"Sabbath Rest" - Lesson 10 - Pastor Mike Thompson

[Music] make me roar and i shall [Music] [Music] shall be my hand my heart is [Music] amen let's bow our heads in prayer heavenly father thank you for blessing us with another sabbath for protecting us for bringing us to this holy temple may your spirit stay with the speaker pastor mike as well as may the spirit stay within us so we can hunger for your word jesus i pray amen now we're gonna have our pastor mike thompson who's going to be teaching us for the savage school may you have a warm happy sabbath we're on lesson 10 already of uh this called this theme rest in christ and uh it's called sabbath rest how very appropriate it's the sabbath and and here we are and special welcome to those of you in the audience who uh who are new as well nice to that you can join us today uh sabbath rest i want to read the introduction at the top of um of the page there's a memory verse first which i will read it's from leviticus chapter 23 verse 3 and it says this six days shall work be done but the seventh day is the sabbath of solemn rest a holy convocation you shall do no work on it it is the sabbath of the lord in all your dwellings the sabbath commandment and that admonition is in more than one place in the scriptures but uh the introduction reminds us we hear all kinds of arguments these days uh about the sabbath i should say against the sabbath uh it's a common uh argument that's hoary with age that jesus somehow did away with the sabbath with the law when he was uh crucified uh that's far from true as you read the new testament it's just not not so uh there's the argument that you can keep any day the sabbath as long as you sincerely do that uh that's not scriptural either but nonetheless it's a common argument and then of course there's the belief that sunday is the sabbath because jesus rose on that day and not to put anybody down and sincerely believes that because a lot of christians do so you know i have to remember where they're coming from they don't know uh but we do know before jesus comes which will be soon everybody will get the opportunity to know which still is the true to true sabbath um but nonetheless uh still in the introductory part it says some christians have become more interested in the idea of rest a day of rest and though they argue the day is sunday or that it doesn't matter nonetheless they picked up on the biblical notion of rest and why it is important and of course it is that we should rest so this week we will look more at the rest god has given us in the sabbath commandment and why it is important so moving straight into sunday i want to read the first two paragraphs by way of introduction here uh of all the ten commandments only the fourth begins with the verb remember it's not remember you shall not steal or remember not to covet there is only one remember in the ten commandments and it's applied to the fourth commandment remember the sabbath day so the idea of remembering presupposes history it presupposes that something happened in the past that we need to we would do well to remember so when we remember we make connections with the past and in this case with the sabbath remember the sabbath day to keep it holy it marks a straight path back to the creation week itself which it does it definitely does uh and with that in mind uh the creation week and the high point of creation which was the creation of human beings i want to read from genesis chapter 1 verses 26 and 27 and god said let us make man there's a plural there's a plurality in the godhead you've got god the father god the son and god the holy spirit so this is why he's saying us and god said let us make man in our image and after our likeness and let him have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the fowl of the air and over the cattle and over the earth and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth so god created man in his image in the image of god created he an image of god created he male and female created he them then in genesis uh further on in 9 6 it says whoever sheds man's blood by man shall his blood be shed for again in the image of god man was created women too of course so there's a question there which you'll find near the top of sunday and it says what do these verses which we've just read teaches about how special we are as human beings and how radically different we are from the rest of god's earthly creation as human beings we are very very uh unique in as much as we were created in the image of god now i think it's significant um [Music] if every other created intelligence in god's create like the angels and the beings on those we don't know how many other inhabited worlds and that's made very plain in the book of job and in the book of revelation there are other worlds which which are inhabited um if every other form of being or angels were made in the in the image of god why would it mention it more than once twice i think it's three times in genesis that we this human species were made in the image of god if it was a routine thing why why repeat that well because it's not a routine thing we are very very very unique and very very special we're one of a kind you realize that we're one of a kind [Music] so what does this actually mean you know we use these terms well um in in the lesson comment on page uh see i have the teachers edition i've got some extra stuff in here but in the teacher's edition in page excuse me 133 it says the image of god has to do with the totality of who we are physically mentally emotionally and spiritually we have been given conscience reason and judgment to make moral and ethical decisions but surely don't the angels have the same ability to do that and all the other beings that god has created of course