When we began this series of
messages in Bible doctrine, I told you I wanted so very much not
merely to convince you of doctrinal truth, but rather to show you
the doctrine of Christ in his person. I don't really give a
flip whether a person's a Calvinist or an Arminian, it doesn't matter.
I want you to know the Son of God. I want you to know Christ. You can be a Calvinist and go
to hell just as well as an Arminian and go to hell. You can be sure
every Arminian is perishing and going to hell, and most Calvinists
as well. The thing we must know is Jesus
Christ himself. Got to know him. This is life
eternal, that they might know thee, the only God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent. Now with that in mind, I want
you to turn to Isaiah chapter 58. Isaiah 58. In the Old Testament, much of
the outward ceremonial worship was indeed given in outward forms,
and outward ceremonies, and outward rituals, and outward symbols. In the Old Testament, there was
a holy place. That holy place was Jerusalem,
where the temple of God and the ark of God and the altar of God
were established. Today, there is no holy place
on this earth. None. Folks, talk about the holy
land, that's because they're idolaters. They're not in it.
That land over in Palestine, just like the land here, not
quite as rich, but just like the land here. Just dirt, that's
all it is. There are no holy places on this
earth. In the Old Testament, men and women came before a physical
altar, and they bowed before God at a physical altar. But
we have no altar today. And those who worship at a physical
altar do not worship God. They just do not worship God.
I don't care whether it's an altar in a Baptist church or
an altar in a Catholic church. Those who worship at a physical
altar do not worship God. Read the book of Hebrews. The
next chapter is over in chapter 13 where Rex was reading just
a little bit ago. We have an altar. We have an altar. But
those who worship at a physical altar can't partake of Him. Our
altar is Christ. What I'm saying is this, and
this is the doctrine set forth throughout the scriptures. All
true worship in this gospel age is spiritual worship. Spiritual
worship. We don't have any images of angels
or crosses or any of those things in our houses of worship. We
don't have any stained glass windows, not because we can't
afford them, because we don't want them. We're not going to
have them. We worship God in spirit. Now
listen carefully. Our Lord said to the woman at
Samaria, well, the woman at Samaria, God is spirit, and they that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. All true
worship is spiritual. The Apostle Paul said we are
the circumcision, we are the true people of God, which worship
God in the spirit. and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. No confidence in anything we
see, anything we feel, anything we experience, or anything we
do. No confidence in the flesh. Our
confidence, Bobby, is only Christ. That's all. That's all. How do
you draw near to God? Right here. Right here. Well, don't you think it'd help
to have some icons or pictures. Oh no, a hinder. As long as you're
looking at a picture of Christ, you can't go near to Him. As
long as you're looking at an image of a cross, you'll never
know the doctrine of the cross. The cross of Jesus Christ represented
in Scripture is not the image or the real cross on which he
died, but the doctrine represented in that. When Paul said, God
forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus
Christ, he wasn't talking about that piece of wood. He was talking
about the doctrine of substitution and satisfaction. I'll tell you
what I'd do. I'll tell you what I'd do, and
I'm telling you the honest truth before God. If I could find and
knew for sure I could find the cross on which Christ was crucified,
I'd burn it to ashes. I'd burn it to ashes. Folks talk
about that shroud of Turan. Supposed to be something, somebody
gathered up, wrapped the body of Jesus in, and it's been kept
now all this time. Television investigators show
pictures of it, got blood stains on it. Supposed to be the blood
of Christ on that shroud. If you ever found it, burn it.
You wouldn't. Oh yes, I would. Because men
would worship it. Men would worship it, and we
must not allow that. God is spirit, and those that
worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. That's
the reason we keep insisting, I keep trying to make you understand,
that all the carnal ordinances of the Old Testament legal dispensation
have been fulfilled by Christ. And since they've been fulfilled
by Christ, they must never, never, never have any part in the worship
of Christ today. We worship Him who fulfilled
the law, not the law. We worship Him who fulfilled
the types, not the types. We worship Him who fulfilled
the requirements of the law, not the requirements. We go near
to God only by faith in Jesus Christ, and you do it with your
heart. You do it with your heart. I had a fellow who called the
other night, Robin, you were sitting on the porch chatting.
