Will you turn in your Bibles
to Daniel 24? You can follow me in your outline. We will be looking at our outline
strictly today because of the things that are prepared for
us to hear. Daniel 9. Verse 24 is what we'll be dealing
with today. My elder remarked as we were
passing this morning one simple comment that I had
been meditating upon in my mind and he just actually said it
out loud. He said, I I love the word. I love the word. In fact, he said, I love that
word. Loving God's Word is a gift. In fact, that's the reason why
God gave us His Word, that we might love Him and love Him through
it. Oh, how love I thy law! It is my meditation all the day
long. Through your precepts do I get
understanding, and by it I hate every false way. thy words were
found, and I did eat them, and they were the joy and rejoicing
of my heart. I esteem your precepts above
all things to be right. I desire your counsel more than
my daily meat. Man shall not live by bread alone,
but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God shall
a man live. Oh how love I thy law. And that's exactly why the angel
came to Daniel. We're going to be looking at
one verse today. That's Daniel chapter 9 verse 24. And I want you to see in your
outline what the angel by the command of God does for Daniel,
because Daniel loved God and he loved God's word and he desired
God to speak to him. Verses 24 through 27, which is
a portion of scripture we'll be dealing with for a couple
of weeks, is Daniel's reward for diligently seeking God. The Bible says he that cometh
to God must believe that he is and that he is a rewarder of
them that diligently seek him. And there are two principles
that I want you to keep in mind, and that's this. First, God is
known by the judgments which he executes. That's Psalm 9 verse
16. Now hear it now as I lay a foundation. To know God requires considering
and observing how God acts. That's how you know God. So God
is known by the judgments which he executes. I'm going to develop
that today in a very acute manner, but I want to drive it home.
If you're going to know God, It's it's because you're going
to pay attention to what God has said and what God has done
Daniel knew this the prophets knew this John the Apostle knew
this and Jesus said in John 17 3 and This is eternal life That
they might know you the only true God and Jesus Christ whom
thou hast sent. But children of God, because
of our natural obscurity, you know what obscurity means, right?
Our natural darkness, our natural blindness, our natural ignorance,
God's glory revealed in his acts. Even the manifestation of himself,
the invisible God, in the person of His Son Jesus Christ, which
is the quintessential act of God Almighty in the revelation
of Himself, still evades us unless God removes the veil and allows
us to see Him. Am I making some sense? And the prophets cried out. I
remember David cried out, Lord, when shall I appear before God
in his troubles and in his sorrows and in his darkness when he felt
that God had Distanced himself and allowed him to go through
those trials and he realized that he wasn't in that favorable
disposition anymore where he could readily think upon God
and readily draw from the promises of God and readily rejoice in
God's Providence is in his life. Has anyone been there where it's
been so dark in your life. You ask the question. Did I ever
know God at all at once? I And David says, when shall
I appear before God? I long to see him. I long to
be in his presence. I long to hear his word. I long
to see God in his sanctuary. David understood something about
the necessity of God's revelation to him. This is true of all God's
people. This is how you know God's dealing with you. You want
to hear from God. You want to see God's glory.
You want God's presence to be made manifest in your life. This
is how you know. I think it was Job who said in
the book of Job, when he went through that horrible trial,
which most of us do not have to go through, but his friends
didn't help him any. And as he was going through his
troubles, he cried out to one of his friends. He says, I've
sought God. It's not like I've not sought him. I've sought God. But when I look for him on the
right hand, he wasn't there. And then I look for God on the
left hand, behold, He had hid Himself. Does anyone know what
I'm talking about? When you go to pray and you don't
get a response. When you read the Word and it's
a completely different language to you. It's computer language
and you know nothing about computers. And you talk to your brothers
and your sisters in Christ and they can't bring you any comfort.
And your soul is just stuck in this pit. You know what it does?
If you're born of God, it cries. Abba Father. Because that's the
nature of the Spirit in us that's been born of God. When we have
received the Spirit of adoption, we cry, what? Abba Father. Abba
Father. It was John in Revelation chapter
5 verses 1 through 4, very much aware that unless God opened
the book, unless God opened the book, unless there was someone
capable of opening the book and speaking to us as to what life
will be like as it unfolds throughout human history to the end of time,
that all men would be miserable. Daniel or John cried. The Bible
says in John, Revelation chapter five, around verse three, John
says, and I wept much. I wept much because no one was
able to open the seals. This man is 100 years old. He's
weeping like a little baby. Why? He understood the necessity
of human beings hearing from God. He understood the necessity
of you and me being able to have the privilege of hearing from
God and seeing God's works. So critical, children of God.
So critical. I remember watching a PBS special
a couple of months ago. about these monkeys, little bitty
monkeys, slim monkeys. These are cute monkeys, not the
goofy looking ones. These are the cute little monkeys.
You know, you got all kinds of monkeys, right? But these are
the little cute ones. And these monkeys, they had the
sense to know how to travel a good ways away to find a particular
fruit that grew on a tree. And this fruit had a very hard
shell. Now they knew what time of season
it was to go get the fruit. And they climbed the tree and
they would shake the tree so that the fruit fell to the ground.
It come down out of that tree. Now mind you, they have traveled
miles to get here. And so when they pick up the
fruit, they were able to determine that the fruit wasn't quite ready
to be eaten so they left it right where it was for a week or so
in the sun on the ground and they come back and they try to
open that that shell to get at the fruit and they couldn't do
it and over time they learned how to take that fruit which
had a very hard shell and put it on a hard surface and they
went and picked up some boulders They grabbed the boulders and
lifted the boulders up. You could see them. If I can
just get this fruit, the shell of it to crack, I can get at
the meat. And they labored and labored.
You could see them dropping that rock, going and getting that
rock, dropping that rock, going and getting that rock. They labored
until that shell cracked. And they were able to eat the
fruit that was inside that shell. Now if God makes monkeys and
give them the kind of tenacity that he did to get at the fruit
that God made for them, how much more so shall we or should we
be pursuing God's Word? How much more so should we be
pursuing God's Word? This is what Daniel is doing.
And Daniel has cried out, and we saw last week in the message
of Daniel the mediator, Daniel cries out in verse 19, oh Lord,
chapter nine, verse 19, oh Lord, hear, oh Lord, hear and forgive. Oh Lord, hearken and do. Defer
not for thine own sake, oh my God. And here is the object of
his petition, your city and your people, which are called by your
name. Daniel is mediating on the behalf
of God's elect. He's mediating on the behalf
of sinners for whom Christ has died Daniel stands in the gap
just like Jesus stands in the gap for us and Daniel is saying
God do this not for our sake but for your glory sake and for
the glory that you placed upon your people and The angel came
to Daniel and said Daniel even while the word was coming out
of your mouth God gave me commandment to come to you to tell you what
you need to know and that God is doing in regards to his people. And I'm here to tell you saints,
we have the privilege if by the grace of God we would study his
word and listen to his word to know what God is doing in the
behalf of his people through the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This is the context upon which The angel is now going
to speak to Daniel, that is Gabriel, about what he is to understand.
