Would you turn to Exodus chapter
35? Exodus chapter 35. If you were given the task of summarizing
all of God's commandments, how would you do it? That'd be quite
a task, wouldn't it? Moses summarized all of God's
commandments in these three verses. Exodus chapter 35 verses 1 through
3. This is a summary of all of God's
commandments. And Moses gathered all the congregation
of the children of Israel together and said unto them, these are
the words which the Lord hath commanded that you should do
them. Six days shall work be done,
but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day. And my marginal reading says
holiness. On the seventh day, there shall
be holiness, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whosoever doeth
work therein shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire
throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day." Now the Sabbath
is a summary of all God has to say. Now, if you would have asked
me to summarize all God has to say, I wouldn't have picked out
the Sabbath day. But this is seen several times in the scriptures. Now, the Sabbath first appears
after God's work of creation. And think of how severe the penalty
was for breaking the Sabbath. Anybody who breaks the Sabbath
is to be put to death. And remember, with God, the punishment
always fits the crime. Look in Genesis chapter 1 verse
31, And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it
was very good. And the evening and the morning
were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth
were finished, and all the host of them, and on the seventh day
God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh
day from all of his work which he'd made, and God blessed the
seventh day and sanctified it. He said it was holy. Now it was
no better in and of itself than the other six days, but when
God said it's holy, it's a holy day. And this is our introduction
to the Sabbath day, because in it he had rested from all his
work which God created and made. Now, the Sabbath is God's response
to a finished work, a work that was very good. Now, during the
Passover, the first feast for the Israelites, it was to be
done on the Sabbath day. And there was a command, no manner
of work was to be done. on the day of atonement. You
can read about that in Leviticus chapter 16. It was to be done
on the Sabbath day and they were commanded to do no work at all. Now when the manna came down
from heaven before the giving of the Ten Commandments, before
we had the Sabbath commandment, the fourth commandment in the
Ten Commandments, the manna came down from heaven and you will
remember that on the sixth day they were told to gather twice
as much. not gathering on the Sabbath
day, and they were to cook at the day before. No fire was to
be kindled on the Sabbath day. There was not to be any cooking
done. When Moses went to the top of
Mount Sinai the first time to receive the law, and you can
read about everything he heard from God in Exodus chapter 20
through 31, that's the moral law, the Ten Commandments, that's
the civil law, That's the ceremonial law, that's the laws regarding
the priesthood, the tabernacle and so on. He received all of
this. Now look at the way he, now turn
to Exodus 31, here's how he sums it all up. Exodus 31, beginning in verse 12. And this is after the Lord had
given him the final instructions regarding the tabernacle. And
the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children
of Israel, saying, Verily, my sabbaths ye shall keep. For it is a sign between me and
you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the
Lord that doth sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore,
for it is holy unto you. Everyone that defileth it shall
surely be put to death, for whosoever doeth 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, 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. 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,
and he gave unto Moses when he had made an end of communing
with him. Upon Mount Sinai two tables of testimony tables of
stone written with the finger of God now This was God's last
instructions to Moses keep the Sabbath Anybody who breaks the
Sabbath will surely be put to death now you'll remember what
happened in the next chapter the golden calf incident and
so after that was over Moses goes back up on top of Mount
Sinai for another 40 days and And he receives the law once
again in tables of stone. And here is the final word from
God once again in chapter 35, verse 1. And Moses gathered all
the congregation of the children of Israel together and said unto
them, these are the words which the Lord hath commanded that
you should do them. And he reminds them once again
of the Sabbath. Now, I love the way the Lord
chose to perform most of his miracles on the Sabbath day. It drove the Pharisees crazy. You know, in the three feasts
that the children of Israel were to perform, they all lasted eight
days. They would begin on the Sabbath
day and they would end on the Sabbath day. And this tells us
that the totality of our experience, the beginning and the end, has
something to do with the Sabbath day, this command not to work. Now notice, he says in verse
2 of our text, in chapter 35, six days shall work be done. Six days shall work Be done. There is a time to work. The
Sabbath does not condemn working. Working is a good thing. Think
of the emphasis the Bible puts on works. Now I want you to listen
real carefully. There was work going on before
the fall, wasn't there? There surely was. God placed
Adam in the garden to tend the garden. Work is a good thing.
