Tim Murray reminded me of a passage
of scripture during the break that I think would be appropriate
to read. 2 Timothy chapter 1 verse 9, who
hath saved us, that's past tense, and called us with a holy calling
not according to our works but according to his own purpose
and grace which was given us in Christ before the world ever
began. But now he is made manifest by
the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ who hath abolished death
and brought to light immortality and life. So what the Lord Jesus
Christ did was he brought to light the things that had already
been accomplished. And when the Lord is pleased
to save us, to call us, he's bringing to light what's already
been. What's already been. Let's stand
together. Brother Tom, you're going to
lead us in number 186. 186. The church's one foundation is
Jesus Christ, her Lord. She is his new creation. by water and the word. From heaven he came and sought
her to be his holy bride. With his own blood he bought
her and for her life he died. elect from every nation, yet
one or all the earth. Her charter of salvation, one
Lord, one faith, one birth. One holy name she blesses, partakes
one holy food. And to one hope she presses With
every grace endued. Mid toil and tribulation And
tumult of her war She waits the consummation ? Of peace for evermore
? Till with the vision glorious ? Her longing eyes are blessed
? And the great church victorious ? Shall be the church at rest
Yet she on earth hath union With God the Three-in-One, And mystic
sweet communion ? With those whose rest is won ? O happy ones
and holy ? Lord give us grace that we ? Like them the meek
and lowly ? On high may dwell with thee Please be seated. Good morning. For our call to
worship, we're going to go to Isaiah chapter 11, the book of
Isaiah. Chapter 11 is a wonderful passage
regarding our Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah 11. And there shall come
forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of
his roots. and the spirit of the Lord shall
rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the
spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the
fear of the Lord, and shall make him of quick understanding in
the fear of the Lord. And he shall not judge after
his sight, of his eyes, neither reproof after the hearing of
his ears, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor and reproof
with equity for the meek of the earth. And he shall spite the
earth with the rot of his mouth, with the breath of his lips shall
he slay the wicked. and righteousness shall be the
girdle of his loins and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. This
is all about the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness and that
with his people he's not going to judge according to his sight
or his ear, but his own righteousness is what he provides to us. Let's
go to the following prayer. Father God, we come before you
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to thank you, give you
praise that you give us an opportunity to come together and to have
communion with the brothers, but more importantly, to hear
your word, to hear your gospel, to hear about Christ Lord. But
we have a great need of your Holy Spirit to be with all of
us, with us, the hearers, and with Pastor Greg as well, Father.
May the Lord Jesus Christ be magnified. the spirit of the
Lord fall upon us and point us to Christ, because we need to
hear about him. We need to see his glory more
and more. We pray this also for all the other churches that preach
the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. And once again, we thank
you that we have a place that out in the wilderness where we
live, that we can hear about our Lord Jesus Christ. In Jesus'
name we pray. Amen. Let's stand together once again.
We'll sing the hymn that's on the back of your bulletin. Lord, I believe a rest remains
to all thy people known, a rest where pure enjoyment reigns,
and thou art loved alone. Oh, that I now the rest might
know, believe and enter in. Dear Savior, now the power bestow,
and let me cease from sin. Remove this hardness from my
heart, this unbelief remove, to be the rest of faith impart,
the Sabbath of Thy love. Come Thou, dear Savior, come
away into my soul descend. No longer from Thy creatures
stay my author and my end. Please be seated. Will you open your Bibles with
me to Isaiah chapter 56. Isaiah chapter 56. And I would introduce this message
by quoting from Matthew chapter 11, where the Lord said, come
unto me, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest for your
soul. as the burden of sin, soul, caused
you to need rest. You see, sin will either do one
of two things to us. It'll do to us what it did to
our father Adam after he ate of the fruit The scripture says
that he and Eve went into the trees of the garden and hid themselves. That's one of the results of
sin. Men will hide themselves from God. But the Lord was merciful
to our father Adam and he came into the garden of the cool of