I want you to see with me over in verse 23, the commandment. I want you to hear it now. I
want you to hear this for yourself. I'm speaking to the children
of God today. I'm speaking to you who know God today and want
to know God today. Listen to the angel. The angel
here is a type of the Holy Ghost right now. He's the interpreter.
He's the paraclete. He's the one that comes alongside
of us and speaks to our soul. Listen to what the angel says.
at the beginning of your prayer, the commandment came forth and
I am come now. Now watch this to show you. Do you see that? I am come now
to show you for you are greatly beloved. Watch this. Therefore, Daniel, understand
the matter. Do you guys see that? The literal
word matter there is the word. Understand the word. Understand
the commandment. Understand the scriptures. Understand
the doctrine. That's the goal of the Spirit
of God, to take the things of Christ and make them known to
us. Here is the command. Daniel, if you want to understand
what God is doing and what God is doing for His people, understand
the Word. Got it? Understand the Word. That means don't try to get to
know what God is up to apart from the scriptures. This is
part of the paganism that's going on in our generation today. You
can't know God apart from his word Understand the word Daniel
now watch this and consider the vision got it understand the
word and consider the vision the Hebrew phrase of Consider
a word consider means to take heed what you see what I'm about
to reveal to you What what you're about to see through the scriptures.
I want you to pay serious heed to now Verses 24 through 27 of
Daniel 9 for those of you who have been church folk for a long
time You know has been a very controversial portion of scripture
that for the most part has been categorized as as part of what
we call eschatology theology, end time theology. It has been
a portion of scripture that has been what I consider hijacked
by your Western mindset, your Western theologians. These are
the folks in America and in Europe who have taken this portion of
scripture and basically monopolized all of the literature and information
around its content. And what that means is, When
you do research, most of the time as you deal with verses
24 through 27, you're gonna hear a very technical, a very scientific,
a very sort of, again, prophetic and in time explanation of these
passages. And while there is an element
of significance there, the huge problem with a mere pedantic
sort of dry, technical, even prophetic language that has to
do with dates and times and seasons, is that it misses the ultimate
purpose for the scriptures, which is to point you to Christ. and
to give you a premise upon which your soul can find the promises
of God and be nurtured and be strengthened by God's word. Am
I making some sense? Now, as I've been studying the
scriptures and as I have been doing research, I've been fortunate
enough over the last couple of months to have run across a number
of the old theologians who knew better. And one of the reasons
they knew better is because they weren't part of that band of
theologians who started in the 16th century seeking to try to
build some grand eschatological scheme. All they knew was the
message of the gospel. And all they knew was that this
portion of scripture is really talking about Christ and his
work in the behalf of his people. And so there were wonderful,
wonderful portions of scripture that I was able to enjoy the
exposition thereof and my soul was edified. One of the things
that became very evident to me was the opening of chapter 9
verse 24 The first part I want you to see this now as we look
at this because I'm only going to deal with part a this first
statement this first clause that's given to us in chapter 24 chapter
9 verse 24 today and here's my here's my proposition to you
I want you to hear this now because this is what if you don't get
anything else today listen to this the sum total of what the angel
says as he opens up this prophecy is this There is a rest for the
people of God. The way he opens up speaking
to Daniel, he gives Daniel a word of comfort concerning Daniel's
people. Let me see if I can drive that
home before we develop this, because that's all I'm really
gonna talk to you about today, is the rest that God has provided
for his people. As far as Daniel could see, he
looked out among his Hebrew brethren who were in Babylon and he didn't
see any rest. As far as Daniel was concerned,
they were toiling. They were toiling in pagan idolatry.
They were toiling in their natural Adamic sin. They were toiling
in the darkness of God's providence. They were toiling in uncertainty. Do you know anything about that
toil? Do you know anything about that toil? Do you know the toil
of not knowing what God is up to? The toil of not knowing where
you stand with God. The toil of not knowing when
God's gonna deliver you, if God's gonna deliver you. Do you know
anything about that toil? I want you to think about it for a moment
because really what I'm gonna talk to you about today is something
that I'm certain that if we know anything about it, we only know
a little bit about this and that is rest. We only know a little
bit about resting. Now, right now, for you young
folks who are just bundles of energy, my message is not really
gonna touch you. But for you old folks, you say,
now tell me something about that rest. Because the word R-E-S-T
sounds real good to me. And the older I get, the more
it sounds good. Am I telling the truth? But there's
a reason for that and I want to make sure I drive this home.
Now the reason I give that caveat is because I know that our young
people are smarter than that. They know how to take the shell
of that fruit, that nugget of divine truth, even though it's
not ready for them to eat and store it away for the rainy day.
Because you're going to be pulling this out in a few years when
the Lord gets a hold of you and shakes your soul like he shook
our soul and start calling you to himself and you realize, Lord,
I'm tired. I'm tired. I need you like my
parents need you and my grandparents need you. And that might be at
17 years old. That might be at 19 years old.
I was tired at 18 years old when God began to deal with me. You
know, you can only run so long. Am I making some sense? You can
only run so long. And the young people think they
can run forever. Ah, pastor, I got a good while to go. Not
if the spirit of God gets out at you, starts throwing things
in your way, stumbling blocks in your way, hedges in your way,
start putting potholes in the road. You'll start wanting to
slow down, won't you? But right now, rest is not a
big issue for young people. Rest is a huge issue for sinners. It's a huge issue for sinners.
And the word rest is a magnanimous term with God. It's a magnanimous
term with God. There is a rest for the people
of God. I want you to get this. There's a rest for the people
of God. Notice how Daniel opens up. It's in your outline, point
number one. 70 weeks are determined upon
your people and upon your holy city. Do you guys see that? That's
what I mean. Now, I know it doesn't seem at
the outset that that's what's being said, but I want to exercise
your senses a little bit today. Literally, it is translated as
we have it in our title. Seventy sevens are determined
for your people. That's the literal translation,
literally more literally is 70 70s. There will be a cutting off so
that your people won't be always going through all this trouble. Now, let me see if I can build
on that. It's one thing to go through trouble. It's another
thing to know that there's an end coming to the trouble. Do
you guys see that? And the angel is telling Daniel
all this trouble that your people are going through and will go
through has an end. the Hebrew verb to cut off, which
is spoken about several times in the book of Daniel, translated
determined, determined, determined. It's God's providential point
where he stops the thing. And so he's telling Daniel, this
is all going to end at the end of 77. Now, why 77? Well, because the angel understood
that Daniel was a Hebrew. And he understood that the language
of sevens is the language that the Hebrew people have learned
over the years from the time that God called them out of Egypt
into the land of promise. And he revealed himself to them.
