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We come in our Bible study today to the book of Exodus, the 20th chapter, reading verses

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eight through 11.

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This is the final commandment of the first division of the Ten Commandments, this division

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dealing with Israel's relationship with God.

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And we see here that God's people are told to remember something.

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Exodus 20 verse 8, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

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Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord

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your God.

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In it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female

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servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.

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For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in

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them, and rested on the seventh day.

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Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

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God's people are told to remember.

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Why do you think that is so?

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Might it not be because God's people so easily forget?

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That is one of the reasons the Lord gave the feasts of Yahweh or the feasts of the Lord

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established in the book of Leviticus.

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These were annual times of remembrance and celebration for them so that they might remember

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what the Lord their God had done on their behalf.

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We today do not have these feasts to observe because they were a part of the old covenant

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with Israel, but we do have the Lord's Supper.

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Do you remember Jesus' words?

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As often as you do this, what?

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Remember me.

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You see, today we are a little different than Israel in this respect because we too easily

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also forget.

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And so our Lord said every time we gather around His table we are to remember Him.

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The Lord says to His people Israel in our text today, remember the Sabbath day to keep

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it holy.

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First, I would like to talk with you this morning regarding the significance of the

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Sabbath to Israel.

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We must of course summarize this, but it begins actually before Exodus chapter 20.

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I would like you to back up a couple of pages in your Bible to the 16th chapter.

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While they were in the wilderness coming to this mountain, Mount Sinai, God established

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this day with the nation as a different day for them.

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The context is the giving of the manna from heaven for the people to eat.

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In verse 22, now it came about on the sixth day.

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They gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one.

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When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, then he said to them, this

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is what the Lord meant.

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Tomorrow is a Sabbath observance, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.

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Bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over put aside

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to be kept until morning.

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So they put it aside until morning as Moses had ordered, and it did not become foul nor

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was there any worm in it.

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And Moses said, eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord.

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Today you will not find it in the field.

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Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.

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Then down to verse 29, see the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you bread

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for two days on the sixth day.

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Remain every man in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.

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And so before they came to Mount Sinai, God set apart the seventh day as a special day

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to be observed.

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Now as he institutes his covenant with them, the covenant of the law, and as he lays a

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foundation for his covenantal relationship with them, he includes as a part of the Ten

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Commandments the observance of the seventh day as the Sabbath day.

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It is instituted here in Exodus 20 as a holy day to be remembered.

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Later as the law is further developed, the Israelites are told how they should observe

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the Sabbath in detail.

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There are two reasons I believe for this theocratic or God-ordained institution of a day for rest.

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Let me point out to you that the Hebrew word Sabbath means repose, cessation or rest.

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And so Sabbath means rest.

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Why did God set apart a day for rest?

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It seems that the first reason is that God wanted them to commemorate his own rest after

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creation.

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We see that mentioned in Exodus 20 and verse 11.

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For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in

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them, and rested on the seventh day.

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Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

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So why did God institute this day of rest?

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It was to commemorate his day of rest after his creative work.

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Now it mentions it here, but let's go back to Genesis chapter 2 where it actually takes

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place and look at it in that context.

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Beginning in verse 1 of the second chapter of Genesis, thus the heavens and the earth

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were completed and all their hosts.

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And by the seventh day God completed his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh

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day from all his work which he had done.

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Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work

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which God had created and made.

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The fact that God rested on the seventh day does not imply that God became weary or fatigued

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in his work of creation, but it does mean that God was satisfied with his work.

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For six days he had created and had said, it is good.

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On the seventh day it could not be improved, there was nothing more to do.

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His work was completed and God was entirely satisfied with his creation.

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And so he ceased, he rested from his creative work and set apart that seventh day as a Sabbath.

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Now apparently this day of rest was observed from Adam's time onward for at least some

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generations.

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But eventually the observance of a day of rest, the seventh day, became obscured in

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its meaning because mankind became increasingly pagan and idolatrous.

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Mankind turned from the knowledge of the truth and was turned to the lie, as Romans chapter

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one describes, and began to worship and serve the creature rather than the creator.

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And as a part of all of that paganism that mankind developed, the seventh day was obscured

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in its meaning and the pagan traditions then perverted it from what God intended it to

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be.