And what is the first thing the Lord said to the seven churches
in the book of Revelation? Revelation 2 and 3. He said,
I know thy what? Works. He didn't say, I know
your doctrinal stance and your creed and so on. He said, I know
your works. If our work, it is our works
that demonstrate what we really believe. Everything else is just
theory. Everything else is just academic.
It's our works, what we do, that prove and demonstrate what we
really believe. James said, faith without works
is what? Dead. Being alone. He said, show me thy faith without
thy works, and I'll show you my faith by my works. For in Christ Jesus, neither
circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith
which worketh. by love. I want us to look at Paul's bold
assertion regarding the Thessalonians. Turn to Thessalonians chapter
1, 1 Thessalonians chapter 1. He says in verse 4 of 1 Thessalonians
chapter 1, knowing brethren beloved your election of God. Now that's
a bold assertion isn't it? He says, regarding these people,
I know you're one of God's elect. That'd be hard to say that to
just about anybody. I mean, I believe I'm looking a lot of God's elect,
but I don't know for sure. We'll see. We'll see. Hope I
am one, but we'll see. But yet he makes this bold assertion,
knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. How did he know
that? Did he crawl up into heaven and see the Lamb's Book of Life
and see the names written there? No. It's by what he saw. Look
in verse 3. He says, remembering without
ceasing. You're what? Work of faith. and labor of love and patience
of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of God and our Father,
knowing, brethren, beloved, your election of God. For our gospel
came not unto you in word only, but also in power and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance, as you know what manner of men
we were among you for your sakes. And you became followers of us
and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction with
the joy of the Holy Ghost, so that you were examples. to all
that believe in Macedonia and Achaia. He said, I know your
election of God by what I have seen. Now, works and labor take
effort and self-sacrifice, don't they? I know your works. And it's a good thing. Was it
a good thing? When that woman broke that alabaster
box of ointment on our Lord's head, and our Lord said, she
hath wrought a good work on me. And interestingly, that's the
only work that our Lord ever called a good work. The Lord
said, labor not for the meat which perishes. Don't labor for
that. But for that meat which endureth
to everlasting life, which the Son of Man shall give to you,
for him hath the Father sealed. We are commanded even to labor
to enter into His rest. Give every effort, give every
diligence to enter into His rest. Turn to Hebrews chapter 13. There's
a few other scriptures I want you to see. Now, the Bible. The Sabbath is not anti-work.
Six days thou shalt work. Look in Hebrews chapter 13, verse 20. Now the God of peace
that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd
of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
make you perfect in every what? Good work. To do His will, working
in you, that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Turn back to 2 Timothy
chapter 3. Here's the purpose why the Bible
was written. I want you to look at this with me. 2 Timothy chapter
3. This is one of the purposes why
the Bible is written, and this is the purpose He gives us. Look
in verse 16, all Scripture. is given by inspiration of God,
and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good works. When Paul is giving
a summary of his preaching, he says in Acts chapter 26, verse
20, that men ought to repent, Turn to God and do works, meet
for repentance. We're told in Philippians 3,
verse 12, to work at your own salvation. Work at your own salvation
with fear and with trembling, for it's God which worketh in
you, both to will and to do His good pleasure. You've heard me
say, or you've even said, I'll work it out. I'll work out the
problems. You give attention to those things. We're called
upon to work out. our own salvation. And God's people are a peculiar
people, zealous of good works. Every single one of them. If
you're a child of God, don't you want to have good works to
the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? You want to honor Him in your
life. Every one of God's people are zealous of good works. And the gospel does not take
away the importance or the necessity of work and the effort and motive
behind them. Remember, faith without works
is what? It's dead. It's unsaving. It has no power. Being alone. The ministry is called a work
and a labor. Paul spoke of those who labor
in the word and doctrine. The Lord said, The harvest truly
is plenteous, but the laborers are few. Paul said in Ephesians
4, 8, he spoke of the work of the ministry. And when he talked
about the desire to be a preacher, he said, He that desireth the
office of a bishop, desireth a good work. It's a work. Are good works necessary? Absolutely. Our Lord said in Ephesians 2,
8-10, For by grace are you saved through faith. And that not of
yourselves, it, even that faith, it's the gift of God, not of
works, lest any man should boast, for we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained
that we should walk in them. Paul said in 1 Corinthians 15,
58, Be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord. that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord. Six days work is to be done. So when we talk about the Sabbath,
that's not saying all works are wrong. Obviously they're not.
