1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,720 So we're glad everybody is here tonight, and we hope that tomorrow you'll join us at 11, 2 00:00:10,720 --> 00:00:13,400 and then again tomorrow at 7 o'clock in the evening. 3 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:17,000 But let's bow our heads and we'll get started here tonight. 4 00:00:17,000 --> 00:00:22,440 Dear God, we thank you so much for bringing us through a week. 5 00:00:22,440 --> 00:00:28,120 We've made it to the weekend, and as we gather together here tonight, we can just open up 6 00:00:28,120 --> 00:00:34,200 your Word, and we can recognize all the grace that you have for us, all the message of truth 7 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:39,680 that you have for us, and we just pray for those that are in different places this evening. 8 00:00:39,680 --> 00:00:45,520 Guide them, bless them, keep them safe, and may we all just see a better picture of you. 9 00:00:45,520 --> 00:00:48,560 In your name we pray, amen. 10 00:00:48,560 --> 00:00:55,000 So as we get going today, we want to start by sharing an allegory. 11 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:57,480 You guys know what an allegory is? 12 00:00:57,480 --> 00:01:06,040 An allegory is a fictional story that has a little message of, hopefully a powerful 13 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:07,960 message, a powerful lesson to it. 14 00:01:07,960 --> 00:01:11,440 So this allegory goes something like this. 15 00:01:11,440 --> 00:01:14,600 It tells the story of truth. 16 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:20,760 Now truth had an appointment, and truth was going to visit at a certain town, and the 17 00:01:20,760 --> 00:01:26,140 people in this town were excited for truth to come visit, and they wanted to hear what 18 00:01:26,140 --> 00:01:28,040 truth had to say. 19 00:01:28,040 --> 00:01:34,880 And as truth was traveling along, it wasn't like today, because it was a hot summer day, 20 00:01:34,880 --> 00:01:41,760 he's walking down a dusty road, the sun is beating upon his back, and he's getting hotter 21 00:01:41,760 --> 00:01:47,920 and hotter, and the sweat is starting to bead up on his forehead, and as he's walking down 22 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:54,460 this dusty road through the woods, through the trees, truth sees something. 23 00:01:54,460 --> 00:02:00,240 He sees something shimmering, and he says, that looks like a nice pond. 24 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:06,120 And on a hot day today, I think it might be a refreshing time just to go and jump into 25 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:09,340 that pond for just a few moments and cool off. 26 00:02:09,340 --> 00:02:14,040 And so he walks through the woods, he sees the beautiful pond, it looks perfect for a 27 00:02:14,040 --> 00:02:19,720 nice swim, and so he takes off his beautiful white robe, and he carefully hangs it on the 28 00:02:19,720 --> 00:02:26,840 tree, and he dives into that pond, and swims, and splashes, and cools off. 29 00:02:26,840 --> 00:02:34,040 But as the story goes, wherever truth goes, you know that Lye follows close behind. 30 00:02:34,040 --> 00:02:40,400 And so Lye was going towards that same town, down the same dusty road, with that same summer 31 00:02:40,400 --> 00:02:45,880 sun beating upon him, and he too was getting hot, and he too was getting sweaty, and he 32 00:02:45,880 --> 00:02:50,160 decided, as he was looking around, that he saw something through the trees. 33 00:02:50,160 --> 00:02:55,560 He saw what looked to be a nice cool pond, and so he stepped through the trees wanting 34 00:02:55,560 --> 00:03:03,280 to refresh himself, and just before he got to the pond, he came up with another plan. 35 00:03:03,280 --> 00:03:08,640 Because he saw, hanging on that tree, the beautiful white robe of truth, and so his 36 00:03:08,640 --> 00:03:14,880 plan suddenly became, instead of going swimming, I'm going to steal truth's clothes. 37 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:22,280 And so he took off his dirty, ratty garments, and he threw them in a pile, and he put on 38 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:28,120 that beautiful white soft robe of truth, and instead of going swimming, he carried on down 39 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:29,200 the path. 40 00:03:29,200 --> 00:03:33,480 And the people in the town were waiting by the road, looking down the road, and they 41 00:03:33,480 --> 00:03:38,440 said, here he comes, here comes truth, he's coming down the road. 42 00:03:38,440 --> 00:03:45,280 And some of the elders of the town, the wise old men, they looked out and they said, hmm, 43 00:03:45,280 --> 00:03:50,780 that's not truth, that's lie, dressed up in truth's clothes. 44 00:03:50,780 --> 00:03:53,660 And everybody was very disappointed. 45 00:03:53,660 --> 00:04:00,420 But about that same time, truth finished his swim and went back to continue his journey, 46 00:04:00,420 --> 00:04:04,860 and when he went to the tree to get his robe, he couldn't find it. 47 00:04:04,860 --> 00:04:07,180 He looked on this tree, he looked on that tree. 48 00:04:07,180 --> 00:04:13,600 He looked on another tree, and then he saw there on the ground in a heap those dirty, 49 00:04:13,600 --> 00:04:17,560 ratty garments of the lie. 50 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:20,800 And so truth had to make a choice. 51 00:04:20,800 --> 00:04:28,460 He said, I can wear those dirty clothes, or I can just go as I am. 52 00:04:28,460 --> 00:04:33,600 And he said, you know what, before I put on those clothes, I'm just going to walk as I 53 00:04:33,600 --> 00:04:37,580 am no matter what people say, no matter even if they laugh at me. 54 00:04:37,580 --> 00:04:41,820 And so he began to walk down that road, and the people in the town, they looked out and 55 00:04:41,820 --> 00:04:47,540 they saw him and they said, here he comes, here comes the truth, here comes the naked 56 00:04:47,540 --> 00:04:49,940 truth. 57 00:04:49,940 --> 00:04:52,020 And so it was. 58 00:04:52,020 --> 00:04:57,480 And we can laugh at a little story like that, but the truth of the matter is that we could 59 00:04:57,480 --> 00:04:59,960 say that's kind of like our topic for tonight. 60 00:04:59,960 --> 00:05:05,080 Here comes the truth, here comes the naked truth. 61 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:09,760 And sometimes when people talk about truth, some people get excited about it and some 62 00:05:09,760 --> 00:05:15,780 people enjoy it and really appreciate it, but others, when you talk about truth, they 63 00:05:15,780 --> 00:05:17,880 really don't, they don't want to hear it. 64 00:05:17,880 --> 00:05:20,660 They don't want to have anything to do with it. 65 00:05:20,660 --> 00:05:25,720 Some people love the truth, but others prefer to believe a lie. 66 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:29,380 So we're going to start tonight and go to Hebrews chapter four. 67 00:05:29,380 --> 00:05:31,020 Hebrews chapter four. 68 00:05:31,020 --> 00:05:34,100 So that's kind of towards the back of the New Testament. 69 00:05:34,100 --> 00:05:36,660 Hebrews chapter four. 70 00:05:36,660 --> 00:05:41,500 And it just reminds us of what the Bible says and what the Bible is. 71 00:05:41,500 --> 00:05:46,220 Hebrews chapter four and verse 12. 72 00:05:46,220 --> 00:05:54,140 The Bible says in Hebrews 412, for the word of God is living and powerful. 73 00:05:54,140 --> 00:06:01,780 Some versions say living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to 74 00:06:01,780 --> 00:06:05,300 the division of soul and spirit. 75 00:06:05,300 --> 00:06:10,620 And so we see that the word of God is described as a what here? 76 00:06:10,620 --> 00:06:13,480 A two-edged sword. 77 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:18,060 And it says it's going to pierce us with truth. 78 00:06:18,060 --> 00:06:23,740 And we recognize that whether it's in the religious world or the secular world or even 79 00:06:23,740 --> 00:06:30,660 sometimes in relationships, that sometimes the truth hurts. 80 00:06:30,660 --> 00:06:35,340 But it hurts even more when we find out later that we've been deceived. 81 00:06:35,340 --> 00:06:42,220 And so we can trust in God's word because even though it pierces us, it pierces us with 82 00:06:42,220 --> 00:06:46,260 this living and active word of God, the truth. 83 00:06:46,260 --> 00:06:52,840 And so Bible prophecy tells us about a power that does not like the truth, that does not 84 00:06:52,840 --> 00:06:58,940 want to have anything to do with the truth, that wants to distort God's word and to lead 85 00:06:58,940 --> 00:07:01,640 us in a totally different direction. 86 00:07:01,640 --> 00:07:07,620 And we've talked about that night by night and that power is called the anti-Christ power. 87 00:07:07,620 --> 00:07:12,340 So we've looked at a verse before and I want to go to Daniel chapter seven. 88 00:07:12,340 --> 00:07:14,740 Daniel chapter seven. 89 00:07:14,740 --> 00:07:21,440 And on Sunday night we're going to explore Daniel seven in great detail, but I just want 90 00:07:21,440 --> 00:07:25,760 to read this one verse that we've read a couple times before. 91 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:28,660 Daniel seven verse 25. 92 00:07:28,660 --> 00:07:31,660 Daniel seven verse 25. 93 00:07:31,660 --> 00:07:38,720 It says, speaking of the anti-Christ power here, this passage is referring to this spirit 94 00:07:38,720 --> 00:07:39,720 of anti-Christ. 