the day and he said, Adam, where art thou? Adam had to come clean, didn't
he? He said, he said, I was naked and ashamed,
so I hid myself. And the Lord said, Adam, how
did you know you were naked? Did you eat of the tree of the
knowledge of the fruit of good and evil? And Adam said, well,
he said, the woman that you gave me She gave it to me. And then in the last phrase,
and I did eat. So Adam did confess. He said,
I ate it. I ate it. Trying to hide from God, trying
to cover himself up with manmade righteousness, sewn together
fig leaves, the Lord had to come into the garden and expose his
nakedness. and then put it in his heart
to confess, Lord, I ate it. I did it. I need a covering. And the Lord God came into the
garden that day and slew a lamb, shed its blood. Wouldn't be surprised
if that lamb had been Adam's closest pet. Slew it right there
in front of him, shed his blood and took the fleece of that lamb
and covered his nakedness with the robe of righteousness." You see, sin will either have
one of two effects. Turn with me to John chapter
3. Hold your finger there in Isaiah and turn with me to John chapter 3. Our Lord's talking
with Nicodemus And here's what he said in verse
19, and this is the condemnation, that light has come into the
world. The Lord Jesus Christ is that
light. But men loved darkness rather
than light, because their deeds were evil. Now that's true of self-righteousness
and it's true of involved in something that you know God's
not pleased with. Either way men will avoid the
light because in their heart of hearts their conscience convicts
them that their deeds are evil or the light of the gospel declares
those deeds that they hope to be their righteousness to be
evil. For everyone that doeth evil,
hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds
should be reproved or exposed. Men won't come to Christ. Whether
they be engaged in something that their conscience convicts
them of and they know is wrong, the coming to Christ, the last
thing that they're going to be just like their father Adam,
they're going to hide from God. And if God doesn't pursue them
and call them out and expose their nakedness and, and, and,
and cover them, they'll remain hid from God. Or if it be the religious who's
priding himself in believing that his righteousness is the
cause of his salvation and God says the lights come into the
world men love darkness rather than light because the light
reproved their deeds for what they were evil all our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags before God so whether we're trying to cover
up our sin by our own self-righteousness or whether we're engaged in a
rebellion against God men by nature will flee from God Look
at the next verse. But, but, he that doeth truth
cometh to the light. He that doeth truth cometh to
the light. What is it to do truth? It's
to be baptized in repentance. It's to have the Lord change
your mind about how it is that God remits sin. is to love Christ, to love the
gospel, to look upon the Lord Jesus Christ, that the only hope
of your righteousness and the only hope of your salvation is
to flee to Christ. He that doeth truth cometh to
the light, that his deeds might be made manifest, that they are
wrought in God. I am fleeing to Christ in order
that God might get the glory that the faith that I have came
from Him, that the spirit of repentance that He has given
me came from Him, that my changed mind came from Him, that my new
heart came from Him. Now all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God, so I know I'm speaking to sinners.
You've got a sinner here speaking to sinners. And I know that each
and every one of us, every single one of us, will do one or the
other. We will either hide from God
or we'll flee to Christ. Who maketh thee to differ? What do you have that you've
not received? Why is it that some come to Christ
while others hide from God? Well, it's the Lord, isn't it?
What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received
it by free grace, then why do you boast as if you, you know,
it's the Lord makes a difference. So my question is, do you have
a burden? that you can't bear. And my call from God to you,
and I understand this is nothing but an outward call, it's the
Spirit of God that has to make it effectual, is come to Christ. Come to Him. The sins of His people have already
been put away. They've all been paid for. Christ
is our propitiation. God's not angry with His elect.
He loves them. He loves them. For Christ's sake,
He loves them. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ is
referred to in the Scriptures, if you go back with me to Isaiah
chapter 56, as our rest. Rest. The word Sabbath in the
Hebrew translated means rest. We find God establishing the
day of rest and Genesis chapter 1 of creation, don't we? After
six days, the Lord saw that it was all very good and the work
having been finished. It's a gospel message, isn't
it? The work of redemption is finished. God didn't rest because
he was tired. He rested because he was finished.
