Would you turn with me to Exodus
chapter 31? I have entitled this message.
What does the Sabbath really teach us? What does the Sabbath day really
teach us? In Exodus chapter 19. God had
called Moses up to Mount Sinai, and he was up there for 40 days
receiving the law from God. He received the Ten Commandments
and all the other moral, ceremonial and civil laws, and he was given
instruction regarding the construction of the tabernacle. And then we
read in Exodus 31, verse 18, and he gave unto Moses. When
he'd made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai, two
tables of testimony. Tables of stone written with
the finger of God. That's very interesting that
when he's closing. This instruction regarding his
holy law. What does he end up with? What does he end up with? He
goes back to the Sabbath day. Look in verse 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, This is after the law had been given. This is how he
ends the law. And the Lord spake unto Moses,
saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying,
Verily, my Sabbaths you shall keep. For it is a sign between
me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the
Lord that does sanctify you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore,
for it is holy unto you. Every one 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
generations for a perpetual covenant. It's 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. Now, what is it that this day
teaches us, this Sabbath day? Now, we know it has something
to do with rest. Look in verse 17. It is a sign
between me and the children of Israel forever. In six days,
the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested
and was refreshed. Now, the entire message of the
scripture is found in the Sabbath day. Let me show you this. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter
28. Isaiah 28. I don't think I'd ever really.
I've quoted the scripture line upon line and precept upon precept
here a little and there a little. I thought that scripture a lot,
but I haven't really thought much about what he said in saying
line upon line and precept upon precept. This is the way we're
to teach here a little there, a little continually repeating
this. But look what it says in verse nine of Isaiah 28. Whom
shall he teach knowledge? And whom shall he make to understand
doctrine? Then that are weaned from the milk and drawn from
the breast, for precept must be put upon precept, precept
upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, hear a little
and there a little, for with stammering lips and another tongue
will he speak to this people, to whom he said, This is the
rest, wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest, and this is
the refreshing. Yet they would not hear, but
this is the message of the gospel. rest, wherein the weary may be
refreshed." I think of our Lord's words in Matthew 11, verse 28,
when he said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden,
burdened under a sense of sin, and I will give you what? Rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn
of me. For I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you'll find rest for your souls. For my burden is easy,
and my yoke is light. Would you turn with me for a
moment to Hebrews chapter 4? Hold your finger there in Exodus
31 and turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Verse 1, let us therefore fear
lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest. Any of you should seem to come
short of it. For unto us was the gospel preached
as well as unto them, but the word preached did not profit
them. not being mixed with faith in them that heard it, for we
which have believed do enter into rest. As he said, I sworn
in my wrath that they should not enter into my rest, although
the works were finished from the foundation of the world.
For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day, Saturday,
on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all of his
works. And again, in this place, if they shall enter into my rest,
seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein,
and they to whom it was first preached enter not in because
of unbelief. Again, he limits a certain day,
saying in David today, after so long a time as it said today,
if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus
or Joshua, talking about the Old Testament figure Joshua,
which is the Greek for Jesus, for if Joshua had given them
rest, they would not afterwards have spoken of another day. There
remained, therefore, a rest, literally a keeping of the Sabbath
to the people of God. For he that's entered into his
rest, he also has ceased from his own works. as God did from
his, so we can see that the Sabbath is not some obscure Old Testament
teaching. The gospel message, the message
of the Bible, the entire scripture is found in the Sabbath. Now, what does the Sabbath teach
us? I know what I generally think
of when I think of the Sabbath. I think I'm not working. And
we think of, I remember when I was a kid, I remember my grandfather,
he didn't want us to go swimming on Sundays, you know, a day of
rest. And I remember it kind of made me hate Sundays. But
for one thing, the Sabbath never was changed to Sunday. People
do that, but you never find that in the Bible. You don't find
it in the Bible where it's changed from Saturday to Sunday. Human
tradition is changing into Sunday. And I used to didn't like the
fact that, you know, you can't have fun. You can't do things
you want to do on Sunday. And I didn't like that much at
all, having no understanding of what the Sabbath meant in
the first place. Now, you can't understand the
gospel apart from understanding the Sabbath. Now, look in Exodus,
Chapter 20. Now, remember, the Sabbath is part of the Ten Commandments.
