Before I stand here to preach
the Gospel to you, I try to look into your faces, each of you,
and try to get some understanding of what you have come from into
this place, some understanding of the steps in which you've
walked in the past week. Some of you, I know, have deep
trouble in your souls. I wonder what you would give to have peace with God, to have rest in your soul before
God. What would you do? If you could be confident in
walking out these doors in just a little while, you could walk
out these doors to meet God Almighty with perfect rest in your soul. I don't have any question if
I could persuade you by trickery and deceit, as multitudes are
persuaded by trickery and deceit. that you could do something to
obtain that peace and that rest. Whatever that something is, you'd
do it. Whatever it is. If it meant making
pilgrimages to Becca, if it meant bowing toward this place or that
three times a day, if it meant calling on your knees up the
stairways to kiss the hand of that old man in Rome, if it meant
sacrificing your very life. Whatever it takes to have peace
in your soul. If you could be convinced the
end would be peace and rest, everlasting rest with God, Whatever
the cost, you do it. You do it. That's the reason
why religion is so powerful and persuasive in the minds of men. What would you do to have rest
in yourself? And to ask you this, are you
willing to do nothing? To do nothing? I mean nothing. Not say a prayer,
not give a tithe, not join a church, not get in the waters of baptism,
not read so many chapters a day, not give up a certain time of
your life. Are you willing to do nothing? That's the only way you'll ever
have rest. is to quit working. Let's turn
to Leviticus chapter 23, and let me talk to you about the
Sabbath of rest. Leviticus chapter 23. In this 23rd chapter of Leviticus,
the Lord God gives His law regarding seven feasts, which He required
Israel to keep every year. These seven feasts were set by
God to be holy convocations, that is, holy seasons of worship. And by these holy convocations,
their calendar was set for the year. These holy convocations,
these ceremonial feasts by which the whole work of redemption
is pictured were typical of all God's great work of grace by
which He brings His people into everlasting glory. Now let me
refresh your minds a little bit. The chapter begins in verse 4,
or verse 5 rather, speaking of the feast of the Passover, and
that was a picture of our redemption by Christ. And then in verses
6, 7, and 8, it speaks of the feast of unleavened bread, which
portrays the believer's faith in Christ, eating His flesh and
drinking His blood, taking Christ to be your own and feeding and
living upon Him. In verses 9 through 14, the Lord
describes the Feast of Firstfruits, that typified Christ who is our
resurrection and our resurrection with Him, in Him, and by Him. Then in verses 15 through 22,
We see the Feast of Weeks, or the Feast of Pentecost, which
portrayed the ingathering of God's elect by the irresistible
power and omnipotent grace of God the Holy Spirit poured out
on the day of Pentecost by the ascended Christ, our King and
our Lord. Then in verses 23, 24, and 25,
the Feast of Trumpets sets before us a picture of the
proclamation of the gospel, the great celebration of good news,
the good news of redemption accomplished. And then in verses 26 through
32, they have the feast of atonement. Quite literally, it should be
the feast of atonements or even the feast of expiations. It's
in the plural. It typified that which is described
in Acts 3 in verse 21. the time of the restitution of
all things, of which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his
holy prophets since the world began." In other words, the apostle
tells us in Acts chapter 3 that at the very beginning, at the
very beginning of the world, the Lord God somehow told Mehan
that there's a time coming And it has been continually repeated,
this prophecy has, this promise has, by all the prophets. There
is a time coming when there shall be a restitution of all things
to God Almighty. A time coming when everything
shall redound to the praise, honor, and glory of God as is
the end of His creation. The fall of man, the fall of
Lucifer, the fall of the angels, none of those things in any way,
in any way whatsoever, hindered God's purpose of His glory in
all things bringing forth praise to Him. Nothing is hindered. This is the time spoken of in
the atonements or the feast of atonements or expiation. And
then the Feast of Tabernacles described in verses 33 through
43 portrays the eternal glory that awaits us when the tabernacle
of God is forever with me. But if you read this chapter
carefully, and I hope you have and will several times in the
weeks to come, you can't avoid noticing the fact that each of
these feasts involve the observance of the Sabbath. In fact, The
opening verses, verses 1 through 3 in our text this morning, shows
us that the Sabbath was such a prominent part of Old Testament
worship that there was no worship of God at all. There was no worship
of God at all apart from the observance of the Sabbath day.