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I think we see an example of this in ancient Babylon.

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In early Babylon, cuneiform tablets speak of sabbatu, which was, quote, a day of rest

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for the soul, close quote.

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That's what they called it.

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By the way, that Babylonian word sabbatu was the origin of the Hebrew word for Sabbath.

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There are some liberal scholars who try to tell us that the Sabbath day was simply picked

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up by Israel from the pagan religions around them.

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In fact, the Sabbath day was given to Israel by God himself.

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The fact that that day or a day of rest was observed in some aspects of paganism only

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shows that those pagan nations all had a common source for that tradition that had been passed

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down to them orally from generation to generation.

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They had been passed down, in fact, all the way back to the day of Adam when God rested.

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God instituted the Sabbath day in Israel to commemorate his day of rest after creation.

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There's a second reason that he instituted the day, and that was to commemorate the nation's

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redemption from Egypt.

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We see this in the next account of the Ten Commandments in the Old Testament.

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That is Deuteronomy chapter 5, and I'd like you to look over there with me.

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If you compare the wording in the two texts, you'll find it very, very similar.

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Until you come to the last verse, the Spirit of God causes Moses to change the last verse

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entirely.

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After telling them to observe the Sabbath day in Deuteronomy 5, it comes to verse 15.

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It says, You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord

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your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm.

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Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.

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So we see a second reason for the institution of this day in Israel.

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It was to commemorate the nation's redemption.

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God's rest after creation, and the nation's redemption from Egypt.

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Now in another text that will not take time to read, but Exodus 31 verses 13 through

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17, God established this day, the Sabbath, as a perpetual covenant and a sign between

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Israel and himself.

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That is a summary of the significance of the Sabbath day to the nation of Israel.

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This morning we want to go on to talk about something that may be a little more relevant

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to us, and that is the significance of the Sabbath to the church.

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Its significance to us today in 1986 in this age.

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I suppose the first question that would come to one's mind is, are we to observe the

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Sabbath day?

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The answer to that is a resounding no from the New Testament.

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Nine-tenths of the Ten Commandments was repeated in the New Testament.

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One command was not restated for us in this age, and that is the fourth commandment regarding

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the Sabbath day.

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We will look in vain to find a place after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus

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Christ in the beginning of this age for a command that deals with our observance of

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the Sabbath day.

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You see the Sabbath was a sign between Israel and God.

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We are not Israel.

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We are the church.

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The Sabbath was a part of the old covenant of law made with Israel.

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It was done away with by the establishment of the better covenant, the new covenant of

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grace, with those who trust the Lord Jesus Christ in this age.

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Jesus Christ has fulfilled all of the demands of the law on our behalf.

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The law was intended to point the sinner to Christ.

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The law cannot save by its power.

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It cannot transform the sinner or bring him new life.

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The law cannot save.

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It can only expose the sinner and bring him under the condemnation of the law.

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All of sin comes short of the glory of God, and the law turns a spotlight on our hearts,

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exposes the wickedness and sin that is there, and then pronounces the judgment of God upon

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us that the soul that sins, says the Lord, shall die.

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You see the Lord Jesus Christ came and took upon himself the curse of the law on our behalf.

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He fulfilled the law in his righteous life, paid its penalty in his death, and now lives

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today to save all who will come to him in faith.

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The Sabbath was a part of the law for ancient Israel.

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It is not related to us today under the new covenant of grace.

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Indeed, we are specifically warned not to make Sabbath observance a matter of ritual

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or of faith in this age.

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Listen with me to Colossians 2, where I believe this to be stated.

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Colossians 2, rather than starting at verse 9 to pick up the whole context, I think we'll

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skip down to about verse 16.

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But notice in the previous verses that the Apostle Paul has been dealing with our identification

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with Christ in his death and resurrection.

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He says we were buried with him, we've been raised up with him, verse 12.

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In verse 13, we've been made alive together with him.

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In verse 14, he dealt with all of the debt that we owed to the Lord because of the law.

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And now in verse 16 it says, Therefore let no one act as your judge in regard to food

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or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

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All of these things come out of Israel's ordinances and ceremonies.

