Blessed Sabbath Rest

Q: What does the Bible say about Sabbath keeping?

The Bible indicates that believers are not required to observe a literal Sabbath day as the Old Testament law prescribed. Sabbath keeping, as described in the Old Testament, was part of the ceremonial law that pointed to rest in Christ. In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul clarifies that the observance of the Sabbath is a shadow of Christ, and thus believers are not obligated to keep a literal Sabbath day. The purpose of the Sabbath was to symbolize the rest found in Jesus, which is now available to all who believe.

Q: How do we know the Sabbath is not essential for Christian worship?

The New Testament explicitly states that the observance of the Sabbath is not required for Christians. In the New Testament, especially in Colossians 2:16-17, it is affirmed that Christians should not be judged or bound by the requirements of the Sabbath. The Sabbath was part of the ceremonial law which served as a type and shadow of Christ's redemptive work. Since Christ fulfilled these types, believers are free from these laws, emphasizing that true worship is in spirit and truth, not bound by legalistic observances.

Q: Why is resting in Christ important for Christians?

Resting in Christ signifies ceasing from our own works and trusting in His finished work for salvation. Resting in Christ is crucial for Christians as it represents the end of striving for righteousness through personal effort. Matthew 11:28-30 invites all who labor and are heavy laden to come to Him for rest. This rest is not merely physical; it speaks to finding peace for the soul through faith in Christ's atoning work. True faith involves surrendering to Christ and casting aside self-reliance, which is essential for salvation and spiritual peace.

View Chapter 11 Whenever we talk about the believer being free from the law, religious people, particularly religious leaders, teachers, preachers, theologians, or imaginary theologians, immediately object to two points almost invariably. There are two things that seem to disturb them most greatly, and that is that we are declaring that believers no longer keep a literal Sabbath day. And that just terrifies preachers, because they think you folks aren't obliged by the law to keep the Sabbath day, they won't come to church, and they can't have any means by which to beat them over the head and make them come. And when we declare that believers are free from the law, folks understand we're saying that believers are no longer obliged, motivated, inspired, or ruled by the law with regard to the tithe.

And that terrifies preachers even worse. They're scared to death. If you can't beat folks to death and promise them either reward for their giving or punishment for their lack of giving, then they'll quit giving and the preacher will have to go to work and earn his living with his hands.

Now, those two things, because they are so common, so commonly objected to, I'm going to deal with for the next couple of weeks. Tonight, I want to talk to you about Sabbath keeping, real Sabbath keeping. And we'll begin here in Matthew chapter 11 and verse 28. Here, the Son of God, the Lord of glory, the God man mediator, our all glorious Christ speaks to everybody here. Everybody, no exception. This is his word to you, to you who believe and to you who believe not.

Call it a command if you want to. When the king of the universe bid you do something, his bidding is a command. That's all right. Call it an invitation if you prefer. I have no problem with that whatsoever. When the all-holy, infinite God condescends to speak in mercy to hell-bent, hell-deserving, hell-bound sinners, It is a most gracious, tender, loving, merciful invitation. Listen to what it says. Doesn't matter whether you call it a command or an invitation. Just hear it. Just hear it. Listen now.

Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What would you give to have rest in your soul? I mean rest, rest. Rest you can't get out of a bottle, rest you can't get out of a needle, rest you can't get from some psychologist or doctor who keeps you doped up on pills. I'm talking about rest, rest.

The Savior says, come to me, I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in heart. and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my burden, my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Now this is Christ's word to lost, ruined, guilty sinners. Come. Not to the front of the church, that won't do you any good. Come, not to a confessional booth, that won't help you. Come, not to a preacher, he can't help you. Certainly not to one of these soul winners, they can't help you.

Come unto me. God the son, God incarnate, come to me. The son of God who lived and died for sinners, who's risen again, who's seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, having put away the sins of his people, the savior of the world says, come unto me. Come to me. Well, pastor, how do I come to him? In your heart, an act of faith, you come to him. You don't move a muscle. You don't say a word. You just come to him. You just come to him. It's the motion of your soul toward God.

Come unto me, all ye that labor. Now, the commentaries I have read on this passage, almost all of them, some way or another, put another qualifying word to that word labor. The Savior just says, anybody who labors, come to me. come to me. Certainly he is speaking specifically of spiritual labor. And when a man or woman first experiences legal conviction, when he's first convinced of his sin in some measure, convinced of God's justice and the terror of God's wrath, then he begins to labor. The first thing all people do by nature is they try to do something to find rest.