95 00:07:39,720 --> 00:07:44,620 And Daniel 725, notice what it says. 96 00:07:44,620 --> 00:07:52,980 He, the anti-Christ, shall speak pompous words against the Most High, shall persecute the 97 00:07:52,980 --> 00:08:00,060 saints of the Most High, and shall intend to change times and law. 98 00:08:00,060 --> 00:08:05,720 Or the King James version says, shall think to change times and laws. 99 00:08:05,720 --> 00:08:12,540 And so this anti-Christ power in this context wants to change times and law. 100 00:08:12,540 --> 00:08:18,840 And in this context it's talking about God's times and God's law. 101 00:08:18,840 --> 00:08:27,340 And earlier this week we talked about God's law and how it used to be a very popular thing 102 00:08:27,340 --> 00:08:30,740 that you would hear people talking about. 103 00:08:30,740 --> 00:08:32,020 Families would teach about it. 104 00:08:32,020 --> 00:08:33,940 Young people would learn about it. 105 00:08:33,940 --> 00:08:36,080 Churches would teach about it. 106 00:08:36,080 --> 00:08:42,020 But in more recent times, as we explored, I believe it was Sunday night, that people 107 00:08:42,020 --> 00:08:45,460 don't really talk about God's law anymore. 108 00:08:45,460 --> 00:08:51,740 And we saw how as we've stepped away from those principles of happiness that we can 109 00:08:51,740 --> 00:08:59,260 see the detriment that our society has faced as less and less people are following God's 110 00:08:59,260 --> 00:09:00,260 law. 111 00:09:00,260 --> 00:09:03,740 Because so many people today think, oh, God's law is archaic. 112 00:09:03,740 --> 00:09:05,340 It's irrelevant. 113 00:09:05,340 --> 00:09:07,140 Modern people don't need it. 114 00:09:07,140 --> 00:09:12,100 And we explored that and said, no, it is important. 115 00:09:12,100 --> 00:09:19,300 And we see that the spirit of anti-Christ is already trying to cast out and do away with 116 00:09:19,300 --> 00:09:20,300 God's law. 117 00:09:20,300 --> 00:09:22,420 And we've talked about that a couple times. 118 00:09:22,420 --> 00:09:31,060 And even in our last night we saw how a particular law was set aside down through history in 119 00:09:31,060 --> 00:09:36,380 that second seal and that third seal of Revelation chapter 6. 120 00:09:36,380 --> 00:09:43,280 And so tonight we're going to discover another time, another way that this anti-Christ power 121 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:51,060 is wanting to draw people away from God's law, a specific part of God's law. 122 00:09:51,060 --> 00:09:55,380 And so we're going to go now to Revelation chapter 14. 123 00:09:55,380 --> 00:09:59,660 Revelation chapter 14 is a key chapter. 124 00:09:59,660 --> 00:10:01,920 We've looked at it briefly. 125 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:08,340 And we're going to continue to look at it night by night because Revelation 14 has a 126 00:10:08,340 --> 00:10:16,700 message that seems to be very important because of the way that it's said to go to Earth's 127 00:10:16,700 --> 00:10:19,540 final generation of Earth's history. 128 00:10:19,540 --> 00:10:24,340 So we're going to concentrate tonight on part of what the first angel says. 129 00:10:24,340 --> 00:10:29,220 And if you've read this before, you recognize that there's three angels that are sharing 130 00:10:29,220 --> 00:10:30,220 here. 131 00:10:30,220 --> 00:10:33,380 We're going to look at those other angels in upcoming nights. 132 00:10:33,380 --> 00:10:42,160 But in Revelation 14 verse 6, notice what it says, Revelation 14 and verse 6, the Bible 133 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:50,700 says, then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting gospel. 134 00:10:50,700 --> 00:10:59,780 And so this angel has the eternal gospel, the good news, the story of Jesus, the story 135 00:10:59,780 --> 00:11:02,300 of Jesus dying for our sins. 136 00:11:02,300 --> 00:11:04,980 So this angel has this gospel. 137 00:11:04,980 --> 00:11:11,300 And notice what is to be done with it, to preach to those who dwell on the earth, to 138 00:11:11,300 --> 00:11:16,300 every nation, tribe, tongue, and people. 139 00:11:16,300 --> 00:11:22,500 So this seems like a very important message because it's supposed to go to everyone on 140 00:11:22,500 --> 00:11:23,500 the earth. 141 00:11:23,500 --> 00:11:26,260 It doesn't matter what nationality somebody is. 142 00:11:26,260 --> 00:11:29,300 It doesn't matter what language somebody may speak. 143 00:11:29,300 --> 00:11:32,500 It doesn't matter if someone is rich or poor. 144 00:11:32,500 --> 00:11:36,900 It doesn't matter what denomination someone is or if they're no denomination. 145 00:11:36,900 --> 00:11:42,820 It says this is a message for the entire world, for every single person. 146 00:11:42,820 --> 00:11:45,060 So what is the message? 147 00:11:45,060 --> 00:11:52,740 It goes on in verse 7 and it says, saying with a loud voice, and that loud voice, that 148 00:11:52,740 --> 00:11:59,220 would be a word that we would call it megaphoney is the way that word is pronounced. 149 00:11:59,220 --> 00:12:04,300 So if you could picture a megaphone, a megaphoney, it means a loud voice. 150 00:12:04,300 --> 00:12:08,540 It's to be proclaimed to everyone loudly. 151 00:12:08,540 --> 00:12:14,660 And here's the message, verse 7, fear God and give glory to him for the hour of his 152 00:12:14,660 --> 00:12:16,580 judgment has come. 153 00:12:16,580 --> 00:12:21,460 Now this isn't about being afraid, being terrified. 154 00:12:21,460 --> 00:12:24,780 It means having a respect for God. 155 00:12:24,780 --> 00:12:25,780 Why? 156 00:12:25,780 --> 00:12:29,580 Because it says the hour of his judgment has come. 157 00:12:29,580 --> 00:12:37,140 And so it's talking about a time when Jesus is about to come again and so people can recognize 158 00:12:37,140 --> 00:12:41,740 and respect who God is and what God is doing. 159 00:12:41,740 --> 00:12:50,020 And then notice it goes on in verse 7 and says, worship him who made heaven and earth, 160 00:12:50,020 --> 00:12:53,580 the sea and the springs of water. 161 00:12:53,580 --> 00:12:59,720 So here in verse 7 it's a call to worship God as the Creator. 162 00:12:59,720 --> 00:13:05,820 And you can notice down in verse 9 that there's a warning about worshiping something else, 163 00:13:05,820 --> 00:13:08,480 worshiping the beast and his image. 164 00:13:08,480 --> 00:13:16,460 And so we see that in this portion of Revelation there's a call to worship God as the true 165 00:13:16,460 --> 00:13:20,620 God, worship God as the Creator of all things. 166 00:13:20,620 --> 00:13:23,380 You think that's needed today? 167 00:13:23,380 --> 00:13:32,860 At a time when so many, almost every educational institution is teaching something different, 168 00:13:32,860 --> 00:13:39,260 teaching that there's evolution, that God is not the Creator, that the world came about 169 00:13:39,260 --> 00:13:44,620 by some other means and it rejects God as the Creator. 170 00:13:44,620 --> 00:13:51,920 And yet here we see a call to remember and to recognize God as the Creator of the heavens 171 00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:57,540 and the earth and the seas and the springs of water and everything else. 172 00:13:57,540 --> 00:13:59,420 So how are we supposed to do that? 173 00:13:59,420 --> 00:14:02,140 How do we worship God? 174 00:14:02,140 --> 00:14:05,680 How do we remember God as the Creator? 175 00:14:05,680 --> 00:14:12,980 Can we do whatever we want or has God given us something specific? 176 00:14:12,980 --> 00:14:18,700 In our society, in our world, often if we want to remember something, some event in 177 00:14:18,700 --> 00:14:23,600 the past, what do we create, what do we do? 178 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:27,660 We maybe make a statue or a memorial. 179 00:14:27,660 --> 00:14:35,000 Last month was another anniversary of 9-11, September 11, 2001. 180 00:14:35,000 --> 00:14:41,220 And if you were to go to New York City, there's a 9-11 memorial in the place where those twin 181 00:14:41,220 --> 00:14:44,340 towers horrifically crashed to the ground. 182 00:14:44,340 --> 00:14:51,780 They have created a memorial to remember those who lost their lives on that day. 183 00:14:51,780 --> 00:14:56,980 And you can go to many, many cities and you can see different monuments and memorials 184 00:14:56,980 --> 00:15:04,700 that have been put up to honor those who have fought in the wars for our country, for our 185 00:15:04,700 --> 00:15:07,660 freedom, for this land that we live in. 186 00:15:07,660 --> 00:15:10,740 In fact, they've even created a day. 187 00:15:10,740 --> 00:15:17,180 What do we call a day to remember those who have died fighting for our country? 188 00:15:17,180 --> 00:15:18,180 Memorial day. 189 00:15:18,180 --> 00:15:25,260 And, you know, I have not been to any community, any town or any city that recognizes Memorial 190 00:15:25,260 --> 00:15:31,220 Day like right here in Ringgold, Georgia where they set up flags along all the streets. 191 00:15:31,220 --> 00:15:34,500 And I'm pretty sure we're going to see it again in just a few weeks as they set it up 192 00:15:34,500 --> 00:15:36,780 for Veterans Day. 193 00:15:36,780 --> 00:15:43,260 So right here in our community, we remember and we have a day to remember. 194 00:15:43,260 --> 00:15:50,340 And you can go to Veterans Memorial Park just up the road and there's more memorials that 195 00:15:50,340 --> 00:15:54,780 have been set up to remember something. 196 00:15:54,780 --> 00:16:04,220 And the fact is that God has set up a memorial day to help us to remember Him as our Creator. 197 00:16:04,220 --> 00:16:13,140 And so if this call here in Revelation chapter 14 is calling us to worship God as our Creator 198 00:16:13,140 --> 00:16:18,220 to remember that, well, let's go back to that creation story. 199 00:16:18,220 --> 00:16:20,940 Let's go back to Genesis chapter 2. 