How often have you read in the
scriptures where God would give some law or commandment, particularly
those things given in the Old Testament, and you ask yourself,
why did God require that? Why did God demand that the people
do this? Why did the Lord institute that
service or that ceremony or that sacrifice or that holy day? What
does all this mean? What's the purpose of it? Really,
that's exactly what you ought to do when you read the Old Testament
scriptures and the various aspects of the law and those things given
to typify the work of our Redeemer in the gospel. Every law God
gave to Israel, every law God gave to Israel, every commandment,
every ceremony, every ordinance of divine worship, every holy
day, every holy week, every law God gave to Israel was designed
and intended by God to teach us something about the person
and work of our Lord Jesus Christ and how it is that God saves
sinners by the sacrifice of his dear son as our substitute. To
teach us something about the gospel of his grace. Those laws
given that are commonly referred to as the Ten Commandments were
not commandments given to teach morality. Morality is pretty
good. I'd whole lot rather live in
a society that has some moral decency than live in one that
has none. But morality is not going to do your soul any good.
Morality is not going to help you toward God. The law of God
was given to teach us our need of the Savior and to show us
how it is that the Son of God accomplishes salvation for us. All that is true with regard
to God's law. And it is true also with regard
to the tabernacle as we've been looking at it in the book of
Exodus. All the furnishings of the tabernacle, the priesthood,
the various sacrifices, the golden lamp stand, the table of showbread,
the mercy seat, the Ark of the Covenant, the veil in the temple,
all the tabernacle boards, the tabernacle itself, all those
things pointed to Christ, our tabernacle. But in the midst
of giving the commandments concerning the making of the tabernacle,
as God told Moses how the tabernacle must be furnished, how everything
was to be supplied, how it was to be erected, He gives a commandment. He gives a commandment about
Sabbath-keeping. He goes back to that which he
had stated in Exodus chapter 20 and elaborates on how the
children of Israel are to keep the Sabbath. Now, look at Exodus
chapter 31 and see it. Here he gives specific instructions
about Sabbath-keeping and tells us why he's so insistent upon
it. why he demanded the children
of Israel to keep the Sabbath throughout their generations.
That seems a bit strange, it seems a bit out of place, but
here we're taught by the Spirit of God that this Sabbath-keeping
is intimately connected with all the worship of God at the
altar and at the mercy seat. Indeed, the Sabbath-keeping was
as necessary as the sacrifices. The Sabbath keeping was as necessary
as the offering of the blood of the lamb. The Sabbath keeping
was as necessary as the sprinkling of the blood on the mercy seat.
Why was it so important? And my subject tonight is the
purpose of the Sabbath. We'll begin in Exodus chapter
31 and verse one. Understand this in the opening
verses. When God Almighty has a work that he would have done
on the earth. When God Almighty is about to
perform a work among men, he never lacks men or a man to perform
the work he intends. We concern ourselves, I'm sure
more than you. I'm 59 years old now. I've been
pastor of this congregation for 30 years. And I've got less days
ahead of me than I've got behind me. And I've seen horrible things
happen to a congregation that's been faithful for a long time
under the leadership of a man called of God. And I'm concerned. I can't tell you how concerned
for your welfare when I'm gone. The concern is right. but I ought
not fret concerning it. If this is God's work and God
would have it continued, when I have breathed my last breath,
God will supply another man to do the work he would have done
in this place. God never lacks a man to do anything
that he would have done. Look at verse one. And the Lord
spake unto Moses, saying, See, I have called by name Bezalel. The man's name means shadow of
God. That's a pretty good name for
a fellow whom God has raised up to perform the great work
of building the tabernacle. Can you imagine Moses, this man
who was trained in all the learning of Egypt, but this man who appears
not to have had any particularly distinguishing skills with his
hands. He's got to make the tabernacle,
and he's got to make all the furnishings of the tabernacle,
and he's got to have the embordering just right, and all the carvings
in the wood, all those things. How am I going to do that? How
am I going to do that? I can almost imagine Moses as
he's listening to God give the instructions we read in these
previous chapters about the tabernacle. But Lord, how? Ah, not once does
he raise a question concerning it, and here God tells him how
to be done. He says, I've called by name
Bezalel, the son of Uriah, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah,
and I have filled him with the Spirit of God. I've filled him
with the Spirit of God. Now let me tell you what that
means, to be filled with the Spirit of God. I've caused him
to be directed by controlled by, governed by the Spirit of
God. Filling with the Holy Spirit
is not some wild Pentecostal experience. It is not some thing that you just kind of once
in a while have a tingling up down your spine and you feel
good about religion. To be filled with God's Spirit
is to be controlled by the Spirit. Be not drunk with wine wherein
is excess, but be ye filled with the Holy Spirit. I filled him
with the Spirit of God. What's that mean? In wisdom and
in understanding and in knowledge and in all manner of workmanship
to devise cunning works, to work in gold and in silver and in
brass and in cutting of stones. to set them and in the carving
of timber to work in all manner of workmanship. I filled this
man whose name means shadow of God to do the work of making
my house. I filled this man whose name
means shadow of God with the Holy Spirit and I've given him
wisdom and understanding and knowledge in all that's necessary
for all things in the erecting of the tabernacle, in the building
of this house, and all its furnishings. Not that this man did it all.
