The Lord God reveals himself
in his word by many, many distinct names. He revealed himself as
the mighty God and God Almighty, giving us confidence that he
is able to do all that he has purposed and all that he has
promised. He speaks of himself as the most
high God, supreme over all, and the all-sufficient God, that
is, God who is able to supply every need, God whom we can trust
at all times and in all circumstances. He is called the Lord of Hosts.
the Lord of Sabaoth, Luther saying, I wrote that great hymn we sing,
A Mighty Fortress, is our God, Lord Sabaoth his name, from age
to age the same. And he must win the battle. He is the Lord of hosts. He cannot
fail. He speaks of himself thus in
his absolute sovereignty over all things. He is our God, the
Great I Am, Jehovah, the self-existent, everlasting, eternal, saving
God of redemption and grace, our God. What marvelous, marvelous
names, each name giving us hope, blessed confidence in him. Like his many attributes, those
things by which he is called are things that identify his
character and identify his work. Tonight, I want us to look at
another name. a name that you may have never considered before,
a name by which God identifies himself and distinguishes himself
from all the imaginary gods of men, from all that men claim
to be gods. By this name, God distinguishes
himself. Turn with me, if you will, to
Exodus chapter 34. Exodus chapter 34. The title
of my message is Jealous. the name of our God. Jealous,
the name of our God. I recall when I was a boy, I
don't remember much that we studied in school, but I recall being
intrigued by Greek mythology. And in most nations of the world,
amongst the heathen throughout history, men have worshipped
multiple gods. And the gods all got along just
fine. They all got along just fine. None was jealous of the
other. The Lord God declares himself
the jealous God. Him whose name is jealous, the
jealous God. And he does so because he will
bear no rival. He will endure no rival. He will tolerate no rival. He alone is God, and therefore
he is rightfully jealous. In Exodus 34, verses 10 through
28, the Lord gives us here specific, very explicit instructions about
worshiping him. If we would worship him in spirit
and in truth, we must worship him as he here demands of his
people even in the Old Testament. Those ceremonies and rituals
and ordinances of the Old Testament were themselves examples of how
we must worship God in spirit and in truth. He inspires, he
tells us this is how we must worship him and he inspires this
worship. He inspires wholehearted devotion. He inspires utter consecration. He inspires us to give ourselves,
our lives, our being, everything to him with his jealousy. Let's read together beginning
at verse 10. Here's the first thing. In verses
10 and 11, God calls for us to admire something. To admire his
great covenant and all the works of his covenant that he performs
on our behalf by which he fulfills the covenant. Look at verse 10.
And he said, behold. Behold. We tend to read the scriptures
too rapidly. especially when we read them
privately or silently to ourselves. We tend to just read over many
times. When God says, Alan, behold,
that means now stop what you're doing. Stop what you're doing. Stop and pay attention. Stop
and listen. Stop and meditate on this. Pause
here and behold this wondrous thing. Here's something worth
thinking about. Here's something worth considering.
Behold, he says, and give thoughtful deliberation here. Admire and
wonder at this. I make a covenant. Why, the covenant
was made a long time before this. Even if you read it only speaking
about the covenant given at Sinai, the covenant was revealed long
before this. If you read it only about the covenant spoken of
to Abraham, the covenant was revealed long before this. But
he speaks of his covenant made from everlasting. And this covenant,
every time it is renewed, and every time it is made known to
one of God's people, it is as though God had freshly and right
now established his covenant. When the Lord God comes to you
in his saving grace, he makes covenant with you. He sets his
covenant in your heart. Remember how he spoke to Noah? He said, I've set my bow in the
sky. And by the bow in the sky, I'm
showing you I've made a covenant with you. And this covenant is
ordered in all things and sure. Behold, I make a covenant. I make a covenant before all
thy people, he says. This is my covenant. Before all
thy people, all the people of Moses, all the people of Israel,
all the host of God's elect, I will do marvels. Marvels. Hold your hands here. Turn to
Psalm 72. Before all thy people, I will
do marvels. Marvels. Those are unusual things. Marvels. I had occasion several
years ago. First I went to Alaska with Larry
and I. Flew up there and I preached
the folks up in Wasilla and we took a couple of days to tour
the place. I didn't think I'd ever go back and so I arranged
for us to stay for a couple of days. We, I don't know which
one it was, Larry or his brother or both of them, somehow they
managed to pay for me flying with a helicopter tour and landed
on a glacier. That's a marvel, wasn't it, buddy?