200 00:16:20,940 --> 00:16:23,260 Genesis chapter 2 is where we're going to go. 201 00:16:23,260 --> 00:16:26,140 So we've been in Revelation, the last book. 202 00:16:26,140 --> 00:16:31,780 We're going to go all the way back to the first book, the second chapter, and we're 203 00:16:31,780 --> 00:16:39,140 going to look at the very tail end of creation week and see what this memorial is that God 204 00:16:39,140 --> 00:16:40,140 has set up. 205 00:16:40,140 --> 00:16:46,740 So Genesis chapter 2, and we're going to look at the first three verses or so. 206 00:16:46,740 --> 00:16:54,420 Genesis 2, starting in verse 1, the Bible says, thus the heavens and the earth and all 207 00:16:54,420 --> 00:16:57,320 the host of them were finished. 208 00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:02,980 If you were to read through Genesis chapter 1, it talks about what was created on each 209 00:17:02,980 --> 00:17:03,980 day. 210 00:17:03,980 --> 00:17:07,460 But here it says all the host of them were finished. 211 00:17:07,460 --> 00:17:12,740 And then it says on the seventh day, God ended His work which He had done. 212 00:17:12,740 --> 00:17:17,740 And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 213 00:17:17,740 --> 00:17:19,980 And then notice verse 3. 214 00:17:19,980 --> 00:17:27,900 It says then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He rested from 215 00:17:27,900 --> 00:17:32,060 all His work which God had created and made. 216 00:17:32,060 --> 00:17:37,140 And so it kind of lists three different things that God did here on the seventh day. 217 00:17:37,140 --> 00:17:42,700 He blessed the day, He rested on this day, and then right in the middle there it says 218 00:17:42,700 --> 00:17:45,100 He sanctified it. 219 00:17:45,100 --> 00:17:48,060 Now what does that word mean, sanctify? 220 00:17:48,060 --> 00:17:50,260 We don't use that very often. 221 00:17:50,260 --> 00:17:56,160 But if you were to look up sanctified, it means that He set it apart. 222 00:17:56,160 --> 00:18:03,300 He set it aside for special use or He set it aside for holy use. 223 00:18:03,300 --> 00:18:10,060 And so in other words, from the very beginning, God is saying that this seventh day is supposed 224 00:18:10,060 --> 00:18:18,100 to be set aside as a holy time for humankind to honor God as their Creator. 225 00:18:18,100 --> 00:18:26,640 And so it's a special day for us to remember who gave us life, who created us, who created 226 00:18:26,640 --> 00:18:28,860 all of this world. 227 00:18:28,860 --> 00:18:35,640 Some have said that throughout the eons of time if people had remembered that God is 228 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:41,940 the Creator, if people had remembered this special day there would be no theories of 229 00:18:41,940 --> 00:18:46,900 evolution, there would be no atheists, there would be none of these other things because 230 00:18:46,900 --> 00:18:53,740 once a week people would be able to recognize that God created us, that God created all 231 00:18:53,740 --> 00:18:54,860 of this world. 232 00:18:54,860 --> 00:18:59,900 And Revelation is calling us back to remember that. 233 00:18:59,900 --> 00:19:04,920 Now sometimes people say, well wait a second, I've heard of that but I've always heard 234 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:08,140 it known as the Jewish Sabbath. 235 00:19:08,140 --> 00:19:11,180 Isn't that just for Jews? 236 00:19:11,180 --> 00:19:14,220 Well let's look, where are we in time right here? 237 00:19:14,220 --> 00:19:17,340 This is at the end of the creation week. 238 00:19:17,340 --> 00:19:21,520 So how many people are alive at this moment? 239 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:26,180 There's only two, we actually know their names, Adam and Eve. 240 00:19:26,180 --> 00:19:28,340 And so were they Jewish? 241 00:19:28,340 --> 00:19:34,500 No, there were no Jewish people for hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years after this. 242 00:19:34,500 --> 00:19:41,920 And so we see that at a time when there was no races, when there was no ethnicities, there's 243 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:49,660 no nations, long before there's any denominations, that way back at creation that God meant for 244 00:19:49,660 --> 00:19:56,100 this as he said here to be a blessing, a blessing of rest. 245 00:19:56,100 --> 00:20:00,660 Now why would God consider this to be so important? 246 00:20:00,660 --> 00:20:05,820 Well if you think about it, what day were Adam and Eve created on? 247 00:20:05,820 --> 00:20:09,600 The sixth day, the last active day of creation. 248 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,820 And so we would call that Friday, the sixth day. 249 00:20:12,820 --> 00:20:20,660 And so the seventh day, that was Adam and Eve's very first full day, complete day that 250 00:20:20,660 --> 00:20:26,220 they could be with their creator, that they could be with God, with Jesus. 251 00:20:26,220 --> 00:20:31,500 And so we begin to see that God is a very relational God. 252 00:20:31,500 --> 00:20:38,180 God did not put Adam and Eve into the beautiful garden of Eden, create them and say, alright, 253 00:20:38,180 --> 00:20:44,660 peace out guys, I'm going to be way on the other side of the universe, good luck, you're 254 00:20:44,660 --> 00:20:46,080 on your own. 255 00:20:46,080 --> 00:20:51,500 But we see that God cared about them, that God loved them, that God wanted to have a 256 00:20:51,500 --> 00:20:53,340 connection with them. 257 00:20:53,340 --> 00:20:57,860 God wanted to be a personal God for them. 258 00:20:57,860 --> 00:21:06,100 And because God wants to be a personal God, to have a personal relationship, he created 259 00:21:06,100 --> 00:21:12,420 this opportunity in time, this seventh day Sabbath, where he says every week I want you 260 00:21:12,420 --> 00:21:21,380 to step back, I want you to rest, I want you to spend time in holy communion with your 261 00:21:21,380 --> 00:21:26,500 creator and you can recognize all that God has done. 262 00:21:26,500 --> 00:21:31,900 Because when Adam and Eve were created, did they know everything about God? 263 00:21:31,900 --> 00:21:37,520 No, they learned just like we learn. 264 00:21:37,520 --> 00:21:43,580 And they learned about God as they communed with him, as they spent time with him. 265 00:21:43,580 --> 00:21:48,620 In Genesis there it says that God walked with them in the cool of the day. 266 00:21:48,620 --> 00:21:55,060 And that's why God gave them this Sabbath, so that they could learn more about his loving 267 00:21:55,060 --> 00:21:59,380 character, his loving relationship with them. 268 00:21:59,380 --> 00:22:07,180 And if you think about the Sabbath in that way, then you can see why Satan or the Antichrist 269 00:22:07,180 --> 00:22:11,400 would want to change it, would want to do away with it. 270 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:18,660 Because if we have an opportunity to spend time to learn about God, then yes, that other 271 00:22:18,660 --> 00:22:24,400 force, that other power would want to wipe that out, because he would not want us having 272 00:22:24,400 --> 00:22:27,540 a special time to spend with God. 273 00:22:27,540 --> 00:22:34,060 And so we can understand why in Daniel it says that he would think to change times and 274 00:22:34,060 --> 00:22:35,320 laws. 275 00:22:35,320 --> 00:22:41,460 But in fact, this was an important aspect of this creation week, and we see that it's 276 00:22:41,460 --> 00:22:47,300 so important that God put it into the heart of the Ten Commandments. 277 00:22:47,300 --> 00:22:49,100 Let's go over to the Ten Commandments. 278 00:22:49,100 --> 00:22:50,920 It's in the book of Exodus. 279 00:22:50,920 --> 00:22:53,780 Does anybody remember which chapter? 280 00:22:53,780 --> 00:22:56,340 Exodus chapter 20. 281 00:22:56,340 --> 00:23:01,460 It's also in Deuteronomy 5, but we'll look at Exodus chapter 20. 282 00:23:01,460 --> 00:23:09,860 Because right in the heart of the Ten Commandments, we see this concept that we saw in Revelation 283 00:23:09,860 --> 00:23:16,340 pointing us back to Genesis, and then we see it again right here in the Ten Commandments. 284 00:23:16,340 --> 00:23:26,580 So we're going to read from the Fourth Commandment, starting in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8. 285 00:23:26,580 --> 00:23:31,540 Exodus, the Bible says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 286 00:23:31,540 --> 00:23:35,300 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 287 00:23:35,300 --> 00:23:39,420 But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. 288 00:23:39,420 --> 00:23:45,020 In it you shall do no work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, 289 00:23:45,020 --> 00:23:50,680 nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 290 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:57,580 And so these first few verses tell us, Remember the Sabbath day and everybody in your household 291 00:23:57,580 --> 00:24:03,700 can remember, can keep it holy, shall set aside this day apart from work. 292 00:24:03,700 --> 00:24:04,700 Why? 293 00:24:04,700 --> 00:24:07,900 Well, verse 11 explains it. 294 00:24:07,900 --> 00:24:13,380 Verse 11 gives us a reason that God wants us to do this. 295 00:24:13,380 --> 00:24:15,520 Notice verse 11 as it goes on. 296 00:24:15,520 --> 00:24:19,820 This is the tail end of the Fourth Commandment, Exodus 8 and verse 11. 297 00:24:19,820 --> 00:24:27,380 The Bible says, For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all 298 00:24:27,380 --> 00:24:31,380 that is in them, and rested the seventh day. 299 00:24:31,380 --> 00:24:36,660 Therefore, therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. 