Well, let's wait for everybody
to get in here. Good to see y'all this morning.
No special announcements, except Melvin is doing some better and
he's going to the toe doctor tomorrow, right? Tuesday, the
14th, Perry Schell is going in for the lung operation. So remember
him in your prayers. Seek the Lord's help for him.
Other than that, I can't think of any announcements that we
have other than our Four announcements in there is that Wednesday night
service, there's six now, so remember that. You have a sheet
music in your bench, pew. This is a song that, what's his name? John Davis,
the old banjo player used to play at the conference every
year. Completed a good song, great words. Come here. ? Complete in thee, no work of
mine, may take, dear Lord, the place of thine. ? Thy blood hath pardoned, Lord,
for me ? ? And I am now complete in Thee ? ? Ye justified, O blessed
thought ? ? And sanctified, salvation wrought ? ? Thy blood hath pardoned,
Lord, for me ? ? And glorified I too shall be ? Complete in
thee no more shall sin ? Thy grace has conquered rain within
? Thy voice shall bid the tempter flee ? And I shall stand complete
in thee O blessed God, and sanctified,
salvation wrought, thy blood hath pardoned, fought for me,
and glorified I too shall be, complete in thee, each want supplied,
? Thou my portion, Lord, will be
? I ask no more complete in Thee ? Yea, justified, O blessed thought
? And sanctified salvation wrought ? Thy blood hath pardoned, but
for me ? And glorified I too shall be ? Dear Savior when before
thy bar ? All tribes and tongues assembled are ? Among thy chosen
will I be ? At thy right hand complete in thee ? Be justified,
O blessed cross ? And sanctified salvation wrought ? Thy blood
hath pardoned, bought for me ? And glorified I too shall be
Good words in that song. After scripture reading and prayer,
we'll sing hymn number 326. More about Jesus. If you have your Bibles, turn with
me to Exodus. I want to read some verses from
Exodus chapter 34 and chapter 35. The title of my message this
morning is Keeping the Sabbath. Exodus chapter 34 and verse 21. The Lord said, Six days shalt
thou work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest. In earring
time and in harvest thou shalt rest. Then in verse 25, Thou
shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, neither
shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left unto
the morning. And in chapter 35 in verse 2
says, Six days shall the work be done, and on the seventh day
there shall be of you, and holy day, a sabbath of rest to the
Lord, whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Let us
pray. Our Father, we thank you for the many manifold blessings
that flow our way. We thank you that as far as spiritual
blessings go, you have given to your children all spiritual
blessings in Jesus Christ. You have blessed them with all
spiritual blessings. We are thankful that one of those
blessings is the blessing of the gift of faith to believe
your word. It's a wonder and a mystery that
children born of Adam depraved and sick and ruined, are brought up and resurrected
and raised to the place where they believe your word. In the midst of all kinds of
troubles and sorrows, they cling to it. It's a marvel and a wonder. We thank you for the shed blood
of Jesus Christ, that perfect sacrifice. who indeed is our
Sabbath, our rest, wherein we find sweet rest and refreshing. We thank you that that blood
satisfied your law's demands and your justice's demands, put
away our sin, made us to be in him righteous,
even righteousness, wisdom, sanctification, and redemption. We pray for those
who are sick and going through trials. Remember Melvin as he's
recovering from this pancreatitis. Ask Lord you be with him and
be with those doctors as they look at his toe. We pray Father
that they'll find the right answers. Be with Melvin also and with
those who minister to him. Pray for Perry as he goes in
this week. for that operation we ask lord
you be with him watch over him be with those doctors as they
invade his body and take out a piece of his lung we ask lord
you give them great skills and understanding of the human anatomy
help them lord as they help our brother be with Phyllis as she
ministers to him be with us this day we pray that you be pleased
to meet with us in the presence of your spirit to take the things
of Christ and show them unto us to glorify Him in our midst. We ask this in Christ's name
and for His glory. Amen. Hymn number 326, more about Jesus. More about Jesus would I know
More of His grace to others show More of His saving fullness see
More of His love who died for me ? More, more about Jesus ?