It was a marvel. You could fly with that helicopter,
looking down from the valley or looking down below, it looked
like just little cracks in the ice. You fly up there, if you
dared do so, you could have flown the helicopter through the cracks.
It's a marvel. Flying up there, you can see
the avalanches falling. And we landed on that thing,
got out and walked around. It's a marvel. Pictures won't describe
it. I've got all kinds of pictures.
They won't describe it. It's just a marvel. Now God says concerning
His people and His covenant, I will do marvels such as have
not been done in all the earth nor in any nation. I'm gonna
do marvels, marvels such as nobody's ever seen, and nobody's ever
considered, and no God's ever thought of. Look at Psalm 72
verse 14. He shall redeem their soul from
deceit and violence, and precious shall be their blood in his sight. You won't touch one of God's
people and get by with it. Oh no. Oh no. You're not gonna
assault God's church and get by with it. Oh no. Look at verse
17, Psalm 72. His name shall endure forever.
His name shall be continued as long as the sun. And men shall
be blessed in Him. All nations shall call Him blessed.
Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel. Look at this.
Who only doeth wondrous things. What did your God do? Oh, wondrous
things. Well, what else? Nothing. That's
all he does. Just wondrous things. He numbers
the hairs on your head. Oh, what a wondrous thing. What
a wondrous thing. He feeds the sparrow that falls
to the ground. What a wondrous thing. What a
wondrous thing. He paints the color of the lily
and the rose and the daffodil. Why, preacher, that's not wondrous.
Oh, yes it is. Because the most minute little
aspect of God's providence is as essential to our salvation
as the greatest thing he does. Nothing is done without purpose. Everything exactly as God orders
it. He only doeth wondrous things. God teach me. Oh God teach me
so to look upon your providence and so to look upon your grace.
And blessed be his glorious name forever. Let the whole earth
be filled with his glory. Amen and amen. All right, back
in Psalm 34. Still in verse 10. He's going to do these marvelous things,
such as no nation has ever seen. And all the people among which
thou art shall see the work of God. Every one of God's elect gonna
see his work. But that's not all. The whole
world's gonna see his work. And that's still not all. Every
demon in hell, every damned soul in hell, when God is finished,
all the universe, all in heaven, all in earth, all in hell. Satan,
who with his bolstered blustering said, I will take over being
God, will see God's works and will honor God for his works,
acknowledging, acknowledging. All he ever did was wondrous
things and did them just for Israel. Everybody's going to
see it. Everybody's going to see it and
acknowledge it. Read on. For it is a terrible
thing that I do with thee. That word terrible is another
word for marvelous or wondrous. It has the idea of startling,
surprising. Anything that surprises you,
no matter how good it is, no matter how delightful it is,
no matter how blessed it is, anything that just utterly is
unexpected, that just takes you by surprise, at first terrifies. He'll do terrible things. He
will do startling, surprising, wondrous things and nothing else
in the saving of his people. Verse 11. Observe thou that which
I command thee this day." What God requires, God gives. And what God commands, God performs. And that which God here commands
us, God here promises us that He will perform. We'll see it.