Look at verses 1 through 3. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, speaking to the children of Israel and saying to them
concerning the feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be
holy convocations. Even these are my feast. And then he says something that
seems to be just totally out of place, unless you understand
it in the context of that which is given. He says six days shall
work be done. But the seventh day, Saturday,
is the Sabbath of rest and holy convocation. You shall do no
work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord
in all your dwellings. Now, if you will read the rest
of this chapter, carefully marking the instructions given about
Sabbath keeping in connection with these feasts, You will see
at least these seven things connected with Sabbath keeping. The Sabbath
could only be kept when atonement was made. There's no Sabbath
keeping apart from a sacrifice for the atonement of sin. The
keeping of the Sabbath involved what God describes in this chapter
as the affliction of your soul. He says, keep the Sabbath and
do no work, do no servile work, let every man afflict his soul. The greatest affliction to your
soul, the greatest affliction to your soul is to quit working
for acceptance with God. It is that which no man will
do unless God makes him quit working. You will never give
up your works. You will never give up your self-righteousness. You will never give up your attempts
to justify yourself before God until God Almighty knocks every
prop up from under you and lays you flat on your face in the
dust before Him, acknowledging that you can do nothing good
by which to commend yourself to Him. And so you must cease
from your works. Sabbath-keeping involves remembrance. the remembrance of what God has
done, the remembrance of grace, the remembrance of redemption,
the remembrance of deliverance by the hand of God. But Sabbath-keeping
was not what the modern legalists who would have us still under
the law make it to be. It was not a time of long-faced
mourning. I recall several years ago when
I was preaching in England, Shelby and I were out Folks were camping
out and a bunch of kids out there. On Sunday afternoon we were eating
and they were standing there like this. And I asked them, I said, do
you want to play some ball? You would have thought, I asked them,
if they wanted to go to a strip joint. We can't do that. We have to
keep the Sabbath holy. It wasn't even that way in the
Old Testament. It was a time of feasting. There was a time
of feasting. The Sabbath was kept for feasting.
Feasting upon Christ. Feasting upon God's goodness.
Feasting upon God's mercy, represented in these pictures. And the Sabbath
was a time of celebration. In verses 40 and 41 of this chapter,
the Lord says, Rejoice! Celebrate! Why not? Redemption's
done. Rejoice! Celebrate! Why not? Sin is put away. Rejoice! Celebrate! Why not? Heaven is
my home. God is mine. Christ is mine.
Eternity is mine. Sabbath-keeping, seventhly, involved
worship. A holy convocation. And it was a holy convocation
that began the year and ran through the year. and brought the year
to its ultimate conclusion. All of these feasts throughout
the Jewish calendar involve this continual weekly reminder and
weekly celebration and weekly feasting and weekly worship of
God Almighty for redemption pictured in these times. The fact that
the Sabbath is given such a prominent place in this chapter is intimately connected with
all these feasts, intimately connected with every aspect of
divine worship, is important. Because you see, the Lord is
here giving us a very instructive and vivid picture of redemption,
grace, and salvation by His hand. If you read the chapter carefully,
the Lord seems to be saying the Sabbath is at the heart of everything. Read Jewish history. Even to
this day, the very heart of Jewish religion is the keeping of the
Sabbath. In the Old Testament, according
to God's law, the very heart of everything involved in the
worship of God was the keeping of the Sabbath. You see, the
Sabbath is the heart of all that God does, and that is the Sabbath
representative. It is the heart of everything
God does, the heart of all his work. In one sense, the believer
enters into rest when he comes to God by faith, and thus keeps
the Sabbath. Believing on the Lord Jesus Christ,
he enters into rest, God's rest, that rest which the Lord God,
our Savior, enjoys. And by and by, we shall enter
into everlasting rest. an undisturbed, relentless, everlasting
peace of heart and soul and mind and thought and deed. Rest. Nothing sweeter to a weary soul. Rest. You come home from a hard day,
been up for a long, long time, and your body is tired and your
mind is tired and you're exhausted. All you want to do is rest. Oh, my soul, rest. How sweet. And when your soul
has been tossed and torn in turmoil and strife because of your sin. When your conscience screams
inside you so that you have no rest, you are inside as the troubled
sea, casting up mire and filth, and you're constantly agitated
in mind, agitated in heart, agitated in soul. You cry, oh, for rest! The rest is found. in Christ
our Lord. As there was no worshiping of
God in the Old Testament without the ceremonial keeping of the
carnal Sabbath, so there is no worship of God and no rest for
your soul without the keeping of this true Sabbath which was
pictured in that carnal Sabbath. Now I want you, if you will,
to turn to the book of Exodus. Exodus chapter 31. And I want
you to see clearly, I want you to see clearly that the Sabbath
was given specifically by God to be a sign of faith in Christ
and salvation by Him. It was never God's intention,
it was never God's intention that men and women should make
Sabbath keeping a means of grace or sanctification to their souls.