You know, people say we're under the law, or we like to put up
the Ten Commandments, you know, in our schools and so on and
in courtyards, and people make a big deal about that. And you
know something, they never pay any attention to what the Ten
Commandments says, because if you're under the law of the Ten
Commandments, that includes the Sabbath day. And you know what happened
if you broke the Sabbath? You were to be stoned to death.
You would be killed. Now that's how, you know, somebody
says, well, Will, you need to be under the law, do you? You'd
be in trouble if you are. The Sabbath is part of the glorious
Ten Commandments of God. Look here next to chapter 20.
Verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and
do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath
of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work.
Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy maidservant, The man servant,
or thy maid servant, or thy cattle, or thy stranger that's within
thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the
sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore,
the Lord blessed the Sabbath day, and he hallowed it." Now,
when God gives closing instructions concerning the law given to Moses
on Mount Sinai, he ends up once again with the Sabbath day. Turn
back to our text in Exodus chapter 31. Exodus chapter 31, verse 13, 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 you may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you.
That's the teaching of the Sabbath. Now we're going to get back to
that in a moment. But that's the main teaching of the Sabbath.
If I'm to understand the Sabbath, I'm to understand that I'm not
going to do any works whatsoever because the Lord says, I am the
Lord that sanctifies you. And it's the teaching of the
Sabbath, but let's get back to that in just a moment. He says in
verse 14, you shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it's
holy unto you. Everyone that defiles it shall
surely be put to death. And remember, with God, the punishment
always fits the crime. This is not overly severe. If
someone defiles the Sabbath, they shall surely be put to death.
For whosoever doth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from
among his people. Six days may work be done, but
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. You know, there's an example
in the scriptures over numbers where they found some people picking
up sticks. And they went and told Moses about it and said,
what are we going to do with this guy? He says, stone him, put him to
death. He was put to death simply for
picking up sticks on the Sabbath day. Wherefore, the children
of Israel shall keep the Sabbath and observe the Sabbath throughout
her generations for a perpetual, a non-ending covenant. It's a sign between me and the
children of Israel. It's to teach us something. It's
a sign forever. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth.
And on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed. Now turn over
to Genesis chapter one. Genesis chapter one, this is
when the Sabbath is first mentioned. Verse 31 of Genesis chapter 1. And God saw everything that he'd
made. He created the heavens and the
earth in six days. Does that mean six literal days?
I don't know. I certainly think it does, but
I guess it could mean something else. I'm not really sure. That's
not really the point. The point is, it's God that did
the creating. He created everything as he saw fit. And God saw everything
that he'd made and behold, it was very good in the evening
and the morning was the sixth day. Thus, the heavens and the
earth were what? 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 the work which he made. Now, the Sabbath is a response
to a finished work. Verse three, And God blessed
the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had
rested from all his work which God had created and made. Now,
God was not tired. He didn't need to take a nap.
He was completely satisfied with his finished work. There was
nothing left undone. There was nothing yet to be created.
