside for now it's not something that we have to worry about following any matter of fact the Bible says that he left their house desolate he left that house of Israel the house of God desolate for the time being any Sabbath observance is merely just forced ritual and it's not recognized and it's not approved of God if you want to gain God's approval then you believe on his son the Lord Jesus Christ but you don't go observe the seventh day and keep the Sabbath holy and think that you're going to gain God's approval he'll reject that he doesn't even acknowledge it not today believe on his son however there is room in the future for the return of the holy

[33:30] Sabbath as well as other significant important to us here today flip over to Hebrews chapter 4 and I want you to see the representation of the Sabbath Hebrews chapter 4 I'm also going to run back to Matthew chapter 10 if you have the ability with two hands find Matthew 10 we're finished with Exodus right now Matthew 10 I'm sorry Matthew 11 and Hebrews 4 now I want to show you the representation of the Sabbath I believe there's a blessed picture that the Sabbath displays for us that the scripture enlightens us to so if you're in Hebrews chapter 4 let's read a short passage here beginning in verse number 4 for he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise and

[34:40] God did rest the seventh day from all his works and in this place again if they shall enter into my rest seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief that's a problem again he limiteth a certain day saying in David today after so long a time as said today if you hear his voice harden not your hearts for if Jesus that's a reference to Joshua coming out of Hebrew to Greek to English if Jesus had given them rest then would he not afterward have spoken of another day notice verse nine there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God for he that is entered into his rest he also hath ceased from his own works as God did from his when did God cease from his own works back in verse four the quote is Genesis two is the seventh day after creating he rested on the seventh day and he ceased from his works when

[35:48] God ceased working on the seventh day it displays a picture that we're enlightened about here in this passage that we too can cease from our laboring from our working to be accepted of him and so he says don't harden your hearts don't be like them in the past that had unbelief but rather exercise faith because we can be accepted of him by faith and not by works we have to cease from our labors our Sabbath of rest for the people of God today is found in the Lord Jesus Christ it's realized by exercising faith in the work that he has done and not our work upon believing on the Lord Jesus Christ for your personal salvation you can enter into his rest in verse 10 you can enter into his rest in Matthew chapter 11 verse 28 Jesus Christ says come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and

[36:53] I will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls believing on Jesus Christ coming to him for personal salvation your soul can rest satisfied your soul can rest complete because of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross you know why I like to call it the finished work because back in Genesis chapter 2 God finished all of the work that he had accomplished he finished it and he rested and when Jesus Christ died on the cross he paid the price for all of our sins he finished the work necessary to atone for your soul he lived a clean and spotless and perfect life and to

[37:54] God and he died as a sinner to pay for the sins of the human race the Bible reveals that Jesus Christ fulfilled the law in every point and so would you consider this morning would you understand this morning that we can look upon that hallowed seventh day and we can see what Jesus Christ did and see the rest that's found only in the Lord Jesus Christ and so the Sabbath day of rest it shows us the rest that can be found in the Lord Jesus Christ and it begs me to ask the question have you entered into that rest have you yourself ceased from your labors so that you can come unto Jesus Christ and receive his rest for your soul what a blessing what a glorious blessing that we overlook and just take for granted even that are saved that we don't have to do anything ever again to try to gain his acceptance we've taken the son and it's over and we've ceased from our labors and we've entered into his rest and there's so many out there today they're even going to attend services this coming midweek and they're going to even flock into churches today looking to fulfill some need inside of them

[39:24] I want to read you a little something that happened this week a pastor that I know he put a video a little church clip that they had made up he put it out there on a professional site just thought whatever I'll just throw it out here on my LinkedIn and he got a hit from somebody and this man wrote to him and he said this I've never been one to deeply explore religion but lately I've felt the weight of something missing in my life I have a beautiful family I have a thriving business and I have good health these blessings I hold dearly and yet there's a quiet yearning a space that feels incomplete when I saw your video it stirred something within me as if a door was being gently knocked on does that not sound like your Bible Revelation 3 as if a door was being gently knocked on there was somebody knocking on that door lately

[40:29] I've felt this growing sense that something or he says someone with a capital S is eagerly waiting for me perhaps it's the Lord question mark and so this preacher got in touch with him and he plans to meet with him on Monday to sit down and talk with him and to witness to him and tell him about the Lord Jesus Christ and if he is as open as he sounds it won't take much for him to cease from his labors and enter into that rest that the Lord Jesus Christ offers you might pray for him if you remember his name is Marco and they plan to meet at 2pm mountain time I guess that would be 1pm tomorrow on our time if that takes place and so maybe God will save that man's soul and I wonder this morning is everybody in this place under the hearing of my voice resting complete in

[41:31] Jesus Christ are you resting in him alone have you found forgiveness and peace by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ that Sabbath of rest was a great day after six days of labor and when you enter into the rest of Jesus Christ oh it's a great thing after trying to struggle to please God after trying to try and religion and all it can do and working and trying to figure it out and get your sins forgiven and going back to them and back and forth to enter into his rest to take his yoke upon him and to learn of him to find out he's meek and lowly of heart and to find out that your soul can have rest for eternity oh boy that's something good and so this sabbath day is it's something for the children of Israel during that covenant with God and them they've messed that thing up so bad and God has even kind of set them on the shelf so to speak and he's going to pick them back up and that thing is going to come it's a day of rest and the most important thing for us is it's a picture or a representation of salvation in the

[42:53] Lord Jesus Christ where we can just stop stop everything and take what he did to our souls and to our count and rest righteous in him so praise the Lord for what he's accomplished for us I hope you've entered into that rest when everybody bow their heads just for a moment we'll be dismissed shortly and we'll head on our way but before we do is anybody here say that that I've not yet entered into that rest meaning I'm still trying to get God to be happy with me or I still don't know that I'm saved and that my sins are forgiven and I don't really have that peace in my heart this morning I'm like that guy who's got an emptiness inside and money can't fix it having good health having a great family it's too deep inside for those things to touch or to fill is anybody here without

[43:55] Jesus Christ as their savior if that's you this morning you could slip your hand up and let me know and I'm not going to come to you I'm just going to pray for you and maybe we can meet afterwards and talk about it and get that settled for once and for all that your soul is saved and that you're on your way to heaven would anybody say I've not yet entered into that rest but I want to father as we dismiss this morning want to say thank you for what Jesus Christ has done for us thank you for taking our sin and paying for it in full thank you for loving us when we were yet without strength and we were ungodly undesirable and yet you loved us and you paid in full the price for our sin Lord thank you for the peace that lives and dwells within our spirits and souls that we know were saved based on your word we have the indwelling spirit that gives us confidence and bears witness to the truth that we are the sons of

[44:58] God thank you for all that you have accomplished in us we give you the glory and the credit for it all thank you for helping us to rightly divide the word of truth thank you for bringing us out of darkness and help us to see the light and understand your ways today we pray for our brothers and sisters that are here that are busy or traveling or Lord that aren't feeling well today there are many I pray that you restore them to health that we could unite once again soon together I pray that you bless our efforts this coming Tuesday with the Christmas Eve service and that some folks would come I pray that you will be pleased that the word of God could be declared the gospel message could be preached and that lost souls would consider it that they receive it and that their destiny would be changed thank you again for our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ and it's in his name we pray these things amen alright well that's it today you're dismissed Lord willing see you Tuesday and be observant and alert to invite somebody if you're able to and just before you go

[46:04] Mark is out there with his bread ready to go so please stop by that table thank you