He didn't. But he is the man who oversaw
the whole of the work by the direction of God. Every appointment
of providence and every appointment of grace is God's work. Everything involved in the worship
of God is prescribed by God alone. Indeed, if we worship God, if
we worship God, we worship Him as He has ordained, we worship
Him as He requires, or we do not worship Him. Anything added
to the worship of God means there's no worship of God. Anything taken
from the worship of God means there's no worship of God. I'm
often question concerning the matter of baptism. Well, why
are we so insistent upon doing things the way we do them? Because
that's the only way you can do it. That's all. That's the only
way you can do it. Anything else is a mockery of
baptism. Immersion is not the mode of baptism. That's the only
way you baptize anybody. You got to stick them under the
water. You can't do it any other way. Anything else is a mockery.
We observe the Lord's table, folks. What would you do if we
didn't? We won't observe it any other
way. We won't observe the Lord's table any other way than as we
do because this is how God has prescribed it to be done. We
come to his house. And in this place, God giving
us grace, as long as I have any influence as your pastor, we
will do exactly what we're doing tonight every time we gather
in this place. We'll read scripture. We'll pray
and we'll sing and we'll hear God's word preached. Well, that
doesn't keep up with the times. I've been behind the times all
my life on purpose. And I plan to stay that way.
But what about all the contemporary things that go on? It's contemporary
nonsense. Contemporary tomfoolery performed
in the name of God. And God is not worshipped. God
is not worshipped in most places where folks talk about worshipping
God. He's mocked, mocked in his house, held in contempt. The
worship of God as it is set forth throughout the scriptures, even
in the intricate details of tabernacle worship, was a matter of simplicity. You take blood, you take it into
the mercy seat, you sprinkle it on the mercy seat, you come
out and you bless the people. It's a matter of utter simplicity.
Everything directing our hearts and our minds to Jesus Christ
the Lord. Let nothing be done in this house
of worship. Let nothing be done in disassembly
of God's people. Not a word sung, not a word spoken
that draws attention to man and away from Christ. God give us
wisdom and grace to worship him. This man, Bezalel, was chosen
of God for this specific work. He was not, however, identified
as the man God had chosen to do it. until time came for the
work to be done. Nobody had any idea what God
was doing with this man, Bezalel. He was, his mama and daddy must
have thought he was something else. He, he had lots of skills,
lots of talents, didn't have any idea. Nobody knew what was
going on until God said, this is the man I've chosen for it.
