Everybody out this evening. Remember
those who requested prayer, Mary Cochran, Fred's sister, Mary
Cochran Engel. Cancer's pretty bad and she's
got some procedures to go through tomorrow and a PET scan on Wednesday,
tomorrow also, right? I've got Steve. I don't usually stop with one,
that's the problem. I usually go on for a little
bit. let's begin our worship service in hymn number 207. Before
we do that, no word on Marvin Stoniker. Did some word on Larry
Brown. He's doing a little better. He's
off the ventilator and not speaking, but... People are gonna enjoy this on
streaming, aren't they? At least I'm not throwing up
or anything. number 496, Victory in Jesus. I heard an old, old story How
a Savior came from glory How He gave His life on Calvary To
save a wretch like me I heard about His groaning Of His precious
blood's atoning Then I repented of my sins and won the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever. He sought me and bought me with
his redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew him, and
all my love is due him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. I heard about His healing, of
His precious blood's appealing. How He gave lame to walk again,
and caused the blind to see. And then I cried, Dear Jesus,
come and heal my broken spirit. And somehow Jesus came and brought
to me the victory. Oh, victory in Jesus, my Savior
forever. He sought me and bought me with
His redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew Him, and
all my love is due. Lunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. I heard about a mansion he has
built for me in glory. I heard about the streets of
gold, beyond the crystal sea, and about the angels singing,
and the old redemption story. And some sweet day I'll sing
up there the song of victory. Oh, victory in Jesus. my savior forever. He sought me and bought me with
his redeeming blood. He loved me ere I knew him, and
all my love is due him. He plunged me to victory beneath
the cleansing flood. 477, Years I Spent in Vanity and Pride. Years I spent in vanity and pride,
Caring not the Lord was crucified, Knowing not it was for me He
died on Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free, Pardon there was multiplied to me, there my burdened soul
found liberty at Calvary. By God's word at last my sin
I learned, then I trembled at the law I disperned. Till my guilty soul imploring
turned to Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. But now I've given to Jesus everything. Now I gladly homage my King. Now my raptured soul can only
sing of Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. Oh, the love that drew salvation's
plan. Oh, the grace that brought it
down to man. Oh, the mighty gulf that God
did span at Calvary. Mercy there was great and grace
was free. Pardon there was multiplied to
me. There my burdened soul found
liberty at Calvary. You have your Bibles, turn with
me to the 34th chapter of Exodus. I want to read one verse of scripture
tonight. Verse 21. Six days thou shalt work, but
on the seventh day thou shalt rest in earring time and harvest
thou shalt rest, let us pray. Now, Father in heaven, bless
you and thank you for that perfect rest that you have given to your
people in the work, the finished work of Jesus Christ. We are thankful for the knowledge
of who we are, and what we are. For you have shown us in your
word and by experience that there's nothing we had to offer to you. You have shown us in your word that 20 centuries ago our Savior
hung on a cross and died in the room instead of his people. and
actually finish their redemption. Before we ever were, before we
existed, before the first man was made out of the dust of the
earth, you chose a people unto yourselves for salvation. And Jesus Christ came into this
world and took on the form of sinful flesh, yet without sin, And in that work on the cross
fully satisfied your law and your justice and was made to
be our righteousness. And we know by your word that
we contributed nothing at all. We are sinners saved by your
grace, pardoned by your mercy, and ever full of the knowledge that Christ is worthy to be praised
because he did it all. Father, we pray for those who
are sick, especially Mary Ingle, that she's going to be diagnosed
with this cancer. We pray that you'll be with the
doctors, and we pray that they'll be able to do something for her
and help her. Pray for her healing. Brother Marvin Stoniker, we continue
to pray for him, for Larry Brown, and for the others who requested
prayer. We ask, Lord, your help for them. Help us tonight, Father,
as we look at your word, to sing the praises and honor of Jesus
Christ, the Lord, for what he's done. Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain, that has redeemed us by his blood out of every
kindred, nation, tongue, and people. made us kings and priests
unto our God. We are humbled, brought down to the dust, knowing
full well that what he did for us we could never deserve. We deserve perdition and hell,
yet because of your mercy and grace we'll never, ever suffer
that horrible end. Thank you, Father, for your goodness
and your mercy and your kindness toward us. In the name of Jesus Christ,
we pray. Amen. Now this command in verse 21
is part of the final words of the Lord to Moses on the second
trip up to Sinai when he redid the tables of stone that had
been broken The Lord here reiterates the importance of keeping the
Sabbath. This is one of the commandments
given when the first 10 commandments were given in Exodus chapter
20. He reiterates the importance
of that, a complete rest on the seventh day of the week, which
is Saturday. This, as we all know, and as
all the laws and commandments of the Old Testament were fulfilled,
complete, and finished in the life and death of the Lord Jesus
Christ. This Sabbath means more than just the Old Testament meaning.