More, more about Jesus ? More of his saving fullness see ?
More of his love who died for me ? More about Jesus let me
learn Spirit of God, my teacher be, Showing the things of Christ
to me. More, more about Jesus More,
more about Jesus More of His saving fullness see More of His
love who died for me More about Jesus in His Word For in union
with the Lord, Hearing His voice in every land, Making each faithful
saying mine. ? More, more about Jesus ? More,
more about Jesus ? More of His saving fullness seen ? More of
His lover died for me ? More about Jesus on His throne Reaches
in glory on. More of His kingdom sure increase
More of His coming Prince of Peace More, more about Jesus
More, more about Jesus More of His saving fullness see Let's pray. Father, again we approach
in the name of Christ. That blessed name, that wonderful
name. the name that is music to every sinner's ears. As we learn of the unspeakable
gift of Jesus Christ and all that we are given in Him, all
things that pertain to godliness and life, all spiritual gifts,
nothing is withheld from us, nothing good. As we render unto
thee these gifts, portion of what you've given us. Let us
do so with thanksgiving realizing that we have it because you've
given it to us. Pray in Christ's name. Amen. You. I invite your attention back
to the Word of God, the Exodus chapter 34 and 35. A lot is said in Scripture about
the Sabbath. We read about the first of it in the first of Genesis.
The Lord had finished the work of creation. He rested. The Hebrew
word for rest is Shabbat or Sabbath as we know it. And though many
restrictions are laid upon the children of God under the old
covenant, the Sabbath was never about the children of God. It
was the Lord's Sabbath, the Lord's rest, and it was about God resting
from His work, having finished the work of creation, and ultimately
having finished the work of the new creation. in Christ Jesus
and Christ is made to be the rest or the Sabbath of His people
and it's the Lord's Sabbath because the Lord finished the work. The work is done. In these chapters
in Exodus, our Lord makes reference three times to the Sabbath in
Leviticus chapter 8 or chapter 25 and another chapter there,
there are over eight Sabbaths mentioned and they're each one
of them a Sabbath. One of them is what we men call
the Sabbath day which was yesterday. Saturday is the Sabbath day. Begins at sunset on Friday and
ends at sunset on Saturday. That's the Sabbath day. The day
we worship the Lord is not the new Sabbath. There is no Sabbath
day. Jesus Christ is our Sabbath. But in these chapters three times
this Sabbath is mentioned. Twice the weekly Sabbath is spoken
of and once of the Sabbath called the Passover. So some of the
ceremonies were called Sabbath. Passover, Feast of Tabernacles
and so forth. The Sabbath day was established
by uh... are established in the law on
Sinai and there's no record of anybody any old patriarch from
Adam all the way to Abraham to Jacob until they went to the
bottom of Sinai ever observing a Sabbath day it was entered
into the law as all things were to condemn men and point out
their transgression because they were not believing that God had
finished the work. The Passover was established
by divine edict on the night our Lord delivered Israel from
Egypt and both of those Sabbaths have to do with the person and
the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that in the Word of God.
In Hebrews chapter 4 it says, Enter into that rest. His rest. His rest. His rest. Why is Christ
resting? Why is He in sweet repose sitting
at the right hand of the Father like an old lion that cannot
be stirred up? Why is He like that? Because
there is nothing left to do. He has finished the work of salvation. He has finished the work of redemption. The words of our Lord are often
words that are related to the language of the Sabbath. He used
the Sabbath many times. The rest is related to that. Look at a few, if you will. Matthew
chapter 6. Matthew chapter 6 and verse 12. This is Sabbath language here.