300 00:24:36,660 --> 00:24:44,540 And so we begin to see these exact same words that were in Genesis chapter 2, where God 301 00:24:44,540 --> 00:24:51,900 rested, where God blessed the day, where God sanctified it or hallowed it. 302 00:24:51,900 --> 00:24:59,380 It says here in this verse, God considered it to be so important that He placed it in 303 00:24:59,380 --> 00:25:01,300 His Ten Commandments. 304 00:25:01,300 --> 00:25:08,560 And notice He clearly says, The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. 305 00:25:08,560 --> 00:25:11,720 He makes that very clear, the seventh day. 306 00:25:11,720 --> 00:25:16,860 And that makes sense because that's exactly what it said in Genesis 2. 307 00:25:16,860 --> 00:25:20,000 And God isn't going to contradict Himself. 308 00:25:20,000 --> 00:25:26,600 And so we see the same words, we see the same day being used. 309 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,800 But there's something else unique about this commandment. 310 00:25:29,800 --> 00:25:34,540 How do most of the commandments begin? 311 00:25:34,540 --> 00:25:35,540 Thou shalt not. 312 00:25:35,540 --> 00:25:40,740 Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not covet, and so forth. 313 00:25:40,740 --> 00:25:43,180 But how does this commandment begin? 314 00:25:43,180 --> 00:25:46,100 He uses a totally different word. 315 00:25:46,100 --> 00:25:48,900 It says, Remember. 316 00:25:48,900 --> 00:25:56,600 And isn't it intriguing that the very commandment that God says, Remember, is the very commandment 317 00:25:56,600 --> 00:26:02,780 that most of the world says to forget, that most of the world has forgotten, that most 318 00:26:02,780 --> 00:26:07,120 of the world says it's not important anymore. 319 00:26:07,120 --> 00:26:11,380 And so we're hearing voices pulling us in different directions. 320 00:26:11,380 --> 00:26:15,280 God says, Remember, but the world says to forget. 321 00:26:15,280 --> 00:26:18,680 The world says it's not important. 322 00:26:18,680 --> 00:26:25,340 And I think that's why Revelation, there in that last message to the world in Revelation 323 00:26:25,340 --> 00:26:33,540 14, it's specifically calling us back to remember this idea of the Sabbath. 324 00:26:33,540 --> 00:26:39,140 Because if there's ever been a time in earth's history, if there's ever been a generation 325 00:26:39,140 --> 00:26:44,880 that needed to remember God as the Creator, it's now. 326 00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:50,900 If there's ever a generation in earth's history where we are so easily distracted from our 327 00:26:50,900 --> 00:26:54,140 spiritual life, it's now. 328 00:26:54,140 --> 00:27:00,040 If there's ever a time in earth's history where we need to set aside the busyness of 329 00:27:00,040 --> 00:27:09,420 our week so that we can connect in our relationship with God, it's us right now at this generation. 330 00:27:09,420 --> 00:27:15,300 God knows that this final generation before He comes is going to need the Sabbath probably 331 00:27:15,300 --> 00:27:18,860 more than any other time in earth's history. 332 00:27:18,860 --> 00:27:25,260 And the Sabbath, as we'll see in just a moment, actually points us to Jesus as our Creator 333 00:27:25,260 --> 00:27:28,520 and points us to Jesus as our Redeemer. 334 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,340 But I want to put up two verses here. 335 00:27:31,340 --> 00:27:38,240 We've read these already, but Revelation 14, 7, and then Exodus 20. 336 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:40,460 I'm just going to read these again. 337 00:27:40,460 --> 00:27:43,380 Listen, read along. 338 00:27:43,380 --> 00:27:46,260 Is there any similarities? 339 00:27:46,260 --> 00:27:52,340 Revelation 14, 7 says, fear God and give glory to Him for the hour of His judgment has come 340 00:27:52,340 --> 00:27:57,940 and worship Him who made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and the springs of water. 341 00:27:57,940 --> 00:28:00,700 That's that call of the first angel. 342 00:28:00,700 --> 00:28:06,620 And then Exodus 20, 11 says, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the 343 00:28:06,620 --> 00:28:10,980 sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. 344 00:28:10,980 --> 00:28:14,780 Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. 345 00:28:14,780 --> 00:28:16,780 Do those look familiar? 346 00:28:16,780 --> 00:28:19,940 Do those sound familiar? 347 00:28:19,940 --> 00:28:27,660 We've described how 50% of the verses in Revelation are quoting or pulling from the Old Testament 348 00:28:27,660 --> 00:28:29,660 verses and this is one of them. 349 00:28:29,660 --> 00:28:36,780 It seems to be almost directly quoting this fourth commandment as we're called to worship 350 00:28:36,780 --> 00:28:39,660 God as our Creator. 351 00:28:39,660 --> 00:28:46,640 Revelation is pointing the final generation back to rediscover this blessing from God. 352 00:28:46,640 --> 00:28:52,980 Now it would be way easier to skip this, to not talk about this, to act like it's not 353 00:28:52,980 --> 00:29:00,780 there, but if God put it in Genesis, in the Ten Commandments, in Revelation, then it seems 354 00:29:00,780 --> 00:29:07,220 like perhaps there's a blessing in this Sabbath that we can appreciate. 355 00:29:07,220 --> 00:29:12,700 Does anybody need a rest as we run through this crazy world? 356 00:29:12,700 --> 00:29:19,820 That special time of the Sabbath is one way that we can connect with Jesus. 357 00:29:19,820 --> 00:29:23,580 And another prophet reminds us of the same thing. 358 00:29:23,580 --> 00:29:25,420 Let's turn over to Ezekiel. 359 00:29:25,420 --> 00:29:31,980 Now if you go to the book of Daniel, one book right before the book of Daniel is the book 360 00:29:31,980 --> 00:29:33,060 of Ezekiel. 361 00:29:33,060 --> 00:29:41,060 So Ezekiel is where we're going to go and we're going to go to Ezekiel chapter 20. 362 00:29:41,060 --> 00:29:48,180 So go to Daniel and turn back one book and we'll be in Ezekiel chapter 20 and verse 20. 363 00:29:48,180 --> 00:29:53,260 You could actually read verse 12 and it says almost the exact same thing. 364 00:29:53,260 --> 00:30:01,500 Exodus 20 and verse 20, the Bible says, this is God talking, hallow my Sabbath, sanctify, 365 00:30:01,500 --> 00:30:03,420 make holy my Sabbaths. 366 00:30:03,420 --> 00:30:04,420 Why? 367 00:30:04,420 --> 00:30:13,100 It says, they will be a sign between me and you that you may know that I am the Lord your 368 00:30:13,100 --> 00:30:14,100 God. 369 00:30:14,100 --> 00:30:21,740 It says honoring his Sabbath, keeping his Sabbath is going to be a special sign. 370 00:30:21,740 --> 00:30:30,100 Maybe you have a sign with someone, maybe a sibling or a spouse or someone at work. 371 00:30:30,100 --> 00:30:33,260 My wife and I kind of have a little sign. 372 00:30:33,260 --> 00:30:39,060 I used to text her when I was going back home and I would just text heading home, heading 373 00:30:39,060 --> 00:30:42,340 home, short simple text, heading home. 374 00:30:42,340 --> 00:30:49,940 But I got lazy maybe is the word and so I started just sending the little emojis. 375 00:30:49,940 --> 00:30:53,940 Some of those emojis are a head, a head. 376 00:30:53,940 --> 00:30:56,300 So I'll send an emoji of a head. 377 00:30:56,300 --> 00:31:00,920 There's a fireman head, there's a policeman head, there's a robot head. 378 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:06,140 And when I send her the head, she knows that that means I'm heading home. 379 00:31:06,140 --> 00:31:08,180 I know it's pretty lame, I'm sorry. 380 00:31:08,180 --> 00:31:12,900 But that's what I send her just because it's one thing. 381 00:31:12,900 --> 00:31:17,100 It actually probably takes longer to find a different head to send her. 382 00:31:17,100 --> 00:31:21,700 But God says that the Sabbath is a sign. 383 00:31:21,700 --> 00:31:23,980 It's a way to connect with us. 384 00:31:23,980 --> 00:31:30,260 It's a way for us to say I acknowledge God as the creator of the universe. 385 00:31:30,260 --> 00:31:34,500 So there's a relational aspect of the Sabbath. 386 00:31:34,500 --> 00:31:42,980 Now I have to admit it's very easy for people to get caught up in a list of do's and don'ts. 387 00:31:42,980 --> 00:31:49,300 And like so many other things in life, we tend to make things legalistic as if we could 388 00:31:49,300 --> 00:31:53,720 say okay, I'm doing this on Sabbath, God. 389 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:56,660 That means I get to go to heaven, right? 390 00:31:56,660 --> 00:32:00,220 No, that's not what it's about at all. 391 00:32:00,220 --> 00:32:06,620 Because there's nothing we can do to deserve to go to heaven, to earn to go to heaven. 392 00:32:06,620 --> 00:32:09,420 But we remember what God says. 393 00:32:09,420 --> 00:32:16,460 He says if you love me, we looked at this the other night, if you love me, keep my commandments 394 00:32:16,460 --> 00:32:22,100 in order to say thank you for what God has done. 395 00:32:22,100 --> 00:32:27,900 God has given us a day that we can specifically worship Him. 396 00:32:27,900 --> 00:32:33,440 That we can be purposeful about growing our spiritual life. 397 00:32:33,440 --> 00:32:41,620 That we can improve our personal connection with God, our relationship with Him, as we 398 00:32:41,620 --> 00:32:44,680 want to spend time with Him. 399 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:50,620 Now imagine, let's use some human relationships as an example. 400 00:32:50,620 --> 00:32:54,540 Ladies, we'll call you guys out a little bit. 401 00:32:54,540 --> 00:33:01,700 Imagine that your husband, your boyfriend, whatever it is, says to you, okay, I am going 402 00:33:01,700 --> 00:33:09,060 to dedicate one day of the week where we are going to spend the whole day together. 