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He says let no one now judge you regarding your observance of them.

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Why?

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Because they're a part of the old covenant.

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He goes on to say these things are a mere shadow of what is to come.

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The substance belongs to Christ.

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What does he mean there?

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Well, he's saying these things all pointed to the coming of the Savior.

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But now he's come.

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We don't need them any longer.

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We might compare it to a photograph.

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A wife longs for the return of her husband from military service overseas.

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What she has from him are letters and a photograph.

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Every day she looks at that photograph and thinks of that loved one of hers.

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She may kiss it and hug it and talk to it.

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But she has that photograph and some of you identify very keenly with this because you've

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been there.

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One day her husband comes home.

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He arrives at the airfield.

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He comes to the house to be with his wife and stands there in the living room.

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You think for one moment she's going to run over there and reach for that picture and

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hug it and kiss it?

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Not in your life.

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She wants the real thing.

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She doesn't need the picture anymore, you see.

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She's got what she longed for in the substance, the person of her husband who is now home.

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You see all of these things from the Old Testament are like the photographs.

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But now Jesus has come.

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He is here.

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We no longer need them to point to him.

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He is here.

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And those other things have passed away.

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The early church began worshiping on the first day of the week to commemorate the resurrection

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of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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That was not by accident.

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We do not adhere to Sabbath worship today.

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We follow the example of the early church in meeting on the first day of the week.

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That occurred over a process of time, it does seem.

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The first clear mention of Sunday as a day of worship for the church is in Acts 20 and

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verse 7.

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That occurred about 55 AD.

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In other words, it was some 30 years or so after the death and resurrection of Christ.

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There was a period of transition.

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But the church came to worship on that first day.

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When John wrote the book of the Revelation toward the end of the first century, 95 perhaps

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AD, he says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.

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What is John saying?

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Well, that is his name for the first day of the week.

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And it was then that he received that great revelation of Jesus Christ recorded in the

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22 chapters of Revelation.

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I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, he calls it, because it's a day commemorating

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the Lord's resurrection.

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Paul earlier had mentioned it in 1 Corinthians 16, 2, when he commanded them to set aside

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proportionately an amount of money for the collection.

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And that was to be done on the first day of the week.

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The question that comes to mind, though, is this, is it wrong to have a service on Saturday

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evening?

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There are some churches that do this.

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Is it wrong for a church to worship on the Sabbath?

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Well, the answer to that is yes and no.

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Yes, it is wrong if it is being done as a ceremonial or ritualistic observance of the

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Old Testament law.

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It is wrong because we are no longer under the law.

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We've been redeemed from it.

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So if it's being done as observance of the law, yes, it is wrong for them to do it.

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But I believe no, it is not wrong to do it if it is being done for other reasons.

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Usually it is being done because of crowded Sunday ministry.

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And so they provide a Saturday evening service for those who want to attend then.

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Now it may be wrong for some people's conscience.

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They may feel guilty worshiping on Saturday.

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Or it may be wrong in some cultural context.

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But mark it, it's not wrong biblically to worship on Saturday evening.

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Now if a person wants to be a legalist about this and say that's the Sabbath, again, he

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is wrong.

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Because for the Jews, the Sabbath ended at sundown on Saturday and the first day of the

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week began at that point.

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And so if you want to be a legalist about it, then after sundown on Saturday is the

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first day of the week.

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The white quibble over such legalistic fine points.

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The point is that biblically speaking it's not wrong to have a service on Saturday night.

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Indeed, in the cultural context of a Muslim land, for example, there are many believers

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who worship on Friday, not Sunday.

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Because Friday is the day of Muslim worship and that's the day when everything is shut

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up and culturally that's the day when they meet for worship.

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Are they wrong?

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No, they're not wrong in that.

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There's nothing forbidding worship on Friday or any other day of the week.

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We are not commanded to worship corporately only on Sunday.

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We do follow the example of the early church in doing so and we live in a culture that

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is influenced by Christian teachings so it's naturally easy for us to do that.

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But every day of the week is suitable for worship.

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Yes, certainly Sunday has special meaning to us.

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It is the day of the Lord's resurrection but there is no limitation in scripture to

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that day only.