Well, I'll quit this and I'll start that. I'll start going to church. I'll start reading my Bible. I'll start memorizing scripture. I'll quit cussing. I'll quit running around. I'll quit drinking. Give me something to do! Well, the Savior says, come to me, you who are laboring. Come to me. Look at it now. You who are heavily, heavily, You who sin lays like a heavy millstone on your soul, dragging you to hell. Heavy laden sinners. He says, come to me and I will give. Oh, I love that word.

I'll give. I'll not offer, I'll give. I'll not present it to you, I'll give. You look to me, I'll give you rest. You come to me, I'll give you rest. Rest. Oh, what a blessing. There are some sitting here tonight who can tell you something of the blessedness of resting in Christ. Rest from all my guilt. Rest from all God's requirements. Rest from all my sin. Come unto me, I'll give you rest. Rest. Rest. Only Christ doing on the Christ. Trust His blood for your only atonement. Trust His righteousness, His obedience for your only righteousness, your only acceptance with God. Trust the Son of God and as surely as you trust Him, He'll give you this.

Now here's the Master's word to every one of us, both believer and unbeliever. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls. Now this is what it is to come to Christ. This is what it is to believe on the Son of God.

It is to willingly, voluntarily, purposefully, determinately, continually slip your neck under his yoke. surrendering to him as your master. And I'm telling you, there's no faith in Christ apart from surrender to Christ. There is no such thing as salvation without submission. You must bow to Jesus Christ as your Lord and King, or you will perish forever. What do you mean, slip under his yoke?

Well, first, you willingly bow to the yoke of his grace. You come and take up your cross and fall ahead. You deny yourself and say, Lord, here I am, lock, stock and barrel, I'm yours. Have mercy on me. That's first. But there's also the matter of taking on yourself willingly, purposefully, and deliberately, his yoke of doctrine as well. Listen to what he says in Jeremiah 6, 16. You don't have to turn there, just listen. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths. Where is the good way, and walk therein, and you shall find rest for your souls.

Take the word of God, And bow to it. Just bow to it. And I promise you, as you bow to it, you'll begin to understand it. But if you continue to insist, I'm going to have somebody to explain this and explain all of these things that seem to me to be irreconcilable, or I'll never believe, you'll never believe. You're going to hell. How do you come to understand the Word of God? Only by faith. Only by bowing to the Son of God. And as you bow to His revelation, bowing to Him, then you find rest for your soul. And you must take on you the yoke of His providence as well.

Turn back to Psalms 31. Psalm 31. This is such a blessed Psalm. I know it refers to the Lord Jesus Christ, but it also refers to you and I. David spoke these words as a believer in this world. He says in verse 1, In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness. Look at verse 5, Into thy hand I commit my spirit. That's what it's all about. Take my yoke upon you, learn of me. You shall find rest unto your soul. Into thy hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord, God of truth. Look at verse 7. I will be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my troubles. Thou hast known my soul in adversities. And then look at verse 15.

Here it is. My kind are in thy hand. Here I come, Lord. I trust you, you alone, as my righteousness, my redemption, my savior, my acceptance with God. I bow to your revealed will, whatever it is. I bow to your word, to your doctrine, to your truth, and I bow to your providence. I bow to your providence.

We kick against the prick sometimes, and we find life pretty hard. We find ourselves in trouble, rebelling against God's providence. And no matter what the adversity, no matter what the trial, no matter what the heartache, no matter what the trouble, the only way to find rest is to bow. That's the only way, just bow.

The Savior says, come unto me. All you that labor and are heavy laden and I'll give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Now I've begun my message by calling you to rest.

Calling you to that blessed rest of faith in Christ because that is exactly the reason the Sabbath ordinance was given in the Old Testament. I want to show you from the Word of God what was required for the keeping of the Sabbath, what the purpose of the Old Testament law of the Sabbath was, and why we do not and must not keep a literal day Sabbath in this gospel age. First, I want you to make note of this. I want you to understand it. I stress this because there's so much False teaching spread constantly about Sabbath keeping. Sabbath observance is in no way essential to the worship of God. Did you get it? Sabbath observance is in no way essential to the worship of God. Now turn back to Genesis 2, I'll show you. Genesis chapter 2. Here's the first mention of the Sabbath. And even though it's not mentioned by name, it's certainly mentioned by clear implication. In Genesis chapter 2 and verse 2.