And so it is with God's servants. They are never known until they're
needed. They are never raised up and
made known by God until they're needed in the place of service
where God has ordained for them. And God gave Bezalel everything
he needed to do the work. Everything. He was filled with
the spirit. He had wisdom. Understanding. Knowledge. Talents. Everything needed. everything
needed. The other man who was named in
verse six, who assisted Bezalel in this work, is a fellow by
the name of Aholiab. His name means tent. These two
men chosen by God were raised up by him for this work. Read
on what he says. Verse six, and I, behold, I have
given with him, with Bezalel, Aholam, the son of Ahishamak,
of the tribe of Dead. And in the hearts of all that
are wise-hearted I have put wisdom, that they may make all that I
have commanded thee, the tabernacle of the congregation, and the
ark of the testimony, and the mercy seat that is thereupon,
and all the furniture of the tabernacle, and the table, and
his furniture, and the pure candlestick with all his furniture, and the
altar of incense, and the altar of burnt offering with all his
furniture, and the laver and his foot, and the clothes of
the service, and the holy garments for Aaron the priest, and the
garments of his sons to minister in the priest's office, and the
anointing oil, and sweet incense for the holy place, according
to all that I have commanded thee, shall they do. The Lord took these men and specifically
fitted them for the work. He fitted them for the work.
Oh, how much more do you reckon? The Lord God fits a man to serve
his church, his kingdom, in the place where he would have it.
and the place where it puts him at. I never cease to be amazed
how God causes congregation and a pastor to just mesh. He prepares
the man all his life to serve him in a specific place, in a
specific place. God's servants aren't called
just to serve here or there. They're called to do a specific
thing, to serve a specific people in a specific place. And he prepares
each man for the place where he'd put him uniquely. I just
came back from Princeton, New Jersey. When those folks first
asked me to serve as their pastor until the Lord was pleased to
raise up a pastor for them if he would establish a church there.
This is Princeton's academic place, you know. It's a place
where lots of folks go to school. It's northern territory. I mean,
life is different up yonder. It's just different. And I'm
not saying that meanly, I'm just saying that honestly. It's different.
They live different than we do. But the first person that came
to my mind, I didn't tell them this, the very first person that
came to my mind, Clay Curtis. We've got to have him now. I
just believe he would. I believe he'd make a good pastor.
Clay Curtis, an Arkansas Razorback hillbilly. Clay Curtis, fella
who talks more Southern than I do. Clay Curtis, that fella
who's just so straightforward. I mean, straightforward without
backing up at all. Clay Curtis. Honest, I don't
believe there's anybody on this earth could be fitted for them
like Clay Curtis is. Just don't believe in anybody.
Matter of fact, I know it. There he is. When folks down
at Taylor, Got interested in calling a pastor. That's where
Clay was raised. Wonder why he didn't go down
there. He wasn't fitted for down there. He wasn't fitted for down
there. He couldn't have pastored down
there. As a matter of fact, when he and they were thinking about
it, both of them talked to me at different times. I said, he
can't do that. He can't pastor there. If God's in it, he can,
but I just don't, I don't think so. I think y'all be careful.
They will all acknowledge it couldn't have happened. They
wound up calling a fella from up here. who's my age, had a
good job. And all the background, all the
background, good times and bad. You know what God would do with
Darwin Pruitt the last 20 years he'd been here at Danville? Prepare
him to go down there and be a pastor. And Larry Brown, he'd do a fantastic
job. God just fit them together like
hand in glove. God prepares a man. He gifts
it for those particular people whom he would have that man to
serve. And he also gifts him with the
Spirit of God, and with wisdom, and with knowledge, and with
understanding, so that he is apt to teach. That is, he has
the ability to teach, he is willing to teach, he's given to teach,
he's given an understanding of the book so that he can teach,
and God gifts him with the ability to preach his word. I often see men who talk about
God's called them to do this, that, or the other, and then
they go begging. And I'll tell you what I do.
I ignore them. I ignore them. Well, you know,
for a man to go to a mission field, he's got to have some
money. If God had me on a mission field, he'll put me there and
he'll supply whatever money I need. I'm not going begging. Now, you
folks bear me witness. I just don't ask, just don't
ask. You might ask me what it would take to get you out here.
I tell them I'm embarrassed that you should think you should ask
me what it would take to get me to come to this place or that. No, if
God's in it, God will supply the needs. He always has, and
he always will. And if God doesn't supply the
needs, God's not in it. It's that simple. If you've got
to compromise to get something accomplished, God's not in it.