He called back today. He might be hooked. He said, I've been reading the
stuff you sent me and it's got my curiosity aroused. I said,
good. He said, what do you do when you give an invitation?
I said, I don't. He said, what do you do when you give folks
a chance to be saved? I said, folks aren't saved by chance.
He said, what do you do when you invite folks to receive Jesus? I said, I don't. He said, well,
what do you do? I said, I'll preach Christ, and
tell me where they are, to come to Him without saying a word.
He said, don't you tell them what to pray? I said, I don't
even tell them to pray. The book doesn't say pray, it says believe.
Do you understand the difference? The book doesn't say say the
sinner's prayer, it says believe. The book doesn't say, come down
to the front. The church says, come to Him. The book doesn't invite
sinners if they pretty well please receive Jesus into their hearts.
The book demands that you bow before Him, praying that He'll
receive you. You understand the difference?
Salvation's a spiritual thing, and it's all together in Christ.
Now that's what Isaiah chapter 58 is all about. This spiritual
worship is not only that which is revealed in the New Testament,
but as you understand the Old Testament in the light of the
New, you see clearly that it was revealed in the Old Testament
as well. In the opening verses of this chapter, now clearly
this is a passage addressed originally to the Jews in their Babylonian
captivity, and God is telling them the reason for their captivity.
But there are not any Jews in Babylonian captivity anymore.
Not in a physical sense anyway. So to interpret the passage in
a mere historic sense is erroneous and does violence to the scriptures.
No scripture is to be interpreted merely in its historic context. It is to be interpreted in the
context of the gospel in the whole of Holy Scripture. So the
passage was written for us, according to Romans 15, for our learning
and for our admonition. Now in the first verses of this
chapter, verses 1 through 4, God commands his prophet to cry
aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show
my people their transgressions, and the house of Jacob their
sins. And if you read the chapter, this is what he talks about,
when he talks about their transgressions and their sins. He's talking
about their Sabbath keeping, He's talking about their fasting,
he's talking about their praying, he's talking about their sacrifices.
So what he's telling us in these opening verses is that empty
religious ritualism is nothing but sin and folly. It is not
the worship of God. Well, why would people do it?
Our Lord describes it here. He says in verse 2, you seek
me daily, you delight to know my ways as a nation that did
righteousness, and you forsook not the ordinances of God, you
kept up all the outward rituals. And they asked of me ordinances
of justice. They take delight in approaching
God. Verse 3, Wherefore have we fasted,
say they? Thou seest not. Wherefore have
we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? We did this
to get your attention. We did this to get your attention,
God. Behold, the day of your fast, in the day of your fast,
you find pleasure. and exact all your labors. In
other words, it is to the satisfying and the gratifying of your flesh
that you keep up and maintain all the outward ordinances of
religion and religious ceremony, even true religion as far as
the doctrine of it's concerned, and true religion as far as the
ceremony is concerned. But you don't have a heart to
worship me. In verses 5, 6, and 7, he declares that the essence
of worship, the essence of worship is spirit and heart, mercy and
grace, kindness and love. He said, you fast. He said, the
kind of fast I want, the kind of fast that will cause you to
feed the hungry and take care of the poor. The kind of fast
I want is the kind of fast that James described. Pure religion
and undefiled is to visit the fatherless and the widows in
their affliction. He says you fast so that you might ball up
your fist and be other folks with your religion. But true
fasting, true worship involves heart and mercy, spirit and kindness,
goodness and grace. Then in verses 8 through 12,
Our Lord here describes for us the blessedness of faith in Christ
and obedience to the gospel. He tells us in verse 9, Then
shalt thou call, and the Lord will answer thee. Thou shalt
cry, and he shall say, Here am I. When you come to know God,
When you come to worship God in spirit and in truth, you'll
call on Him. He'll answer you. You'll call on Him in prayer,
and you'll have the confidence and assurance that what you ask,
according to His will and the Savior's name, you have your
petitions from the Father. And you will be satisfied. He
will guide you. He will cause you to inherit
the high places of the earth. And you'll be known as a repairer
of the breach and restorer of the paths. In other words, the
promise of God that He made to Abraham. Back in Genesis chapter
12, you remember? When God said, He chose Abraham
and called him. He said, I'll make of you a great
nation and I will make you a blessing when you walk before me. you
shall be a blessing, a blessing to all the nations of the earth.