Read on. I drive out before thee the Amorite,
and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite,
and the Jebusite, all the wicked inhabitants of Canaan, all the
ungodly of the land, all the evil of the land. God says, I
drive it out. Now, later on we're going to
see that he commands the children of Israel to rest. And here he
says, observe thou that which I command thee this day. And
he begins by telling us, I'm going to see to it that you rest. I will drive out all your enemies,
all who oppose you. All who would prevent you from
possessing the land I've made for you. All who would keep you
from entering into the land of Canaan and enjoying it. All who
would keep you out of heaven and its glory. All that would
prevent you from entering into God's everlasting glory with
Christ Jesus. God says I'll take away all your
sins and I'll destroy all your enemies. the God of peace shall
brew Satan under your feet shortly. Next, in verses 12 through 17,
the Lord uses his jealousy to inspire our hearts to devotion.
He forbids us to mingle in any way with idolatry. Take heed, he says in verse 12,
to thyself. Lest thou make a covenant with
the inhabitants of the land, whither thou goest, lest it be
for a snare in the midst of thee. Now, clearly, God does not forbid,
as religion does, association with wicked people. I know you've
been taught all your life and you just instinctively think
to yourself, well, we ought not associate with those folks. They're
bad influence. Well, they are. They are. And
I do urge you wisely to choose for your companions and friends
those who fear God. But this self-righteous notion
that somehow you're better than other people and therefore you
ought not to associate with them lest their dirt rubs off on you
is not of God. Our Lord Jesus walked continually
among publicans and sinners. He walked continually among them.
And you and I live continually among them, and we ought not
pretend we're different. We ought not pretend we're different.
Well, what does the Scripture mean when we talk about separation?
Nothing like you thought. Nothing like you thought. He's
talking about separation from the religion of this world. Separation
from the idolatry of this world. Separation from the corrupt notions
of God taught by this world. Tells us, but ye shall destroy
their altars. You see that? You shall destroy
their altars. Break their images. Cut down
their groves. You mean, Brother Don, it's our
responsibility to destroy the altars of idolaters? To break
the image of idols? to cut down their groves? I recall
watching years ago a movie about Oliver Cromwell. Errol Flynn
starred as Cromwell. And he came into the churches
that during that era when the Church of England was running
as fast as it is now back to Rome. And they set the pulpit
to one side. And they set up an altar in the
front of the church buildings. And they had their crosses and
crucifixes and all that nonsense. And Errol Flynn comes, Cromwell
comes in and just smashes them to pieces and fights a war to
overthrow their altars and their groves. Well, as wonderful as
it is to read and study about in history, it's totally contrary
to the Word of God. No. Not by power. Not by force of arms, not by
law, not by legislation. That doesn't do any good. That
doesn't do any good. No, that's not what we're to
do. No, we're not to go down burning down buildings and burning
up altars and such as that. No. But what are we to do? How
does this affect us? By the preaching of the gospel
of God's grace. Let every faithful man who stands
in God's name utterly denounce and by the word of God destroy
every idol of freewill works religion, every altar, every
grove by which men would hide from God and religion. For thou
shalt worship no other God. No other God. Now here's the
motive. For the Lord, whose name is jealous,
is a jealous God. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
I was jealous for Zion, we read in Zechariah 8, with great jealousy. And I was jealous for her with
great fury. Solomon wrote, jealousy is the
rage of a man. The rage of a man against any
and everyone who would steal the heart of the wife he loves. Now, let me try to illustrate
what I think is necessary. When I was a young man, and this
lady sitting over here had agreed to marry me, I got wind that
there was a fella doing considerable flirting. And I hadn't been saved
long enough to know you're not supposed to kick his rear end
over his shoulders. And I was prepared to do so. And I let
him know that one more attempt and he would be looking upside
down. And I meant it. But the jealousy
was because. I wasn't just absolutely sure
of her love for me. And that makes jealousy as hard
on her as on me. Now I walk down the street, you
know, we've been married 40 years and fellas don't see her with
me and they'll look at her twice and eat your heart out, boy,
she's mine. As Barney said concerning Thelma
Lou, I got her in my hip pocket. And that's the way it is. That's
just the way it is. So jealousy is real hard to provoke
in me. But God knows your heart, Pop
Tuff. And He knows mine. And He knows
we would forsake Him for any love prone to wonder. Lord, I feel
it prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above."