403 00:33:09,060 --> 00:33:15,700 It is going to be me showing how much I appreciate you, how much I love you. 404 00:33:15,700 --> 00:33:17,460 That would be kind of neat, wouldn't it? 405 00:33:17,460 --> 00:33:19,740 You would feel special, I would imagine. 406 00:33:19,740 --> 00:33:23,100 You would feel important. 407 00:33:23,100 --> 00:33:27,380 But imagine that that is what God does. 408 00:33:27,380 --> 00:33:34,220 God says I love you so much that I want to spend this entire day with you. 409 00:33:34,220 --> 00:33:37,620 I want our relationship to grow. 410 00:33:37,620 --> 00:33:45,900 I want to have the time and the opportunity for our relationship to be deepened. 411 00:33:45,900 --> 00:33:51,920 Now imagine, I'll use myself this time, that I have decided that I am going to have this 412 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:56,300 special day with Jolie, with my spouse. 413 00:33:56,300 --> 00:34:02,340 And so maybe we've gone to the riverfront and gone for a nice walk down the paths, or 414 00:34:02,340 --> 00:34:07,780 we've found ourselves a restaurant and we're having a nice dinner together. 415 00:34:07,780 --> 00:34:14,740 But the entire day that I am supposed to be focused on her, instead I've had my phone 416 00:34:14,740 --> 00:34:20,180 out, I'm calling someone, someone is calling me, they ring and she's like, Greg, sorry, 417 00:34:20,180 --> 00:34:21,860 sorry, I've got to get this. 418 00:34:21,860 --> 00:34:28,020 Or maybe I'm just checking the scores and seeing who's won the different games. 419 00:34:28,020 --> 00:34:31,300 How do you think that would make her feel? 420 00:34:31,300 --> 00:34:34,360 She would probably not be very excited about that day. 421 00:34:34,360 --> 00:34:40,660 She would not want to spend another day like that because what I would be doing is saying 422 00:34:40,660 --> 00:34:46,780 that all these other things are more important than my relationship with her. 423 00:34:46,780 --> 00:34:52,900 And we need to make sure that our walk with God, our relationship with God, is the most 424 00:34:52,900 --> 00:34:56,300 important thing in our life. 425 00:34:56,300 --> 00:35:01,900 And so so far we've looked primarily at Old Testament passages. 426 00:35:01,900 --> 00:35:07,140 And some would say, well wasn't the Sabbath done away with in the New Testament? 427 00:35:07,140 --> 00:35:12,060 Well let's explore, let's turn to some passages in the New Testament. 428 00:35:12,060 --> 00:35:18,500 So we looked at Revelation 14, let's go back there again and then we'll look at some other 429 00:35:18,500 --> 00:35:19,500 examples. 430 00:35:19,500 --> 00:35:28,260 Revelation 14, this passage of the three angels, notice Revelation 14 and verse 12. 431 00:35:28,260 --> 00:35:30,980 Revelation 14 and verse 12. 432 00:35:30,980 --> 00:35:34,820 The Bible says, here is the patience of the saints. 433 00:35:34,820 --> 00:35:41,700 Here are those who keep the commandments of God and have the faith of Jesus. 434 00:35:41,700 --> 00:35:46,760 So this is a description of God's people in the last days. 435 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:54,640 As we just mentioned in verses 9 through 11, it's warning about this beast and his image. 436 00:35:54,640 --> 00:35:58,900 How can God's people overcome this beast and his image? 437 00:35:58,900 --> 00:36:02,340 Well it says in verse 12, here is their description. 438 00:36:02,340 --> 00:36:07,680 They have faith in Jesus, a saving faith in what Jesus has done for them. 439 00:36:07,680 --> 00:36:13,580 And because of that faith in Jesus, they're keeping the commandments of God. 440 00:36:13,580 --> 00:36:19,060 And so it doesn't mean they can say, oh well, five commandments, that's half, or eight, 441 00:36:19,060 --> 00:36:20,060 I've done eight. 442 00:36:20,060 --> 00:36:26,500 No, it says they're honoring God's commandments, not as a way to be saved, but because they 443 00:36:26,500 --> 00:36:29,780 have this saving faith in Jesus. 444 00:36:29,780 --> 00:36:32,300 So let's turn now to the Gospel of Luke. 445 00:36:32,300 --> 00:36:38,780 Let's explore what Jesus' relationship was with the Sabbath. 446 00:36:38,780 --> 00:36:41,860 We know that he was a part of creation. 447 00:36:41,860 --> 00:36:46,200 We know that he helped inspire the scriptures and the Ten Commandments, but let's look and 448 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:50,540 see how Jesus responded while he was on earth. 449 00:36:50,540 --> 00:36:55,500 So Luke chapter 4, we're going to read in verse 16. 450 00:36:55,500 --> 00:37:03,460 Luke 4 and verse 16, it says, so he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up, and 451 00:37:03,460 --> 00:37:07,120 as his, what's the phrase there? 452 00:37:07,120 --> 00:37:15,500 As his custom was, Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. 453 00:37:15,500 --> 00:37:18,580 So it was Jesus' custom. 454 00:37:18,580 --> 00:37:22,660 A few years ago there was kind of a trend that people had. 455 00:37:22,660 --> 00:37:27,620 It was a little wristband, and it would say WWJD. 456 00:37:27,620 --> 00:37:30,980 Anybody remember what that stood for? 457 00:37:30,980 --> 00:37:32,380 What would Jesus do? 458 00:37:32,380 --> 00:37:36,420 That's a pretty good saying to follow. 459 00:37:36,420 --> 00:37:41,020 It's a little better, I think, to say what did Jesus do? 460 00:37:41,020 --> 00:37:43,140 And here we have an example. 461 00:37:43,140 --> 00:37:47,980 We see what Jesus' custom was. 462 00:37:47,980 --> 00:37:53,460 Now is a custom something that's random, it only happens sometimes? 463 00:37:53,460 --> 00:37:58,900 No, a custom is something that's a regular occurrence. 464 00:37:58,900 --> 00:38:02,860 A custom is something you do often. 465 00:38:02,860 --> 00:38:07,020 Believe it or not, you all have some kind of custom. 466 00:38:07,020 --> 00:38:13,020 You wake up in the morning and you have a custom of what you do. 467 00:38:13,020 --> 00:38:14,560 Maybe you eat breakfast first. 468 00:38:14,560 --> 00:38:17,660 Maybe you make something to drink. 469 00:38:17,660 --> 00:38:22,100 Then when you put on your shoes, you have a custom. 470 00:38:22,100 --> 00:38:23,700 Which shoe do you put on first? 471 00:38:23,700 --> 00:38:28,660 Your left foot, your right foot, whichever one you find first? 472 00:38:28,660 --> 00:38:30,300 Here's one. 473 00:38:30,300 --> 00:38:31,300 What do you do? 474 00:38:31,300 --> 00:38:32,300 What's your custom? 475 00:38:32,300 --> 00:38:36,260 Do you put on both socks and then both shoes? 476 00:38:36,260 --> 00:38:40,760 Or do you put on shoe and sock on the right foot and then shoe and sock? 477 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:41,880 We do things differently. 478 00:38:41,880 --> 00:38:44,200 We have different customs. 479 00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:53,040 And here Jesus' custom, what he did on a regular basis was go to the synagogue and he read 480 00:38:53,040 --> 00:38:54,620 scripture here. 481 00:38:54,620 --> 00:39:01,580 He had a custom of honoring the Sabbath day, worshiping in the synagogue, giving us an 482 00:39:01,580 --> 00:39:02,580 example. 483 00:39:02,580 --> 00:39:09,620 And in fact, if you look at verse 18, verse 18 as Jesus was reading from the prophet Isaiah, 484 00:39:09,620 --> 00:39:12,440 he was proclaiming, this is about me. 485 00:39:12,440 --> 00:39:14,380 I am the Messiah. 486 00:39:14,380 --> 00:39:21,040 I am here to preach the gospel, to heal the brokenhearted, and so forth. 487 00:39:21,040 --> 00:39:28,260 And so Jesus was acknowledging that this was not just for a particular religion or a particular 488 00:39:28,260 --> 00:39:35,840 nationality, but this was for humankind that he was coming to save the whole world. 489 00:39:35,840 --> 00:39:40,620 Now we would think if this was so important that we would see it not just in the days 490 00:39:40,620 --> 00:39:48,020 of Jesus, but then we would see it throughout the disciples' ministry, the apostles' ministry. 491 00:39:48,020 --> 00:39:51,080 We should see it in the book of Acts. 492 00:39:51,080 --> 00:39:52,080 And so we do. 493 00:39:52,080 --> 00:39:56,540 Let's turn over to the book of Acts, also written by the same author. 494 00:39:56,540 --> 00:40:01,780 Luke wrote the gospel of Luke and he wrote the book of Acts. 495 00:40:01,780 --> 00:40:10,600 And Acts tells the stories of the disciples, mostly Peter and then Paul, and how they interacted 496 00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:14,940 as they went and shared the gospel and spread the gospel. 497 00:40:14,940 --> 00:40:20,160 And we won't have time to look at all of them because it's all throughout the book of Acts, 498 00:40:20,160 --> 00:40:21,160 but let's look at a few. 499 00:40:21,160 --> 00:40:27,980 Acts chapter 13, and we're going to look at verse 14. 500 00:40:27,980 --> 00:40:31,620 This is about Paul and Barnabas here. 501 00:40:31,620 --> 00:40:37,540 And it says, but when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch and Pisidia. 502 00:40:37,540 --> 00:40:40,500 These are some different towns and areas. 503 00:40:40,500 --> 00:40:47,260 And it says, they went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and they sat down. 504 00:40:47,260 --> 00:40:53,820 And after reading the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying, 505 00:40:53,820 --> 00:40:59,680 men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on. 506 00:40:59,680 --> 00:41:01,980 Now we don't typically talk like that. 507 00:41:01,980 --> 00:41:03,700 Say on, good brother. 508 00:41:03,700 --> 00:41:08,500 But what they're basically saying is that if you have a message, preach it to us. 509 00:41:08,500 --> 00:41:11,700 Give us the message from God, preach it. 510 00:41:11,700 --> 00:41:23,420 And it goes on here and it says, yeah, they decided to preach the gospel. 