There's no salvation apart from what I've been talking about.
But let's go back to our text in Exodus 35. Six days shall work be done,
but On the seventh day, there shall be to you an holy day. And my marginal reading says
holiness, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whosoever doeth work
therein shall be put to death. Now here's what the Sabbath teaches.
Do you want to understand the Sabbath? Do you want to know
the reason behind the Sabbath? Look back at Exodus 31, verse 13. I've already read this
once. Speak thou also unto the children
of Israel, saying, Verily, my Sabbaths ye shall keep. And remember,
what's the rule of the Sabbath? Don't work. Don't do anything.
Why, if they even picked up sticks on the Sabbath day, they were
stoned to death and put to death. God said if anybody breaks this,
put them to death. That's how important this is.
Now look what he says in verse 13. Verily my Sabbath you shall
keep, for it, the Sabbath, is a sign between me and you throughout
your generations that you may know that I am the Lord that
doth sanctify thee. God is holy. He's of two pure eyes to behold
iniquity, and for me to be accepted of him, I myself in my person
must be holy. I must have a holiness that is
equal to God's. And you know there's only one
holiness. like that. I must have a holiness
that's equal to God. For God to embrace me, I have
to be as good as God. Do you believe that? For God
to embrace me, for God to accept me, for God to love me, I'm going
to have to be, in my person, I myself, I'm going to have to
be as good as God. I'm going to have to be holy.
Holy. A holiness that's equal to God's
holiness. And there's only one holiness
that's equal to God's holiness. You know that. Now, here's the
question. How? And this is what the Sabbath
teaches us. I'm the Lord that sanctified
thee. How can I be holy? Because I know this much about
myself. In and of myself, I am a very, very sinful, full of
sin human being. I'm a sinner. I am a sinner.
I'm not talking about what I used to be. I'm talking about what
I am right now in my experience. I am a sinner. That means all I do is sin. Well, I'm talking to you right
now because I'm saying that I'm sinning. All I got to do is speak
it. It's bad. I'm a sinful human
being. All I do is sin. I cannot not
sin. Try to not sin. Try to be perfect.
You can't do it. I can't look down my nose in
judgment on anybody. Anything you've done, I guarantee
you, if I haven't actually committed it, it's only because I haven't
had the opportunity and I've been restrained by the grace
of God. That's the only reason. That's the only difference. I
can't look down my nose in moral superiority over anybody. I don't have any claims on God.