So that those who are brought by God's grace to worship Him
in spirit and in truth, not only find themselves restored in Christ
perfectly before God, but they become themselves instruments
by which God restores others. Now then, let's look at verses
13 and 14. This is what I want to deal with.
If thou turn thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure
on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of
the Lord, honorable, and shall honor him, not doing thine own
ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words."
If you're going to worship God, now listen to me, Listen to me,
if you're going to worship God, really, if you're going to worship
Him, if you ever come to know the Living God, if you ever come
to bow to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, and worship Him, you're
going to have to put aside your own ways, your own pleasure,
and your own words. You're going to have to do it.
You're going to have to do it. Naaman said, but I thought that's
your problem. That's your problem. But I thought,
if you say that, then you're gonna have to put aside your
ways, your pleasures, and your words, and bow to his word. Read
on. Then shalt thou delight thyself
in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places
of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father,
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. Now in these two verses,
The prophet of God with inspired vision of prophecy looks beyond
the carnal Jewish Sabbath and sees in it a picture of Christ
who is the true Sabbath and the blessed rest of faith that is
ours in him. I have a question I want to answer.
When can we call the Sabbath a delight? Here God speaks of
his people and bids us call the Sabbath a delight. Now, I know
a lot of people. I know a lot of people. I've
known folks all of my Christian life. I know a lot of people
who say they keep the Sabbath day, one way or another. I know
a lot of people who pretend to keep the Sabbath day. And I know
a lot of them who are very sincere, very, very sincere. But I'll
tell you what I have never yet met. They're what I've never
yet met. I'm talking about nowhere in
the length and breadth of this country. Nowhere in England,
Ireland, and Scotland. Nowhere in Australia, nowhere
in Mexico, nowhere in the Virgin Islands, nowhere in Canada. I've
never met anyone who spoke of the Sabbath with delight. I never
have. It's always drudgery. It's always,
it's always, what I've got to do. It's always, now you can't
do that. I've never heard of anyone yet
who pretends to keep a Sabbath day, speaking of it as a delight. Not one time. But those who truly
keep the Sabbath day call the Sabbath a delight. Well, when
can we call the Sabbath a delight? Well, when you tell folks, now,
you can't watch any football on Sunday, even if the Cats are
playing and they're playing for the championship. You can't go out to eat on Sunday.
Have to have cold leftovers your wife fixed the night before. You can't watch any movies Sunday
night going to church. Well, what do you do? Well, you
can read your Bible, and you can pray, and you can go to church.
You don't have to drive too far. Oh. Oh. You mean all day long? All day long? That's a wonderful
delight. You find me somebody who says
so, I'll tell you he's a liar because it's a weariness to his
soul. It's a weariness to his flesh. Believers in their hearts
delight to worship God, but they despise the rigor of outward
ceremonial religion. Well, when can we call the Sabbath
a delight? Now notice what I'm saying about
this text becomes obvious. Make yourself a note in your
margin. When our Lord says, call the Sabbath a delight, the holy
of the Lord, a more accurate translation is this, call the
Sabbath a delight, the holy one of the Lord. It's not talking
about a day, it's talking about a person. Call the Sabbath a
delight, the Holy One of the Lord, and that Holy One of the
Lord is Himself, Jesus Christ, our Savior. Christ is our Sabbath,
the Holy One of the Lord. Now let me make four or five
statements. I'm going to make these first two or three very
brief, but I want you to hear them. I will be repeating some
of what I've told you in recent weeks, but this is so very, very
important. First, we need to understand
the Sabbath which God required the Jews to keep was only a temporary,
typical ordinance by which Christ and our redemption in Him was
represented. Now, we can look at many things,
but turn to Deuteronomy chapter 5. The Sabbath was a symbol of
God's rest when He had created the earth. the heavens and the
earth. God blessed him from all his
works. And he describes it as that in Exodus chapter 20 when
he gave the law, the Sabbath. But here in Deuteronomy, the
Sabbath was more than just a representation of the completion of creation.