He said in teaching the disciples prayer, He said, and forgive
us our debts. as we forgive our debt towards. What does that
have to do with? That is the Sabbath of Jubilee where all the debts
of all people were cancelled. Forgive us our debts even as
we forgive others. In John chapter 19 In verse 30, our Lord said, When
Jesus therefore received the vinegar, He said, It is finished.
That is Sabbath language. It is finished. It is done. It
is finished. The Hebrew word there is one
word. It is perfect. And He bowed His
head and gave up the ghost. It is finished. That is the language
of the Sabbath. Our Lord used that kind of language.
When people heard what He said, they understood. The Sabbath
simply and emphatically declares one thing. The work is done. It's over. There's nothing left
to do. That's what the Sabbath proclaims. The ramifications of that principle
are that because the work is done, because the work is done,
nothing else can be done, and nothing else is to be done, lest
the doer declare that in truth the work is somehow not actually
done. So if you add to the Sabbath
to the finished work of Christ, you're saying the work wasn't
finished. Isn't that simple? That's simple math. That's one
and one is two. And that calls, since it is the
perfect God, the perfect God who has accomplished the work,
any work or effort added to that work calls the character of God
into question. He must have lied if he said
he had finished the work, and he really didn't finish the work.
those who are weary in their efforts and labors to establish
righteousness with God, and those who are overwhelmed by the labors
required to reach the impossible goal of perfection, what kind
of language is used for them? Our Lord said, Come unto me,
all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I'll give you what?
Sabbath. I'll give you rest. Take my yoke
upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly, and you
shall find rest for your souls." In all these texts, as well as
the many others, the principle is simple. God has finished the
work. And there is nothing to be added
to that. To add anything to this accomplishment is to imperil
your eternal soul. One of these texts actually says
under the old covenant, if you work on that day, and as much
as pick up a stick on that day, you're put to death. Now that's
pretty, there's a lot of things that people did that didn't bring
about the death penalty. But this is so serious to God.
And He says, You do something on this day when the work is
finished. You are saying, I did not finish the work. You are
a gone Jesse. You are done eating. We will
look at these texts and see the clarity and the fullness of the
Word of God. Back in our text in Exodus chapter 34 verse 21. It says this, 6 days shalt thou
work, but on the 7th day thou shalt rest in earing time and
in harvest. shalt thou rest this of course
is the standard set by god based on the creation god created all
that is in six days and on the seventh day he rested and he
didn't rest because he was tired but because the work was done
and there was nothing left to do in creation he finished creation
the first six days of creation or the first uh... the first
six days of creation he talked about the morning and the evening
look it up genesis But on the seventh day He did not talk about
the morning and evening. Why? Because it represented full
salvation wherein Christ is the light thereof. He is the sun
arising with healing in His wings. He is the bright and morning
star. There is no need for a morning
and an evening in Christ. It is all done. The work is finished. Under the Old Covenant, the six
days of work were always attached to the Sabbath day. When you
talk about the Sabbath day, when you read these, the six days
of work were always attached to it. Attached to it. It was a conditional covenant.
A conditional covenant. That means you met the conditions
of the covenant or you were cursed. In the New Testament and the
New Covenant, the Sabbath is always mentioned without any
reference to the six days of work. Completely different thought. The reason for this is that for
the believer every day is the Sabbath. Every day is the rest. We as believers live in the Sabbath. We have and move and have our
being in the Sabbath. By faith we keep the Sabbath
and we are the only ones that do. Those who trust in the merits
of Jesus Christ alone are Sabbath keepers and they are the only
ones that are. We live and move and have our
being in a perpetual state of what? Rest. Rest. Why? Because there's nothing
for us to do. Our Savior has done it all. He
has fully and completely redeemed us and He has even ordained what
works we will do and when we will do them and what they are.
All of that is taken care of. He's done it all. He's done it
all, there's nothing left to do, so how do we live in this
world? If you're a believer in the Lord
Jesus Christ, you REST! You're in a state of repose.