I'm a sinful, sinful man, and yet God will not embrace me,
God will not save me unless I am holy, as holy as God himself. Now, how in the world can that
be? That's the great mystery of godliness. Well, that is understood in the
Sabbath. God tells us, here's what the
Sabbath means. I am the Lord that doth sanctify
thee. That word sanctify means I make
you holy. I know this. The only way I can
be holy is for God to make me holy. I can't be holy any other
way. There's nothing I can do to make
myself holy. The only way I can be holy is
for God to make me holy. Sanctification. I am the Lord
that does sanctify thee. If you were to pick out one word
from the scripture that most comprehensively describes God's
salvation, I have no doubt it would be this word, sanctification. Sanctification. God's people
are called saints. Sanctified ones. Holy ones. And sanctification covers God's
salvation. Now here's the teaching of the
Sabbath. Don't work that you may know that I am the Lord that
doth sanctify thee. Now the word sanctification means
to take something common. and ordinary, nothing special
about it, and set it apart to be holy. Now that seventh day,
Saturday, was no better than Friday, Thursday, Wednesday,
but God set it apart and it became holy. He sanctified the seventh
day. He said it was holy and indeed
it was holy. Now the vessels of the temple
were set apart for holy purposes. in and of themselves, they were
no better than any other vessels. They were made of brass, some
of them were made of clay, some of them were made of gold, but
they were just vessels. But they were set apart by God to be His
vessels. He said they're holy, and holy
they were. Now here's the best way I can
think of to illustrate this. In Daniel chapter 6, Belteshazzar,
He's having him a party. He's having a good time. He's
with his concubines and his rulers and so on. And they're having
a big party and they're drinking wine and they're having some
kind of heathen party. And all of a sudden he has an
idea. He says, I'll tell you what we're going to do. Remember,
Israel had been carried captive into Babylon, and they took all
the vessels of the temple and all the different things in the
temple, and they brought it there to put it in their treasure house.
And he said, I'll tell you what we're going to do. We're going to take
the vessels of Jehovah, and we're going to drink our wine out of
them. We're really going to have a good time. Now, remember, these vessels
were set apart for holy purposes. Now, he's going on in his partying,
and God will deal with him in Judgment Day. He just goes on.
But when all of a sudden he takes this vessel, this vessel of God,
and he pours his wine in it, and he puts it up to his lips,
and he begins to drink. All of a sudden, a hand appears
riding against the wall. Thou art weighed in the balances
and found wanting. And God killed him that very
night. You see, that was a holy vessel to the Lord in and of
itself. There wasn't anything special
about it. But when God set it apart to Himself, it was special,
sanctified. This day of rest is your holiness. You don't work to be holy. I
am the Lord that doth sanctify thee. Now God's people in and
of themselves are no different than anybody else. Children of
wrath, even as others, but the difference between them and everybody
else is infinite, because He is the One who sanctifies every
one of His people. Now, in and of myself, I'm by
nature a child of wrath, even just like everybody else. But
I'm united to Christ. I'm set apart. set apart by God to be holy. Now this is seen in the work
of the triune God in salvation first. And this is true of every
believer. While in and of myself I'm, oh
I can't even emphasize it enough, I'm nothing but sin. Yet God
in his mercy before time began chose me. and set me apart. And this is what he did of every
believer, the holy doctrine of election. He set apart every
believer to be holy. Now let's see that in the Scripture.
Ephesians chapter 1. Verse 4. According as he hath chosen us. Who's the us? Everybody he chose.
according as He hath chosen us in Him, when? Before the foundation
of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before
Him. Now, election is God choosing
His people before time began and choosing them to be holy. Now, if God chooses me to be
holy, you know what? I'm going to be holy. Whatever
God does, whatever He purposes to do, He does. It's always effectual. So sanctification means to set
apart to be holy. Now here's another, they're all
related. Sanctification also means to
regard as holy. Not simply to set apart to be
holy, but to regard as holy, to view as holy. And I think
the best illustration of this is found in 1 Peter 3, verse
15, where we read, Sanctify the Lord God in your hearts. Now,
I can't set Him apart to be holy. He already is holy. I certainly
can't make Him holy. He already is holy. But I can
regard Him to be holy. I view Him in my heart as holy. Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed, holy be thy name. I regard him as holy. That's
what it means to sanctify. If you sanctify something in
your heart, that means you regard it, you view it as holy. Now turn with me to Hebrews chapter
10. Now this is how the Lord makes holy. First, He chooses
somebody to be holy. He sets them apart, He causes
them to be holy. In eternal election, He said,
they're chosen to be holy. Now look here in Hebrews chapter
10, beginning in verse 9. Then said he, Lo, I come, this
is the Lord Jesus, to do thy will, O God. Now he taketh away
the first, that covenant of works, that he may establish the second.