511 00:41:23,420 --> 00:41:29,300 And so we have Paul and Barnabas on the Sabbath day in a synagogue and they're sharing the 512 00:41:29,300 --> 00:41:30,300 gospel. 513 00:41:30,300 --> 00:41:33,740 They're preaching, not just with Jews. 514 00:41:33,740 --> 00:41:37,380 Some would say, oh, they went to the synagogue because that's where the Jews are. 515 00:41:37,380 --> 00:41:45,780 But notice as we go on to verse 42, verse 42 in the same chapter, it says, so when the 516 00:41:45,780 --> 00:41:53,180 Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached 517 00:41:53,180 --> 00:41:56,540 to them the next Sabbath. 518 00:41:56,540 --> 00:42:02,680 And so they were talking to Jews, but now the Gentiles have come in and they want to 519 00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:07,040 hear the word of God spoken on the next Sabbath. 520 00:42:07,040 --> 00:42:13,180 And it says, now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes 521 00:42:13,180 --> 00:42:23,060 followed Paul and Barnabas, who speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace 522 00:42:23,060 --> 00:42:24,900 of God. 523 00:42:24,900 --> 00:42:34,020 So these are Jews and Gentiles and they're teaching them about the living in grace, living 524 00:42:34,020 --> 00:42:36,440 in the grace of Jesus. 525 00:42:36,440 --> 00:42:41,980 This would be the perfect opportunity for Paul and Barnabas to say, you know what, that 526 00:42:41,980 --> 00:42:44,340 Sabbath thing, that's done with. 527 00:42:44,340 --> 00:42:45,580 We've got something different. 528 00:42:45,580 --> 00:42:47,900 We've got something new. 529 00:42:47,900 --> 00:42:50,380 But they don't. 530 00:42:50,380 --> 00:42:55,020 They're preaching to Jews, they're preaching to Gentiles, they're teaching them to continue 531 00:42:55,020 --> 00:42:58,100 living under God's grace. 532 00:42:58,100 --> 00:43:00,760 And notice the very next verse, verse 44. 533 00:43:00,760 --> 00:43:09,180 It says, on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. 534 00:43:09,180 --> 00:43:15,860 Jews, Gentiles, from one Sabbath to another Sabbath, they're teaching people to honor 535 00:43:15,860 --> 00:43:24,380 this day, to honor Jesus as their creator, as their living life under grace. 536 00:43:24,380 --> 00:43:32,140 And look at what it says there, almost the whole city came together. 537 00:43:32,140 --> 00:43:38,340 Imagine if that happened, if almost the whole city of Ringgold came together, or almost 538 00:43:38,340 --> 00:43:45,500 the whole city of Chattanooga or Dalton came together to study the word of God. 539 00:43:45,500 --> 00:43:49,900 What a miracle that would be, what a revival would take place. 540 00:43:49,900 --> 00:43:54,820 And I believe, I truly believe that that's going to happen, that the Holy Spirit is going 541 00:43:54,820 --> 00:44:00,560 to cause that to happen, cause people to study God's word. 542 00:44:00,560 --> 00:44:02,420 So this is one example. 543 00:44:02,420 --> 00:44:03,420 Let's look at another. 544 00:44:03,420 --> 00:44:06,860 Let's turn over to Acts chapter 18. 545 00:44:06,860 --> 00:44:08,580 Acts chapter 18. 546 00:44:08,580 --> 00:44:11,500 Paul is in a different place now. 547 00:44:11,500 --> 00:44:16,300 Most of Acts, he's going from city to city, he's starting different churches. 548 00:44:16,300 --> 00:44:23,500 And in Acts 18 and verse 4, Paul is now in the town, the city of Corinth. 549 00:44:23,500 --> 00:44:24,620 The city of Corinth. 550 00:44:24,620 --> 00:44:31,740 And notice what it says, and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded 551 00:44:31,740 --> 00:44:35,380 both Jews and Greeks. 552 00:44:35,380 --> 00:44:41,900 Corinth is a pagan city and Paul is there teaching Jews and Greeks. 553 00:44:41,900 --> 00:44:49,740 And in fact in verse 11, it says that Paul remained there for a year and a half, 18 months 554 00:44:49,740 --> 00:44:50,880 he was there. 555 00:44:50,880 --> 00:44:57,980 And it says he reasoned every Sabbath, honoring the Sabbath, worshiping the Creator, using 556 00:44:57,980 --> 00:45:02,620 it as an opportunity to teach people about Jesus. 557 00:45:02,620 --> 00:45:04,980 So we can go back to at least one more. 558 00:45:04,980 --> 00:45:09,740 Let's go to Acts chapter 16, just back a little bit. 559 00:45:09,740 --> 00:45:15,380 Now Paul is with Silas, he's with a different traveling companion this time. 560 00:45:15,380 --> 00:45:18,340 And they're now in the community of Philippi. 561 00:45:18,340 --> 00:45:20,460 Philippi is an awesome story. 562 00:45:20,460 --> 00:45:24,160 There's at least three different conversions that take place here. 563 00:45:24,160 --> 00:45:32,820 But notice in Acts chapter 16 and verse 13, the Bible says, on the Sabbath day we went 564 00:45:32,820 --> 00:45:40,940 out of the city to the riverside where prayer was customarily made and we sat down and spoke 565 00:45:40,940 --> 00:45:43,980 to the women we met there. 566 00:45:43,980 --> 00:45:48,580 So in Philippi apparently there was no synagogue. 567 00:45:48,580 --> 00:45:55,380 To have a synagogue you had to have at least 10 Jewish males in order to form a synagogue. 568 00:45:55,380 --> 00:46:01,020 So apparently in this town there was no synagogue, but that didn't stop Paul. 569 00:46:01,020 --> 00:46:07,460 He went out to the riverside, he went out to find a place to pray, to commune with God 570 00:46:07,460 --> 00:46:11,580 the Creator amongst the beautiful creation of God. 571 00:46:11,580 --> 00:46:15,260 And he witnessed to people there and they became converted. 572 00:46:15,260 --> 00:46:20,460 They joined the church, they became followers of Jesus. 573 00:46:20,460 --> 00:46:23,220 Now let's look at, let's shift gears just a little bit. 574 00:46:23,220 --> 00:46:28,540 We're going to go to Hebrews chapter 4 because this is one that sometimes people have some 575 00:46:28,540 --> 00:46:30,020 questions about. 576 00:46:30,020 --> 00:46:32,500 Hebrews chapter 4. 577 00:46:32,500 --> 00:46:38,380 This is right here in the heart of this and we're going to look at two different sections 578 00:46:38,380 --> 00:46:39,380 here. 579 00:46:39,380 --> 00:46:44,160 Hebrews 4, we're going to start in verse 4. 580 00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:46,140 And notice what it says. 581 00:46:46,140 --> 00:46:54,780 The Bible says, for he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way. 582 00:46:54,780 --> 00:46:59,260 And God rested on the seventh day from all his works. 583 00:46:59,260 --> 00:47:04,380 And so the author here is pointing back to Genesis chapter 2. 584 00:47:04,380 --> 00:47:13,860 He's pointing back to that creation week when God created all of the world and created the 585 00:47:13,860 --> 00:47:14,860 Sabbath. 586 00:47:14,860 --> 00:47:18,540 But let's skip down to verse 9. 587 00:47:18,540 --> 00:47:21,020 Hebrews 4 and verse 9. 588 00:47:21,020 --> 00:47:27,440 It goes on and says, there remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 589 00:47:27,440 --> 00:47:31,760 Now that word rest is not the typical word of rest. 590 00:47:31,760 --> 00:47:35,220 It's a word called sabbathesmos. 591 00:47:35,220 --> 00:47:36,960 Sabbathesmos basically. 592 00:47:36,960 --> 00:47:43,440 And it's saying that there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. 593 00:47:43,440 --> 00:47:49,780 And then it says in verse 10, for he who has entered his rest, God's rest, notice it's 594 00:47:49,780 --> 00:47:57,380 capitalized, for he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as 595 00:47:57,380 --> 00:48:00,100 God did from his. 596 00:48:00,100 --> 00:48:08,020 So what this is telling us is that the author here is comparing the physical resting on 597 00:48:08,020 --> 00:48:14,020 the Sabbath to the spiritual rest that we get from Jesus. 598 00:48:14,020 --> 00:48:20,860 Because of what Jesus has done for us, because Jesus died on the cross, we don't have to 599 00:48:20,860 --> 00:48:26,120 work our way to heaven so we can rest spiritually in him. 600 00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:33,420 And so we can recognize that as we physically rest during those hours of the Sabbath. 601 00:48:33,420 --> 00:48:41,260 And so believe it or not, the Sabbath points us to Jesus and points us to the cross. 602 00:48:41,260 --> 00:48:49,200 Because as we rest on the Sabbath, we remember God is our creator and we remember Jesus as 603 00:48:49,200 --> 00:48:50,820 our Redeemer. 604 00:48:50,820 --> 00:48:58,080 And that's why this antichrist power wants to change God's time and God's law. 605 00:48:58,080 --> 00:48:59,700 So what are some things we've talked about? 606 00:48:59,700 --> 00:49:04,440 We've looked at some different purposes of the Sabbath. 607 00:49:04,440 --> 00:49:09,280 And so we'll just kind of review here and then we'll go and look at something else here. 608 00:49:09,280 --> 00:49:13,660 So the Sabbath is about spending time with Jesus. 609 00:49:13,660 --> 00:49:20,820 God gave us a time when he wants to spend with us and he wants us to spend it with him. 610 00:49:20,820 --> 00:49:23,520 Why do we need time with Jesus? 611 00:49:23,520 --> 00:49:29,780 Because it's an opportunity to further, to deepen our personal walk with Christ. 612 00:49:29,780 --> 00:49:35,300 And as we're doing that, we are remembering, we're honoring God as our creator and then 613 00:49:35,300 --> 00:49:41,460 it's giving us a beautiful symbol to rest in Jesus as our Savior. 614 00:49:41,460 --> 00:49:48,300 So it's an incredible day to focus on what Jesus has done for us. 615 00:49:48,300 --> 00:49:49,860 It's there in Genesis. 616 00:49:49,860 --> 00:49:53,060 We've seen it through the Old Testament in the Ten Commandments. 617 00:49:53,060 --> 00:49:58,500 We see it in the life of Jesus, in the life of the disciples, and we see it in the book 618 00:49:58,500 --> 00:50:00,580 of Revelation. 