He completed creation and he rested and was refreshed. Now, this is used to picture
faith in Christ. Did you get that scripture when
I was reading Hebrews chapter 4? It says, There remaineth a
rest for the people of God, for he that's entered into his rest
hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. God rested. Creation was completed. It was
finished. There was nothing for him to
do. And when someone believes on Christ, here's exactly what
they do. They cease from their own works. They quit working
and they begin to rest. Have you ever ceased? from your own works and rested
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, so many people take
the Sabbath day and they make a work out of not working. And they miss the point altogether. I cease from my own works just
as God did from His. Only in resting in him will we
truly be refreshed. Now, back to verse 13 of Exodus
chapter 31. This is the teaching. This is
the meaning of the Sabbath. If you want to understand the
Sabbath, listen carefully. Speak thou also unto the children
of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths you shall keep, for
it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that
you may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Now, here's the purpose of the
Sabbath. Here's what we're taught. Here is what we come to know,
that He is the Lord who sanctifies us. Sanctification is His work. He sanctifies us. We are the ones who are sanctified. He sanctifies us. Now, this is
what the Scripture teaches. The Lord sanctifies us. Now,
who is He that sanctifies us? I'm going to try to talk about
sanctification. May God give us the grace and
give us the understanding and the light to understand what's
being said in this passage of Scripture. Who is He that sanctifies
us? The Lord. I am He that sanctifies
you. The Lord Jehovah. God the Father
says, I'm the one who sanctifies you. God the Son says, I'm the
one who sanctifies you. God the Holy Spirit says, I'm
the one who sanctifies you. This is God's work. That's why
we can't do any work. It's His work. If I do any works
in my salvation, thinking that I can earn God's favor, I'm taking
away from His work. He says, I am the Lord. That
sanctifies you. Sanctification is the work of
the triune God. Now, we'll consider what this
word means in a minute, but let's consider whose work it is. It's
God's work. He said, I'm the Lord. Who sanctifies
you and we are forbidden to work in Jude chapter one, we read
that we're sanctified in God, the father. In first Corinthians
one, two, we read that we're sanctified in Christ Jesus. And
in 2 Thessalonians 2, 13, we read of the sanctification of
the spirit. And we also read in 1 Corinthians 6, 11 that we're
sanctified by the spirit of God. Now, sanctification, it's a big
word. It's the one word that most completely
describes God's salvation. Believers are called what in
the scriptures most often? Saints. Sanctified ones. I'm looking at some saints. I
love to say, I love to say Saint Todd. I just love that. I'm a
saint. I'm Saint Todd. There's a bunch of saints in
here. Well, don't you have to? Don't you have to do something
in order to earn that reward? No. Every believer is a saint
of God, a sanctified one. And if I'm a saint, it's because
God sanctified me. Now, what does this word sanctification
actually mean in the scriptures? We read it many times. It's sometimes
translated holy. It's sometimes translated hallowed. What is sanctification? What
does the Bible mean by this word? Well, the Bible means basically
these three things. First, it means to take something
common and ordinary. And to set it apart for holy
and sacred purposes. That's what sanctification is.
Secondly, it means to declare something to be holy. To declare something to be sanctified. If God says, I'm holy, you know
what? I'm holy. If God says I am, I am. Thirdly,
sanctification means to actually make to be holy. The Bible uses that word in those
three senses. It's to take something common
and ordinary and set it apart for holy purposes. It means to
declare something to be holy. And it means to actually make
something holy. Now, let's consider it in each
of these three senses. And this is what the Sabbath
is teaching us. We're not to work. We're forbidden to work
because sanctification is God's work. He does it all. Don't work. You know what the hardest thing
in the world to do is? Nothing. That's the hardest thing
to do. The most difficult thing that
you or I are ever called on to do is to trust Christ alone and
to not work. Now, let's consider these three
ways this word is used. First is to take something common
and set it apart for holy purposes. Now the seventh day in and of
itself was no better than the first six, but God sanctified
it and now it's a day holy unto the Lord. The vessels of the
temple There were other vessels that in and of themselves were
just as good, but God sanctified them, and they were to be used
only for the purpose of God. They were sacred. And you remember
what happened when Belteshazzar, I think that's the way you pronounce
his name, in the book of Daniel? The children of Israel had been
carried captive. And they took all the vessels of the temple
with them, all the golden temples and the brazen cups and so on.
And Balthasar was having a party with his concubines and his mighty
men and so on. And they were getting drunk and
having a good time. And just all of a sudden he said, hey,
let's get the vessels of the Lord and use those for our party.
And so they poured the wine into the vessels of the Lord and they
began to drink. And do you remember what happened? All of a sudden,
a hand started riding on the wall. Thou art weighed in the
balances and found wanting. And God killed him that very
night. He took that which God had sanctified
and set it apart for holy purposes and just used it for something
else. And to take something common
and ordinary and set it apart for holy purposes, here is the
work of the Father in sanctification. First of all, it's called election. Divine election. According as He hath chosen us
in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should
be holy. And without blame before Him. This is the Father's work in
sanctification. He took something common and
ordinary. I'm no different than anybody
else by nature. We're by nature, the children
of wrath, just like everybody else. I'm just as simple as any
other son of Adam. Yet God put His hand on me. God
chose me before time began as an act of His own free and sovereign
will, and He set me apart, and He said, He's mine. He's mine. He set apart to me. That's what
divine election is. I love election. You know, people
argue about election, get mad at election. Somebody called
me this week and kind of argued about it. They'd been watching
the TV program and didn't agree with it and so on. I tell you
who loves election, the elect. Now, somebody says,
how can it be fair for God to choose some and not choose everybody? How can it be fair for God to
select some to save and pass by others? That doesn't seem
like everybody ought to be elected. It's a shame. It's just a shame.