Paul wrote to the Corinthians and said, I'm jealous over you
with a godly jealousy. I've espoused you as one husband
that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. Jealousy causes
a man to be watchful and quicksighted. God speaks of his people. And
he says, if Edom jeers at his prophet, watchman, what of the
night? Watchman, what of the night?
Or if Ammon so much as claps his hands. Come get, give me
your attention. toward his people so as to entice
the hearts of his people. The Lord God Almighty will spare
no violent wrath against them for their daring insolence toward
his people. Jealousy is merciless, violent,
cruel as the grave, Solomon says. It's impeccable. It can't be
reconciled. Balak was willing to give anything
to have his will with Israel. Haman was willing to pay 10,000
talents of silver to have the Jews destroyed. Ahasuerus was
willing to comply with Haman. And Esther said, we're sold,
I and my people, to be destroyed, to be slain, and to perish. But
God was jealous for Israel. And you know what God did with
Haman? He hanged him on the gallows he had built by which he would
destroy Israel. Go back to Exodus 34. Look at
verse 15. Verses 15, 16, 17. The Lord God
our jealous husband who hateth putting away. You remember Malachi
chapter 2. He hateth putting away. Here
he shows us that his concern This jealousy he has is as much
for us as for himself. He will not share his glory with
another. He will tolerate no rival, but
his concern is for us as well as for himself. Look at verse
15. Lest thou make a covenant with
the inhabitants of the land, and they go a-whoring after their
gods. Remember the treachery he speaks
of? those treacherous priests and prophets spoken of in Malachi
that calls in the people to go a whoring after other gods and
do sacrifice unto their gods and one call thee and thou eat
of his sacrifice and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons
and their daughters go a whoring after their gods and make thy
sons go a whoring after their gods Thou shalt make thee no
molten gods. Hold your hands here and turn
to, you turn to Revelation chapter 18. Revelation 18. And listen as I read this very
familiar passage in 2 Corinthians 6 again. Be ye not unequally yoked together
with unbelievers. Well, you ought not join a labor
union because they're not all saved people. You ever heard such stupidity?
I've heard it. Well, you ought not go to this
place or that because those are all lost folks over there. That
means you ought not go back home because most of the family is
too. No, that's not what he's talking about. He's talking about
religion and he explains it so. For what fellowship hath righteousness
with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light
with darkness? And what concord hath Christ
with Belial? He's talking about truth and
falsehood. Christ and Belial. Heaven and
hell. Light and darkness. He's talking
about religion. Don't participate in any way
with the religion of this world. Any of it. Any of it. Or what
part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement
hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the
living God. As God has said, I will dwell
in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they
shall be my people. Now what does God say about that?
Wherefore come out from among them. Come out from among them. I can't tell you how many times
I've had fellows tell me, well, Brother Don, I'd I'd come to
church over there talking about this place or other places where
I'd go to preach. But you know I teach Sunday school down here.
I've got some Bible study going on down here and I feel like
I ought to stay there and do what I can to help. Bologna.
And that's exactly what I say to them. You ain't teaching nothing.
That's it. I don't hesitate. You ain't teaching
nothing. And I know you're not because if you were they wouldn't
let you teach it. Well, let's teach it. God never says, stay
in and reform. He says, come out and be separate.
Come out from among them and be you separate, saith the Lord
God. And touch not. Do you remember what it said?