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That is the point.

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Some of you are feeling pretty good at this point.

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Now let me make you feel a little less good.

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I want to come back to another question.

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How should believers treat the Lord's day?

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Israel was told how they were to treat the Sabbath.

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How are believers today to treat the Lord's day?

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The answer to that is that there are no rules in the New Testament as to proper or improper

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activities for that matter.

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There are some churches that have established rules and standards for their membership.

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I pastored a church for a time that established rules for all teachers in the church.

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A teacher had to sign a pledge card stating that he would or would not do certain things

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including certain things on Sunday.

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It had been in place in that church since maybe before creation, I'm not sure.

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And so we continued to use the pledge card.

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And I suppose any congregation has a prerogative to establish those standards.

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However, the problem is that it so often leads to legalism.

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And to people judging one another's spirituality on the basis of whether they keep those manmade

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standards and rules.

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And legalism is wrong.

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To establish standards for some reasons may be proper, and yet be careful in one's attitude

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about them.

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But having said that, do remember this.

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Although there are no rules in the New Testament as to how we observe the Lord's Day, it is

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the Lord's Day.

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It should be a time for corporate worship and personal contemplation.

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And not a time to selfishly indulge ourselves in doing what pleases us.

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The Word of God does establish a principle, I think, that should not be ignored regarding

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the Lord's Day.

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In Hebrews 10, 25, it says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together.

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Now it's in the present tense there.

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And the point is that we are not to make it a habit of forsaking the assembling of the

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saints for corporate worship.

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When the body gathers for worship and fellowship, the point is, God expects me to be there as

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a habit of life.

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He doesn't say, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together on Sunday morning.

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Do you notice that?

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The point is that whenever the church meets, I have a responsibility to be there when it

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meets for corporate worship.

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I suppose if a church wanted to meet five times a week for that purpose, I would have

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an obligation, according to this principle, to be there.

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We meet twice a week for corporate worship, Sunday morning and Sunday night.

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And it seems to me that the clear principle of God's Word is that we have a responsibility

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not to forsake the worship of this church, Sunday morning and Sunday night.

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We are ingenious at devising excuses.

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It's either too hot or it's too cold.

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We can't miss this movie.

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It waited a long time for this to get on TV.

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Why, this football game only happens once a year.

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Sunday is my only time with the family.

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I got out of church late.

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Can't get back for Sunday night.

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Can you imagine using those same excuses at work?

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Well I didn't get here yesterday because it was just too hot, boss.

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Or you know what the windchill was Monday?

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Boy, I'm not coming in when the windchill is that cold.

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Somebody will freeze to death.

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But you don't understand how long I've waited for this movie.

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I had to watch that before coming into work tonight.

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But this football game is really important to me.

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No, I can't go on that business trip after all.

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I need some time with my family.

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Forget it.

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I got out of my work late this morning.

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So what if I'm late today getting back from my lunch?

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You see, these same excuses that we pawn off on God sound rather silly when we use them

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with our employer.

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What these kinds of excuses really do is to expose us, don't they?

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They serve to show what our real priorities and commitments are.

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Now there may be some who get angry at that kind of talking and who would respond by saying,

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well, I don't care what he says.

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Well the fact is you don't have to care what the preacher says.

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It's not his day that's involved.

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The point I'm making is that this is the Lord's day.

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It's not the Sabbath day, no.

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But it is the Lord's day.

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And how we use it is important.

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Now what is the meaning of the Sabbath to us?

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Let's ask that question next.

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Apart from no ceremonial or legal meaning, it does have some significance that's worth

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pondering.

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Let me just state two or three things and we'll be on our way.

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Number one, the Sabbath was established as a day of rest for mankind.

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God seems to have established that principle all the way back at creation.

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And I believe it's still his design today.

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I believe it's still valid today that we need to have a day of rest.

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We ignore that at our own risk.

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The person who perpetually ignores a time of rest in his schedule will sooner or later

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pay for it.

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And on that day he'll not be able to say to God, why did you let this happen to me?

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Because he did it to himself.

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God has already established this principle for all of mankind.

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You say, but I don't have time for a day of rest.

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My friend, you better make time for it.