The Church is not under any law save for the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus that has made them free from the law
of sin and death. The believer is not under the
law but under grace. The Sabbath day is Saturday. It is the seventh day of the
week. That has not been changed to Sunday. Sunday is the first
day of the week and throughout the New Testament it is called
the Lord's Day. The Sabbath is always Saturday.
It's still celebrated or recognized or practiced by the Jewish religion
by some who fall under the realm of Christianity called the Seventh-day
Adventists because they worship on Saturday and do what they
want to on Sunday, I guess. but the church worships the Lord
on the Lord's Day. That's the first day of the week. We find its origins on the first
day of creation over in Genesis chapter 1. That first day, which was the
morning and the evening of the first day, we find the origin
of the Lord's Day. It says in Genesis chapter 1, In verse 3, And God said, Let
there be light. And there was light. We know
that's not the sun, moon, and stars. That is the heavenly light. If you'll notice, after the Spirit
moved upon the face of the waters, after the earth had become dull
and void and darkness, which represented Adam and his fall,
the Lord said, Let there be light. And there was light. And God
saw the light, that it was good. There's none good but God. And
God divided the light from the darkness. That's election. And
God called the light day, and the darkness He called night.
And the evening and the morning were the first day. That was
the first day. Creation took place. It began with the calling forth
of light on Sunday. The first day of the week. That's where the origin of the
Lord's Day came. We know from John chapter 1 that
Jesus Christ created all things and that He is the light of the
world. He said, I am the light of the
world. He believed that the me shall not dwell in darkness. So that light in the first chapter
of Genesis was Jesus Christ the Lord. And that was His day, the
morning and evening of the first day The first day was the Lord's
Day, and the light thereof was Jesus Christ. Now, John was in
the Spirit on the Lord's Day, it says in Revelation, when he
received the revelation of Jesus Christ on the Isle of Patmos.
The church, according to Acts 20 and verse 7, in its visible
existence, gathered to worship on the Lord's Day. Paul met with
the church, it says, on the Lord's Day. Now, the Sabbath is not
the Lord's Day. It's not the Lord's Day. And
the Lord's Day is not the Sabbath. The Sabbath is not even really
a day. It is a rest. It is called the
Sabbath day or the day of rest. It is actually a state of being
and also a profound declaration, a profound declaration. Sabbath
means rest, and the Believer's rest is in Jesus Christ, and
that rest is perpetual and occurs every moment of a believer's
life. So if you are a child of God tonight, if you are a believer
in the Lord Jesus Christ, you observe the Sabbath with every
breath you take, because you observe the rest of Jesus Christ,
even as the believer does the works that the Lord has ordained
for him to do. He is resting in Christ. The
believer does not observe Sabbath days. or the Sabbath day. There were eight Sabbaths in
the Old Testament in Leviticus. Eight different Sabbaths. These
were feasts. These were feast days, Rosh Hashanah,
Hanukkah, Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. years of
fasts or years of sabbaths. You had a week of sabbaths rest
or seven weeks of sabbath. You had seven years of sabbath. You had the jubilee which was
seven times seven, 49 years. And then the 50th year was a
sabbath. It was called jubilee when all
the debts were forgiven. People were allowed to go back
into their homes if they put it on a lien. If they owed money
to somebody, they didn't have to pay it. All this was a picture
of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Those were Sabbaths of
the Old Testament. We don't observe them. We preach
about them because they point to the Lord Jesus Christ, but
we don't observe them, and we are not to allow anyone to judge
us in the matter. I have friends who are what they
call Sabbath keepers and they believe that Sunday is the Sabbath
day and they keep it. But Sunday is not the Sabbath
day. Saturday is Saturday. But over
in Colossians, Paul made it clear because of the work of Christ
that we are not to allow anyone to judge us in this matter of
not observing the Sabbath. Well, that's Colossians chapter
2, rather. It says this in verse 13, speaking of the crucifixion
of Christ, and you, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision
of your flesh, you Gentiles, he hath quickened together with
him and forgiven you all trespasses, blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, that's the law, which was
contrary to us, the law was contrary to us, and took it out of the
way, nailing it to the cross. And having spoiled principalities
and powers, he made sure of them openly, triumphing over them
in it. Let no man therefore, since that's the case, since
Christ has done all this for us, let no man therefore judge
you in meat or in drink or in respect of a holy day or in a
new moon or in Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things
to come, but the body or the substance is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now under the Old Covenant, the
penalty for doing work on the Sabbath was death. It says as