they all have that but there's something about us that does not apply to angels or to other beings we were made actually in the image of god now we don't we we'll have to wait actually till we get to heaven till we fully fully understand that and see that uh but nonetheless we can know in the meantime that as humans we i've been and still are a unique and distinct order of creation one of a kind made in god's image now we know that that image of god that moral image doesn't mean we're god's by the way doesn't mean we're divine has nothing to do with that but god took himself in in a very sacred way there was a pattern about him that he put into these little creatures that we are human beings now that moral image of god has been pretty much obliterated over the centuries because of sin we're all born with the natural sinful propensities as babies we were born with sinful desires doesn't mean babies are born guilty we're not born guilty of adam's sin or anybody else's sin but we're born with the propensity to take that direction it's just just the way just the way we function [Music] so that's how we're born but it's god's purpose to restore that moral image and he certainly certainly will another question there it says in the lesson why is it so important that we understand this distinction that we're that we're unique we have a unique origin i'll give you one very clear and uh what should be a glaring reason why we should understand this distinction is to stop us chasing the fantasy that human beings evolve from monkeys or apes uh you've heard this said before and i will say it again that i use the term for evolution i call it a pseudo scientific religious philosophy pseudo is false false science and it's not just a science it's a it's a religious philosophy now evolutionists don't like to hear that it's a religious philosophy but it is because anything that deals with origins every religion as the question of origins christianity does in the book of the bible itself begins with origins origins in the beginning god created the heavens and the earth and evolution deals with so it's a religion it's a religious philosophy so that's one thing coming to our religions and the second uh factor coming to all religions is the element of faith and boy you don't need to have faith to be an evolutionist don't you so it's a pseudo scientific religious philosophy in fact it's uh you've got to have strong faith to believe in evolution i admire the faith that they have i wish i wish every christian had the same faith as evolutionists have now i don't want to sound like i'm mocking again because there's a lot of very fine people out there it's all they've been taught they don't know any different so let's remember that uh but again before jesus comes they're all gonna hear first angel's message worship him that made heaven and earth and see in the fountains of waters revelation 14 6 and 7 that's right out of the fourth commandment the sabbath commandment another question from sunday how does the creation story remind us of our relationship to creation genesis 2 15 and the lord took the man and put him into the garden of eden to dress and to keep it so we're stewards aren't we we're stewards of our environment and uh as adam and eve engaged in the process of caring for the the vines and the flat now there was no weeds there we get vines and they tangle themselves all over the place and they're ugly but they had creeping plants there that must have been just beautiful and they trained them you know they they trained them in their various ways that they grew and the directions that they went must have been must have been just a very joyous satisfying and very fulfilling fulfilling task but uh they're an example to us uh we should as far as we can you know take care of our environment without going to uh extremes and i won't get into politics i'll just gonna leave that alone and drop it right there um but uh anyway getting back to the environment adam was given this beautiful environment and there were other creatures that got placed in that environment as well to cohabit with him and eve there in the garden of eden of course that that was the animals and god gave to adam this very unique job he gave him this this opportunity and this responsibility of um naming the animals that must have been quite something wasn't it well adam what's this called and obviously he was created as a mature human being with intelligence so he came up with such profound words as elephant you know and was like that he just gave them names it must have been a very interesting and a a very joyful experience for him uh actually and there's a verse there of course and out of the ground genesis 2 19 and out of the ground the lord god formed every beast of the field and fowl of the air and brought them unto adam to see what he would call them and whatsoever adam called every living creature that was the name thereof it must have been again just a joy and delight for him to name these things and they're in that beautiful pristine sinless paradise he could just stand there and watch watch the lion just peaceful placid just just lay there while there's this little lamb just jumping all over him and hiding under his mane it just must have been a wonderful sight but uh you know that's coming back praise the lord that is coming back so um but before i conclude uh sunday here as adam looked at all this it would have been totally inconceivable to him that one day in the not too distant future that peaceful lion would be eating the peaceful little lambs and it would be inconceivable as well that one of his own boys would murder his own brother you know sin was a a harsh and cruel revelation to adam what an awakening to realize what a price there was for listening to the serpent