Remember what I said earlier? God is known by the what? Judgments
which he executes. And for the Hebrew people, when
they were brought into covenant relationship with God, God set
up tutoring systems by which they would learn the way God
works and why God works. And he set up what we call repetitive
cycle principles, repetitive cycle principles. By the way,
we operate out of those same things as God's creatures, too.
I'm going to explain that. We're just not aware of the repetitive
cycle principles into which God has called us. The Hebrew phrase
seventy-sevens is merely a redundant term. The Hebrew word sabuah
or shibuah is the number seven. Shibuim is the number seven in
the plural form. Shibuah, shibuim. There are Shibuwa,
Shibuweans for the people of God. They would have understood
that Daniel would have understood rather that God is dealing with
his people in terms of cycles of seven, literally is 70 sevens. Daniel understands now that the
angel is being, is telling Daniel that God is still being faithful
to his covenant with his people. God hasn't so cut his people
off that God has disregarded his covenant promises. As he
speaks to Daniel, he's saying to Daniel, Daniel, remember the
covenant, remember the principles, remember the tutoring. And I'm
going to take you through that today because you need to know
it. As we are dealing with the 70-70s, the 77s, all we're dealing
with in essence is the significance of the term. Now in your English
Bible, it's translated 70 what? Weeks. Isn't that right? 70 weeks are determined upon
your people. But the word week is not literally
the word. It's the word seven. You guys
got that? It's in your outline. It's the word seven. And so we
call seven days in the week a week after seven days. Isn't that
right? We go day one, day two, day three, day five, day six,
day seven. And for us, seven days is what?
Week. And then we start all over again. Well, who started that? God did. God started what we
call the seven day cycle. Again, in the Hebrew, it's not
really week, but that's okay. We can translate it from the
Hebrew that it's really sevens. I want you to hear the number
seven. You guys hear the number seven? Sevens. It's very important
for you to get that. The Hebrew mind would have understood
the concept of the number seven. When we talk about the number
seven, we recognize that the number seven is a number of perfection. We call it the number of completion.
More technically, it's the number of sacred fullness. sacred fullness. It's God's number. I've said
that to you a couple of times this year, but I want you to
get this. The number seven is God's number. It's God's number
that he, by which he relates to his covenant people, the number
seven. So the number seven is how God
deals with this creation, how he deals with his covenant people.
And it's the number that calls our attention to the character
and the work of God. I want you to see this. The number
seven is our hope. The number seven is our, uh,
it's actually our preoccupation. As I said, you and I, we worked
six days on a seven day. We worship God. We, you and I
have fallen into a cycle that God started in the beginning
and he reaffirmed in this covenant. Isn't that true? So for Daniel,
he understood that the angel was saying to him that God is
still being faithful. Now let me say this as we work
this through us in your outline, When the angel tells Daniel,
77 are determined upon your people. Here's what he's saying. God
is reminding his people that he's faithful. He's also bringing
to them a word of comfort. Now watch this. And a prophecy
of completion. Three concepts emerge out of
the 77. God is faithful. God will comfort
you and God's going to complete what he started. You guys got
that? All right, so now here is the
other point that I want to drive home to you for those of you
who are studying. Please understand this. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,
Thursday, Friday, yes, even Saturday are all pagan terms. They have no basis in scripture
whatsoever, even Sunday. is a pagan term. Are you guys
hearing me? God never in the Bible gave names
to the days. He gave numbers to his days.
He didn't give names. I say that for the legalists
who still want to try to bind us to a seventh day Sabbath.
I'm about to get into that. Saturday means nothing. It's the number seven that means
everything with God. Sunday For you Christians who
want to fight for a Sunday Sabbath means nothing. By the time I'm
preaching, through preaching, you'll know what I mean by that.
Sunday is not the Christian's Sabbath. For those of you that
might be walking out here in a moment, Christ is your Sabbath. Will you hear me? Will you hear
me? The number seven has way more
of a profound significance than calendar days with God. And so the Hebrew person would
have understood this. They would have understood what
Genesis said in Genesis chapter one. On the first day, God did
this. On the second day, God did that. On the third day, God
did this. And on the sixth day, God finished.
And on the seventh day, God what? Go with me in your Bible to Genesis
chapter two. I want you to see this for yourself. He didn't
say on Monday God started things. And he didn't say on Saturday
he finished it. He said on the first day. In Genesis chapter
two, this is the first time we hear about the sacred fullness
of God explained to those who would be beneficiaries of God's
written word. God said in Genesis chapter one,
verse 31, these words, And God saw everything that he had made.
Do you guys see that? Not some things, everything.
And behold, it was what? Very good. And the evening and
the morning were the what? Six days God worked. Didn't he? And the Bible tells
us in Psalm 19 verse 6, God is known by the judgments which
he executes. Do you know that if you go back
through those six days of creation, you'll learn everything about
God's gospel there is to know. Because we know God by the way
he acts. And he did a bunch of things
from day one through day six. Am I making some sense? See,
if God helps you, little bitty spiritual monkey, to take the
fruit of the Word of God and get the rock, get the rock of
persistence and calling on the Holy Ghost to break open that
shell, you'll be able to eat the food and provider of the
gospel out of every day that God worked. And you'll see redemptive
truth, and you'll see the glory of God, and you'll see the Savior
in every day. On the sixth day, God was done.
On the sixth day, God was done. And here's what God said. This
is very good. You know why he said that? Because
everything was accomplished necessary for God to be glorified through
his son, Jesus Christ. And then he opens up in chapter
two, verse one, these way. I want you to see these first
three verses of chapter two. Thus, the heavens and the earth
were finished. You got that? This is what God
meant when he said in the book of Acts chapter 15 known unto
God are all his words What's that pastor the work that goes
on down here on earth and the work that goes on in heaven?
The work of eternal redemption was in the mind of God already
accomplished when he set up the prototype of this earthly creation
He said he was done with the heavens and the earth. Are you
hearing what I'm saying? I He was already done the unfolding
of them in terms of historical time has nothing to do with God
It has all to do with us, but God has already seen the end
from the beginning and he's telling us right now. He's he's Established
his plan and his purpose now, will you hear what he says in
verse 2 and on the seventh day God and on the seventh day God
Ended his work which he had made and he rested the seventh day
from all his works which he had made and God blessed the seventh
day and did what sanctified it because that in it watch this
now he rested from all his works which God had created and God
had made I want you to hear me now this is a revelation of God
Saints to his people who pay attention to what he just said.
God has revealed to us in the sixth day creation principle,
in the seventh day rest principle, this, that God is a God who works. That's the first revelation.