There are multitudes today who would have us keep the Sabbath. Seventh-day Adventists, Seventh-day
Baptists, Russellites, those folks who call themselves Jehovah's
Witnesses, they say you have to worship on Saturday because
we've got to keep the Sabbath. Now, they are right in one regard.
The Sabbath is Saturday. Always has been, always is, and
always will be. As far as the Sabbath day is
concerned, it's Saturday. Now, sometimes folks think, well,
Sabbath is really just an old religious term for Sunday. No,
it's not. Sabbath is on the seventh day. Sunday is the first day. Now,
until you can make the first day the seventh day, you can't
make Sunday a Sabbath day. That just makes good sense. But
then there are those who would hide their teaching of work salvation
under the cloak of grace, and yet have us to be in bondage
to the yoke of the law, and legal bondage bringing servitude and
fear and terror and dread and morbid, morbid, morbid self-righteousness. And they tell us, no, no, no,
no, no. We don't keep a legal Sabbath. We don't keep Saturday
for the Sabbath. We keep a gospel Sabbath. We
keep the Sunday Sabbath called the Lord's Day. That's just as
bad, if not worse. Just as bad. Either way, it's
legal bondage. Now, God never intended that
we, in this gospel age, should live under the servitude and
strictures of the Old Testament law. Not at all. Now, once you see this clearly,
it's given both in the law and in the gospel. Here in Exodus
chapter 31. Now listen carefully. Like circumcision,
like the Passover, like all other aspects of legal ceremonial worship
during the Old Testament, the legal Sabbath day was specifically
established by God to be a sign and a picture of redemption,
grace, and salvation by Christ Jesus. Now, that's not a matter
of speculation. It's not a matter of guesswork.
It's not a matter of accurate, astute theological interpretation.
It's a matter of divine revelation. Exodus chapter 31, verse 13. Let's see if this is what the
book says. Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying,
Verily, my Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign. It is a sign. A type. A picture. A representation. Not the real thing. Just a sign. Not the real thing. I like to
carry pictures of our grandbabies. Carry pictures of my wife. Carry
pictures of my daughter. Have them hanging around. I like
to look at them. But you know what? If I had Will and Audre
Grace up there, And those little babies were just reaching out
to get in my arms, crawl up on Papa's lap and give him a hug
and kiss. And I pulled out the pictures. And I hugged him up
and kissed him. You'd send me to the funny farm
in a straitjacket. You said man's lost his mind.
He's lost his mind. And I'm telling you that with
regard to spiritual things, Those who hold to the pictures of the
law while Christ is before them and hug up the pictures of the
law have lost their minds spiritually. They have no spiritual understanding. It is a sign between me and you
throughout your generations. A sign of what? That you may
know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. I am the Lord who makes you holy. I am the Lord who sets you apart. I am the Lord who saves you.
Because Sabbath week keeping was a legal type of our salvation
in Christ, during those days of carnal ordinances, like the
Passover and like circumcision, once Christ has come and fulfilled
it, then the carnal ordinance has ceased. In the New Testament,
We are strictly forbidden. This is not a matter of an option. Somebody said, well, one observes
a day to the Lord and another observes it not. During that
transitional period, yes. During this gospel age, no. We are strictly forbidden to
observe a Sabbath day. Turn to Colossians chapter 2.