for listening to his wife and now they were blaming eve for everything don't get me wrong but what a price to disobey god anyway we must move on let's go here to uh to monday celebrating freedom um first paragraph and a little short one following celebrating freedom as we saw earlier the sabbath points to more than just the days of creation the second time we hear the ten commandments moses was reviewing israel's 40 years in the wilderness this time the sentence introducing the reason for keeping the sabbath holy is not about creation but rather about liberation from slavery and bondage in egypt in fact i i should read that i don't know why i didn't get it marked out uh deuteronomy chapter five and um [Music] we uh we see this here deuteronomy 5 15. where am i 5 15. this is what it says in exodus 20 says remember the sabbath day to keep it holy because in six days the lord made heaven and earth and see but in deuteronomy it says this and remember that you were a servant in the land of egypt and the lord brought you out thence through a mighty hand he's just before this verse he said in verse 12 remember the sabbath day to sanctify and keep it holy and do all those things and he says god said god didn't bring here that it was a memorial of creation he says don't do any work you are your man's servant on your maidservant but this is what he says in verse 15 and remember that you were a servant in the land of egypt this is what he wants them now to associate with the sabbath in other words it's a sign of their deliverance from bondage and slavery in egypt you're a servant in the land of egypt and that the lord your god brought you out then through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm therefore the lord god commanded you to keep the sabbath a day there's a very powerful application we can draw from that and we will as we go through the lesson today getting back to the opening paragraph there on monday the second paragraph very small just a couple of lines it says and though today we are not slaves in egypt we can all face another kind of slavery one that in some ways can be just as oppressive and so we have a question what other forms of slavery do we face today well that shouldn't be a hard question to answer should it as there's there's a parallel here there's an application as the israelites were in bondage to egyptian slavery to their task masters so there's a type of bondage that we can be in and you know very well it's the bondage and to sin uh in being in bondage and slavery to our sinful fallen natures um we just naturally want to take that path and that's god's trying to break that trying to break that and he can and he does for those who accept christ into their lives but nonetheless it is an example of uh of how this this this susceptibility to just so easily by our own worst enemy and and put ourselves in bondage to sin just at the drop of a hat we know to see the example here of cain remember kane he came to bring his offering and his brother abel did as well and abel brought a little lamb of the flock and god accepted that and cain he didn't bring that he brought fruit that he'd grown and vegeta i'm sure it was very good food but that was not what god was looking for that did not depict the atoning sacrifice that the messiah would one day offer to atone for our sins that was pictured in abel's offering but not in cain so the god god gently rebuked him but all this boy he had a problem with that and so god uh you know it was touching if you will so god says this to cain in genesis 4 6 and 7 and the lord said unto cain why are you angry and why do you look so downcast if you do well will you not be accepted and if you don't do well then sin is lurking at the door it desires to have you but you must rule over it god was seeking to encourage cain to do the right thing he said look if you do well look i'll give you another chance go get the right kind of offering there's an opportunity but god was trying to admonish him as well to get a grip on his attitude he was angry and resentful toward his brother and god was letting him know cain you've got to get the better of this this resentful attitude if you don't it's going to get a grip on you and it did he just wouldn't god could have helped him could have given him the strength to just stop this nonsense but he just let his passions run loose and just like that bound in the power of satan and his own passions and what did he do finished up taking the life of his brother abel well we may not have murder in our hearts this morning you know but the bible tells you if you hate somebody that's a spirit of murder but you know we all have the same susceptibility to be angry and to be hateful and even kill if we push that far we don't know what we're capable of if we push to the limits and we just left without god's divine grace to help us control our fallen human nature we have no idea what we're capable of and we shouldn't even try to find out but we are capable um we ourselves are just as capable of subjecting ourselves to the slavery of sin it's something we can't afford this is why it says in hebrews 12 1 let us lay aside every weight of sin which does so easily beset us lay aside every weight of weight well wait you can already see there an analogy uh symbolism of the ball and chain can't you the ball and chain of sin just around your ankle around your waist but more than that around your very heart just squeezing out every ounce of compassion that you may have ever had in there in second peter 2 9 it says for of whom a man is overcome of the same his is he brought into bondage uh silly monday i want to read another section here uh s uh third and fourth paragraph we're looking another aspect here of the sabbath because we're on about celebrating