in Exodus chapter 31 and verse 15, if you do any work on the
Sabbath day in the Old Testament or the Old Covenant, you were
put to death. That's how important this was
to the Lord. The strength gains emphasis in
our text with the mention of the two times of the year earring
and a harvest. Our Lord makes that clear. He
says this, six days shalt thou work, six days shalt thou work,
but on the seventh day thou shalt rest in earring time and in harvest. These were the busiest times
of the year. This was the time when people
got up really early and stayed up really late and worked 15-20
hours a day. Even in the busiest times, earring
is plowing. preparing the earth for sowing,
and harvesting as gathering of the crops, and these times would
possibly require seven-day work week, but they couldn't do that. Even in the busiest time, the
Sabbath was being observed on pain of death. The amount of
work or the necessity of it being done did not mitigate the command. Six days shalt thou work, and
on the seventh day thou shalt rest. Now why was breaking the
Sabbath a capital offense? It goes back to the creation
and the glory of God for its entire accomplishment. That's
what the Sabbath is all about. That's what the Sabbath was all
about. Creation was accomplished in six days, and on the seventh
day God rested from the work of creation. That seventh day
that he rested is called the Sabbath day. Now he did not rest
because he was tired or because he was weary. All he did was
speak these things into existence. They are called his work, the
work of creation, because he is the one that did it. He rested
from the work of creation because the work of creation was finished.
That's why he rested. It was finished. Because there
was nothing left to do in creation. That's why he rested. So he alone
by his wisdom and his power and his sovereign will had done it. He had done it himself. Now since
man was one of the things that was created in this process,
man had no part in the accomplishment of it. his rest was a declaration that
the glory for creation was his alone he's the one that created
it so when he rested the creation was done it was finished it was
a finished work so there was nothing left to do so he didn't
do anything else in creation he had created it all that's
the language of scripture turn with me to a few passages john
chapter one John chapter 1, verse 3, it says,
All things were made by Him, that is the Word that became
flesh, the Word that was God and was with God, that is Jesus
Christ. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. He's the
one that did it. Now, do you see any human being other than
Himself involved in that equation? There's nobody there. Look at
Colossians chapter 1, verse 16. In Colossians, Chapter 1, Verse
16, it says this, it says, For by Him, that is, by Jesus Christ,
were all things created that are in heaven, that are in the
earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones or dominions
or principalities or powers, all things were made created
by Him and for Him. There He is! They were created
by Him and they were created for him. Back in Exodus chapter
20 we read why we keep the Sabbath day or why the Sabbath day was
kept under the old covenant. In Exodus chapter 20 and verse
8 it says this, remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy,
or separate. Six days shalt thou labor, and
do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord
thy God, the rest of the Lord our God. In it shalt thou not
do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant,
or maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor a stranger that is within
thy gates. In one place in Scripture it said if you pick up a stick
on a Sabbath day, They'll kill you. They'll stone you to death. It goes on to say, here's why. For in six days the Lord made
heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested
the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the
Sabbath and hallowed it. Bless that seventh day because
it's a day of rest. It declares, profoundly declares,
that the work of creation is finished. The work of creation
is finished. For a created thing, Well, a creative thing to do
work on the Sabbath on the day when God rested, and that's what
the Sabbath is about, is rest. For a person to do any work on
the Sabbath was to claim that God had not finished the work.
There was something left to be done, that man must have some
part in the glory of that. And man was one of the creatures,
one of the things created out of the dust of the earth. To
work on the Sabbath day is to be a Johnny come lately to the
work of creation, and his presumption to insert himself is worthy of
death. That's what God said. That's
what it's about. God did the work. He finished it. Everything
was done, nothing left to be done, so he didn't do anything.
For you to say you have something to do with that, we'll stone you. That's what
it says, you'll be stoned to death. So the Sabbath was what? A shadow. Didn't we just read
that in Colossians? It was a shadow, but it wasn't
a substance. Sabbath speaks of Christ's work
and His finished work. So decisions and free will and
walking the aisle and hitting the altar or the mourner's bench
is working on the Sabbath. because the Sabbath speaks of
the rest of the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because he finished the
work of what? The new creation. He's the creator
of the first creation, and he's the creator in the new creation.