It's done. It's over. It's all finished. It's all very good. And God looks
at the redemptive work accomplished in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
He says, it's very good. I'm finished. And I'm resting. Can you rest? Can you rest in
Him? Look at verse 1 of Isaiah chapter
56. Thus saith the Lord, keep ye
judgment. keep you judgment, and do justice. For my salvation is near to come
and my righteousness to be revealed." God demands justice. God demands that all sin should
be punished. That a debt has to be paid. You
and I are not capable of paying that debt. So what is it to do
judgment? What is it to do justice? It's
to come to Christ and to rely upon Him for all of our justification
before God. He was offered up for our offenses
and raised again because of our justification. God is satisfied
through the sacrifice that Christ made on Calvary's cross. Sin's
been put away. And the Lord says, come. Come, do justice by believing
on the Lord Jesus Christ. Blessed is the man that doeth
this and the son of man that layeth hold on this, that keepeth
the Sabbath from polluting it. So now the Lord is going to interpret
what it means to do justice. To do justice means to keep the
Sabbath from polluting it. and to keep his hand from doing
any evil. Now, think with me for a moment
about the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments. They are a moral mandate from
God, no question about it. who would say well you know it's
okay to lie, it's okay to steal, it's okay to murder, it's okay
to commit adultery. No one would say that. It's okay
to create a graven image. It's okay to use the name of
the Lord God in vain. No it's not. No it's not. If I can interject something
here, is it offensive to you to have
people say OMG all the time that is that that's that's taking
the Lord's name in vain you know that don't do it let the world
talk like that that ought never come from the lips of God's people
we have a moral mandate and we don't we we don't that's what
the Lord's talking about but now the fourth commandment the
fourth commandment is Keep holy the Sabbath. Turn with me to
Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. Now, that moral mandate is not
a law that's going to earn you favor with God. It's not going
to earn you salvation. The Lord made that clear when
he said, you've heard it said of old that you should not commit
adultery and you shouldn't. But I say unto you, that if you've
lusted after a woman in your heart, you've already committed
adultery. God's looking at the inward, at the heart, isn't he?
He sees that every imagination of the heart is only evil and
that continually. And so the moral mandate of the
law of God in no way earns us favor with God because God's
not looking at the outward appearance. He's looking at the heart. Does
that mean that because the heart's evil that that justifies the
behavior of the... No. No. No way. God's looking at our hearts.
Now here's what he says about the Sabbath. And I would preface this by saying
what you've heard me say before. Most people who would refer to
themselves as Sabbatarians people who are desperately attempting
to keep the laws of the Sabbath are in their attempts to keep
the Sabbath actually violating the Sabbath. We have Calvinistic friends who
think that because they do and don't do certain things on Sunday
that they are faithfully keeping the Sabbath. What is it to keep
the Sabbath? Why is the Sabbath different
from all the other commandments? You see, those other commandments
haven't changed. It's still wrong to lie. It's
still wrong to murder. It's still wrong to commit adultery.
It's still wrong to make an image in God's sight of God. It's wrong to take the name of
the Lord God in vain. Those things are still just as
wrong now as they were when God established them in the law,
aren't they? But the Sabbath changed. In the Old Testament, look at
verse 8 of Exodus chapter 20. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. 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 maidservant, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy
cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gate. For in six
days the Lord made heaven and earth, and the sea, and all that
is in them, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed
the Sabbath day and hallowed it." And right after this, right
after this, turn with me to Numbers chapter 32. Numbers chapter 32. And look at verse, I'm sorry,
Numbers chapter 15 verse 32. Forgive me. Numbers 15 verse
32. And while the children of Israel
were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks
upon the Sabbath day. And they that found him gathering
sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward They
locked him up because it was not declared what should be done
to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, the man shall be surely
put to death and all the congregation shall stone him with stones without
the camp and all the congregation brought him without the camp
and stoned him with stones and he died as the Lord commanded
Moses. Now that's pretty strict rule.
Here's a guy, maybe he's cold, maybe he just wanted to build
a fire, maybe he wanted to do... He went out on the Sabbath day
to pick up sticks and they caught him picking up sticks, brought
him before Moses. God told Moses, stone him, put
him to death. Now turn with me to Exodus chapter
35, verse 1. and Moses gathered all the congregation
of the children of Israel together and said unto them, these are
the words which the Lord hath commanded that you should do
them. Six days shall your work be done,
but on the seventh day there shall be to you, this shall be
to you a holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord and whosoever
doeth work therein shall be put to death. And you shall kindle
no fire throughout your habitation upon the Sabbath day. In Exodus
chapter 16, we have the story of God sending the manna from
heaven and instructing the children of Israel that they were to gather