It was a representation and a remembrance of what God had done for Israel
in bringing them out of Egypt. It was a picture of the complete,
finished work of the new creation in Jesus Christ the Lord. A picture
of our redemption and salvation in Him. Deuteronomy 5, 15. And
remember, remember, God's telling them why they must keep the Sabbath
day in the ceremonies of the law. That thou wast a servant
in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee
out thence through a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm. Therefore
the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath. In other
words, the Sabbath day, like all other aspects of the Mosaic
law, was a picture prophecy of our perfect redemption by Jesus
Christ the Lord. As the Jews rested on the seventh
day of the week from all their works, so believers rest in Christ
from all their works. Secondly, we can call the Sabbath
a delight. Only when we understand that
Jesus Christ is himself our Sabbath. We do not observe a legal, literal
Sabbath day. We do not observe one because
the Word of God specifically commands us not to do so. You
say, but Pastor, the Sabbath is mentioned throughout the Gospels
and throughout the Book of Acts. The Jews came and worshipped
on the Sabbath day and the disciples went into the synagogue on the
Sabbath day. It was Saturday, remember, not Sunday. And the
Sabbath day was always mentioned in all four Gospels and in the
Book of Acts, only in connection with the Jews and with the Jewish
worship of the Old Testament. During that transition period,
moving out of the Old Testament into the full revelation of the
gospel of God's grace in the New Testament, those Jews continued
to worship in synagogues and in the temple, and they worshiped
on the Sabbath day. But as you come through the book
of Acts, you find that gradually they drop away from this. And
men and women begin to worship God on what John calls the Lord's
Day, the first day of the week. Never is it called the Sabbath
day. Only once is it called the Lord's Day, lest we should put
some kind of holy, idolatrous connotation to the first day
of the week. We set aside this day because
this is the day in which our Lord Jesus Christ was raised
from the dead, and we worship God at this specific time. But
nowhere is it commanded in Scripture that we have to worship on Sunday.
Nowhere. It's convenient. It's good to
have a specific time to worship. But if a congregation decides
they want to worship on Monday, that's convenient for them. That's
just fine. That's just fine. Nowhere is it commanded that
we worship on Sunday. Sabbath keeping, however, in
Colossians 2, 16 and 17, is specifically forbidden because it is just
a shadow. A shadow of things to come. Sabbath
keeping is just as idolatrous Now, I'm choosing my words deliberately,
Larry, and I know folks all around the country are going to hear
this, and I know I'm going to get repercussions, but that's
all right. I've got a tough hat. Sabbath-keeping is just as idolatrous
as the sacrifice of a Passover lamb over in Israel. Sabbath-keeping
is just as idolatrous as the holding up a physical altar in
the front of the church. Sabbath-keeping is just as idolatrous
as any other return to Old Testament worship. We worship God in spirit,
only in spirit. The Apostle Paul forbids the
observance of a legal Sabbath day because we're dead to the
law. Now when you talk about the Sabbath
and Sabbath-keeping, it's mentioned only twice, from Romans through
Revelation, only twice. In Colossians 2.16, Paul forbids
it. And then over in Hebrews chapter
4, I want you to look at this one again. Hebrews chapter 4. We won't read this whole chapter,
I urge you to do so. Paul talks continually about
rest. We which believe enter into rest. Those who didn't believe
in the Old Testament could not enter into the land of Canaan,
but we who believe enter into rest. The Lord said the works
were finished before the foundation of the world. He said there is
a rest. Now I want you to look at this,
verse 9. There remaineth therefore. Therefore. Since God rested on
the seventh day from his works. Since the works were finished
from the foundation of the world. There remaineth therefore a rest. But here he changes words. If
you had a Greek New Testament in front of you, you'd see it
obviously. The word rest here is a different word than what
is used throughout the rest of the chapter. The word rest here,
if you spell it out in English, is spelled S-A-B-B-A-T-H. Sabbath. There remaineth a sabbath,
a keeping of the sabbath. But by inspiration, the apostle
interchanges throughout this chapter, sabbath with rest. And it makes us to understand
that we're speaking about the same thing. What he's telling
us is this. There is yet a sabbath. And that sabbath is a sabbath
to the people of God. For he that is entered into his
rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from
his. Who's entered into his rest?