Touch not the unclean thing. If it's a religion involving
free will and works, call it what you will. It's unclean,
unrighteous, and ungodly. Doesn't matter whose name it
is. And I will be a father unto you,
and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Almighty. Now, this come out from among
them and be you separate is not something God says once in a
while. He says it repeatedly throughout the prophets of the
Old Testament, in 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and throughout the
book of Revelation, particularly here in chapter 18 verse 4. And
I heard another voice from heaven saying, come out of her. Whenever you read the book of
Proverbs, and you read about that strange woman, that enticing
strange woman, That's well decked, beautiful, enticing, strange
woman. Now I know somebody's going to
get this and run wild with it, but that's all right. Let them
take the rope and hang themselves. It's not talking about folks
in the red light district. That is not who it's talking
about. That is not who it's talking about. You who believe. Those folks
down on the corner, they're not much danger to you. I've been lots of places, lots
of cities, and been around lots of the ladies of the night, as
they're called, advertising. Do you know I've never just,
I've never even been inclined to stop and say, what's your
name? Not one time. But there's another strange woman. I've often been enticed by her
riches and her success and her approval and the applause she
receives from men everywhere. After all, here we are sitting
on the side of this hill over here. Who knows we exist? And if they did, who are you
to know? And who am I to know? where the lad, Chris, called
my attention to John's marveling at this great whore of riches. I drive by a beautiful, I mean
the most stunning, beautiful church building I've ever seen
in my life every time I drive around Little Rock, Arkansas.
And I thought, wow. I mean, it's pretty. I think,
boy, that'd look good sitting on a hillside in Danville, wouldn't
it? Wouldn't it? And every time I
drive by it anymore, for the last several years, I remember
what Larry said John said, or the angel said to John, wherefore
didst thou marvel? She's just a whore. Why are you so impressed? Look
here, Revelation 18.4. I heard another voice saying
from heaven, come out of her. Come out of her, my people, that
you be not partaker of her sins. If you stay there, that's what
you are. Well, Brother Don, I can't give this up. Okay, stay. This
is what you get, her sins. And that you receive not of her
plagues. Come out of her or go to hell
with her. There's no in between ground. come out of her, I'll go to hell
with her. There's no in between ground.
All right, back in our text. In verses 18 through 26, the
Lord God, our savior, whose name is jealous, demands that we worship
him alone. He will not share his glory with
another. He will not share his wife with
another. That's what Malachi 2 is all
about. the treachery of those false prophets, following the
example of Balaam, sharing his bride with the gods of this world,
profaning his holiness, making the blood and righteousness of
Christ meaningless with feigned, pretentious, hypocritical worship,
slobbering and crying like they're sincere. And God says, I know
better. God requires his people here. to keep holy convocations
to the Lord. He required them to keep three
distinct feasts. He mentions them in this next
few verses. But in this particular context,
he only mentions two of them. The first great feast, as is
given here, was the feast of unleavened bread. Look at verse
18. The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep seven days. Thou
shalt eat unleavened bread. as I commanded thee in the time
of the month of Bib, for in the month of Bib thou camest out
of Egypt. The Feast of Unleavened Bread,
you'll remember, was really just a continuation of the Feast of
Tabernacles. I'm sorry, the Feast of Passover,
which represented Christ, our Passover, who was sacrificed
for us. These two feasts that God mentions,
passing by the Feast of Passover, Passing by that mentions first
the Feast of Unleavened Bread. These two feasts speak only of
our experience of grace. They speak only of faith in Christ
and the blessed experience of God's grace. The Feast of Unleavened
Bread follows the Feast of Passover. The basis of our acceptance with
God is the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer, the Paschal
Lamb who laid down His life for us. But we come to God feeding
upon him, the Lord Jesus Christ, by faith. We come to God tasting
that the Lord is gracious. This Feast of Unleavened Bread
then is a picture of faith in the Lord Jesus and our Lord uses
it that way in John chapter 6. Now be sure you don't miss the
connection. The Feast of Unleavened Bread
is intimately connected and immediately follows the Passover. And so
it is that the gift of faith, the gift of eternal life, and
the gift of faith with that gift of eternal life by God the Holy
Spirit is given to all those, only those, and all those for
whom Jesus Christ laid down his life at Calvary. That's what
we're told in Galatians 3. Christ hath redeemed us from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for us, and it was thus
that he was made a curse for us that the blessing of Abraham,
the promise of the Spirit, might come on us Gentiles in Christ
Jesus. And we come together as one family,
eating this blessed feast, Christ Jesus the Lord, our unleavened
bread. Then in verses 19 and 20, we
see that all our worship, Our God and Savior demands in it,
and he deserves in it, singleness of heart and utter devotion. All that openeth the matrix is
mine. Virginia, you may or may not
know this. I'm sure Mark won't mind me saying
it publicly. When my son-in-law, Doug, first
got to the hospital, you were there. He said to Doug, I'd hate to
live without her. I can't imagine life without
her. But she's the Lord's. That's what. Eli said concerning
his sons, wasn't it? It is the Lord, let him do what
seemeth him good. Everything on this earth is mine,
not yours. I gave birth to these children.