By the witch will, by God's will, we are sanctified. We are holy. We are declared
by God to be holy. By the witch will, by God's will,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. You see, when the Lord Jesus
Christ died, God said regarding everybody He died for, they're
holy. They're holy. Now, if God says,
I'm holy, you know what? I'm holy. Let's go on reading. And every priest standeth daily,
ministering, and offering oftentimes the same sacrifices, which can
never take away sins. But this man, the Lord Jesus
Christ, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever,
sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth expecting
till his enemies be made his footstool for, by one offering
he hath perfected forever. then that are sanctified through
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, I am regarded by
God as holy. And listen to me, God wouldn't
regard me as holy if I wasn't holy. This is what the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ did. This is what his work on the
cross actually accomplished. He made everybody he died for
holy. What does it mean to sanctify?
First, it means to set apart, to be holy. Second, it means
to regard to be holy. And by the death of the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross, I was regarded by God to be holy because
I am holy by what He did. And thirdly, to sanctify is to
actually make holy. Turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter
2. Verse 13, But we are bound to give thanks always
to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath
from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now what is sanctification
of the Spirit? It's the new birth. The sanctification
making He made us holy. I'm given a holy nature. The sanctification of the Spirit.
What's the evidence that you've got a holy nature? The belief
of the truth. I can't see it, but I sure believe
it because I believe the Gospel. I believe the gospel. That's
the evidence that God has done something for you. You can't
separate sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.
Where you have belief of the truth, you know why you got it?
The sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit. Wherever you have
the sanctifying work of God the Holy Spirit, you know what you'll
have? Flat out belief in the truth. They go together. They're never separated. Sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Somebody may ask me the question, are you holy? Yes, I am. Every believer is holy. Are you a saint? What does saint mean? Holy one. Wherefore holy? brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling. That's what every believer is
called. And let me say this sanctification. Here's my, here's, I guess my
favorite verse regarding sanctification of him. Are you in Christ Jesus
who of God is made unto us wisdom. and righteousness and sanctification
and redemption. My personal holiness is the Lord
Jesus Christ Himself. Can't be more holy than that,
can you? He's made unto me wisdom. I'm a wise man, so is every other
believer. You know, people that trust Christ,
they're wise. People who look to their works,
they're idiots. They're fools. They're crazy.
But, oh, to trust Christ as your wisdom, righteousness, sanctification. That's a wise man. I'm righteous. I have personal righteousness.
Their righteousness is of me. I'm holy. I'm sanctified. He is my sanctification. He is
my complete deliverance. And you know what? I believe
this. I believe this. I can't look at myself and say,
well, boy, that was a real holy action. No. I sin with everything
I do. But if God says I'm holy, I really
am holy. I'm not representatively holy,
I am holy in the Lord Jesus Christ. And that summarizes all God's
commandments, everything he has to say. There's a time to work.
The Sabbath is not anti-work. I want to give myself all together. Don't you want to be the Lord's
servant, to do his will, to whatever he'd have you do? I want to be
the Lord's servant. But I know this, I can't make
myself holy. But He does. And that is the
gospel. It's all seen in the Sabbath
day. And I love the way those feasts,
they begin on the Sabbath, resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
they end on the Sabbath, resting in the Lord Jesus Christ. And
the only way that you and I will have that faith which works by
love is to rest only in the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't work You
try to work, you try to do anything to make yourself holy, and you've
broken the Sabbath. Now do you understand that? You
have any work that you think will make you holy, I don't care
if it's the beginning, an act of your free will, I don't care
if it's in the middle, some work you do or some goodness you possess
that makes you progressively more holy and less sinful, or
I don't care if it's the end, some work you do that will give
you a higher reward in heaven, you've broken the Sabbath. We
rest, don't work, rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't it sweet
to rest? Oh, thank God for the Sabbath. Let's pray together.