tonight to Hebrews chapter 10
again. Hebrews chapter 10 and just reading
the first verse. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
1. For the law having a shadow of
good things to come and not the very image of the things. Last
Wednesday evening, we looked at this, and I want to look at
it once again. The apostle tells us that the
law, the law had the shadow of good things to come. The law
that contained the shadow of good things to come is the law
that is mentioned in John chapter 1 and verse 17, where the apostle
said, for the law was given by Moses, or the law was given through
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Now the law
that was given through Moses was the covenant that God made
with the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai. So we should understand,
for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ, that is the new, the everlasting covenant came by
Jesus Christ coming into this world and sealing that covenant
with his blood. Remember, he said, this is my
blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission
of sins. Now we recognize this about a
shadow. The scripture here says for the
law having a shadow, we recognize this about a shadow. It can provide
a visible outline of its substance, but it cannot supply what is
inherent in the reality, in other words, in the substance. This
we know became the mistake of the Jews. They came to look and
trust in the shadows of the law, the shadows of the law, and did
not look to the reality, to the substance, which is Christ. They looked to the shadow. They
looked to and trusted in the shadows, and when the substance
of the shadows came, the Lord Jesus Christ, when he came into
this world, they rejected him. Now we looked last time at one
good thing that was a shadow in the law, and that was the
tabernacle. The tabernacle was a shadow of
a good thing which was to come. And that good thing which was
to come was the incarnation. That is, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the eternal Son of God, came into this world and dwelt or
tabernacled among us. That tabernacle of old was a
shadow of God coming to dwell among us and in the midst of
His people. The substance of that shadow
was Christ, His incarnation, the Word being made flesh. The
eternal Word was made flesh and dwelt tabernacled among us. And not only bid it shadow forth
his coming to dwell among us, but it shadowed forth his dwelling
in the midst of us." Remember, the tabernacle was placed in
the very center point of the nation of Israel when they camped. And I pointed out to us this
shadowed the Lord God coming to dwell in the midst of his
people, that is, he is in every child of God by his spirit, Christ
in you, the hope of glory, and collectively, as we are gathered
here tonight, he is in our midst. He said, where two or three gather
in my name, there am I in their midst. Tonight, I want us to
look at another shadow of the law, a shadow which pictured
good things to come, or a good thing to come. The shadow tonight
I want us to consider is the Sabbath, the Sabbath, which in
the law was a shadow of the good thing to come. Rest. Rest. The Sabbath in the law
was a shadow of the good thing to come, which is rest. Now, let's look at several things
this evening. First, the Sabbath and its meaning,
where it's first mentioned in the Word of God. I want you to
look back with me to Exodus chapter 16. And this is the first time in
the scripture that we have this word which is translated Sabbath. Exodus chapter 16. And it was first given, as we
are going to see, in relation to the bread. To the manna with
which God fed Israel for the time they were in the wilderness. here in Exodus chapter 16 and
verse 23. And he said unto them, This is
that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow is the rest of the holy
Sabbath unto the Lord. Now, this is the first time,
the first mention. You know, in Bible hermeneutics,
we're taught the first mention, when you look At the first time
something's mentioned in the Word of God, usually all the
way through, it will follow that same meaning. And here in this
case, the first mention of the Sabbath is in relation to the
giving of the bread, the manna from heaven, and they were told
that every morning they would go out and gather the manna,
but on the sixth day they were to gather twice as much. They shouldn't do that any other
day because if they did, it would breed worms and stink if they
kept it overnight. But on the sixth day, they gathered
twice as much, and the next day, the seventh day, was the Sabbath,
and it was a day of rest. I mean, they were to do nothing,
no civil work on the day, the Sabbath day. They were not even
to kindle a fire on the Sabbath day. Now I understand that there
was a Sabbath. There was a Sabbath in the week
of creation when we are told that God rested on the seventh
day from all his work which he had made. But the point I'm making,
it was not there called a Sabbath. It was, and later in Hebrews
it is spoken of as a Sabbath. But this is the first mention
of the Sabbath in the scripture. And we see the meaning. It is
rest. That's what it means. In Genesis,
the account about God, the Hebrew word there means to desist from
exertion. In other words, God created the
heavens and the earth in six days, and on the seventh day,
he desisted from exertion. And we see the same meaning here,
basically. The Israelites were not to exert
themselves. They were to rest on the Sabbath
day. Now, the Lord Jesus Christ said
this about this manna. You know this from the New Testament.
In John chapter 6, the Lord Jesus said, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father
giveth you the true bread from heaven. Just as that bread shadowed
forth the true bread, so the Sabbath shadowed forth the true
rest. Does that make sense? I hope it does. The Lord Jesus
Christ, He is the true bread, and we might say that He also
is the true Sabbath, the true rest, the good thing to come
that was shadowed in the law. So that's the first thing I point
out to us tonight about the Sabbath, its first mention in the scripture
and its meaning. Rest. Do no work. The Sabbath was made a part of
the law. Now turn over just a few pages
into Exodus chapter 20, verse number 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 manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is 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 hallowed it. You notice the word remember. this commandment. It begins with
the word remember. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. Now this tells us that the ordinance,
the law, they already had. You can't remember something
that you don't already have. So they already had this ordinance.