That doesn't make them yours. Everything that opens the womb
is mine, God said. Every firstling, that includes
your Black Angus cattle and your charlays and all the others. That includes your ox and that
includes your sheep. That is male. But the firstling
of an ass. Now wait a minute. An ass? The unclean animal. An ass, all it's good for is
carrying a load and making dog food. The unclean animal. The firstling of an ass. That's
mine too. That's mine too. Thou shalt redeem
with the lamb. And if you won't redeem it, if
you won't sacrifice a lamb for it, then kill it. Then thou shalt
break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons
thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before
me empty, that is, without a sacrifice. Oh, I can't tell you how thankful
I am that our God includes the unclean ass among things that
might be redeemed with a lamb. The ass, redeem it. Redeem it
with a lamb or break its neck. But blessed be God, a lamb can
redeem it. and the Lamb of God is my Redeemer. Look at verse 22. He commands Israel then to observe
the Feast of Weeks. Thou shalt observe the Feast
of Weeks, of the firstfruits of the week's harvest, and the
Feast of ingathering at the year's end. The Feast of Week, the Feast
of ingathering refers to the resurrection of Christ. We know
that because he is called the first fruit from the dead. And
it refers to our resurrection with Christ, both our spiritual
resurrection in the new birth and our resurrection bodily at
the last day. There is the resurrection spiritual. He that hath part in the first
resurrection shall never die. And there is the resurrection
of this body when Christ comes again. This mortal shall put
on incorruption and our immortality and this corruptible put on incorruption. And the resurrection is that
which Christ Jesus does as he gathers his people out of four
corners of the earth. Bring me the first fruits. Bring me the first and the best
of everything. Oh God teach me that. The first and the best of everything. Don't attempt to give God seconds. Don't attempt to bring God leftovers. The first and the best of everything. Not only that, the first fruits
speak of the in-gathering of God's elect by God the Holy Spirit
as it was portrayed on the day of Pentecost when the Lord gathered
3,000 at one time to himself. Now, read the special distinct
instruction given by our God whose name is Jealous, verse
25. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven. Don't mix anything with the blood
of Christ. Nothing. But what about my Bible
reading? Can it but dumb. But what about
my tithing? Can it but dumb. This past week
down in North Carolina, They had a picture in the paper
down there. It was even Spring Lake or Fort Bragg paper. I don't
remember which, but I saw the picture. Oh, it was impressive.
It was impressive. This old gal had attended Sunday
school for 70 years without an unexcused absence. And she had
a pen for every year. Some of y'all have never seen
Sunday school pens, have you? Man, if she had tried to put
them on, they'd have made her hump back. She had them on her
yard since she wore one at a time. Oh, does that all count for something?