Now this irks human religion. I grew up in human religion,
but it's nonetheless true. We do not work to earn a right
to rest. We rest in him who performed
the work and finished the work, disavowing any notion that we
had anything or have anything to do with the accomplishment
of the work or the furtherance of it. In our text, two seasons
are mentioned here. The time of sowing, which is
earing, or literally it's plowing, or the time of reaping, which
is harvest. Now both plowing and harvesting
require work. They require work. If you're
a farmer, you plant a garden. Fred knows about this. He grows
a beautiful garden every year. He has to plow. He has to plant. He has to water. It's work. even
when he goes to pick him beans. Now, he grows them up a pole
so he don't have to bend over so much, but I remember when
I was a boy, we grew them beans on the ground, and we was bending
over in our back eggs for days. There's a work involved. Both
plowing and harvesting require work. The one is done with the
intent of producing the other, and have to do with the two specific
things. What do they have to do with here? What does he talk
about this in the text in chapter 34, when he talks about the earring? In verse 21, when he says, six
days, that's how we'll work and rest, in earring time and in
harvest. What's he talking about? Well, he now remembered. This
is a Sabbath he's talking about. So he's talking about the work's
already been finished, and yet he talks about two things that
have to do, we think, with work. But what they actually have to
do with is the beginning and the ending of planting a garden. The beginning is the plowing,
the ending is the reaping. So it's a beginning and an ending. This is one done with the intent
of producing the other as we work, but it's a beginning and
an ending. Here our Lord refers to the whole
spectrum of work. The whole spectrum of work and
slams freewill legalistic religion. The Sabbath, the rest obtained
by Christ and enjoyed by the laborer, realized without any
labor. without any plowing in the beginning
of the harvest or the end of the harvest is void of personal
intent and gaining of it. All of it is already done. God
has planted the garden. He turned up the fallow soil.
He planted the seed. He gave the increase. He presented
the harvest to us and says for us to sit down and relax. It's all taken care of. That's what the earring And the
harvest means the beginning and the end are taken care of. Christ
is our Alpha and our Omega, the beginning and the end, the first
and the last, because the work is finished. This matter of resting
in Christ is a free gift. It is a gift of grace. We do
not labor to obtain it. You did not receive the reward
of your labor in the harvest of it. In fact, when you received
it, you had no intention even to possess it. any intention
to possess it merely prove that you already were a recipient
of it. Those who intend to gain this
rest because they are tired having worked for it will never have
it. They will never have it. Paul
spoke of some who wanted to work to gain this rest. He said, I talk about my brethren, my kinsmen
according to flesh, they have a zeal for God. They are going
to work. They have a zeal for God. But
it is not according to knowledge. They do not know what they are
doing. But they go about to establish. And that word establish is build.
Build their own righteousness having not submitted to the righteousness
of God. What is the righteousness of
Christ? It is the end of the law for righteousness for them to
believe. Here are people who work for that. He said you cannot
work for it. You submit to it. Barney used
to say, you stack your guns in the corner and surrender. That's
what you do. Any intention to possess it merely
proves you already have it. But if your desire is to build
it on your own, it's because you don't have it. And you won't
have it. The second reference is in Exodus
chapter 35 and verse 2. six days shalt thou work be done
but on the seventh day there shall be in you a holy day a
sabbath of rest for the Lord whosoever doeth work therein
shall be put to death several things several things
are here found and they are pregnant with import first there is a
personal reckoning of the rest this rest shall be unto you this
is a personal reckoning this is my rest This is my rest. This rest shall be unto you in
holy day, as a day separate, a day separate from everything
else. This is very important because our natural bent and
inclination to account that our works carry weight and significance
means something to us. Part and parcel with a believer's
struggle is to believe God concerning the rest. That is the hardest
thing we do. Folks say, Well, it is easy to believe. No, it
is not. It is impossible to believe apart from a work of grace. you
can't believe and even as a believer sometimes you think surely this
counts for something and we might not say it out loud you know
might anonymously get somebody some groceries and put it on
their front porch and hide and not let anybody see it but hope
somewhere down the road that person will bring it up and your
name will come to it Why? Because we want our works to
mean something. They don't mean anything. They're
important. They matter. But they don't count.