God is a God who, see there are a whole lot of God's people have
that don't work. Are you hearing me? They don't
see, they don't smell, they don't talk, And we said it on Friday,
they don't do good or evil. You hear? They don't give knowledge
and they don't take knowledge away. They're idols. But the
God of the Bible has revealed himself to us as a God that works.
Listen to me now, that's part of God's glory to us. for us
to be able to benefit from this reality that God has called us. This is the benefit, and I'll
get into this more fully, of the seventh-day Sabbath typology
or significance. We have an opportunity to consider
the God who works. Are you hearing me? I'm glad
He works, don't you? Let me see if I can help you
a little bit with that, because I know some of you are still way out there.
God works not only in that He created the heavens and the earth,
but God works in that He sustains the present heavens and earth.
The Bible says, by the Spirit of the Lord have He garnished
the heavens. By the Word of the Lord are they
kept in store. Are you hearing me? What God
is teaching us in the principle of the seven, first and foremost,
is that our God works. The Bible says not only did He
work in terms of creating this universe, not only does He work
in terms of sustaining it by the word of His power and by
His Spirit, He sustains it in terms of His providential event. Do you know everything that's
going on in our world is a consequence of God's working? He causes the
seasons to take place. We have our rains and we have
our fall seasons. We have our winters We have our
springtime. Do you know God's doing all that
all at once? The psalmist is replete with
language concerning the glory of God in giving all of his creatures
everything they need on a daily basis That's God working That's
God working. Do you know God's working in
your life right now? We all live and move and have
our what? Being in God. Do you know that?
And so the Bible is very clear that God not only created, not
only, as it were, upholds this, He sustains it, and He sustains
it for His own glory. That's what the Bible says. His
glory in that He's calling you and me to take time out, as we're
doing today, to consider the works of God. Do you know that's
the reason why you're called to worship? To consider the works
of God. David talked about it in Psalm
8, when he talked about the heavens declare the glory of God and
the earth, his handiwork. In Psalm 8, he talks about how
marvelous God is in his creation and how splendid the heavens
are. David was enthralled by the idea
that God created the heavens and the earth and they are fabulous
in their creation. He's saying, the works of your
hand, they're just beyond conception. for those of us who've been given
grace to know we can look at God's creation and marvel at
this infinite God. We talked about it on Friday.
That's one of the purposes for God's creation. Do you know it's
through God's creation that we begin to get a glimpse of who
God is and that becomes the premise or preface for our salvation.
The other thing is when we consider the number seven, not only are
we made aware that the God we know and the God we love and
the God we serve is a God who works, But he's a God who also
finished his work. Have you ever finished anything
in your life? Hold on. I didn't say stop. I didn't say pause. I didn't
say take a break. I didn't say quit. I said finished. Finished means the job that you
were called to do, you did it, you did it completely, you did
it so perfectly, you never have to go back over it again. See
what I'm getting at? Then the question comes to most
of us, the response is, man, I ain't never finished nothing,
if that's the case. That's exactly right. That's exactly right. There's one person on planet
Earth who came from glory who could say he finished something. And that's typified in the seventh
day. Are you guys hearing me? And
this is what Daniel is talking about. Daniel is being encouraged
by the angel to know that God is faithful in his purposes and
God's going to finish his work. Is that okay? God's going to
finish his work. That's what the number seven
is signifying here is signifying God's working and God's Finishing
his work. I like the way the Lord Jesus
said it in John chapter 5 verse 17 He says my father worked and
I'm working right along with my father But then there's a
day coming that Jesus said I'm done father. Are you guys hearing
me? And that's to our comfort and
that's to our edification So God works and then God accomplishes
his work. He fulfills his purposes. God
sets out to do a thing and he infallibly performs it. And then
he sabbaths. Sabbaths. That's the word for
rest. He sabbaths. Now I want you to
get it. God has revealed to us in his
word that he works, he finishes, and he rests. Got it? He rests. And then do you know
what he does when he rests? The word rest means to cease.
It means to pause. It means to come to a place of
refreshing yourself because you're done with your job. You know
what God does after he enters into his rest? Now watch this
now. He calls us. He calls us to enter
into that rest. He calls you and me who don't
know how to rest. That's what I was saying at the
beginning of the message. We don't know how to rest. How many
of you in here really know how to rest? Don't lie now, don't
raise your hand and lie. How many of you really know how
to rest? See, listen to me. No, I really want to make this
very plain. Most of us toil and we toil a lot. because that's
our lot since we've fallen into sin. Will you hear me? When God
created the heavens and the earth in six days, on the sixth day,
what did he create? He created man. Man was created
on the sixth day, not the seventh day. He was created on the sixth
day. So he was put in that working mode, that working mode. And
God called him from that working mode into rest on the seventh
day. But when Adam and Eve sinned
against God, when they violated against that tree, God kicked
them out of the garden and sent them into the wilderness. And
he said, you're going to be toiling until you die. Saints, that's
your lot. That's my lot. Will you hear me? Very seldom
do we really enter into rest because of our sin. Now am I
telling the truth? Our sin keeps us from resting.
Our sin keeps us from resting. Our sin makes us an alien to
rest. And even the rest into which
God is calling us, it's hard for us to enter. It takes a long
time to learn that it's a privilege to lay down everything and come
into the house of the Lord and simply behold His Word. Most
of you come in here toiling when you listen to me preach. And
as a consequence, you miss out on the benefits of the revelation
of the Word because you're still toiling. Am I telling the truth?
You're toiling. That's because of the problem
we have called sin. See, we still, as of yet, have
to enter into this rest that God is calling us to. Now God
knew that about his covenant people, Israel. He knew that
about his covenant people, Israel. So what God did when he called
Israel out of Egypt, remember Egypt is the what? Iron furnace.
There was nothing about Egypt that connoted rest, did it? Those
boys were toiling all day long, making brick, building pyramids,
building castles, building whatever Pharaoh wanted them to build.
And they were slaves. The Bible called it the iron
furnace, the house of what? Bondage. And it's a great type
of our condition prior to coming to know the Lord Jesus. Am I
making some sense? We toil under the burden of sin. God called
them out as a typical picture of God's redeemed people out
of the house of bondage to the true and the living God. And
you know what God did? I'm getting ready to move us
into the second phase of the sevens because there's three
connotations or phases or aspects of the number seven that I want
to exercise your senses on today. The first is the creation phase
of the number seven. So what we were talking about
earlier, God created the heavens and the earth in six days. I
don't have a problem with that testimony, do you? I told you
before, God could have created the heavens and the earth in
six seconds or six hours. But six days was just enough
for him to pour into the creation language and revelation all of
his redemptive truth for us to grow from. And then the seven
day God rested. And so he is calling his people
to enter into creation rest. But in order for us to do that,
you and I have to enter into covenant with God. Turn in your
Bible to Exodus 20 now. I'm gonna share with you this. These are in your outline. There
are three aspects to this concept of the sevens that I want us
to understand. Three aspects of it. And the
first we have already developed with regards to God's creation.