They already had this law. Now it may refer to what we just
looked at in chapter 16, when the Lord gave them the commandment
concerning the manna. Or it could refer to the week
of creation, to remember. But there's no indication in
the word of God that the Israelites, when they were slaves, they were
servants in Egypt, that they could observe a day of rest. That's just not given to us in
the Word of God. So most commentators, John Gill,
who is one of my favorites, he said, remember, has to refer
back to what we read in chapter 16. When God gave them the commandment
concerning the Sabbath and the gathering of the manna, now he's
giving the law. We've passed from chapter 16,
we're in chapter 20. Now God is giving the law to
Moses from Mount Sinai, and the Sabbath is incorporated into
the law. It is made a part of the law. Matthew Henry said this, he said,
in either case, when God says, remember, if it's referring to
back to Genesis chapter two in the week of creation, or if it's
referring to Exodus 16 concerning the manna, Matthew Henry said,
in either case, it is not enacting a new law. It's not enacting
a new law, but the reviving of an old law. And Matthew Henry
also pointed this out, that this commandment includes the strangers. Notice that in verse 10. 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 manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle. Now notice, nor
thy stranger. that is within thy gate. And Matthew Henry pointed out
this proved a happy, happy indication of God's gracious purpose in
the process of time to bring the Gentiles into the church,
that they might share the benefit of the Sabbath, that is, of the
rest. How many Sabbaths, as I was studying
for this message, I wondered and I thought I'm going to try
to determine how many Sabbaths did the law command the Israelites
to observe in a year? Well, there was a weekly Sabbath
and their calendar had 12 months like we have. And they had 30
days in every month. So every so many years, they
had to add some to their calendar. But there was, let's say there
was 51 weeks in a normal year. That's 51 Sabbaths. Every month,
12 months, had a new moon. That was a Sabbath. And then
the festivals, remember the Passover and the festival of Pentecost
and booths, there were seven Sabbaths included in those festivals. So I counted up, there was at
least 70 Sabbaths every year that the Israelites were commanded
to rest. And the weekly Sabbath and the
Sabbath on the great day of atonement, And in those Sabbaths, no work,
no work whatsoever. Now, besides the daily Sabbaths,
we know there was a sabbatical years. Every seven years, there
was a year that God commanded a Sabbath and that Sabbath was
for the land to rest. They could not plow, they could
not plant in that seventh year. And then every seventh, seven
years, after 49 years, there was a 50th year called the year
of Jubilee. So there was many Sabbaths that
the Israelites were commanded to observe. Now here's something
that I think maybe some people do not recognize. The Sabbath
was a sign between God and Israel. The Sabbath, the seventh day
Sabbath, the day of rest was a sign between God and the nation
of Israel. Look with me in Exodus 31. in Exodus chapter 31, and beginning
with verse 12. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my
sabbaths you shall keep. Now notice, for it is a sign
between me and you throughout your generation. that you may
know that I am the Lord that doth 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 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." Two times in those verses, God told Moses to tell
the children of Israel that they were to keep the Sabbath day
because it was a sign, a sign between God and the children
of Israel, a sign, he said, throughout your generations, a sign forever. Now, the Hebrew word that is
translated sign is the same word, the same Hebrew word that in
Genesis chapter 9 three times is translated token. When Noah
came out of the ark and God made a covenant with Noah. And the
covenant promise was that he would never again destroy the
earth by flood. And God gave a sign, God gave
a token to Noah. And the token, the sign was the
rainbow. That was a token, that was a
sign of the covenant that God made with Noah and with men,
mankind I should say. Then in Genesis chapter 17, the
first time. Let's turn here. Genesis chapter
17. The first time that we read of circumcision. In Genesis chapter
17 and verse 11, we have that same word. Same word that's translated
sign in Exodus 31, when God said, the Sabbath is a sign between
me and the children of Israel. Now here in Genesis 17, verse
11, God said, well, let's read verse 10. This is my covenant,
which you shall keep between me and you and thy seed after
thee. Every man, child, among you shall
be circumcised, and you shall circumcise the flesh of your
foreskin, and it shall be a sign, a token of the covenant. Do you see that the covenant
that God made to Noah, he gave a token, a sign, the rainbow. The covenant that God made with
Abraham, he gave a token, a sign, circumcision. And the covenant
that God made with the nation of Israel, he gave a sign. The Sabbath was a sign between
God and the people of Israel. You might say, well, preacher,
what about that word forever? What about that word forever?