Not in the matter of salvation. Our natural being is to account
that our works carry some weight. We constantly need to be reminded
and to remind ourselves to reckon the old man to be dead, to cease
from our labors in every effort to gain a harvest from God. Note
the word LORD in caps. This refers to the Lord, our
Savior. This is Jehovah. What follows
then is a reference to the Lord's work in saving His people, a
work that He alone accomplished. He, by substitution, satisfaction,
and imputation, has forever redeemed His people. No human fingerprints
are to be here. No DNA, but Christ is found.
No work or die. That's the language. He alone
bears all the responsibility of the salvation of His people.
He alone gets all the glory for the salvation of people. He alone
finished the work of salvation. He alone. You believe that? That's crazy talk, ain't it? Crazy talk to natural people. That Christ alone is our salvation.
Therefore, whosoever doeth work therein shall die. Aren't you
glad that believers don't do the work? They know they can't
do the work. They know they shouldn't try
to do the work. To add your work to that which our Lord has accomplished
is a capital crime. The sentence for perpetuating
this crime is eternal death. And there are no exceptions in
this room. This is the law of the house, as said in Jeremiah. The phrase ye shall kindle no
fire throughout your habitations upon the Sabbath day is referring
to preparing food on the Sabbath. It teaches that just as you cannot
work for the rest, you can neither have any part of sustaining yourself
while enjoying the rest. I know people think, remember
I'm talking about resting in Christ. I'm not talking about
a day. It was a day back then. It ain't a day now. It's resting
in Christ. We all prepared food today, didn't
we? Well, it ain't your Sabbath. It's the first day of the week.
It's the first day of the week. You see, several of the Sabbaths
had to do with weeks and months and years. And during those times, especially
one when the year, when the ground was to lay fallow for a year,
think about this. Lord says, you can't plow, you
can't plant, you can't harvest, not for a year. What are we to
do? Sit in your houses and wait for
me to show up with the food, because I'll show up with the
food. That's what the Lord said, and He did. He did. It's hard, isn't it? Hard to
think about, to trust the Lord so. But that has to do not with
those things. but it has to do with the Sabbath
rest of the Lord Jesus Christ. Believers are kept by the power
of God. We are kept by the power of God. The third reference is
in chapter 34 and verse 25 when it says this, Thou shalt not offer the blood
of my sacrifice with leaven, neither shalt thou sacrifice
the feast of Passover be left to the morning. not offer the
blood of my sacrifice with leaven." With leaven. The Passover is
the second Sabbath observed. It's mentioned in Leviticus chapter
23. As with all seven other Sabbaths,
there is to be no servile work done on that day. But here in
this text, our Lord narrows the concepts of work to a specific
kind. No leaven. No leaven. with the use of the
word leaven our Lord makes singular reference to one thing keeping the law for righteousness
because that's what leaven represents in the New Testament our Lord
said a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump in first Corinthians
he said remove the leaven of the Pharisee the leaven of the
Pharisee. Leaven has to do with the law. A believer is not to add leaven
to the rest that has been accomplished by Christ. That means a believer
is to have nothing to do with the law. Nothing to do with the
law except to honor it saying it is holy and good But I'm carnal,
so to understand. Law is a just representation
of God's justice and righteousness. It's a just representation of
that. But the believer has nothing to do with it. I can't tell you
how much trouble I've got in over the years. With people who
say they love the gospel of God's grace, yet they are of the reformed
ilk that still want to somehow incorporate the law into a person's
life. How was Abraham righteous? How was he called a man who believed
God was a candidate for righteousness? What law did he keep? Find me
a reference to Abraham anywhere in his life, the law being mentioned. And yet he was the righteous
man, the father of the faithful. What law did Adam keep? He broke
the only one he had. Only one, and he couldn't even
handle that one. None of the Old Testament saints
had anything to do with these laws that were instituted at
Sinai. Why were they instituted at Sinai?