God created the heavens and the earth in seven days, six days. And on the seventh day he rested.
It's designed for us to learn something about God. God created
the heavens and the earth. He set them up and he's called
us, his people to enter into that rest. In order for us to
enter into that, we have to go, we have to enter into covenant
with God. So we are told in the book of Exodus chapter 20, you
heard that this is in the law. Exodus 20 for those of you who
are not aware of it. Listen to what the Bible says
over in Exodus 20 verse 8 and 9 and then verse
10. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. Do you see that? Six days shalt
thou labor and do all your work But in the seventh day, or rather,
but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. Now watch
it. In it, you shall not do any work,
you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your
maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger that is within
your gate. Here's the reason why. For in six days, the Lord
made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and
did what? Rested the seventh day. Wherefore,
the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hollowed it. God called
his people into what we call a covenant Sabbath, a covenant
resting, a covenant resting of which they were to be reminded
that God created the heavens and the earth in six days. And
then on the seventh day, he rested. So what is he doing with his
people Israel? He's telling them that on the seventh day they
are to enter into rest because that's what God did. Now why? Because Israel now will be a
representative of the true and the living God resting just like
God did. The rest that Israel was to enter
into was a covenant rest. It would point to the creation
rest in the past, but then it would also point to the completion
of what the rest signifies in the future. But there are some
lessons to learn with this call to the sevens, the cycles of
seven. I remember saying this to us
in the Friday study right before the new year came. I said, you
know, saints, it's really God's mercy to you and me for us to
have cycles, a 24 hour period. You work for a few hours in a
day, you eat, you go to sleep, you get some rest, you get up,
you do it again. These are the cycle of days.
God gave those to us. That's in Genesis chapter 1,
right? We work seven days and we are doing what we do every
week in a cycle, don't we? Worship in a cycle. Is there
a benefit to the cycle? Absolutely. Is there a benefit
to 30-day cycles? Because God set that up. We'll
talk about that in a moment. Every month, the month starts
all over again. Every year, the year starts all
over again. The question that redeemed people
have to ask is, what is the benefit of the cycle principle? What
am I to learn from the opportunity to get up every day? I think
Jeremiah said it in the book of Jeremiah, great is your faithfulness
every morning your mercies are renewed. That means today I have
new mercies in order to try to do it a little bit better than
I did yesterday. Now God's redeemed people will
take advantage of that. What that means is I get to dump
my sin down at the cross one more time and ask the Holy Ghost
to help me live a little better today than I did yesterday. and
in the New Year as well. This is what we come to learn
on Saturday, our own Sunday worship, where we get to Sabbath with
God, where we can behold His work and be confident to get
out of our work. I'll explain that more fully.
The number seven for the children of Israel, if you have your outline,
notice again what it says over in your outline, a fourfold cycle
of sevens. We've already looked at creation,
now we're looking at covenant. Now we're looking at covenant.
The first time they heard about the seven-day cycle principle
was in Exodus 12, when they were called out of Egypt. And then
the seven-day cycle principle was set up in Exodus 20. But
then there were what we call a cycle of sevens that incorporated
not only the day of worship, which for them was a Saturday.
But it incorporated a whole culture of agricultural activity. They
had what was called an agricultural year. Israel was brought into
the land of Canaan. I'm going to talk about that
here in a moment. And they were told by God how to operate in
the land. Are you hearing me? And that
was, you were to operate in cycles of sevens. Six days you work,
seven days you rest. Watch this. Three times a year,
you are to come to me. You are to have feasts. During
this cycle of the years, the feast time started in the seventh
month. Not only was there a seventh month cycle, there was a seven-week
cycle within the feast days. We've talked about these feast
days. The Feast of Passover, the Feast of Pentecost, and the
Feast of Trumpets are in gatherings. These were all done in cycles
of sevens. Israel understood the seven-day cycle, the seven-week
cycle, the seven-month cycle. They understood the seven-year
cycle. You know what God told Israel? Six years are you to
sow into the land but the seventh year you let the land rest. I'm
getting ready to get into that in a moment because Israel is
where they are now because they violated the principle of sevens. Six years are you to let the
you are to sow your seed and in the seventh year you are let
it to bring forth fruit of its own. I'll bless it. But the land
must rest after seven years. After six years, in that seventh
year, it's to rest. The land has to rest like you
have to rest because both you and the land point to God Almighty
who sustains all things. Am I making some sense? And then
Israel was told about a seven-year times seven-year cycle. We call this the 49 years that
leads up to the Jubilee period. All of this language is in the
book of Leviticus. Leviticus was set up to teach
Israel how to operate with God in the land that God had brought
them through. And if they were obedient to this cycle of sevens,
God would bless them. So they knew that they were to
operate in this cycle of sevens and several things would happen.
And here are the three benefits of operating in this cycle of
sevens. First of all, operating in this cycle of seven gave Israel
an opportunity to worship God. Every six days you work on the
seventh day, you stop and you worship God. Isn't that right? The seven day cycle gave Israel
an opportunity to celebrate the blessings of God in their life.
These are the feast days that I was talking about. So not only
does Israel in the seven day cycle understand the principle
of worship. Do you guys know how important
worship is? All right. And also the principle of celebration. The principle of celebration
is important too. See, Israel worshiping the true
and the living God is a testimony to the whole world that the true
and the living God is worthy to be worshiped. That's point
number one. This is why folks who tell you,
you know, I don't have to worship with the people of God. Either
they're ignorant of the word of God or they're in rebellion.
Are you hearing me? In our systematic theology class,
we'll deal with that. What has God called us to? How
can we know the true and the living God? You'll know the true
and the living God when you worship him, because in the midst of
worship, he'll reveal himself to you. That's what he's called
us to. He created Adam on the sixth day. He told him to rest
on the seventh day. On the seventh day, you get to
reflect upon God, meditate upon God, look upon the works of God,
marvel at the goodness of God for you. In the context of worship,
God has called us to what? Celebrate. For those of you who
are less existential, you just gotta learn how to be a little
bit more happy because God has called his people to celebrate
what he's done for us in Christ. Am I making some sense? We learned
this about the feast day principle in the book of Deuteronomy. God
told Israel, I will destroy you because you did not rejoice in
my feasts. See, when he brought him out
of Egypt into the wilderness and protected them, led them
all the way into the land of promise, which I'm going to talk
about, he said, I'm not going to just leave you in the land
of promise. I'm going to bless your ground. I'm going to bless
your seed. I'm going to bless your going
in and you're coming out. All I want you to do is celebrate
what I've done for you three times a year. That's not hard,
is it? When God has blessed you, it's
easy to celebrate. Am I telling the truth? And God's
blessed his people today in Christ with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places. Therefore, our praise of God
is continual. Is it not? It's not merely on
Sunday. It's every day of our life. Every
time I think about God, my heart rises up with not only jubilation,
but praise and thanksgiving. See, a merry heart is a continual
feast, the preacher says. And so Israel was called to not
only worship God. These are the benefits of the
Sabbath. I'm going to develop this to celebrate God, but they
were also called in the 50th year to Liberty. In your Bible
in the book of Leviticus, you don't have to go there. It's
in the book of Leviticus chapter 25. God says after 49 years in
the 50th year. Every one of you who are in bondage
because you lost your land and you lost your property out of
ignorance or what have you, circumstances, you are to be set free from your
slavery to your masters and you are to go back into your inheritance.