On the seventh day, God ended his work. That's pretty good definition of the Sabbath. On the seventh day, God stopped working. He 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. Now there's the first mention of the Sabbath. On the seventh day of the first week in the history of this world, when God had finished his work of creation, he stopped.

He just quit working. He just quit working. That's what it was. He wasn't tired. He just quit working. It wasn't that he had just run out of stuff to work with. He just quit working. He quit working for a reason, Bob. He quit working to teach us what faith is. Faith is ceasing from your works. That's what it is. It's bowing to the Son of God. Now, the Lord ceased working here, and the Sabbath day was not mentioned again for 2,000 years. For 2,000 years. But men continued to worship God.

Abel never worshipped God on the Sabbath day. Adam, either in the garden before the fall or after the fall, worshipped on the Sabbath day. Abraham, the friend of God, never kept the Sabbath day. Noah walked with God as did his forefather Enoch, and he never worshipped on the Sabbath day. They never kept a Sabbath day. How come? Because it was not required. Yet, these folks were not base economians, they were not they were not profligate evildoers, they were not licentious men.

These were holy men of faith, men who walked with God, men who believed God. God himself testified to it. They walked with Him, believing Him, worshiping Him, serving Him, but they never kept a Sabbath day. Now secondly, the ordinance of the Sabbath. was an observance that was established by God in the wilderness. It was established by God at exactly the same time the Lord God began to rain manna from heaven. I find that interesting. Turn over to Exodus 16. Exodus 16.

The manna, you remember, portrayed the Lord Jesus Christ and God's provision of life in Christ, who is the bread of life. The Sabbath portrayed God's provision of rest in Christ, who is himself the Lord of the Sabbath. Here in Exodus 16, in the first part of the chapter, the children of Israel had been murmuring, and God said, I'll give you manna from heaven. And he poured down angels bread on the earth, and they walked out and found it, and they said, we'll call this manna. What is it? This manna was a picture of Christ, the bread of life.

Then in verse 22, God speaks again. It came to pass on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, this is that which the Lord hath said, tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord.

Bake that which you will bake today, and see that you will see. And that which remaineth over, lay up for you to be kept until the morning." Now, they couldn't do this any other day. Any other day, it'd breed worms, it'd rot. But on the day before the Sabbath, he says, lay up what you need for tomorrow. And they laid it up till morning, as Moses bade. And it did not stink. Neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord.

Today you shall not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. And it came to pass that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, How long refuse you to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for that the Lord hath given you the Sabbath. Therefore, he giveth you the sixth day or in the sixth day to The bread of two days abide ye every man in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh. So the people rested on the seventh day.

The children of Israel were commanded to do no work. They were not even allowed to go out and pick up the manna. Now that's just about as little work as you can do. But they were not even allowed to go out and pick up the manna. They must stay in their place on the Sabbath day. But what a blessed staying it was. For staying in their place on the Sabbath day, they stayed there eating the manna which God provided graciously from heaven, a picture of Christ, the bread of life on which we feed by faith.

Now then look at Exodus 20. Exodus 20. God established the Sabbath day in the wilderness back in chapter 16. First word we have of it since Genesis chapter 2. Now here in Exodus 20, the Lord gives us specific instructions about how the Sabbath was to be kept. Now you know in Exodus 20 we have the giving of the law, what's commonly called the Ten Commandments.

In verse 8, the Lord God says, 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 manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. 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.

Now listen carefully. God commands not only that no work be done by any man, but that no work be done for any man by anything or anyone under his influence. You don't do any work. You don't let your wife do any work. You don't let your children do any work. You don't let your maid servant or your manservant do any work. You don't even let your cattle work, not on a Sabbath day. That's forbidden.

Those who would impose upon us the carnal ordinance of Sabbath-keeping, those who say, now on Sundays you don't do anything, you just go to church and you read your Bible and you pray and you don't do anything else because the law requires you to keep a Sabbath day. Those who would impose that Sabbath-keeping would put us under a yoke of bondage to the law of God, compelling us to keep the Sabbath day and thus compelling us to do what nobody can do. I know a lot of folks who pretend to keep the Sabbath. They preach it as a rule of life, and they would impose upon God's saints the strict rules and regulation of Sabbath day observance.