The more I read the Scriptures, the more I study that particular
time of history, the more I see simply this, that everything
that had happened up to Sinai think of all the things that
the Jews did in the wilderness, how they rebelled against God
on every corner and every situation. I believe that law was given
on Sinai to show that everything they did was wrong. They had
all transgressed because the law was added because of transgression.
And the first thing they were doing, the first two laws that
are set forth in the Ten Commandments are about what they were doing
right then at the bottom of that mountain. they were making a
golden calf to worship and giving him the name that stinking piece
of brass that gold calf they were calling him Elohim the all-powerful
God they made it and so our Lord said first of all thou shalt
have no other gods before me Why did the law come? So they'd
act right? So they'd do better? No, it was
to show them that what they were doing was an offense. To show them that what they were
doing was wrong. Wouldn't it make them right?
The law don't make nobody right. The law just points out what
you're not supposed to do. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt
not commit murder. Why? Well, it's wrong. It's against
the law. But if there had been no law,
could murder be imputed? Could sin be imputed where there
is no law? No, it can't. Sin can't be imputed
where there's no law. We've seen that in these days
and we'll see some really strange things coming up here pretty
soon, I'm pretty sure. They're going to make pedophilia a matter
of preference rather than... You watch and see. It's almost
there already. The psychologists are already
talking like they did about the homosexuals in the 60s. They're
changing their view. They're saying, well, it's just,
you know, they're calling it child love now. I know. I'm reading
articles. I'm seeing it, you know. You
say, well, they can't do that. Well, if they can make that not
a law, they can diminish the idea that it's not a law against
it, it is okay to do it. Because where there is no law,
there is no imputation of sin. For years, women were stalked
by former lovers and crazy people and killed. But there was no
law for stalking. And so they could never punish
a man for chasing a woman down and making her life terribly
fearful for her, you know, where she's afraid to go outside altogether.
They couldn't do it, why? Because there wasn't any law.
Wasn't any law. Law is to punish, to condemn,
to define what sin is. But here's the thing with the
child of God. All the law of God has been fulfilled in Jesus
Christ. And so the law has nothing to
do with you. What about the laws of the land?
Well, you're subject to those. The law of Jesus Christ is the
law of life, not the law of death, for the law leads to death. Our
Lord said, in the matter of resting in Christ, don't you dare put
an 11 in it. Not one drip of law is to be
involved in the salvation of the elect. The law is not used
to convict. The law already condemns from
the day you drew your first breath. You're already a lawbreaker.
You're already sentenced to death the minute you're born into this
world. But in Christ, that law has nothing to do with you. Because
why? Because as the law required death,
you died in Jesus Christ. when he died in your room instead. So what does the law have to
say? He's dead. Can't touch him. He's dead. He's
dead. But the warnings of the Sabbath
are clear. Enter into this rest. Enter into this rest recognizing
that it's the Lord's Sabbath. No servile work is to be done. Nothing is to be added to it.
And certainly no law is to be added to this rest. This is the
rest that our Lord spoke of in Isaiah chapter 28 when he said,
who shall I teach doctrine? Who shall I teach learning? Those
that are weaned from the breast, those that aren't babies anymore.
He said, for years, the prophet said, preached to them and taught
them about a rest. Not a work. A rest. A rest wherein
you find sweet rest and refreshing. And they would not. They would
not. Well, the end of those people
is that they have a refuge of lies. They take their refuge
in lies and falsehood. They hide themselves. God says
when the overflowing scourge comes, it's going to consume
you. Don't add anything to this rest. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. The world is real busy. Multitasking. But the believer lays down. Grace
is his pillar. The Spirit is his covering. And
he rests in Jesus Christ. Father, bless us to understand
and pray in Christ's name. me.