Here's three things that the Sabbath or the seventh does for
the people of God. It allows them to enter into
worship. It allows them to celebrate God's goodness in their life.
And they know the liberty, the freedom that the seventh affords
them. Am I making some sense? All these
are what we experience in Christ. We experience worship in Christ.
We experience feasting in Christ. and we experience liberty in
Christ, do we not? And this is what the Old Testament
is designed to do, teach us in parabolic form and symbols and
shadows, typology, ceremonies, the reality that's in Christ.
I'm gonna develop that here at the end just briefly, but I want
you to know Israel understood that God had called them out
of the house of bondage, out of slavery to sin, out of the
world, out of fear, out of damnation into the liberty. that's in Christ,
into the celebration that's in Christ, into the worship that's
in Jesus Christ. But here's the problem. As they
were obliged to enjoy the benefits of worship, God warned them about
what we call the curse of the Sabbath. I want you to see it.
Go with me in your Bible to Exodus 31. Exodus 31 describes for us in
verses 14 through verse 17, the nature of the Sabbath and the
curse of the Sabbath. And I want to develop that here
briefly, because you need to know about the curse of the Sabbath
too. God tells Israel through Moses in verse 13, speak thou
unto the children of Israel saying, verily my Sabbath you shall keep. For it is a sign, the Sabbath
was a sign between God and Israel, The seventh-day Sabbath was a
sign between God and national Israel, watch this now, between
you and me throughout all your generations that you might know
that I am the Lord that doth what? Sanctify you. The repetitive cycle of them
being involved in the worship, in the celebration, in the liberation
of the sevens, the cycle of sevens, the Sabbath dynamic that God
had entered Israel into was designed to remind them that God set them
apart, that God brought them out of darkness, that God brought
them into the promised land, that God clothed them, that God
provided for them, that God set them apart uniquely different
from all the people of the earth. The seventh allowed them to remember
God's the one that does the sanctifying. Did you guys get that? They didn't
sanctify themselves. They weren't mutually sanctified
between them and God. God did the sanctifying. Do you
remember reading anywhere in the book of Exodus where any
one of those Hebrew folks was saying, God, I'm ready to come
to you now? Or was it God himself who came
in the person of Moses and Aaron and told Pharaoh to let my people
go? Sanctification is of the Lord.
It's God who sanctifies his people. We don't sanctify ourselves.
Christ is our sanctification. The work of sanctification is
the work of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and the redemption
of sinners, and the drawing them out of darkness into his marvelous
light, and causing them to experience the divine nature in their life
through the gospel. Are you guys hearing me? And
so Israel had the same experience in typological language, but
here's what God said. You shall keep the Sabbath. Therefore,
for it is holy unto you. Everyone that what defiles it
shall surely be what? Man, that's serious. Man, that's
serious. You mean God would kill a man
for picking up sticks on the Sabbath? You remember that brother
that fell asleep when Moses was preaching on the Sabbath? You
better wake up. I'm messing with you. You know, Moses preached longer
than me. I'm just going to tell you now. Every Sunday, Moses
preached for about six hours. And he was preaching one day
on what God says about the Sabbath. And one of those brothers had
stayed up way too late that night. And he dragged his lazy butt
into the church. He said, I'm going to just sit
way back in the back. I'm going to nod. I'm going to just get through
service. And when they go to singing the benediction, I'll
get on up and get out of here. And that was the day that he
missed the message on the Sabbath. When God taught, don't you mar
my Sabbath, because the Sabbath is a message that speaks to my
work of redemption. And if you touch it, you defile
it. You guys got that? So God told
Israel, don't defile my Sabbath. You remember that fellow that
snuck out to get him some sticks because it was cold that day?
Just going to light a little fire. And one of the other brothers,
he was peeping out of the tent. I don't know what he was peeping
out of the tent for, but he caught him. And he was a tattletale. But you know, that's how God
works. He ran over to Moses. Hey, Moses, you know, I saw a
lot of boy, man. He out there picking up sticks.
Now, didn't you say last week in the sermon we shouldn't be
picking up sticks? And Moses went to God and God said, kill
him. Because all of the Old Testament types and ceremonies, while they
were merely types and ceremonies, they pointed to a reality that's
in Jesus. And if you mar the type, you
mar the reality. Are you hearing me? That's why
to understand the reality, you've got to understand the typology,
because the typology helps us understand what's important to
God. And you know what's important
to God? I heard it this morning. What's important to God is what
God does in the salvation of sinners, not what sinners do
in the salvation of themselves. Are you hearing me? And God wants
us to understand. Don't you touch what I do? Just
either enter into it or perish. Got it. I'm going to develop
this a little bit while I have your time. I sense I've got your
time right now. God says I'll kill you for whosoever
do it. Now watch it. Any word there
in that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Got it. Well, I think God will accept
me because I've given so much money to the church. Well, I
think God will accept me because I got all my doctrines, right?
Well, I think God will accept me because I'm especially mystical. You know, I have a lot of mystical
experiences. After all, I hear voices and
I see angels and I have prayer. I must be close to God. I think
God will accept me. You know, I'm kind. I like people.
I'm not as bad as most folks. All that. Plus your decision
for Jesus is picking up sticks for which God will send you to
hell. Will you hear me? Will you hear me? Either God's
going to save you all by himself. And you're going to say, God
saved me all by myself. And I came to him because he
drew me and I called upon him because he quickened me. And
I said yes to Jesus because he inclined my heart to say yes
to Jesus. But had he left me alone I would
have perished in my obstinacy and wrath just like the rest
of the world Your works plus Christ's work what? You got it You better not do anything there
in Six days may a man work but in the seventh it's the Sabbath
of the rest. Do you see that? Holy to the
Lord whosoever does any work there in the sabbath. He shall
surely be put to death Wherefore the children of israel shall
keep the sabbath To observe the sabbath throughout their generation
for a perpetual covenant verse 17. 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 was refreshed
I'll develop this more when we get into the book of Nehemiah.