freedom so we're moving on a little bit now the sabbath is a celebration of freedom from all the things that keep us in bondage on sabbath we are reminded that there is freedom from sin not in our own power of course but in the power of god which is offered to us by faith so we need to exercise that faith even if it's a grain of mustard seed we must believe as we exercise it lord i'm tempted but i believe that you can help me overcome so i make a choice not to think these thoughts not to say those words not to do these things i make a choice and i ask you in the name of jesus to empower my choice and now by faith i believe you already have i have the victory and i praise you and i thank you then what you do you live out your faith you live out what you've asked god to give you believing that he's given it to you i.e the victory we've got to learn to do these things i i i have to learn we're all in the same boat but we got to get we got to do these things otherwise you know we can go through life you know religious to a point sanctified to a point we read the bible to a point we we pray to a point we we get so far but then we can so easily plateau out god wants us to get beyond the plateau he wants us to get beyond the fact of being spiritual to a point and become fully spiritual in the full experience that he wants us all to have in jesus christ you know it's like we're scratching at the surface you know uh i'm not looking at you i'm looking at me it's as if spiritually we're sitting on a powder keg and god just wants to boom blow that thing up and fill us with spiritual power but we're sitting on a powder keg we have access to all this spiritual power and you know a little bit i'm satisfied with that we shouldn't be anywhere i'm sermonizing now so i'm going to stop i'm going to stop and move on and of course the sabbath this memorial that we should and can have this freedom we also remind that this is a freedom we did not earn the first born israelite children was saved by the blood of the lamb smeared on the doorposts the evening before their exodus from egypt we too have been saved by the blood of the lamb and are now to walk in the freedom that is ours in jesus christ you believe jesus can give you that freedom you know sad to say there's a lot of there's a lot of christians even adventist ones they they think that no you can't do that you'll keep sinning till jesus comes show me where that is in the bible show me where it is please i've never found it i've been a christian 52 years this month an adventist 52 years this month i never found that yet in the bible what i read is i can do all things through christ who strengthens me i have to choose yes i've got a little part to play but if i will choose with that sincerity if i put in my five cents god christ will put in their fortunes of their grace we can do this through him we can do this uh okay well let me get back to the lesson here there's a verse there we're on about freedom from sin right and and the sabbath is a memorial of of that and there's a question what is paul saying here you read this question in in your lesson it's about it's near the top oh no halfway down what is paul saying here when he references romans chapter six verses one through seven what is paul saying here that that can be linked to what we have been given in the sabbath what is paul saying here and this passage which can be linked to uh what has been given us in the sabbath and i'm going to read some of romans 6 in in a moment going to read romans 6 verse 7 just that one verse it says for he that is dead is free from sin but this passage in romans 6 is contrasting the death and burial of the old sinful way of life contrasting that with the spiritual resurrection to new life that jesus gives to those who through his grace through being born again in him he enables to die to their sins it is this kind of death to sin that results in the freedom from bondage to sin and so romans 6 1-7 do not have time to read it all but i will repeat again verse 7 from romans 6 for he that is dead is freed from sin now we have a baptism this morning and those of you looking in we will have a baptism in this tank here and those of you here you'll see a baptism and the dear sweet lady was going to be baptized today when she goes under that water you know what that's supposed to symbolize she has died to her old way of life she's died to death and when she comes up what does that symbolize she is risen she is spiritually resurrected if you will to a new spiritual experience in other words as jesus died for our sins and was buried and rose again through baptism through his grace we are to die to our sins and be resurrected and through his power walk in newness of life is it boring or hard to be a christian i think it's exciting it's the most exciting thing anybody can ever have i said i've been a christian 52 years uh the end of this month would i want to go back to my all life in a in a rock band i know you're laughing i used to be in rock and roll band in the 60s i'm an old baby boomer i was just a wannabe would i want to go back to that not for a minute not for a minute why be now a 74 year old rock singer you know when you think you're young and good looking now got a face like a road map you know there's all these lines hey i don't want that i got jesus i've got everything i need and i've got eternal life i have it actually right now when jesus comes even if i die and go to the grave i still have the gift of eternal life it's just that when i'm raised i will open the gift so i have the gift right now praise god all right so he that is dead is free from sin this can only be accomplished again by divine grace but such grace is all that is needed and the infinite almighty power of god is able to provide that