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Now how that is observed in your life and where it may be observed can have a lot of

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variety.

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A day of rest for one man would be a day of work for another man.

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A man who works with his brain all week long sitting behind a desk may enjoy going out

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and chopping wood on his day off.

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But the man who does that for a living wants to sit and do nothing on his day off.

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You see, the point is we need a day for rest and refreshment.

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I believe it has that meaning to us.

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But then there's a spiritual, a symbolic meaning.

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And we see this in Hebrews chapter 4.

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The idea of rest or Sabbath is used several ways in this chapter, but I want to point

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out two of them.

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Symbolically the Sabbath means to us the rest that we have by faith in Jesus Christ.

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It says in verse 1 of chapter 4, Therefore let us fear, lest while a promise remains

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of entering his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.

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For indeed we have had good news preached to us just as they also did, they being the

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Israelites in the wilderness in the Old Testament.

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Chapter 3 explains that.

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But the word they heard did not profit them because it was not united by faith in those

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who heard.

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We who have believed enter that rest.

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The good news to the Israelites was the promised land could be theirs.

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They turned from that.

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They would not believe that God would give it to them and they came short of it.

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Only two of that whole generation entered into the promised land because of unbelief.

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And the point the writer is making is this.

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We too have had good news delivered to us.

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The good news of salvation in Jesus Christ.

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It is not enough that we simply have received it, have it delivered to us.

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We must unite that by our personal faith.

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We who have believed enter into this rest of salvation in Jesus Christ.

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That is one way the Sabbath speaks symbolically to us.

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It is the rest that we have from the labor of our own fleshly efforts to please God.

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Thank God we don't have to do that.

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We rest from our own efforts.

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We rest, thank God, from the guilt and load of our sin because of our faith in Christ.

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But the idea of rest is used a different way in verses 9 and 10.

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There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

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For the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from his works as God did from

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his.

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Therefore, let us be diligent, let us labor to enter that rest.

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What is that rest?

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This is the rest, my friend, of heaven.

402
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In heaven we are not going to repose on cloud couches forever.

403
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That's not the point.

404
00:32:15,640 --> 00:32:22,080
We are going to serve the Lord there according to Revelation 22 verse 3.

405
00:32:22,080 --> 00:32:27,640
But in Revelation 14 verse 13 it says, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now

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00:32:27,640 --> 00:32:28,640
on.

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00:32:28,640 --> 00:32:34,720
And it says the Spirit that they may rest from their labors for their deeds.

408
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:35,720
Follow them.

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That's the point.

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00:32:36,720 --> 00:32:44,760
The Sabbath speaks to you and me of that rest from our earthly labors that we have coming.

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00:32:44,760 --> 00:32:47,880
And he says let's labor to enter that rest.

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That almost sounds like a contradiction, doesn't it?

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00:32:50,800 --> 00:32:57,160
It reminds me of what J. Vernon McGee told about the Irishman who said, I'm going to

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have peace in my home even if I have to fight for it.

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00:33:01,560 --> 00:33:05,080
Well it sounds like there's a contradiction there.

416
00:33:05,080 --> 00:33:07,760
But there's not.

417
00:33:07,760 --> 00:33:13,200
His point in verse 11 is not that we can somehow lose out on getting to heaven if we're not

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careful.

419
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His point is be sure that heaven is your home.

420
00:33:20,160 --> 00:33:22,540
Be sure that you're saved.

421
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You see the point of assurance of salvation in the Word of God is not that somewhere back

422
00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:32,520
yonder on such and such a day I prayed to receive Christ.

423
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If a person can say that it's wonderful, but many of us here today cannot say that.

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The point of assurance of salvation in the Bible is one's continuance in the faith.

425
00:33:47,660 --> 00:33:51,480
It is the perseverance of one who says he believes.

426
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:54,800
His continuing to believe and to walk with God.

427
00:33:54,800 --> 00:34:00,720
And the writer is saying here, let's be sure my friend that you're really saved.

428
00:34:00,720 --> 00:34:05,760
That's why Peter tells us make sure about your calling in the election.

429
00:34:05,760 --> 00:34:08,680
You mean I've got to do something about it?