But all they're teaching and all they're preaching in this regard is sheer hypocrisy. It's just hypocrisy. Not one of them, not one of them. And I've been around some pretty strict Sabbatarians. Not one of them keeps the Sabbath day, not one of them.

They just have a fair show in the flesh. Their pretended reverence for the Sabbath, their pretended reverence for God's law is really just a mockery. I'll show you why. Because they pick and choose what they like. They pick and choose what pleases them about the laws of the Sabbath and the other things they just disregard.

Here are four things. Four things required by God and His law for the observance of the Sabbath. Now I'm going to give them to you hurriedly and I'll give you the scripture references and you can look at them at your leisure. But these four things were necessary anytime anyone kept the Sabbath day. Number one, the Sabbath must be observed on Saturday, the seventh day of the week. You find me any place in this book where God ever changed it to Sunday. And I'll leave this book. It's just not in there. It's just not in there.

But the disciples worshiped on the first day of the week. They did. And they called it the Lord's Day. They did. That's the day our Lord arose. That was, as Larry pointed out in his last message here, the end of the Sabbath. When Christ arose from the dead, the Sabbath keeping was over and we've entered into the real Sabbath, the Sabbath of rest in Christ. But the Sabbath day has never been changed. It's Saturday, always has been Saturday, seventh day of the week, not Sunday, the first day of the week. You see that plainly in Exodus 20, verse 10, which we read just a moment ago. Again, in that 10th chapter of Exodus 20, the scripture declares that no work could be done on the Sabbath day.

Now, I realize, works of mercy, works of necessity. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Even under the rigors of the law, God showed himself merciful and gracious, so that if a man's ox fell in the ditch, it's all right to go get it out. If you had an emergency come up, it's all right to do what was necessary to take care of the emergency.

But the law of the Sabbath required that nothing be done for your personal pleasure or your personal profit. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Listen to this. In Exodus 35, 3, God said, don't you light a fire for cooking. Don't light a fire to cook with. And in Numbers 15, he said, don't gather any wood for burning. In Jeremiah 17, we were commanded not to carry any burden on the Sabbath. In Exodus 16, don't travel, stay right in your place. And in Amos 8, verse 5, he says, don't do any business on the Sabbath.

Anything which might be construed as a matter of personal profit or personal pleasure is expressly forbidden on the Sabbath day. You see, the essence of Sabbath worship was an absolute, unreserved, Unconditioned, all-encompassing, life-encompassing commitment to God. That's what it was. What do you do on a Sabbath day?

I just wait. What do you do? Worship God. What do you do? I trust Him. How are you going to eat? I trust Him. How are you going to breathe? I trust Him. How are you going to be clothed? I trust Him. What if somebody comes to rob you? I trust Him. What if somebody's going to take your business away? I trust Him. Just trust Him. It was an absolute, unconditional, unreserved, life-encompassing consecration to God. That's the essence of it. And by Biestas, that's what faith is. That's what faith in Christ is.

Thirdly, in addition to these things, Numbers 28 verses 9 and 10 any genuine observance of the Sabbath day Necessitates a return to the ceremonial law now. I want you to look at these two verses numbers 28 verses 9 and 10 On the Sabbath day God says you got all for two lambs of the first year without spot and and two-tenth deals of flour for a meat offering, mingled with oil, and the drink offering thereof.

This is the burnt offering of every Sabbath, beside the continual burnt offering and his drink offering. What does that mean? That means in order to keep the Sabbath day, you got to have a double sin offering, a double meal offering, a double drink offering. You got to have a sacrifice. And the offerings have got to be made in Jerusalem at the temple on God's altar. Now, that's the only way you keep a Sabbath day.

Well, but we're living in the gospel age now. We don't any longer observe the ceremonial law. My point exactly. That's exactly it. The Sabbath required sacrifice. The Sabbath required double offerings every Sabbath day on God's altar in God's temple in Jerusalem. Nowhere else. That means nobody keeps the Sabbath day.