to us so instead of sins debasing effect as previously in the life there is instead freedom as god sanctifying power cautious through our spiritual bloodstream to set us free actually in ezekiel as well ezekiel 2012 it speaks of the sabbath being a sign that god sanctifies us and we'll probably mention that again um anyway i'm going to leave it there because time is getting away from us i've got to try and reach thursday if i can we're on tuesday now the stranger in your gates i want to begin by reading exodus 19 verse 6. and you shall be this is god speaking here um [Music] you shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation these are the words that you is talking to moses to tell to the israelites these are the words that you moses shall speak unto the children of israel i'll read it again moses was to tell them god has told me to tell you that you shall be unto him a kingdom of priests and a holy nation priests and a holy nation so there's a question again in the lesson what does this text tell us about the status of ancient israel well let's go to the lesson again tuesday that first paragraph it says israel are being called out of egypt to be god's covenant people the nation through whom had they stayed faithful the gospel would have been spread to the world no question that we were the object of god's special care and concern given special privileges and at the same time given special responsibilities [Music] it's very sad however that israel forfeited that standing that they have they forwarded their status of god's chosen people because of them and the new testament israel is no longer the physical nation of israel but is comprised of people of all nations who accept jesus as their personal savior now somebody can still be a physical jew and they can still be one of god's chosen people through jesus christ but it's not the actual nation of israel and but pastor doug batchelor of course you remember him he's still still alive but he was here for 20 years he was a jew pastor doctor jew but as a christian jew and what i'm preaching now he is a jew preached preaches still the same things but here romans 2 28 so we know that it's not the physical jew it is the spiritual jew the spiritual israelite that come unto this covenant relationship with god romans 2 28 for he is not a jew which is one outwardly but he is a jew which is one inwardly in the spirit that means spiritually in christ that is the defining factor of a new testament israelite to be in christ jesus and uh another verse that makes it very clear is galatians 3 29 we read that before i think we've already read it but let me read it again and if you be christ's then are you abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise now we mentioned pastor doug but his paul himself writing this paul himself was it was a was physically a jew he was a physical descendant of abraham but he he understood the makeup of new testament israel he knew it being radically radically changed the new testament was in was in was in vogue now and it was through christ that anybody became a descendant of abraham exodus 23 12 sabbath again here it says because we're looking at the stranger in your gates on the sabbath six days shall you do your work and on the seventh day you shall rest your arks your ass may rest and be refreshed and the son of your handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed as well but there's another question here that i want us to uh to look at you find this in your lesson here it says or asks what does this text teach us about how god viewed others beside the israelites themselves while every human being has a special place in god's heart because he made every human being you go back to um [Music] um genesis god made the world he made adam and eve he made their offspring long before there was a jew about a thousand years or just ballpark a thousand years a little bit more i think before the first jew abraham came along and it was god that made him a jew if you will an israelite so every human being is created by god and whether they understand it or not the sabbath is also to be a memorial of their creation as well and god still has a high regard i say again for all people and he wants every human being to understand the true history of their origin they didn't come from monkeys they didn't come from slime they came from the hand of god and were made in his image and he also wants everybody to understand as well the the the member of the godhead who was the actual creator is also everybody's none other than the actual redeemer see to be more specific the member of the godhead who played the executive role in creating was the son of god you can read that in john first chapter it says all things were made by him and without him was not anything made that was ready to go to hebrews right near the beginning of hebrews tells you there he created all things in colossians christ is the creator so i like to use the term he was the executive member of the godhead he was the one who spoke the heavens and the earth into existence and it is that same creative being that is also the one that died for us upon the cross you could uh we could stop right there and every every one of us we could spend the rest of the day just just just thinking about that um actually i've got john 1 3 written all things were made by him without him was not anything made that was made yet in john 1 verse 9 it also says this god the son is also described as and i quote the lamb of god which takes away the sin of the world creator lamb almighty god could have resisted the advances of death but he died to provide an atoning sacrifice so that we can have eternal life so it's certainly god's desire that the whole world should know that their all-powerful creator