manna every day for six days. And on the sixth day, they were
to gather a double portion because there wasn't going to come any
manna on Sunday, on the Sabbath, I'm sorry. So the seventh day,
the Saturday. There wasn't going to be any
bread from heaven on that day. But the children of Israel got
up and they went out looking for bread on the Sabbath. And
God, the scripture says, was wroth with them and punished
them. They didn't believe God. So why is it out of all the Ten
Commandments we don't? We don't preach stoning folks
because they have to work on Sunday or Saturday or whatever,
do we? We don't promote the... Why is
that law changed and all the other laws remain the same? I'll show you, Ezekiel chapter
20. verse 12. Moreover also I gave them my
Sabbath to be a sign. None of the other commandments
that God has spoken of is a sign. God doesn't say well you know
the thing about adultery that's just a sign or the thing about
lying or murdering that's just a sign. No, those are moral mandates. But the Sabbath was given as
a sign and the Old Testament children of Israel were obligated
by the law to keep the Sabbath lest they die. The Lord Jesus
Christ is our Sabbath and He came in order to fulfill that
sign that God gave to the Old Testament church. to be a sign
between me and them that they might know that I am the Lord
that sanctify them." So this Sabbath law that God gave to
the children of Israel in the Old Testament was a sign given
by God to His church to say, I have sanctified you. I have made you holy. I have
set you apart. Now turn with me to Hebrews chapter
four. Verse one, let us therefore fear,
fear God. This is life and death. This matter of sin and forgiveness
of sin, remission of sin, this matter of hiding from God or
fleeing to Christ, having the Lord, it's eternal life and eternal
death. And so the Lord says, let us
therefore fear Lest a promise being left us of entering into
his Sabbath, his rest, any of you should seem to come short
of it. Don't come short of entering into his rest. For unto us was
the gospel preached. What is the gospel? God's already
remitted our sins through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's the gospel. The gospel is the work of redemption
is finished. The gospel is that God saw the
travail of His soul and is satisfied. And if you lay your hands on
that, if you bring your work to that, the same thing will
happen to you eternally that happened to those children of
Israel by type when they picked up sticks on the Sabbath day.
It's a sign. It's a type. But it points to
a much more important thing. Maybe the guy that was stoned
to death in Numbers 35, maybe after he was stoned he went to
glory. I don't know. Scripture doesn't
say. But if you lay your hands to
the finished work of Christ, The Lord said when you build
an altar you don't hew the stones, you don't dress them up, otherwise you defile it. What's
he talking about? He's talking about polluting
the Sabbath. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached to them did not
profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard
it. They didn't believe the gospel. The gospel was preached to them.
It was preached to them in the rock, the rock that was smitten
by the rod of Moses, the rock from which the water flowed out.
It was preached to them by the serpent that was on the pole.
As the serpent was lifted up in the wilderness, so must the
Son of Man be lifted up. It was preached to them every
day by the manna that fell from heaven. It was preached to them
by the law that they were unable to keep. But they didn't believe the gospel.
They didn't believe it. They still thought that they
could do something to make what God was trying to do work for
them, which is working on the Sabbath. That's working on the Sabbath.
The work is finished. Look, look, for we which have
believed, verse 3, do enter into Rest, as he said, as I have sworn
in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works
were finished from the foundation of the earth." When was the work of redemption
accomplished? When was it accomplished? Before time ever began. In the
covenant of grace, When God sovereignly elected a people and Christ entered
into that covenant to be their surety and became the lamb slain
before the foundation of the world, that's when sin was remitted. What did John preach? The baptism
of repentance for the remission of sins. Have your mind changed about
how it is that God remits sin. If you think that you're going
to pick up sticks, if you think that you're going to do something
on the Sabbath that's going to make God save you, then you're
polluting the Sabbath. You're doing exactly what the
children of Israel did. For he spake, verse four, in
a certain place of the Sabbath day on this wise and God did
rest the seventh day from all his works and in this place again,
if they shall enter into my rest. Rest. in the finished work of
the Lord Jesus Christ to put away all your sins. Come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden. I will give you
rest for your soul. My burden is light. My yoke is
easy. Learn of me. Learn who I am. Learn what I've done for you.
Sin's been put away. It's been paid for. You can't work it out. You can't
add to what he's already done. That's why the gospel is such
good news, isn't it? And the only thing that makes
me hate my sin and not want to sin, violate those moral mandates
that God gave in the law, is when I'm looking to Christ. The strength of sin is the law.
If I'm looking to myself and seeing how good I'm doing in
keeping the law, that only inspires more sin, doesn't it? Oh, but
if you look to Christ. Look, look what he says. Verse
6, seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein,
and they to whom it was first preached entered not in. Why? Because of unbelief. They didn't
believe God. They didn't trust Christ. They
didn't rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ to have finished the work
all by himself. They thought they could do something.