And then one other thing. Those who would insist upon keeping the Sabbath must also demand the execution of all Sabbath breakers. Exodus 31 15. Now that one I believe they'd keep. They demand the execution of Sabbath breakers. Take up your stones and stone them. They've broken the Sabbath. Doesn't matter if it's your own son. Doesn't matter if it's your husband, doesn't matter if it's your wife, doesn't matter if it's your daughter. Take up your stones and stone them. The very same law that requires Sabbath observance requires that the Sabbath be preserved and observed in exactly these ways.

Observed doing no work of any kind except mercy and necessity. Observe without traveling anywhere in your house. Observe only on Saturday. Observe by sacrifice in God's temple. And observe to the extent with the strictness and severity that any man who breaks it be stoned to death.

Well, that's severe, isn't it? No, that's not severe. That's not severe at all. No. When Uzzah reached forth to touch the ark, He put his hand to God's ark, and God said, don't you touch it. God said, don't you touch it. How come? Why was he so strict? Because that ark represented Christ and redemption by Christ. It represented God's salvation. And when you put your hand out there instead of that ark, you said, God, I believe you need some of my help. And he's dead.

And when the Sabbath is instituted, the Lord God sets forth these rules, these regulations, and these laws because He declares in all the pictures and types of the law that the Sabbath is a picture of redemption in Jesus Christ. And the moment you break it, the moment you violate it, the moment you in any way do any work on the Sabbath day, you've broken God's law and defied Him and His gospel, denying it in the picture and in the type.

Well, why don't we observe a Sabbath day? I'll give you a lot of reasons. Turn over to Colossians chapter 2, and I'll show you just a couple. We do not, we must not observe any literal Sabbath day. Somebody said, well now, we will grant that it's all right for y'all not to observe it, but don't you think it's going a little too far when you say nobody can observe a Sabbath day? It would be if I said it. It sure would be. But God forbids you to observe a Sabbath day. He forbids you to do it. You cannot observe a Sabbath day and worship Christ in spirit and in truth.

The Sabbath day which God gave and required to the Jews, like all other carnal ordinances of the law, was just temporary, a typical ritual of the law, one which represented and portrayed and typified our Lord Jesus Christ and our redemption by him. It spoke of that time when the Lord God would send his son into the world to accomplish the redemption of our souls. It was given to Israel as a constant reminder of their deliverance by the hand of God out of Egyptian bondage. And like all those things, it pointed to, in picture prophecy, Jesus Christ and our redemption by him.

Why don't we observe the Sabbath day? Because God strictly prohibits it. strictly prohibited. Here in Colossians chapter 2, the Sabbath is mentioned only two times in all the epistles of the New Testament. It's mentioned numerous times in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts, where it refers to and has relation to Jewish worship and Jewish synagogue ceremonies. But with regard to the New Testament epistles, Romans through Revelation, where the worship of God is explained and taught with precise clarity, where everything required in divine worship, public and private, is clearly set forth. The Sabbath is mentioned only two places, Colossians 2 and Hebrews 4.

Here in Colossians 2 verse 16, Paul is telling us that we are free from the law. He says, let no man beguile you, let no man judge you, let no man condemn you, let no man bring you back under the rudiments of the world. And this is what he says in verse 16. 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.

Now you'll notice the word days is in italics added by our translators. Somebody comes along and says let's talk about Sabbath days, plural, those high days of feast and so forth. No, he said don't let anybody judge you concerning the Sabbath. period, nobody, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ.

Now then, we which had believed, Hebrews chapter four, verse three, do enter into rest. We enter into rest. What must I do to be saved? The Philippian jailer said, Paul said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Don't do anything, just believe. Your problem is you've been trying to do something. That's your problem. You keep trying to do something to please God, trying to do something to get some peace before God, peace in your soul. You can't get it.

We which believe do enter into rest. And that word rest is the word Sabbath. Ron, we keep the Sabbath. We keep the Sabbath. I'm keeping it right now. Been keeping it now for 37 years, 32, 33 years, keep them separate. Because I've entered into rest, will you? Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you rest. Amen.

Blessed Sabbath Rest

What does the Bible say about Sabbath keeping?

How do we know the Sabbath is not essential for Christian worship?

Why is resting in Christ important for Christians?

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Blessed Sabbath Rest

What does the Bible say about Sabbath keeping?

How do we know the Sabbath is not essential for Christian worship?

Why is resting in Christ important for Christians?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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