The Lord of glory. You read about it just a little
bit ago. He, having put away our sins by the sacrifice of
himself, sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.
He's entered into his rest. He's entered into his rest. Now
then, I want you to look at this next thing. We can call the Sabbath
a delight. when we realize that all our
Savior has accomplished, is finished, His finished work, and realize
that our all-glorious Redeemer, the Lord Jesus Christ, our Mediator,
has indeed entered into His rest, and His rest is glorious because
He's finished His work. In Isaiah 11.10, it talks about
Christ being the ensign, the banner, unto whom the people,
the Gentiles, shall be gathered, and his rest shall be glorious. His rest shall be his glory. Our Savior's rest in heaven is
glorious, and it is his glory. The glory of Christ is the fact
that he now is seated at the right hand of the majesty on
high, not here, but in the heavens. And God the Father says, Thou
art my son, set thou my right hand. You've earned the right.
Now he sets a man, clothed with majesty divine, for he is God. A man ruling all things, possessing
all things, because he's finished his work. He sets and rests. What does this mean? Not only
does it mean that his work is finished, it means that our salvation
is certain. Rex read Hebrews 9.12 a little
bit ago. With his own blood he entered
in once into the holy place, into the place of his rest. Having,
let me sit down and pitch it for you. As he obtained eternal
redemption for us, he said, is that heaven obtained eternal
redemption for us with his blood. There's no possibility then that
those for whom he holds eternal redemption by the power of his
blood, no possibility that they shall perish. It means also that
all his enemies shall soon be made his footstool. Let me skip
over that and move to this fourth thing. I want you to see from
the scriptures that all who believe on Christ Jesus the Lord keep
the Sabbath by faith because we have entered into his rest
and now we call the Sabbath a delight. What a delight. What a delight. Look in Hebrews 4 verse 3. For
we which have believed do enter into rest As he said, as I have
sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although
the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
We enter into rest, and the rest into which we enter is his rest. It's the rest he has accomplished,
purposed, and purchased for us. Now we don't keep the Sabbath
perfectly, because we don't yet trust our Savior perfectly. But
we do keep the Sabbath, truly. And we do keep the Sabbath sincerely. Our Sabbath observance is not
a carnal literal thing. We keep no Sabbath day. God forbids that, as I've already
shown you. But we keep the Sabbath spiritually. Just as we come
to God. Not by going to Jerusalem, but
by going to Christ. We worship God not by offering
an animal sacrifice or an altar at some place men call the Holy
Land. Oh no. We worship God by offering
Christ, His sacrifice, back to Him again. That's how we draw
near to Him. Now remember, the Sabbath day
was ordained by God in the ceremonial worship of the Jews in the Old
Testament as a symbol of His rest, as a reminder of their
deliverance out of Egypt. And the essence of Sabbath observation
was self-denial and consecration to God. The Lord Jesus gives
rest to every sinner who comes to Him. Come unto me, He says. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden, and I'll give you rest. Come. Come on. Come on. Oh, listen to me now. Listen
to me. Come to Christ now. Don't wait till I get done preaching.
Come now. Don't wait for a song or an opportunity to do something.
Come to Christ right where you are, right now. Come unto me,
he says. All ye that labor and are heavy
laden, Coming to me, I'll give you rest. That's what faith is. You come and rest in Him. But
more than that, not only do you come to Christ and quit working
for God's favor, but Sabbath observance involves consecration
to God. It involves doing no work for
your pleasure. It involves doing no work for
your own satisfaction. It involves doing nothing for
yourself. It involves committing everything
to Him. How are you going to eat? God's going to give me extra
manners today. How are you going to live? God's going to take
care of it. What's going to happen when you go on those holy days
and worship God? God says, I'll protect your family
and I'll protect your home. What do you do? You come to Him,
consecrating everything to Him. That's exactly what faith is.
The believer continually keeps the Sabbath. Take my yoke upon
you and learn of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest unto your souls." Now, Bob, you and
Sally, this is just for you. You who have heartache and trouble,
this is just for you. You who are facing difficulty,
this is just for you. Come, willingly slip your neck
under the yoke of Christ's will and his providence. and you'll
find rest for your soul. And I promise you, you'll call
this Sabbath a delight forever. Amen.