It does. Dung. That's all. You mean, Brother
Dodd, nobody can do anything good by which they have any hope
before God? Yeah. That's what it means. Don't
offer the blood. of my sacrifice with your leaven. Neither shall the sacrifice of
the feast of the Passover be left until the morning. That
is, you don't pick and choose. You take the whole sacrifice. All salvation by Jesus Christ
crucified or no salvation. Verse 26. The first fruits of
thy land thou shalt bring unto me. Under the house of the Lord
thy God, the first, the best, nothing else. Thou shalt not
see the kid in his mother's milk. Hmm. What on earth does that
mean? That very command is given three
times in the Old Testament. What on earth is it talking about?
Well, it was a pagan tradition. A pagan tradition. A pagan superstition. by which heathen folks would
seed the kid in his mother's milk and hope to make their land
fertile. Kind of like rubbing a rabbit's
foot or crossing yourself when you come in church, Bill, or
any other tradition or custom or superstition mixed with the
worship of God. If you can't find it in the book,
don't do it. Now, look at verse 21. Here the
Lord God gives us a blessed command. His sweet and blessed command is rest. Six days shalt thou
work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest. Doesn't matter
whether it's hearing time or harvest. No work. In hearing time and in harvest,
thou shalt rest. In the Old Testament, the most
prominent thing in the Old Testament was rest. It was the Sabbath
day, the keeping of the Sabbath, most prominent thing in the Old
Testament. God rested on the seventh day. God instituted the
Sabbath and required that men and women who broke the Sabbath,
I mean if you went and picked up sticks on the Sabbath day,
if you went and picked up sticks on the Sabbath day, if you lit
a fire on the Sabbath day, had to be stoned to death. Why? Because the Sabbath day pictured It pictured shutting down the
theaters on Sunday. It pictured folks not being able
to work on Sunday. The steel mills have to close
down. If it means they'll go bankrupt, they've got to close
them down on Sunday. What stupidity. What nonsense. You got to keep the Sabbath day,
starts at midnight on Saturday, on Friday night, well since this
is the New Testament, it started at midnight on Sunday, we just
do that for convenience sake, since everybody does it that
way. And you can't do anything until midnight on Monday. Which
time zone? What part of the country? Are
you beginning to see how stupid the laws of men are? How utterly
ridiculous it is for men to try to pretend that they keep the
law that God never gave to anybody but Israel and gave it to them
only as a type of redemption and grace in Christ. We keep
the Sabbath. We don't do any work. Don't do
any work. When you walk in sweet communion with
God, our Savior, and He manifests Himself to you in wondrous, intimate
grace, giving us, as you read back there, Larry, a token for
good. We don't do anything. And when there's not a feeling
in my heart, and there's not a work to which
to point, Not a thought nor a desire that would make me feel better
about myself. Oh, now I've got to start doing
something. No. Rest. Rest. God teaches me to rest. Rest. He commands it. Now listen to
me. I told you what God commands, God performs. He accomplished
it in Christ. And Claus, he will graciously
force us to give up all hope but Christ the Lord. Oh, what
a blessing. May God do that for you. One
more thing. In the last verses of this chapter,
we have a beautiful foreshadowing of our Savior. We're told in
verses 27 and 28 that Moses as he was receiving the law,
did a strange thing. He fasted for 40 days and 40
nights. Fasted in the beginning of the
law. There is another prophet like
unto Moses, of whom the prophet Moses spoke. of whom we read
in Matthew chapter 4, as he began his earthly ministry publicly
fulfilling the law, he who is the end of the law, fasted for
40 days and 40 nights. And when Moses had been up in
the mount and received the law from God, his face shone, dazzling
with brilliance. And when the Lord Jesus was about
to ascend into heaven's glory, having finished everything written
in the book of the law as our substitute, we read that on the
Mount of Transfiguration, he was transformed before the eyes
of Peter and James and John. And his face, his skin, and his
clothes He glistens with the glory of
the triune God, having accomplished redemption. He, having made certain
that those people chosen of God, loved of God, called of God,
will never be taken from him, because his name is John. The zeal of thine house, he said,
will perform it. Do you know what the word zeal
is? Take a guess. The jealousy of your house will
perform it. Amen.