is the one who died for their salvation now let's not get off the theme here the stranger in your gates i already mentioned that god wants every person who's not even a christian to understand their very special origins that he created them he wants them to come to a knowledge of the sabbath as well and the sabbath commandment says we are to rest and also the stranger we read that the strange that is within your gates that is implying if on the sabbath even in our day you may have a non-christian visits you and comes and is in your house god invites you while they are in your gates to invite them to come with you to church to hear about him who created them and also him who died for them i don't know if that's ever happened to you where you've had a non-sabbath keeper in your house on sabbath well we've had it a few times we've never forced them to come to church um but it's been a blessing to have them in the home and try and help them understand a few things i remember when uh a daughter debbie uh was married right here a few years ago uh debbie's uh great uncle my wife's uncle he uh he's the sunday keeping minister and he and his wife they they came they came here to the wedding and the day before they came to church here and i think they had some strange ideas about seventh-day adventists but pastor doug preached up there and uh my wife's aunt said afterwards he preached the gospel well sure i think there's all kinds of strange ideas out there about us so we've got to make our religion what it really is something that is to be joyfully experienced joyfully demonstrating that people will see hey you you send me the adventist you seem really happy especially as well about keeping this other day you seem real happy about that you know it's the best day of the week can you say amen what about you watching on the screen there i can't hear you but i'm going to believe in faith that you're able to say amen the light just went out on the camera so anyway it's come on on that one there uh so anyway uh there's so much for that so we want our friends our non-adventist friends uh sunday keeping friends we need to pray for opportunities to invite them to church and those who are not even christians that god will open ways for us to be a true for them to be attracted that we can witness give them something to read and hopefully bring them to church let's move to wednesday serving others honors god's sabbath so we're on wednesday now and it says here uh two short paragraphs in the new testament wall the religious leaders had sabbath keeping down to a fine art there were dozens of prohibitions and rules established to keep the sabbath day and we know that full well this included if you're not aware of some of these just there's a few here just listen this included a prohibition against tying or untying anything so you couldn't have shoelaces of course separating two threads extinguishing fire transporting an object between a private domain and a public domain are transporting something from more than a specific distance in the public domain they had come up with all these regulations that uh made the sabbath not a day of delight as it should have been but just a day of oh sabbath tomorrow just ruined it terrible experience but um in john chapter 5 you can't read all the chapter because uh we we don't attempt to do that but in john chapter five right from the beginning there you read of jesus he's um it's the sabbath and he's walking by the pool and he sees all these poor lame sick folk and he sees this man who's been sick for 38 years and is lying on his bed uh by the pool of bethesda and you know the story it was this was not true of course but they believed once in a while an angel would go in the water and the water would be troubled and the first one in they were miraculously healed this poor man had been laid there year after year and just couldn't make it in time so jesus jesus saw the men and long story short reading here john chapter 5 verses 8 9 10 and then going to 16 jesus looks at the man and he says this jesus said unto him rise take up your bed and walk and immediately the man was made whole and took up his bed and walked and the same day it was the sabbath wonderful right but look at the next verse the jews therefore said unto him that was cured it is the sabbath it is not lawful for you to carry your bed then verse 16 and therefore did the jews persecute jesus and sought to slay him because he had done these things on the sabbath it's inconceivable isn't it but you know unless we keep on watching ourselves we can all get the same way i've been like it long time ago but i i could be like this not as bad as this but i could be it could be very legalistic it's amazing amazing that the jews sought to actually actually execute jesus to put him to death for violating their human tradition which which forbade the the expression of love and compassion and sympathy to a suffering human being on the sabbath day of all days when you think the sabbath could be a day where they could become not according to their playbook and so completely ignoring the miracle that had been wrought at this man was being sick 38 years now he's walking all they could say was you're carrying your bed on the sabbath you're breaking the fourth commandment we might stand against at that their legalism but we need to watch out we can get that way ourselves in fact in the lesson it says we need to be careful that on our own way and in our own context we don't make similar mistakes i want to read isaiah 58 here verses 12 through 14 and let's have a look at god's agenda for sabbath keeping isaiah 58 12 through 14 i think yes it says and they shall build up the old waste places you shall raise up the foundations of many generations you shall be called the