He's not in it. I see fellas try to do things to open doors
for themselves and to enhance their ministries and all that. Not God's service. God says,
I prepared Bezalel and Aholabab, these fellas I've supplied with
everything needed to do the work. And I say, let God send me and
send us where he will. Let him put in our hands whatever
he will. Whatever it is. If he'll be with
us. If he'll be with us, hell can't
stop us. Did you hear me? Larry Chris,
if God's with us, hell can't stop us. Nothing. Nothing. Surely, Bezalel and Aholahab
are names that point above mere men to the Lord Jesus himself. After all, he is the revealer
of God in a tent of humanity. That's the meaning of his incarnation
and his obedience. He came here to make God known
to men. All right, look at verse 12.
Here, the Lord tells us what the Sabbath sign was given to
teach. Exodus 31, 12. And the Lord spake
unto Moses, saying, Speak thou unto the children of Israel,
saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep for it. Now remember this when you get
to Colossians chapter 2. There are law mongers who will
tell you that Colossians 2, 16, where it forbids Sabbath keeping,
it's talking about holy days, plural, it's not talking about
Sabbath. Remember what he said right here. Verily, my Sabbaths,
plural, that takes in, Bob, all the holy days, all the Sabbath
days, Sabbaths, plural. My Sabbaths, ye shall keep for
it. Well, that's mighty poor grammar.
No, that's real good inspiration. It refers to all the holy days. The whole law of the Sabbath
regards every Sabbath day and every holy day. It is a sign,
a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may
know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. ye shall keep
the Sabbath therefore for it is holy unto you. Everyone that
defileth it, everyone that defileth it shall
surely be put to death. How do you defile the Sabbath?
How can you defile the day? How did Uzzah defile the ark
of God? Do you remember? He put his hand
on it. How does a man defile God's work? He puts his hand to it. He puts
his hand to it. He decides that there's something
he must do to complete, to finish, to help, to support, to perfect
God's work. For whosoever doeth any work
therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Now,
That certainly refers to any work. But look at the context. What's the work he's talking
about? He's talking about making the tabernacle. He's talking
about bringing sacrifices to God. He's talking about the priest
going in and doing his business in the holy place. He's talking
about the offerings brought before the Lord. He's talking about
the service of God. He says, if any man On the Sabbath
day, does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among
his people. 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, that's how you defile it,
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. That is a sign of a perpetual
covenant, for it is a sign between me and the children of Israel
forever. For in six days, the Lord made
heaven and earth. And on the seventh day, he rested. And then I believe for the first
time in my life, I read these next three words. and was refreshed. I've read those, and honestly,
I don't yet have a clue what it's talking about. The word
means breathed. On the seventh day, the Lord
stopped working and he, he was refreshed. He was pleased. He was delighted. with everything
finished and perfected exactly according to his will. And the
seventh day, all being done, he rested and was refreshed. Look at verse 16. I'm sorry,
verse 13. The Lord says this is a sign
between me and you throughout your generations that you may
know that I am the Lord that does sanctify thee. What's the
purpose of the Sabbath? It is to teach us, it is to teach
us that God alone is our Savior. That the triune God without our
aid sanctifies His own. that the triune God, without
our assistance, does the complete work of saving His people. To
tell us that God, the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
without any assistance from man, without His decision, without
His work, without His doing, makes man perfectly holy before
Him in Christ Jesus the Lord. I, the Lord, do sanctify thee.