619 00:50:00,580 --> 00:50:02,380 We've read verse after verse. 620 00:50:02,380 --> 00:50:08,800 And so a question that we need to figure out here is with so many verses in the Bible talking 621 00:50:08,800 --> 00:50:14,740 about the seventh day Sabbath, what happened? 622 00:50:14,740 --> 00:50:22,540 Because believe it or not, you can read all the way through and this is a challenge for 623 00:50:22,540 --> 00:50:29,460 you, but there's not one verse that's going to tell us that this sanctity of the Sabbath 624 00:50:29,460 --> 00:50:33,180 is moved to any other day. 625 00:50:33,180 --> 00:50:39,760 So if the Bible talks about the Sabbath over and over, how did we get to this point where 626 00:50:39,760 --> 00:50:43,260 so many people have forgotten it? 627 00:50:43,260 --> 00:50:48,760 If we had more time in this series, we could do a whole other night talking about that, 628 00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:50,380 but we're not going to do that. 629 00:50:50,380 --> 00:50:54,620 We're going to kind of talk a little bit about what we mentioned last night. 630 00:50:54,620 --> 00:50:59,180 So if you weren't here last night, we're going to cover real quick what we talked about, 631 00:50:59,180 --> 00:51:02,500 but how the Sabbath was lost sight of. 632 00:51:02,500 --> 00:51:09,500 So we're going to springboard here with 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. 633 00:51:09,500 --> 00:51:19,060 Remember last night we talked about the seven seals, and there was two seals, the third 634 00:51:19,060 --> 00:51:25,060 and the fourth especially, where different things began to creep into the church. 635 00:51:25,060 --> 00:51:31,300 So here in 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, Paul makes this statement. 636 00:51:31,300 --> 00:51:38,900 He says, let no one deceive you by any means for that day, what day? 637 00:51:38,900 --> 00:51:42,380 Well in the context he's talking about the second coming. 638 00:51:42,380 --> 00:51:49,820 The second coming will not come unless the falling away comes first and the man of sin 639 00:51:49,820 --> 00:51:53,220 is revealed, the son of perdition. 640 00:51:53,220 --> 00:51:59,060 Paul recognizes that when the disciples, when the apostles die, just like that third and 641 00:51:59,060 --> 00:52:05,360 fourth seal prophesied, there was going to be some errors that were going to creep into 642 00:52:05,360 --> 00:52:06,700 the church. 643 00:52:06,700 --> 00:52:15,420 In fact, much of the New Testament are letters, are epistles that Paul and others wrote to 644 00:52:15,420 --> 00:52:21,860 churches because already different false teachings were creeping in. 645 00:52:21,860 --> 00:52:30,760 And so Paul says that before Jesus comes back, the church is going to slide away from truth. 646 00:52:30,760 --> 00:52:33,560 And we saw that yesterday in the third and fourth seal. 647 00:52:33,560 --> 00:52:40,020 We looked particularly at the second commandment, the graven images was one example that we 648 00:52:40,020 --> 00:52:46,220 used down through the Middle Ages, and we see that that's the same thing that happened 649 00:52:46,220 --> 00:52:48,820 with the Sabbath. 650 00:52:48,820 --> 00:52:54,740 So in the first centuries, what was the empire that ruled? 651 00:52:54,740 --> 00:53:01,460 It would have been this iron legs here, the Roman Empire, the iron empire of Rome. 652 00:53:01,460 --> 00:53:04,580 Did the Roman Empire like the Jewish people? 653 00:53:04,580 --> 00:53:05,580 No. 654 00:53:05,580 --> 00:53:08,540 Did the Roman Empire like the Christians? 655 00:53:08,540 --> 00:53:14,780 No, because they kind of thought the Christians were just kind of a subsection of the Jews 656 00:53:14,780 --> 00:53:17,100 because they had something in common. 657 00:53:17,100 --> 00:53:21,140 They both kept this seventh day Sabbath. 658 00:53:21,140 --> 00:53:28,100 And so these early Christians, as Christianity was illegal, they were being persecuted. 659 00:53:28,100 --> 00:53:30,720 They thought we've got to do something different. 660 00:53:30,720 --> 00:53:35,140 We've got to differentiate ourselves from the Jews. 661 00:53:35,140 --> 00:53:40,000 And if that one thing we have in common, what else can we do? 662 00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:43,560 So they thought, well, what about a different day? 663 00:53:43,560 --> 00:53:46,000 What about Sunday? 664 00:53:46,000 --> 00:53:49,980 Because if we want to reach out to the pagans around us, well, guess what? 665 00:53:49,980 --> 00:53:53,740 The pagans were already worshiping on the first day of the week. 666 00:53:53,740 --> 00:53:56,660 They were worshiping the sun god. 667 00:53:56,660 --> 00:53:59,980 And that's why that day is called Sun Day. 668 00:53:59,980 --> 00:54:02,420 And so they thought this can be a good thing. 669 00:54:02,420 --> 00:54:04,580 We can win this other group. 670 00:54:04,580 --> 00:54:10,940 They'll just shift days, and instead of worshiping on the seventh day, they'll worship on the 671 00:54:10,940 --> 00:54:12,300 first day. 672 00:54:12,300 --> 00:54:17,180 And they can just in their minds say instead of worshiping the sun god, well, now they 673 00:54:17,180 --> 00:54:20,920 can worship Jesus, the son of God. 674 00:54:20,920 --> 00:54:25,100 That was kind of the thinking that they were going for. 675 00:54:25,100 --> 00:54:32,340 And for a long while, the early church actually honored both of these days, the seventh day 676 00:54:32,340 --> 00:54:34,180 and the first day. 677 00:54:34,180 --> 00:54:36,340 But over time, it began to shift. 678 00:54:36,340 --> 00:54:37,960 It began to change. 679 00:54:37,960 --> 00:54:45,420 And one of the reasons why was because the seventh day, they made a day of fasting, fasting, 680 00:54:45,420 --> 00:54:46,420 don't eat. 681 00:54:46,420 --> 00:54:47,740 It's a day of fasting. 682 00:54:47,740 --> 00:54:52,500 Whereas the first day became a day of feasting. 683 00:54:52,500 --> 00:54:59,580 So I don't know about you, but I would prefer a feast day over a day of fasting. 684 00:54:59,580 --> 00:55:05,700 And so as young people were growing up, they appreciated the first day more than the seventh 685 00:55:05,700 --> 00:55:06,700 day. 686 00:55:06,700 --> 00:55:12,700 And as time went on, less and less emphasis was placed on the true Bible Sabbath. 687 00:55:12,700 --> 00:55:18,020 But what really picked up momentum, we talked about this guy yesterday, was Constantine, 688 00:55:18,020 --> 00:55:20,380 the emperor of Rome. 689 00:55:20,380 --> 00:55:25,100 And he converted to Christianity in 313. 690 00:55:25,100 --> 00:55:31,180 We talked about that last night that as he converted to Christianity, he wanted to unite 691 00:55:31,180 --> 00:55:34,780 his empire, pagans and Christians together. 692 00:55:34,780 --> 00:55:43,100 And he began to bring in different illegitimate things into the legitimate Christian faith. 693 00:55:43,100 --> 00:55:47,320 And he began to bring in these different pagan traditions. 694 00:55:47,320 --> 00:55:54,660 And we've talked about how every truth that God has, that Satan has some type of counterfeit. 695 00:55:54,660 --> 00:56:01,080 And so in 321, we can see a decree that Constantine issued. 696 00:56:01,080 --> 00:56:02,900 Notice what it says in 321. 697 00:56:02,900 --> 00:56:11,260 On the venerable day of the sun, let the magistrates and the people residing in cities rest, and 698 00:56:11,260 --> 00:56:13,500 let all the shops be closed. 699 00:56:13,500 --> 00:56:21,960 So this is one of the very first Sunday laws as a new day of worship is beginning to spread. 700 00:56:21,960 --> 00:56:27,140 And when the emperor said something, do you think the people listened? 701 00:56:27,140 --> 00:56:28,140 They sure did. 702 00:56:28,140 --> 00:56:33,220 They began to follow along and listen to what the emperor said. 703 00:56:33,220 --> 00:56:40,660 And as centuries went on, eventually a religious system came out of the Roman Empire. 704 00:56:40,660 --> 00:56:46,100 We've talked about this, known as the Church of Rome or Papal Rome. 705 00:56:46,100 --> 00:56:48,540 And that's when church and state united. 706 00:56:48,540 --> 00:56:55,340 And we talked last night about the Dark Ages, the Middle Ages, and Papal Rome began to include 707 00:56:55,340 --> 00:56:59,140 this first day of the week in its teaching. 708 00:56:59,140 --> 00:57:01,820 And again, I want to be very clear here. 709 00:57:01,820 --> 00:57:04,500 I'm not talking about individuals. 710 00:57:04,500 --> 00:57:10,140 I've had relatives that are the sweetest people in the world who are of the Catholic faith. 711 00:57:10,140 --> 00:57:17,220 I'm talking about a system of geopolitical religious government that's taking place as 712 00:57:17,220 --> 00:57:20,740 we're looking at the fulfillment of Bible prophecy. 713 00:57:20,740 --> 00:57:22,800 I'm not talking about people. 714 00:57:22,800 --> 00:57:27,260 But notice the convert's catechism. 715 00:57:27,260 --> 00:57:31,100 That's a teaching tool, a teaching method. 716 00:57:31,100 --> 00:57:33,860 And it's written in a question and answer format. 717 00:57:33,860 --> 00:57:36,340 So here's just one example. 718 00:57:36,340 --> 00:57:38,940 Question, the convert's catechism. 719 00:57:38,940 --> 00:57:41,980 Question, which is the Sabbath day? 720 00:57:41,980 --> 00:57:45,860 Answer, Saturday is the Sabbath day. 721 00:57:45,860 --> 00:57:46,860 You know what? 722 00:57:46,860 --> 00:57:47,860 I would agree with that. 723 00:57:47,860 --> 00:57:48,860 I like that answer. 724 00:57:48,860 --> 00:57:49,860 But then it goes on. 725 00:57:49,860 --> 00:57:54,300 Question, why do we observe Sunday instead of Sabbath? 726 00:57:54,300 --> 00:58:02,660 Answer, because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. 