Now, I'll admit, I hate election. I hate the God of election. I
hate his people. But it's a shame I'm not one of the elect. It
doesn't work that way at all. Doesn't work that way at all.
Anybody that God saves, they know they're saved because God
saved them. Thank God for election. I love election because I love
the God of election. But we're bound, said Paul, 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. Isn't that humbling? That God
would pick you out and set his hand upon you and say, you're
mine, you're only for me. That is election. God taking
something common, ordinary and setting it apart for holy purposes.
But sanctification is always used, also used like this to
declare something to be holy. Turn to 1 Peter 3. 1 Peter 3. Verse 15. Peter says, but sanctify the
Lord God in your hearts. And be ready always to give it
an answer to every man that asks you a reason of the hope that's
in you with meekness and fear. Sanctify the Lord God in your
hearts. Now, I don't sanctify God in
the sense that I don't take him as being common and ordinary
and set him apart for holy purposes. He already is holy. I can't sanctify
him in that sense. I can't make him holy because
he already is holy. But I can regard him as holy. What are we taught to pray? Our
Father, which art in heaven, hallowed, sanctified, holy is
thy name. That's something that every believer
has some understanding of. Holy and reverend is his name. When Moses smote the rock twice,
you know what God said to him? He said, you failed to sanctify
me before the people. You see, that rock is given to
teach us of the gospel. Christ was smitten once. He was
not to be smitten again. And when he was smitten again,
What did that say? What Moses was doing, he was
destroying the tide. Christ is smitten once, we won't
have to be smitten. But if Christ is smitten again,
or if I would have to be smitten again after Christ paid for my
sins and God smote me again, that would... He wouldn't be
just. He wouldn't be holy. And that
is why the Lord spake so harshly to Moses over smiting that rock.
Plus, he failed to regard him as holy. God said, only smite
at once. What about Nadab and Abihu? They
offer up strange fire before the Lord, fire that He didn't,
incense that He didn't command. He'd given a specific kind of
incense that you offer up. They said, well, our hearts are
ripe. As long as our motives are right, we'll offer up this.
This will be okay. What they were doing, they were coming
to God's prisons on their own, without the Lord Jesus Christ,
without Him as the only priest. And God sent fire down from heaven
and consumed them. And he said, I'll be sanctified
by them who come near me. To sanctify means to regard as
holy. Now, would you turn with me to
Hebrews chapter 10? Hebrews chapter 10, verse 9. Then said he, Lo, I come to do
thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that
he may establish the second, by the which will, by God's will,
we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus
Christ once for all. You see, when Christ Jesus died,
God said concerning everybody he died for, they're holy. He said regarding Todd Nybert,
he's holy. He's without sin before me. We're sanctified and regarded
as holy by God himself through the work of Christ on the cross.
And if he regards us as holy, you know what? We are holy. You see, it's not as if he is
pretending we're holy. No, my sin has been put away.
That's what the blood of Christ did. My sins washed away. His
righteousness is given to me. And however holy Christ is, that's
how holy I am. That's how holy every believer
is. If God says, I'm holy, I'm holy. Now, I'm regarded by God Himself
as holy. And He wouldn't regard me as
holy if I'm not holy. In Christ Jesus, this is the
power of His precious blood. His precious blood blotted out
of my sins. blotted out my sins, and to this
extent, I have no sin. I have nothing to feel guilty
about. He was manifested to take away
our sins, and in Him is no sin. If I'm in Him, I have no sin. What about the sins you've committed?
He washed them away. That's what His blood actually
accomplished. And I'm perfectly righteous through
Him. Now, this is His work. I didn't
hate in this. I was passive in this. As a matter
of fact, when my sin was put away, I wasn't even born yet.
This is the work of God. You talk about election. I was
passive in that. Surely, of the children being
not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the
purpose of God according to election might stand. Not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger, as it is written, Jacob of the love.