430
00:34:08,680 --> 00:34:10,140
No, God's done that.

431
00:34:10,140 --> 00:34:13,400
But make sure that you've trusted Christ.

432
00:34:13,400 --> 00:34:18,580
Paul says to the Corinthians, examine yourselves whether you be in the faith.

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00:34:18,580 --> 00:34:22,920
You see the point is that we can be deceived.

434
00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:26,440
We can somehow think that because we've been raised in a Christian home, we've gone to

435
00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:31,400
a fine church, and we've heard the gospel from day one, that we are automatically saved.

436
00:34:31,400 --> 00:34:35,840
Listen, my friend, if you're saved there's going to be fruit in your life.

437
00:34:35,840 --> 00:34:36,840
You're going to walk with God.

438
00:34:36,840 --> 00:34:38,120
There's going to be faith there.

439
00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:42,120
There's going to be obedience there.

440
00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,820
Therefore be diligent.

441
00:34:44,820 --> 00:34:45,820
Examine yourselves.

442
00:34:45,820 --> 00:34:48,160
Make your calling and election sure.

443
00:34:48,160 --> 00:34:51,940
Is there proof that you really are a child of God?

444
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Each of us must answer that for himself.

445
00:34:54,680 --> 00:34:57,680
This is not contradicting salvation by grace through faith.

446
00:34:57,680 --> 00:34:59,280
It's just the balance of it.

447
00:34:59,280 --> 00:35:02,980
It's just the check of it.

448
00:35:02,980 --> 00:35:12,120
You see unbelief will rob a person of heaven and salvation and send him to hell and damnation.

449
00:35:12,120 --> 00:35:15,420
It is not enough only to receive the good news.

450
00:35:15,420 --> 00:35:23,280
We must, as verse 3 says, believe to enter into that rest.

451
00:35:23,280 --> 00:35:28,320
Have you believed on the Lord Jesus Christ for your salvation?

452
00:35:28,320 --> 00:35:30,720
If not, will you do it today?

453
00:35:30,720 --> 00:35:37,140
My friend, having done that at some point in your life, let me close with this point.

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What do you need to do to honor the Lord's day?

455
00:35:41,440 --> 00:35:47,320
No, there are not legalistic rules as to what you must do to observe it, but remember it

456
00:35:47,320 --> 00:35:50,240
is the Lord's day.

457
00:35:50,240 --> 00:35:57,600
Do not use it to abuse it, rather, to use it for your own indulgence, but use it as

458
00:35:57,600 --> 00:36:01,120
God wants you to use it.

459
00:36:01,120 --> 00:36:02,620
Worship him in it.

460
00:36:02,620 --> 00:36:05,680
Be with the Lord's people.

461
00:36:05,680 --> 00:36:10,720
Don't seek to find excuses which are silly on the surface.

462
00:36:10,720 --> 00:36:16,280
I know there are reasons sometimes when we cannot be at church, we cannot do this, we

463
00:36:16,280 --> 00:36:18,880
cannot do that, we would like to do, we know we would honor God.

464
00:36:18,880 --> 00:36:24,400
There are legitimate reasons, but the point is the pattern of our lives should be one

465
00:36:24,400 --> 00:36:28,280
of obedience in our use of the Lord's day.

466
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,240
So may it be so of each of us.

467
00:36:30,240 --> 00:36:32,240
Let's pray.

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00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:39,780
Lord, I thank you that you have delivered us from the curse of the law.

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You have fulfilled the law on our behalf and now we stand before the Father as perfectly

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righteous in yourself.

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I thank you that you write upon the heart of each regenerate person the standards of

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the law so that we need no external code of conduct, that it's internal, you put it there

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by the work of your spirit.

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Thank you, Lord.

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But there are times, as you know, when we fail to live up to what we should do and we

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sin.

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And Lord, if in our use of the Lord's day, your day, we have been careless and casual

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and uncommitted, I pray that you will bring to us a fresh commitment, a fresh dedication

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to this day that bears your name.

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And I pray, Father, for that one who is here without the Lord Jesus today to receive Christ

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and to enter into that rest which the Sabbath pictures for us.

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In His name I pray, in Jesus' name, amen.