727 00:58:02,660 --> 00:58:09,260 This happened at an event called the Council of Laodicea about 336 AD. 728 00:58:09,260 --> 00:58:13,660 Notice they're not saying because of this Bible verse or that Bible verse, because of 729 00:58:13,660 --> 00:58:16,200 this thing or that thing. 730 00:58:16,200 --> 00:58:19,580 They're just saying, we changed it. 731 00:58:19,580 --> 00:58:21,900 Man changed it. 732 00:58:21,900 --> 00:58:28,260 And since Rome had the power of church and state for over a thousand years and people 733 00:58:28,260 --> 00:58:35,220 weren't allowed to read their Bible, this new understanding replaced the old understanding 734 00:58:35,220 --> 00:58:36,660 of the seventh-day Sabbath. 735 00:58:36,660 --> 00:58:39,660 And it spread throughout the world. 736 00:58:39,660 --> 00:58:46,820 And so Sunday simply became this man-made law replacing God's law. 737 00:58:46,820 --> 00:58:50,980 Man authority over God's authority. 738 00:58:50,980 --> 00:58:56,140 And so we have to ask ourselves the question, what are we following? 739 00:58:56,140 --> 00:58:58,640 Which is most important for us? 740 00:58:58,640 --> 00:59:05,820 Do I want to go by what the Bible says or do I want to go by what man says? 741 00:59:05,820 --> 00:59:08,100 Now here's the challenge. 742 00:59:08,100 --> 00:59:11,700 I don't want you to take my word for it, because I'm a human. 743 00:59:11,700 --> 00:59:14,980 I don't want you to take any man's word for it. 744 00:59:14,980 --> 00:59:18,020 I want you to study the Bible. 745 00:59:18,020 --> 00:59:19,900 Look up the verses. 746 00:59:19,900 --> 00:59:23,980 Look and see if you can find a verse where it's changed. 747 00:59:23,980 --> 00:59:24,980 I don't think you can. 748 00:59:24,980 --> 00:59:25,980 If you can, come show me. 749 00:59:25,980 --> 00:59:29,780 I would love to know, because I want to follow what the Bible says. 750 00:59:29,780 --> 00:59:38,100 But you can search from Genesis to Revelation, from Genesis to Jesus to John, and it's not 751 00:59:38,100 --> 00:59:39,100 there. 752 00:59:39,100 --> 00:59:40,820 Now, you might want to ask some friends. 753 00:59:40,820 --> 00:59:42,820 You might want to ask some other people. 754 00:59:42,820 --> 00:59:43,820 Do that. 755 00:59:43,820 --> 00:59:47,900 Look, see what Scripture has to say. 756 00:59:47,900 --> 00:59:54,500 But let me tell you that when you ask somebody else, there's a good chance you're going 757 00:59:54,500 --> 00:59:57,260 to get one of a couple different responses. 758 00:59:57,260 --> 01:00:00,640 So here's some responses you might get. 759 01:00:00,640 --> 01:00:05,900 Somebody might say, oh, well, that Sabbath, that's just for the Jews. 760 01:00:05,900 --> 01:00:07,340 Somebody will say that. 761 01:00:07,340 --> 01:00:13,740 But we saw, we looked, it was from Genesis when there was no Jewish nation yet. 762 01:00:13,740 --> 01:00:19,420 It was for every person from the very beginning, from creation. 763 01:00:19,420 --> 01:00:23,780 Some would say, well, the law is nailed to the cross. 764 01:00:23,780 --> 01:00:30,420 And we looked the other night and we saw that there are some laws, sacrificial laws, that 765 01:00:30,420 --> 01:00:31,960 were nailed to the cross. 766 01:00:31,960 --> 01:00:37,540 Those that talked about the lambs that were pointing forward to Jesus. 767 01:00:37,540 --> 01:00:42,460 Because when Jesus died, you didn't need a lamb anymore. 768 01:00:42,460 --> 01:00:48,660 But God's Ten Commandments, it was before, we saw it in Genesis the other night. 769 01:00:48,660 --> 01:00:53,340 Remember what Jesus said, if you love me, keep my commandments. 770 01:00:53,340 --> 01:00:59,060 Not as a way to gain salvation, but to say thank you for the salvation. 771 01:00:59,060 --> 01:01:04,260 And then some will say, well, you can keep any day as the Sabbath. 772 01:01:04,260 --> 01:01:06,540 And that's a good thought. 773 01:01:06,540 --> 01:01:12,340 We do need to worship God and honor God every single day. 774 01:01:12,340 --> 01:01:15,520 But we can't keep the Sabbath every single day. 775 01:01:15,520 --> 01:01:19,460 Because on the Sabbath, you're supposed to cease from your labors. 776 01:01:19,460 --> 01:01:21,780 You're supposed to cease from your work. 777 01:01:21,780 --> 01:01:25,740 And I'm guessing most of us, we need a little income. 778 01:01:25,740 --> 01:01:31,060 We need something to pay our bills and different things like that. 779 01:01:31,060 --> 01:01:35,100 And God didn't give us a right to just do whatever we want. 780 01:01:35,100 --> 01:01:37,760 He said it was a specific day. 781 01:01:37,760 --> 01:01:40,100 The seventh day is the Sabbath. 782 01:01:40,100 --> 01:01:44,900 And then some would say, well, we keep Sunday in honor of the resurrection. 783 01:01:44,900 --> 01:01:48,380 And again, that's a beautiful thought. 784 01:01:48,380 --> 01:01:49,860 But it's not in Scripture. 785 01:01:49,860 --> 01:01:56,780 In fact, God gives us something to remember the death burial and resurrection. 786 01:01:56,780 --> 01:02:05,100 And that's the act of baptism, is what God gives us as a memorial for the resurrection. 787 01:02:05,100 --> 01:02:13,460 And then believe it or not, somebody might just say, well, don't go back to those meetings. 788 01:02:13,460 --> 01:02:16,340 That's not what everybody else is teaching. 789 01:02:16,340 --> 01:02:18,740 That's not the popular thing to say. 790 01:02:18,740 --> 01:02:19,740 And I'll say, you know what? 791 01:02:19,740 --> 01:02:20,740 That's right. 792 01:02:20,740 --> 01:02:23,420 It's not the popular thing to say. 793 01:02:23,420 --> 01:02:26,300 Because I've had people come to meetings like this and say, you know what? 794 01:02:26,300 --> 01:02:34,120 I've learned more in these few meetings than I've ever learned about the Bible before. 795 01:02:34,120 --> 01:02:40,540 But when somebody says, oh, that's something different, suddenly the idea is, no, you don't 796 01:02:40,540 --> 01:02:42,340 need to hear that anymore. 797 01:02:42,340 --> 01:02:49,120 But we need to ask ourselves, no matter what the subject is, that we can pray, Lord, help 798 01:02:49,120 --> 01:02:53,020 me to fully surrender to you. 799 01:02:53,020 --> 01:02:57,340 Help me to make sure that I'm not doing something because it's popular. 800 01:02:57,340 --> 01:03:00,780 I'm not doing something because everybody else is doing it. 801 01:03:00,780 --> 01:03:04,860 But I'm doing something because it's in the book. 802 01:03:04,860 --> 01:03:09,540 There's a saying that says, if it's in the book, we're going to take a look. 803 01:03:09,540 --> 01:03:11,060 And so that's what we're trying to do. 804 01:03:11,060 --> 01:03:16,940 And so we can ask ourselves some important questions that we all need to think about 805 01:03:16,940 --> 01:03:19,620 in our own life. 806 01:03:19,620 --> 01:03:24,300 What value do I value my relationship with Jesus? 807 01:03:24,300 --> 01:03:30,300 And we can ask ourselves, would I like to experience the gift of the Sabbath? 808 01:03:30,300 --> 01:03:32,260 Maybe this is something brand new. 809 01:03:32,260 --> 01:03:33,620 You've never heard of it before. 810 01:03:33,620 --> 01:03:35,900 You've never even thought of it before. 811 01:03:35,900 --> 01:03:40,820 Could this be something that Jesus wants to put into your life? 812 01:03:40,820 --> 01:03:48,620 And then number three, would I like to experience the joy of spending holy time with Jesus? 813 01:03:48,620 --> 01:03:51,700 Humans might say, oh, don't worry about that. 814 01:03:51,700 --> 01:03:55,020 But Jesus says, if you love me, keep my commandments. 815 01:03:55,020 --> 01:03:58,060 If you love me, here's an option. 816 01:03:58,060 --> 01:04:01,020 And so we can say, we've got two different choices. 817 01:04:01,020 --> 01:04:06,740 We can say, thank you, Lord, that you love me so much that you want to spend special 818 01:04:06,740 --> 01:04:08,180 time with me. 819 01:04:08,180 --> 01:04:13,300 And I don't understand it, but God, I want to learn more about this Sabbath thing. 820 01:04:13,300 --> 01:04:17,180 Or we can just say, God, this is different. 821 01:04:17,180 --> 01:04:18,260 This is bizarre. 822 01:04:18,260 --> 01:04:19,500 I'm too busy. 823 01:04:19,500 --> 01:04:22,240 God, this is inconvenient. 824 01:04:22,240 --> 01:04:26,000 And we can go in a different direction. 825 01:04:26,000 --> 01:04:31,820 It's my prayer that each of us, like Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, would pray that 826 01:04:31,820 --> 01:04:37,720 prayer, Lord, not my will, but your will be done. 827 01:04:37,720 --> 01:04:45,160 And as we learn together that we can say, God, help me to surrender all of my heart 828 01:04:45,160 --> 01:04:49,200 and all of my soul and all of my mind to you. 829 01:04:49,200 --> 01:04:51,560 I hope that's a prayer that each of us can pray. 830 01:04:51,560 --> 01:04:53,780 Let's bow our heads at this time. 831 01:04:53,780 --> 01:04:58,220 Dear God, thank you so much for all you do. 832 01:04:58,220 --> 01:05:03,500 Thank you for a gift of relationship, a gift of Sabbath. 833 01:05:03,500 --> 01:05:08,860 Thank you that you want to know us better and you want us to know you better. 834 01:05:08,860 --> 01:05:13,840 And God, I know this is new for some people here, but Lord, I pray that as they go and 835 01:05:13,840 --> 01:05:20,220 open up their word, that you will open up their heart and that you will just help them 836 01:05:20,220 --> 01:05:25,580 to find truth and guide them and lead them. 837 01:05:25,580 --> 01:05:30,940 And Lord, I just pray for each one of us here that we will serve you and love you in all 838 01:05:30,940 --> 01:05:32,180 that we do. 839 01:05:32,180 --> 01:05:33,180 In your name we pray. 840 01:05:33,180 --> 01:05:50,420 Amen.