Let me say it again for you legalists. The seventh day Sabbath of the
Old Testament was specifically and uniquely for national Israel,
God's Old Testament external Jewish people to be set apart
from all the pagans. The pagans could live, they could
party, they could get drunk, they could worship idols seven
days a week. God didn't care. But for his
people, you stop on the seventh and you bring glory to me for
giving everything that you have. Are you hearing me? And the heathen
get to watch you rest while they continue to toil. Did you hear
what I just said? because the rest is only for
the people of God. It's only for sinners who are
saved by free grace. It's only for men and women whom
God in his mercy has taken the yoke of sin off of their neck
and brought them into the green pastures of his faithful shepherding. That's who the Sabbath is for.
Am I making some sense? That's who it's for. But Israel
Because the majority of them were just religious folk. You
know what they did? They violated the Sabbath. Go
with me in your Bible, the second Chronicles. I want you to see it for yourself.
You guys believe the Bible? Or do you trust your own reason?
We talked about this in the Bible study. I'm going to say this
now. This will help you. I know that we have to use our reason.
We have to use our rationale. We have to use our thinking.
Isn't that right? But your reason better never overrule or exercise
sovereignty over God's revelation You submit that cranium with
that thimble of of knowledge that you have to God's infinite
wisdom and you'll be safe Am I making some sense? I'm saying
that so some of you won't perish because you're hearing the truth
today 2nd Chronicles chapter 36. I want you to see it for
yourself. And this is the reason why God
gave us national Israel children of God so that we can see what
happens when God lays out all of his wonderful promises and
blessings to us and we still refuse to enter into his rest. We're in 2nd Chronicles 36. I
want you to hear what the Spirit of God says through the prophet
concerning the reason why God destroyed Israel. We are told
in verse 21 of 2 Chronicles 36, to fulfill the word of the Lord
by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoyed her sabbath.
For as long as she lay desolate, she kept sabbath to fulfill threescore
and ten years. Do you see that? Here's what
God said. God punished Israel, took them
out of the promised land, drove them into Babylon, because they
didn't keep his sabbaths. Are you hearing me? Because they
didn't keep his sabbaths. And if you want to search this
out, you should. The Bible speaks about them violating the Sabbath
in the book of Isaiah. It speaks about them violating
the Sabbath in the book of Jeremiah repeatedly. It speaks about it
in the mind of prophets Hosea and Amos. The one reason for
which God sent Israel into Babylon is because they violated his
Sabbaths. Now I want to show you something in terms of typology
so that we can grasp this. Go with me in your Bible back
to Leviticus now. Go with me in your Bible back to Leviticus.
In Leviticus chapter 26, this is where God talks about what
would happen to Israel if they violated his Sabbaths. There
are a couple of verses I want you to see. First of all, in
Leviticus 26, this is where the curse is. When you hear me make
mention of Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, those are the passages where
God has warned Israel in strict and stern language what would
happen if they repetitively violated God's law. And he fulfilled his
word to the T. The very thing that God warned
Israel about, they did. the precise thing that God said
he would do because they violated God did that now I want you to
hear the language because God's gonna deal with them in terms
of the curse of the Sabbath in sevens to notice what it says
I'm in Deuteron a Leviticus 26 verse 21 are you there and if
you walk contrary unto me and will not hearken unto me I will
bring what? Seven times, do you see it? More
plagues upon you according to your sins. I will send wild beasts
among you, which shall rob you of your children, destroy your
cattle, make you few in number, and your highways will be desolate. And if you will not be reformed
by me, by these things, but will walk contrary to me, then will
I also walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet, what,
how many times? Seven times for your sins. Drop down to verse
27 and if you will not for all this hearken unto me but walk
contrary unto me Then will I walk contrary unto you and also in
fury I even I when God goes I even I he's swearing by an old Will
chastise you how many times for your sins And when you read the
rest of the chapter The very thing that Israel is going through
is specifically the fulfillment of what we call the covenant
curse of the Sabbath. Go back to chapter 25. I want
to show you a couple other things. I need your attention for about
five more minutes. Notice what he says in chapter 25 of Leviticus. This is one chapter back. This
is very interesting language. Cause this is going to help us
with regards to what's going on today. In our Friday night
Bible study, a sister came to me because, you know, as I worked
through the book of Romans, trying to help us understand Paul's
comprehension of God's redemptive purposes in Christ, we make a
clear distinction between fleshly Israel and the Israel of God.
We make a distinction between the children of the flesh and
the children of the spirit. We make a distinction between
the elect and the non-elect between Jacob and Esau, between Isaac
and Ishmael because God does. We make a distinction because
Jesus made that distinction. He was able to make the distinction
between the children of the devil and the children of God, and
they were all Jews. And the point is, if you don't
have your theology right, you will be confounded in terms of
what God did and what God is doing. And Paul labored to the
Roman church to help them understand that when you use the phraseology,
that Israel are the people of God in an unqualified way. You
darken counsel by words without knowledge. You're ignorant of
the gospel and the distinction of those things that God would
teach us concerning the discerning of who is really God's people
and who are not. Are you guys hearing me? What
God told Israel concerning the land. I want you to hear this
now. I brought you out of Egypt. I led you through the wilderness.
And it wouldn't have took 40 years if you wasn't so stubborn.
And then I brought you in my faithfulness into the promised
land. Now I want you to hear me. I
kicked all those other people out because they disobeyed my
word. They violated my laws. They walked
in abominable idolatry. pagan, detestable acts of immorality. Are you guys hearing me? Read
it for yourself. As he's bringing them in, he
said, now I want you to hear me now. When you go into the
land, they're coming out of the land because I'm kicking them
out of the land. And when I bring you into the
land, I'm making you, I want you guys to hear this stewards
of the promised land. You guys are landlord. Are you
hearing me? Watch this. Israel, physical
national Israel, does not own the land. God does. Watch what I'm saying. I'm in
chapter 25. I'm going to start over at verse
21 and go through verse 23. And then I'm going to explain
why I say that. Notice what it says, verse 21. Then I will command
my blessings upon you in the sixth year. Here he's talking
about the six year cycle and the seventh year blessing. And
it shall bring forth fruit for thee for three years in the sixth
year and the seventh year and in the first year. So that in
the first year you get blessing while you sow. You guys got that?
Now watch this. and you shall sow in the eighth
year and eat yet of the old fruit until the ninth year, until our
fruit comes in, you shall eat of the old store. Now watch this.