But he saw I was passive in that, wasn't I? I was passive in Christ
putting away my sin. I didn't ask him to do it. I
wasn't even around to do that. He did it as an act of his own
free and sovereign will and the sanctification of the Spirit.
It's the same thing. Turn to 2 Thessalonians 2 verse
13. To sanctify also means to make
holy. Now, the work of the Father is
to elect us to be holy. The work of the Son is to declare
us to be holy. That's what he did on the cross.
Husbands, love your wives as Christ also loved the Church
and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse
it. God the Son says, I'm the Lord
that doth sanctify thee. And then we read in 2 Thessalonians
chapter 2. This is the sanctifying work
of the Holy Spirit. Remember, the word sanctify means to make
holy. To make holy. Second Thessalonians,
Chapter 2, verse 13. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God has from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit and belief of the truth. Now, this is the work
of the Spirit of God. Now, by nature, I was born into
this world, and you were born into this world, unholy, sinful,
evil, bad to the bone. There's none righteous, no, not
one. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean? Not one. I was born with an evil
nature, but when I was born again, or born from above. This is called
the sanctification of the Spirit. God gave me a holy nature. A nature that was not there before.
He didn't take the old and fix it up and improve it. He put
something there that was not there before. Being born again. Not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth
forever. This is the sanctification of
the Spirit. He gives me a new heart. And
you know, in the sanctification of the Spirit, you listen to
this. I want you to understand this. In the sanctification of
the Spirit, in the new birth, in this I was passive. God birthed
me. I didn't ask Him to. He birthed
me. He gave me this holy nature. I wouldn't have it unless He
sovereignly gave it to me. In the new birth, this is His
work. Now, it's true. The evidence
that he has done this for me is I'll ask him to do it for
me. Let me show you this in scripture. Turn to Ezekiel chapter 36. Ezekiel 36. In Amos chapter, the Lord talks
about the new birth. Look in verse 25. Then will I
sprinkle. clean water upon you and you
shall be clean from all your filthiness and from all your
idols will I cleanse you. Verse 26, a new heart also will
I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. I'll take away
the stony heart out of your flesh and I'll give you a heart of
flesh. I'll put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in
my statutes and you should keep my judgments and do them. And
you should look down in verse 29. I will save you from all
your uncleanness. I'll call for the court and will increase it.
Lay no famine upon you. You can go on reading in this
passage of scripture all the things that the Lord does in
the new birth. Now look in verse 36. Then the heathen that are
left round about you shall know that I, the Lord, build the ruined
places and plant that was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken it.
I will do it. Thus saith the Lord God. I will yet for this
be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them. I'll increase them with men like
a flock. They're going to ask me. Lord,
give me a new heart. Lord, sprinkle me clean. Lord,
give me faith. Lord, give me repentance. I will
yet be inquired of by the house of Israel All of God's elect
to do this for them. And this is what all of God's
people have in common. They all, without any exception,
ask the Lord to do this for them. Now, what is the teaching of
the Sabbath day? I am the Lord that sanctifies thee. Do not work. If you work, you'll be sent to
hell. I am the Lord. That does sanctify
thee. Now you think of these three
aspects of sanctification. Election. Redemption. And regeneration. God chose who'd
be saved. No work there. He did it as an
activist, free and sovereign will. He didn't foresee some
work I'd have and then save me on the basis of that. He simply
said, I'm setting him apart to be mine. And then there's redemption. Christ Jesus sanctified me. He cleansed me of my sin. He
washed away my sin. He made me holy before God. I'm
regarded as holy by God because I am holy in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that sure doesn't have anything
to do with my work. That's His work. He didn't do this for me
because I did something for Him. He did it because He would. And in regeneration, I'm given
this holy nature, and God doesn't give me this holy nature because
I work for it. He did it as an act of His free and sovereign
will. The wind blows where it wills.
You hear the sound thereof, and you can't tell from whence it
comes or where it goes. Even so is everyone that's born
of the Spirit. And here's the teaching. Rest. There's really no works to do.
Rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Rest in Him who finished the
work. Have you ever, have I ever, simply
rested? All stress is taken away. All
pressure is gone. I already am accepted in the
Beloved. Rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, if you put works anywhere
in your salvation, beginning, middle, or end, you've missed
the gospel. The gospel is a call to rest. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. He that's entered into his rest
hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let's pray together.