repairer of the breach the restorer of paths to dwell in then he says in verse 13 about about the sabbath honor the sabbath day not seeking your own pleasures and so on but then he says this in verse 14. if we with the right attitude and with a love for god we we reverence the sabbath it says this then shall you delight yourself in the lord and i will cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed you with the heritage of jacob your father for the mouth of the lord has spoken this what he's talking about here is repairing the breach you see even with the jews at this time in isaiah's time which about 700 bc um they lost the spirit of sabbath keeping uh they'd lost it they were into their own business their own antics and so we've got this analogy here that there needs to be repairs of the breach to restore again the sabbath to its right state and to be a repairer of the breach means to restore the integrity of a structure that is broken and dis and in disrepair for example a wall a wall is broken down which means you've got gaping sections and for all intents and purposes it's useless still call it a wall but it's broken down in this repair in other words it's useless it can't keep the things in that it's supposed to keep him and it can't keep the things out that are supposed to stay outside so it's in a terrible state so the symbolism of repairing the breach here is applied to restoring the sabbath to its true purpose and spirit of religion because it too had fallen into terrible disrepair and in isaiah 58 the preceding verses from from verses 12 through 14 it mentions some of those things that need to be back into the religion of god's people that the true spirit of sabbath keeping could be realized again for example looking in uh 58 sorry and verse 6 it says is this not the fast that i have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness to undo the heavy burns and to let the oppressed go free and that you break every yoke uh verse seven is it not to deal your bread to the hungry and you bring the poor that are cast out to your house when you see the naked that you cover them and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh and then verse 10 and if you draw out your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness as the noonday so indeed how appropriate that they in their time and us in our time as we're walking perhaps by some pool of bethesda and we see somebody sick we should try and help them on the sabbath of all days oh we see that we see them hungry we should feed them oh we see them naked we should clothe them there's a lot of pools of bethesda around this world and there's people lying around them even now on the sabbath even in sacramento may god guide us to these people and as we feed them and clothe them and tell them about jesus we will be blessed they will be blessed but assuredly we will be blessed as well and just uh in conclusion a little bit here from thursday um the sign that we belong to god um [Music] the sabbath is not only a weekly memorial to remind us of god's creatorship it is also and we've mentioned this as well it is also a sign that as god's people we are to be in a covenant relationship with him and every sabbath if you will when we go to church it's to be as it were a flag a flag that we fly a flag that you when we fly before the whole world declaring to them which god we have allied ourselves within covenant relationship there's the prince of this world or there's the god of creation we want to fly the flag of the sabbath right and it is also a declaration that in ourselves we do not possess the power nor the means to make ourselves a holy people but by faith we can obtain that power and that power become ours when by faith we come and we fall down before the cross and we confess our sins before the crucified savior and ask him to wash us clean in his blood and through his grace and power to fill us with the holy spirit that we might be everything that he wants us to be you see as i mentioned earlier the sabbath is also a sign of our sanctification to sanctify something means to make it holy and jesus wants to not only declare us holy not forensically just forgive us of our sins that i have i have declared you holy the sabbath is a sign that he actually spiritually mysteriously powerful me powerfully miraculously makes is what he declares it he makes us holy he makes us these new people so you see the sabbath is not something oh we don't work on sabbath because we have to remember that god god made us so we can't do this we can't do that the sabbath is a beautiful and a glorious thing we need to understand all the beautiful spiritual and joyful and glorious ramifications before jesus comes we will be preaching the sabbath more fully we need to pray that god gives us this full and beautiful picture that with a smile on our face if people ask us you keep the sabbath i sure do i want to tell you about it biggest blessing i've had next to jesus anyway i need to finish there i just want to uh remind you all i want to thank you glad you could join us today for uh central study hour we will be back same time next week uh but let me just remind you can a free a cd or a free dvd of today's uh presentation make a note of this again get a little writing pad it's offer number c 22136 offer number c22136 if you call the church 916-457-6511 that's here in sacramento you give us your particulars we'll send it to you or you can email us at csh sac central dot o r g c s h sec central dot o r g and with that i want to wish you all our most blessed and happy sabbath and by the grace of god we'll see you all here again next week

Channel: Daily Hymns

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Length: 55min 31sec (3331 seconds)

Published: Wed Aug 25 2021