Paul said the Sabbaths that were a shadow, but Christ is the substance. So whatever all went on back
there, God resting on the seventh day and declaring that day a
holy day and not allowing any man to work. And if you'll read
about the eight different Sabbaths in Leviticus and Deuteronomy,
you'll find that every one of them was tagged with a stinger. That's what we used to call,
when I was in radio, we'd tag a commercial with a stinger or
a hook, make somebody think about it. Every one of those Sabbath
days is tagged with a holy stinger, and that stinger says, there
shall be no servile work done on that day. No servile work
done on that day. So God's rest after creation
was a shadow of another rest of which Christ was the substance. and that rest occurred after
the new creation, of which Christ is the substance of that. Look
at Colossians chapter 3. In Colossians chapter 3, verse
10, it says this, And have put on the new man, that's the new
creation, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of
Him that created Him. In 2 Corinthians 5.17 it says,
In Christ you are a new creature, a new creation. All old things
are passed away. You're a new creation. Everything
you thought about doing under the old covenant, that's gone.
That's the basic meaning of that. All the old things are passed
away. In Galatians chapter six and verse 15, it says circumcision
or uncircumcision availeth anything. Keeping the law or not keeping
the law doesn't avail anything. You can say, well, I'm not circumcised.
I don't believe I'm not circumcised. That don't avail anything. You
can say it all day long. You can not do it. You can not
keep the law. for righteousness or you can say I kept the law
for righteousness it don't avail anything it avails to nothing
either circumcision or uncircumcision availeth anything but a new creature
a new creation in the Lord Jesus Christ and this new creation
is Christ is in Christ on the cruel cross hanging in an agonies
of blood our great Savior cried with a loud voice it is finished
what does that mean there's nothing left to do that's what finished
means It is finished. It is complete. It's a done deal. Tis done, the old song says,
the great transaction's done. I am the Lord's and He is mine. When He said it is finished,
He gave up the ghost, dying the death that was due His elect.
And having finished the work, He entered into His rest. That's
what it says in Hebrews chapter 4. In Hebrews chapter 4, verse 9,
it says, And there remaineth therefore a rest to the people
of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased
from his own works, as God did from his. And God did in creation.
Christ did in the new creation on the cross of Calvary. After
he had finished the work, where did he go? He's not out here
trying to get people to be saved. He's sitting in glory on the
right hand of the Father, having finished the work of salvation.
He rested after finishing the work of redemption. Christ is
the substance of the Sabbath, after having finished the work,
and he allows no man to claim or to be a participant in that
work. You're not allowed. You see,
He finished the work. He did the work. He's the Creator.
All things were created by Him, but the new creation is His creation. And after He did it, He rested.
That means it's done. You don't have anything to do
with it. You never had anything to do with it. It's His work. He gets all the glory. Christ
is the substance of the Sabbath. Having finished the work allows
no man to be or claim to be a participant in that work. On pain of death,
The penalty is the same, eternal death. Humanity is utterly prohibited
from claiming any part in the salvation of their own soul. You want to get in on that? You
want to say you had something to do with it? That is worthy
of death. That is a capital crime. The
Sabbath of old was not about man taking a break. It was about
honoring God for finishing the work. Resting in Christ is not
about being tired. It's about glorifying Christ
for finishing the work, and there is nothing for us to do. Paul
told Timothy, God has saved us and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our works, but according to his own purpose
and grace, which was given us in Jesus Christ before the world
began. It's all taken care of. And I love this passage of Scripture,
Hebrews chapter one, verses one through three. This says it all. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake in times past unto the fathers by the
prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son,
whom he has appointed heir of all things, by whom he also made
the worlds, who, being the brightness of his glory, the outshining
of God, the express image of his person, and upholding all
things by the word of his power, Then you have this little word,
when. Something has happened. Something has taken place, because
when is he? When? Sometime, when? When he had purged past tense. What does that word mean? Remitted,
put away, annihilated, any way you want to put it. When he had
by himself, he finished the work. by himself purged our sins. He sat down on the right hand
of the majesty on high. Why did he sit down? Because
there's nothing left to do. The old priests, they didn't
sit down. There was no furniture to sit down in the tabernacle.
There was no cease of the works in the Old Testament. These things
were competed 24 hours a day. These ceremonies had to be done
exactly on time and exactly precisely as they were done all the way
through the Old Covenant. No priest ever sat down. The high
priest didn't sit down. He didn't sit down. Not in that
tabernacle. Not in the work of salvation.
Not in the work of the Lord. Never sat down. But Christ, after
He had perfected forever them that are sanctified, He sat down. Why? It's the Sabbath. He's the rest wherein we find
sweet rest. he's finished the work and there's
nothing for us to do save to rest in it and lie down and I'm
telling you about lying down and resting I love to do that
it takes no effort on my part I just flop you rest in the Lord
Jesus Christ's work he's finished it don't go putting your two
cents worth in it He's finished the work. The Sabbaths of the Old Testament,
very strictly observed, were merely a shadow. Christ is the
substance. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. Amen.