Colossians chapter 2. I'll just hold your hands there
for a minute. In fact, we're plainly told that
those who attempt to worship God on the grounds of legal ordinances
are yet under the curse of the law. They have not yet learned
the gospel. Whatever those legal ordinances
may be. Let me give you these three things. First, circumcision. is forbidden
as an ordinance of divine worship. It's not an optional thing. Now,
don't misunderstand me. If you mamas want to take your
baby boys and have them circumcised when they're born, that's wonderful.
That's fine. Do it. Just don't make it a religious
thing. But you know what? I have never
met anyone who wasn't a Jew who made it a religious thing to
physically circumcise a child. Any of you? Oh, well, that doesn't
have any connection with us. Oh, yes, it does. Oh, yes, it
does. When Paul speaks of circumcision,
he says, if you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you how much? Nothing. He's not talking about
physical circumcision. Certainly that was the case in
the day in which he lived. He's talking to Jews and Gentiles
who had been pressured by Jews to submit to that ordinance.
But this is what he's saying. You see what I'm saying, Bobby
Estes? If you do anything, anything, anything, if it's nothing more
than cutting off a little flesh, if you do anything by which to
get God's favor, keep God's favor, or improve your standing in God's
favor, Christ is nothing to you. Now that's serious. Read it for
yourself, Galatians chapter 5. In this day, and I'm going to
say it knowing where this message is going to be heard, there are multitudes who have
their babies sprinkled when they're little boys, little girls, bring
them by what they call baptism. Now that ain't baptism, that's
just sprinkling. Baptism is ducting. That's what the word means, but
they call it baptism. And they bring their babies to
a preacher who acts like a priest, who sprinkles a little water
on their face, and thereby they bring them into the church and
kingdom of God, sealing them in the covenant of grace, and
by that act, They attempt to retain the Old Testament ceremony
of circumcision. And by that act, which they voluntarily
admit they attempt to retain, they say this is a symbol of
circumcision. This is the picture in the New
Testament of circumcision. They deny the whole gospel of
the grace of God. They deny the necessity of heart
circumcision, which is what was represented in the law of circumcision.
Passover observance? is forbidden because Christ our
Passover was sacrificed for us, 1 Corinthians 5, 7. Those who
continue to offer sacrifices then to God either for atonement
or to do penance or to gain a higher degree of divine favor or to
earn an extra star in their crowning glory or to prevent God's anger
by their sacrifices, by those things which they offer to God
in the name of Christ with devoted religion, by their sacrifices,
deny that Christ's death at Calvary was the one-time effectual satisfaction
of divine justice for all our sins and the effectual accomplishment
of our everlasting reconciliation to God. If I have to do something,
to improve it, what he did was nothing. If you have to do something
by which you still appease God's wrath, if you have to give something
by which you still gain God's favor, if you have to do something
by which you yet cause God to smile on you, you don't know
what it is to trust Christ. In exactly the same way, now
listen carefully, In exactly the same way, those who attempt
to sanctify themselves by keeping a carnal Sabbath deny that Christ
is enough to give us perfect rest, complete acceptance with
the thrice holy God. Look here in Colossians 2. Paul
states what I've been saying in verse 23 this way, these workmongers, These folks
who would have you to do, do, do. Do, do, do. Do this, do that. Don't do this,
don't do that. Do, do, do, do, do, do, do. They make an outward show of
spirituality. They make an outward show of
wisdom. But look what Paul calls it in
verse 23. But Ron, he says it's will worship. I lay this charge at the door
of all such religion. It is the worship of yourself. It is will worship. It is will
worship. Such pretenses of humility are
nothing but the satisfying of the flesh, not only that, The
whole matter of Sabbath keeping is strictly forbidden by God
the Holy Spirit here in Colossians 2 verse 16. Since the Lord Jesus
Christ, by his death at Calvary, has blotted out the handwriting
of the ordinances that was against us, since he nailed God's broken
law to the cross and put away our sins, he alone is our Sabbath
rest. We rest in Him. Therefore, Paul
says in verse 16, Let no man therefore judge you in meat or
in drink, or in respect of a holy day, or of the new moon, or of
Sabbath days. But no man judge you. Now this
is what Paul says. Don't let any man bind your conscience
in this regard. Don't let any man bring you into
condemnation because you don't observe his religious rituals.