And it shall be a sign throughout your generations. How do you
understand that? Well, let me quote John Gill.
in the light sense as the land of Canaan was given them for
an everlasting possession and the covenant of circumcision
and the ordinance of the Passover and the fast on the day of atonement
were forever, that is, unto the end of the Jewish world and state. at the coming of Christ, when
a new world and state of things began. The covenant, the sign
forever, until the end of the world. Remember in Hebrews chapter
nine, where the scripture says, once in the end of the world,
Christ hath appeared. Now, what world? We know the
world's gone on for 2,000 years. Once in the end of the age. That
age when God dealt with the nation of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ
appeared, and that word forever The land of Canaan was given
unto them forever until the end of the age, that age in which
they live. Circumcision, you know, the apostle
deals with that, doesn't he, in the New Testament about these
legalists that were trying to tell people that you can't be
saved unless you are circumcised. And, of course, that was proven
and declared to be false. That's just not so. So, first of all, we've seen
the first mention, first mention of the word Sabbath in the New
Testament, or in the Bible rather, rest. That's what it means, rest. And we've also seen that it was
incorporated into the law. It was given before the law,
that's true, just like circumcision. But the Sabbath ordinance was
incorporated into the law. And now we see that the Sabbath
was a sign, a token of the covenant between God and the nation of
Israel. Now, here's the fourth, the last
thing I want to say about this. The Sabbath was a shadow of rest. A shadow. If I could cast a shadow
here, there's nothing substantive about the shadow. I would be
the substance of the shadow. Now, the shadow of rest, Christ,
is the substance. Look with me in Colossians. This
is where the Apostle Paul tells us this emphatically. Colossians
chapter two. In Colossians chapter 2, let's
begin our reading in verse 11. In whom, that is Christ, in whom
also you are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands,
and putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision
of Christ, buried with him in baptism, wherein also you are
risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who
hath raised him from the dead. And you, being dead in your sins,
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him, having forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out
the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us." What does that have reference to? It has reference
to the law, to the law of Moses, to that covenant. the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us. It was contrary to us. We know that the law, as the
Apostle Paul says, the law is wholly just and good. The problem
was never with the law. The problem is with you and I. It's with men. We could not obey
that law. It commanded and demanded perfection. And none of us, no man, No fallen
son of Adam could ever fulfill and obey that law as it commanded. And so the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he came into this world, he took the handwriting of ordinances
which was against us, which was contrary to us, and he took it
out of the way. Took it out of the way, nailing
it to his cross. Nailing it to His cross, and
having small principalities and powers, He made a show of them
openly. triumphing over them in it. Let
no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect
of an holy day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days,
which are a shadow of things to come. But the body is Christ. The body, the substance of the
shadow, is Christ. The law had this shadow, of this
good thing, that is rest. But the reality of the shadow
is found in Christ. Remember when he said, come unto
me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. I will give you rest. Turn with
me to Hebrews chapter four. This is the last passage we'll
turn to. Hebrews chapter four. Now there are three Sabbaths
mentioned in Hebrews chapter 4. And in a chronological order,
it was the day of creation, the week of creation rather, when
God rested. And then there was a rest that
was promised to the nation of Israel upon entering the land
of Canaan. And that's the reason it says
here that Joshua, I think it's translated Jesus, But it should
be Joshua, verse 8, for if Joshua had given them rest, then would
he not afterward have spoken of another day. In other words,
in the book of Psalms, the psalmist, under inspiration of the Spirit
of God, he speaks of a rest, so that rest that was promised
them in the land of Canaan, they never entered into that rest. They did not believe. The scripture
says here that the gospel did not profit them, not being mixed
with faith. The gospel preached did not profit
them in verse 2. Notice he said, 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." Now the rest that the Sabbath shadowed, who's this
rest for? It is for the people of God. Notice in verse 9, there remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God. And how are the people
of God identified? Notice in verse 10, They are
those who cease from their own works. That's how the people
of God are identified. And when we read here that they
cease from their own works, that means that by the grace of God,
we have given up, we've given up trying to satisfy God and
justify ourselves by anything and everything that we can do.
We've ceased from our works to make ourselves acceptable with
God. We've ceased from that. Every
one of us here, every person here tonight who is saved and
those who are not saved, I know this about all of us. When we
came into this world, we just came in believing we had to do
something. There was something we could
do to make ourselves acceptable and pleasable to God. But thank
God by the work of the Holy Spirit and the Word of God, we've been
taught and we've been brought to cease from our labors and
we have entered into His rest. When we read here that we've
ceased from our labors, that certainly doesn't mean that believers
do not labor, that believers do not have works, good works. In fact, the apostle said, be
careful to maintain good works. But there's a world of difference
between working in order to be saved and working because one
is saved. There's a world of difference.
And it's sad, but so much of religion is all predicated on
working to obtain forgiveness, working to obtain salvation,
working to obtain acceptance with God. But God's people, God's
elect, We are taught to cease from our labors and lean solely,
fully upon Jesus Christ. And we have rest. We have rest,
don't we? What a blessed Sabbath it is
to know Christ and rest from our labors. Well, I pray the
Lord would bless this message tonight. And it's just another
one of the good things that the law shadowed, rest. So many people today are looking
for rest. So many people are looking for
rest and they try to find it in medicine, they try to find
it in hobbies, they try to find it in entertainment. But my friends,
there's no rest for our soul apart from Jesus Christ. In Him,
we have complete rest. OK, let's sing a closing hymn.