The land shall not be sold forever, for the land is Israel's. Is that what it says? What does
it say? For you are strangers and sojourners
with me in all of the land of your possessions
you shall grant a redemption for the land let me explain and
then I want you to go to Leviticus chapter 20 and it's gonna sit
again in Leviticus 18 go to Leviticus 18 I'll use that one let me see
if I can help you so very important God told Israel I want you to
be landlords over my land And as landlords over my land, here
is what we call the archonomos, in the Greek it's called stewardship.
You know, Jesus talked about stewardship often, didn't he?
And he said to Israel, you are my stewards over my land. When
you're there, here is the law of my house. This is what you
do. I've been explaining to you for an hour now what you do in
the land, haven't I? You worship, you celebrate, you
liberate. That's the 50th year after seven
sevens of year. You worship, you celebrate, you
liberate. You sow your seed, you worship
God, you celebrate, you liberate. That's all God wanted Israel
to do. Worship, celebrate, liberate. Why? Because it spoke to the
redemption that's in Christ. He says, but if you don't do
that, I'm going to remove you from the land, just like I removed
them from the land. Are you guys hearing me now?
Watch it back here in chapter 18. I'm at verse 20 Chapter 18. I'm sorry. I'm at verse 27. Let
me start back at verse 26 18 26 Are you there? You shall therefore keep my statutes
and my judgments and shall not commit any of these abominations
neither any of your own nation nor any stranger that sojoins
among you go back through chapter 17 through 19 18 rather and you'll
see the abominations that he says does not do which abominations
are proliferated and permeated in our culture today let me go
on for all these abominations have the men of the land done
which were before you and the land is what look at verse 28
in order that the land spew not you out. Also, when you defile
it, as it spewed out the nations that were before you, for whosoever
shall commit any of these abominations, even that soul that commits them
shall be cut off from among the people. Do you see what God just
said? It's also in chapter 22. God said to Israel, and it's
over in verse 22 of chapter 20, look at it. You shall therefore
keep all my statutes, chapter 20, verse 22, and all my judgments,
and do them that the land where I bring you to dwell then therein
spew you not out. Isn't that amazing? Isn't that
amazing? Now watch this now. The land
is gonna help God throw them out. if they disobey God's Word. Pastor, why? Because David said
in Psalm 24 verse 1, The earth is the Lord's and the fullness
thereof. and the sea and all that be in
them end. He established it upon the floods. He settled it upon the sea. God
owns this world. Every piece of real estate God
owns. And all of us are just tenants
down here. And Israel was given a contract
to landlord the land and they were to keep that contract. And
when they violated it, God spewed them out. Are you hearing me?
Are you hearing me? Now, my sister asked yesterday
in the Friday study, well, aren't we supposed to pray for the peace
of Jerusalem? Yes, we do. We pray for the peace of all
God's people. All God's people are Jerusalem. Isn't that right?
The Jerusalem which is above, which is the mother of us all,
which is free. We pray for that peace. Why would I just pray
for Jerusalem and not Palestine and not Iran and not Iraq and
not Africa and not China and not Asia? Is God a respecter
of persons? Watch out, folks. This is bad
eschatology, and this is bad theology, and we're gonna get
into this when we work our way through Daniel chapter 9. See,
the message is not about a political people. The message is about
a person, and that person is Christ. Are you hearing me? And
so God removed them from the land, and they can't get back
in there lawfully until they bow their knee to Jesus Christ. Am I making some sense? That's
what the Bible teaches. until they bow the knee to Jesus
Christ. They have no right to that land. God owns that land.
God owns that land and he promises. Can you imagine the arrogancy
of you being kicked out of your stewardship because you have
violated the laws of the contract and then you're gonna try to
force your way back into the house? God resists them. God resists
them. He'll resist you and me too.
Let me make the spiritual parallel so I can close. I know it's time.
Do you know what Jesus said in Revelation chapter 3 verse 16
as he was dealing with the seven churches? The last church is
the church of Laodicea. Here's how we know that the Old
Testament corresponds with the New and it's a type of that which
is a reality in the New Testament Church. Jesus said to the Laodicean
Church, which was a lazy church, it was lethargic, it was It was
apathetic. It was wealthy. It was prominent. It was proud and arrogant. It
was self-righteous It was self-sufficient It was cold Jesus said in Revelation
chapter 3 16 because you are neither cold nor hot But rather
lukewarm watch it now. I'm gonna spew you out of my
mouth See the parallels Let me help you now, because I'll tell
you, it requires a great work of grace to remove the veil from
the minds of men and women who are stuck in the carnal paradigm
of interpreting the Scriptures. It takes a lot of grace for you
to come to understand that everything that was written aforetime was
written and had its fulfillment in Jesus. That it only spoke
to the realities that are in Christ. Christ is the promise! So the New Testament says, where
the Old Testament spoke about the promised land, the New Testament
talks about the promise of the what? Spirit. See the correspondence? The Old Testament was a physical
promise. The New Testament is a spiritual
promise. The Old Testament was physical
Palestine. The New Testament is the spirit
of the living God, the spirit of Christ. That's the promise
that the church has. what the church is being told
here in Revelation chapter 3 is that the Lord of the church who
is the Lord of the promise and the Lord of the Spirit says this,
if you don't obey me I'll spew you out. Am I telling the truth? What do you mean don't obey?
Reject the gospel. Distort the gospel. Oppose the
gospel. Try to get in on your good works.
Try to wedge your way in by something you do. Denying the clear testimony
of what the Sabbath connoted. Which is my last point. The Sabbath
pointed to the work of Christ on Calvary's trees. in the redemption
of sinners by his death, putting away all our sins, not some,
all our sins as the sacrificial lamb. He's the one that brings
rest to guilty sinners by his proprietary work on Calvary
Street. God's justice is satisfied and
God looks at his people and God says, rest. Why? Because he has forever put away
our sins by the work of Jesus. Will you hear me now? He has
forever put away our sins. He has forever put away our sins.
Therefore, the Colossian writer says, judge no man in meat or
in drink or in a holy day or in a Sabbath or in things to
come, because these are all shadows and types. The reality is in
Jesus. The reality is in Jesus. Christ
is God's Sabbath. Christ is the Sabbath of the
people of God. And that's why Jesus said in
the Gospel of Mark and Matthew, Jesus, that is the Son of Man,
he's Lord. of the Sabbath. Ain't that what
he said? You know what that means? He
has authority over the Sabbath. You know what that means? He
can give you rest. You know what that means? Rest
is found only in Christ. You know what that means? He
gives it to sinners sovereignly. You know what that means? When
he says, come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
and I will rest you. I will take that yoke off of
you. I will lead you into green pastures
and feed you. He has authority to say that
because he's Lord of the Sabbath. Are you hearing me? And that's
why we worship to honor and to magnify and to marvel at a God
who worked Work that we could never work and he finished it
a work that we could never finish and he rested From all his works
which he did and he calls guilty sinners like me and you to enter
into that rest Isn't that good? Amen