It's just so much idolatry and tomfoolery, which are a shadow
of things to come. But watch this, watch this. The
meats of the Old Testament, the drinks of the Old Testament,
The holy days of the Old Testament, the new moons of the Old Testament,
the Sabbath days of the Old Testament, they're a shadow. A shadow. Kids sometimes are afraid of
shadows, but when they get a little older, they learn you can walk
on them, they won't bother you. A fellow might reach out and
try to grab a shadow, not realizing it's just a shadow. When you
grab it, you're grabbing nothing. Just a shadow, just a shadow, a shadow
of things to come, but the body, the reality, the real thing,
the real thing is Christ. All carnal Sabbath keeping then
of any form is strictly forbidden on the basis of this fact in
Christ. All true believers are dead to
the law, and Christ is the end of the law, the termination,
the finishing, the abolishment, because he is the completion
of God's holy law. And yet, we do keep the Sabbath. We do keep the Sabbath, really
and truly, by faith in Christ. I want you to turn with me, if
you will, to one text, Matthew chapter 11. Matthew chapter 11. Now hold your hand there. I didn't mean to fib to you.
Let's look at one other one. Matthew chapter 28. Hold your hands in
Matthew 11, Matthew 28. This is a remarkable, remarkable
verse of Scripture. Verse 1. In the end of the Sabbath, that
is, on the close of Saturday evening, as it began to dawn
toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other
Mary to see the sepulcher. I wish everybody here could read
this text in the original language. Let me read it to you. If you've
got a piece of paper, write it down. This is exactly how the
text should be translated. In the end of the Sabbath, as
it began to dawn toward the Sabbath. What? Oh! The Lord died. was buried on Friday, laid in
the sepulcher all day on the Sabbath day, and then as it began
to dawn toward the first day of the week, there, Sunday became
the Sabbath. No, no, no, no, no, no. Our Lord
Jesus said it's finished. And He had finished everything
pictured in the Old Testament, fulfilled every type, fulfilled
every prophecy, fulfilled every word written concerning Him.
It's finished! He brought in an everlasting
righteousness. He put away sin, made it into
transgression, sealed up the vision. He was anointed as the
Most Holy One and sat down on the right hand of the Majesty
of the Highest. Finished! He took his seat in glory, seated
yonder because the work was done, and he entered into his rest,
which is his glory. And that was the end of the Sabbath. And it began to dome toward the
Sabbath. What on earth is that talking
about? When the Lord Jesus Christ died at Calvary and rose again,
the old Sabbath of the law forever ended. And the new Sabbath of
grace began. Well, how on earth do we keep
the Sabbath? Matthew chapter 11, verse 28. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. and I'll give you rest." That's it. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
come unto me and rest. Lay down thou weary one, lay
down thy head upon my breast. I came to Jesus as I was, weary
and worn and sad. I found in Him A resting place. And He has made me glad. Come on. Come on. Come to Christ. Right now. Right now. Don't bow your head. Don't close
your eyes. Don't say a prayer. Don't even
think a thought. Just come to Him. Just come to
Him. Come to Christ. Do no work. Oh my God! I've been trying all
my life with these polluted hands, and this polluted heart, and
this polluted mind, and this polluted soul, and this polluted
life to do something to make myself acceptable with God. I
kept my works. I give up. I trust Christ. I trust Christ. That's it. I trust Him. I believe on Christ's head. That's
too much. I believe on Christ's butt. That's
too much. I trust Him. I trust Him. And I have rest. I am confident. because of His
blood and His righteousness and His intercession that my sins
are gone, pardoned forever. And God Almighty smiles on me
with constant approval and reconciled to Him in the teeth of my sin. I cast all my hope on Him. And He will never, never leave
me. And never, never forsake me. And He won't let me leave Him. That's called rest. That's called
rest. And He'll keep me to the end. working all things for my good,
and will at last present me faultless before the presence of His glory.
And then, rest. Not even another tear to fall
from that eye. Not even another feeling of sorrow
to arise in this heart. Not even a thought of care about
all that is past. For the former things are passed
away. I bid you, my friends, Come to
Christ and rest. Let's sing number 242. Jesus,
I come. Jesus, I come.