And so they polluted the Sabbath by picking up sticks on the Sabbath
day, and God killed them. And if you or I pick up sticks,
if we pollute the Sabbath, if we rob from Christ his glory
in the finished work of redemption, We will spend eternity separated
from God in the devil's hell. Consequences will be worse than
being stoned. Again, he limit the second day
saying to David today, after so long a time as it is said
today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart. Don't
harden your heart against God. A broken spirit and a contrite
heart he will not despise. He will not forsake. For if Jesus had given them rest,
then would he not afterwards have spoken of another day. There
remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that
has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own
work as God did from his. Stop working. As a means of obligating God
to save you. God's people are willing
servants. They serve the Lord because they're
saved, not in order to be. You put your hand to the Sabbath. Look what, let us labor therefore. Here's the real work. Let us
labor therefore to enter into his rest. It's hard. It's hard. No, it's worse than
hard. It's impossible. It is absolutely
impossible. for the natural man to rest on
the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ for all of his salvation. He just can't do it. He can't
do it. He's got to put his hand to it.
He's got to make some effort. He's got to make some contribution.
He's got to make some attempt to obligate God. Whether it be
free will, whether it be good works, he's going to do something.
And that's exactly what polluting the Sabbath is all about. The
Sabbath was given as a sign. The rules and regulations for
Sabbath keeping are not moral mandates like are the other nine
commandments. The rules and regulations of
the Sabbath day are a sign that point to the one who's finished
the work, who accomplished our salvation. And that's why the
Lord said, Let us labor therefore to enter into His rest, lest
any man should fall after the same example of unbelief. Labor to enter into His rest. Turn back with me to our text
in Isaiah chapter 56. Verse 2, Blessed is the man that
doeth this, and the son of man that layeth hold on it, that
keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from
doing any evil. Neither let the son of the stranger
that had joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, The Lord
hath utterly separated me from his people. You and I are strangers
from God. We come into this world estranged
from Him. at enmity with him and he's saying
to us, don't think that because you were born a sinner that that
keeps me from saving you. Neither let the eunuch say behold
I'm a dry tree. Now eunuch was a man incapable
of fathering children. Incapable of producing life.
And that's what we are, we're spiritual eunuchs We cannot produce
life. The Lord's got to do it for us.
He's got to regenerate us. That's why the Lord said to Nicodemus,
Nicodemus, boy, he'd spent all his life putting his hand to
the Sabbath, wasn't he? The Lord said, Nicodemus, you've
got to be born again. Spirit of God's got to breathe
life into your dead soul. For thus saith the Lord unto
the eunuchs that keep my Sabbaths. You see that in verse four. What is it to keep the Sabbath
and choose the things that please me and take hold of my covenant?
What is it that pleases God? This is my beloved son in whom
I'm well pleased. You make a covenant with God. You think that your promises
to God are somehow going to are going to earn you favor with
God. That's what the Lord said in Isaiah, you made a covenant
with me, but your covenant is going to be disannulled. I'm
not interested in the covenant you make. The covenant that I
make, that's an everlasting covenant. That's a covenant of salvation. Don't pollute the Sabbath. Take
hold of that which pleases God as Christ. And trust Him for
having fulfilled all the requirements of that covenant. What did David
say? Although my house be not so with God. Your house isn't
as it ought to be, is it? I know it's not. Neither is mine.
Yet, He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things
and sure. This is all my salvation. This
is all my desire. The Sabbath. Rest. Rest. Labor to enter into His
rest. The work's been finished from
the foundations of the world. Sin's been remitted. Change your mind about how it is that God saves
sinners. He only saves them one way. Through the Sabbath. our Savior,
our rest. Let's pray. Our merciful Heavenly
Father, we're thankful for your word, and oh, how we pray that
your Holy Spirit would give to us understanding and faith to
rest our souls on thy dear Son. For it's in his name we ask it.
Amen. 232 let's stand together number 232 We'll sing this a cappella, it's
not in our music box I Christ our Redeemer died on the
cross, died for the sinner, paid all his due. Sprinkle your soul
with the blood of the Lamb, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass
over you. Chiefest of sinners, Jesus will
save. All he has promised, that he
will do. Wash in the fountain, open for
sin. And I will pass, will pass over
you. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass
over you. Judgment is coming, all will
be there, each one receiving justly his due. Hide in the saving, sin-cleansing
blood, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the
blood, when I see the blood, when I see the blood, I will
pass, I will pass over you. O great compassion, O boundless
love, O loving kindness, faithful and true. Find peace and shelter
under the blood, and I will pass, will pass over you. When I see the blood, when I
see the blood, when I see the blood, I will pass, I will pass
over you. Okay.