This is one of those names of our Lord, like Jehovah Raphael,
like Jehovah Sidkenu, this name Jehovah Imkadish, that is Jehovah
who doth sanctify you. He sanctified us, made us holy,
set us apart as his own in eternal election. He sanctified us, made
us holy in righteousness, justifying us from all things by the obedience
and death of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And he sanctifies his own,
making us holy, putting a new nature in us, making us partakers
of the divine nature by the work of the Holy Spirit in sovereign
regeneration. And hear what I say. Hear what
I say. Search it out in the book of
God for yourself. There is no salvation without
God's choice in election. And there's no salvation without
Christ's blood atonement in redemption. And every sinner for whom the
blood was shed was chosen by God in eternity. But God's election
and Christ's blood is not in itself salvation. There's no
salvation until a sinner chosen and redeemed by Christ, chosen
and redeemed by God, is called by the Spirit, given life in
Jesus Christ the Lord, made partaker of the divine nature. This law
of the Sabbath was given to give rest. Oh, blessed, blessed rest
is given to picture. And then after describing the
Sabbath, declaring the whole work of making us holy, declaring
that it is altogether the work of God. God gave Moses his law
on two tables of stone. Reckon why he waits to now to
do what he promised back in chapter 24 he was going to do. In chapter
24, verse 12, the Lord said, I'm going to give you the law
written by my finger on two tables of stone. And then he goes through
all of these commandments with regard to the tabernacle, the
full accomplishment of salvation, the full accomplishment of redemption. And he gives Moses these two
tables of law written with the finger of God on tablets of stone. Look at verse 18. And he gave
unto Moses, when he had made an end of communion with him
upon Mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone,
written with the finger of God. I reckon I know why he waited
till now. Because when God brings his salvation to you in the sweet
experience of his grace, He does what God alone can do. With the
finger of God, he writes on your heart his law, as he said he
would in his covenant. Listen to this. Ye are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered to by us,
written not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God,
not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart. This is the covenant, God said,
that I will make with them with the house of Israel after those
days. I will put my laws into their mind and write them in
their hearts and I will be to them a God and they shall be
to me a people. So when God writes his law on
the hearts of chosen sinners, he writes it on the hearts of
men whom he causes to rest in Christ Jesus, the Lord. men and
women whom he calls us to find sweet repose in his darling son. Let me talk to you just briefly
now about this Sabbath rest that the Sabbath pointed to. You can
quote it by heart, but turn to Matthew chapter 11, Matthew chapter
11. See how the Sabbath is described. This blessed rest, as a matter
of fact, the word rest in the New Testament, if it were written
out in English letters, would be the word Sabbath. That's the
word, Sabbath. Rest and Sabbath refers to the
same thing. Here in Matthew 11, verse 28,
come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. That's our Savior's word, lost,
ruined, hell-bent sinners. Come to me, all you that labor
and are heavy laden. Come to me with all your heavy
load of guilt oppressing you, with all the horrible, horrible
awareness of your sin pressing you down. Come unto me, all you
that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Oh, for one who's weary Nothing
is sweeter than rest. And this is rest that only Christ
can give. This is rest that only the son
of God can give. He gives rest to your soul by
making you to know that his righteousness and his obedience, his blood,
his death, his grace is all you need. Come unto me and I'll give
you rest. And here's our master's word
to us all. both the unbeliever and the believer.
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. Remember how the spirit of God
spoke to Paul that it's hard for thee to kick against the
bricks. Merle, I wish I could learn all
ways to immediately bow, don't you? It's so much easier. So much easier. Just slip under
the yoke. Just slip under the yoke. But
as long as you rebel, as long as you fight, as long as you
resist, as long as you say, no, I have my way, you're going to
chafe for it. But take my yoke upon you. Children of God, Whatever God
in his providence brings to you, willingly slip under the yoke. Willingly bow. Willingly submit. You're going to submit, I promise
you. And you're going to be glad that you did. Willingly bow to
him and you shall find rest unto your souls in all the circumstances
of life, bow to Christ and rest. That's the meaning of keeping
the Sabbath. That's what it's all about. Resting
in Him. When we buck and rebel, we're
miserable. And when we bow, like God On the seventh day,
we rest and are refreshed. Breathe easy, for all is well. All is well. Now, somebody asked,
well, don't you think it'd be all right if we keep Sabbath
today, like they did in the Old Testament, just to honor God? No. That doesn't honor God. No more than going back and circumcising
your babies in the name of God honors God. No more than going
back and sacrificing a lamb on a Jewish altar would honor God.
Sabbath keeping, literal Sabbath keeping, physical Sabbath keeping
is absolutely forbidden to those who rest in Christ. And the fact
is you can't rest in him and keep a physical Sabbath as long
as you keep trying to obey the law. As long as you keep trying
to make yourself holy, you only defile God's sacrifice. But when you cease from all and rest, rest, rest in the Savior,
rest in his blood, rest in his righteousness, rest in his grace,
and you will find rest for your soul forever. Amen.