Should Christians Keep the Sabbath?

normally in theology we study the things that have been thrust in front of our faces and in doctrinal statements in your church the doctrinal statements outlined the things that have been thrust in the face of the church over the years like you'll always find Jesus somewhere in a doctrinal statement of any kind of Christian Church because Jesus was the first thing to be thrust into the face of the church with areas in the early fourth century and then eventually the Holy Spirit and other things so what we have in our theology and our studies and our doctrinal statement things that have been really thrust in our face and the Sabbath really has been something that's been thrust in most people's faces however it's been thrust in your faces right and it was never in mind so I had to like stop and think about well what is this thing the Sabbath and what's my position on it so I had to do a lot of thinking and tried to talk to Pete a lot of people that just didn't even want to think about it or was interested in it one of my questions is well what does it mean to keep the Sabbath and when I when I gave this seminar earlier in California I opened it up but I want to hear what people thought you know so there's former seventh-day Adventists like a lot of you are what does it mean to keep the Sabbath I was fascinated to find out most people weren't really quite sure a seventh-day Adventists they knew you're supposed to keep the Sabbath but what did that mean a lot of gree they're not really sure now one thing that some of the events do know at least they believe is that today that you go to church and that's that's your Sabbath so if you had a church on Sunday well that's that's the false Sabbath that's the Roman Sabbath so that's not the real Sabbath but do you realize that the Bible nowhere says that you go to church on the Sabbath and that's what marks the Sabbath as the Sabbath that is that's the day that you're to church or that's the day that they they went to the synagogue was on the Sabbath but that didn't start when they gave the Ten Commandments that didn't start until like what three or 400 BC when the synagogues were developed so what does it mean to keep us out it isn't going to church Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy says do no work you you're selling your daughter servants animals or foreigners I've got cats and it just dawned on me how do I get them not to work they don't do anything they everything is the Sabbath for cattle so and now the problem with this though is that this is as I was thinking about this just earlier sitting at the table this is this year is almost kind of vague and opens the door to all kinds of legalism do no work what does it mean to do no work that's where the Pharisees step in with all kinds of rules of well you know you're not supposed to do this you're not supposed to do that and all kinds of rules pop up and I've heard stories of Jewish obviously Sabbath keepers that I had all kinds of crazy rules that they would do for for instance some some women will tear up toilet paper the night or the day before the Sabbath that way when you use the restroom you don't have to tear it to toilet paper because that might be breaking the Sabbath that's work so Terry toilet paper however it's not work to use it I guess I don't know yeah let's not even go there but still this kind of opens up the door to legalism it just says do not work on the Sabbath remember that God brought his people out of Egypt so it's a day of remembrance of something that God has done number three don't Kindle a fire in any of your dwellings on the Sabbath day so if you have a wood-burning stove or a fireplace don't Kindle a fire you could be breaking the Sabbath I don't know if you've heard about things but in some areas where there's a large amount of Jewish people I know in New York they have these are called Sabbath elevators on the Sabbath this elevator stops on every single floor well why would you have an elevator do that well when you get in an elevator and you have to push a button what happens the button lights up it's the first thing that happens could that be kindling a fire you know what is the rule behind the rule behind the rule you're not supposed to Kindle a fire is that considered kindling the fire isn't making light making that light light up so you don't Kindle a fire so Sabbath means the elevator has to stop and from what I heard is in these cities that the Jewish people would normally try to live on the first few floors of the building leaving all the Gentiles to have to wait for the thing to stop on every floor going all the way up set out bread before the Lord in the temple so some things have to happen in the temple don't buy grain or fish now I haven't I have died definitely never transgressed this part of the Sabbath I don't like fish and I don't I don't cook so I don't think I've ever bought grain don't carry a load especially through the gates of Jerusalem that's a bad one and do not bring a load out of your house or do any work these are things in the scriptures of what you're supposed to do or not to do on the Sabbath remember it doesn't include anything about going to church it doesn't include anything about worship now some might say that well it might be worship that there was an extra mmm sacrifice that was done on the Sabbath but I mean that's following the commandment the Lord that you do this the sacrifice it doesn't there's not a one-to-one correspondence between that and going to church and worshipping and singing and praising God so there isn't the idea of worship it's the idea of rest and a few other specific rules that God gives now should the Sabbath be kept today as a question that I needed to ask and so I tried to find out from people who believed the Sabbath should be kept today what are some of the reasons they gave and I found very few and the very few that I found weren't very convincing first of all some people look at Exodus 20 verse 11 says for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all this in them and rested on the seventh day therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy and they call this a creation ordinance a creation ordinance when God created the world and then he rested on the seventh day this is a creation ordinance now everybody has to do this we find this in Exodus 20:11 when it says God created the six days and rested on the seventh now we have to do it as well but let's go back and look at this account Genesis 2 says by the seventh day God finished the work he had been doing so on the seventh day he rested from all his work then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on adiy rested from all the work of creating that he had done so is Exodus saying that the Sabbath is something that was rooted in the Genesis account because that's what some people would say and arguing that the Sabbath is a more morally binding thing upon everybody at all time because God created this way therefore we keep the Sabbath well I don't think so I we don't have a record of from creation all the way up into the time that the Ten Commandments is given we don't have a record of anybody keeping the Sabbath and we don't see anything in the Genesis account about God saying Adam you need to keep the Sabbath you need to do no work you need to rest I mean he lived in Paradise he didn't have to rest I mean there was a garden there that he has to tend but not by the sweat of his brow that doesn't come until the curse later so I think what's going on in Exodus and I'm not the only one there's scholars out there that would say this that this isn't necessarily Exodus is saying this is what it was happening in Genesis but Exodus is looking back and given like a new significance of lights of what happened in Genesis and it's not a moral mining thing on everybody throughout all times but as it's talking to the nation of Israel it's just giving a new significance given as an illustration for what the people were to do that he was speaking to in the time of Exodus 20 so okay I'm not convinced by that that the Sabbath day should be kept because of this now looking at the 10 commandments I've got these divided up we have four and we get ten some people have said these are universally binding Commandments from God to people of all times and they're broken up in these two categories Duty God and duties to neighbors now duty to neighbors this is pretty self-explanatory but duty to God number one tells us that we're supposed to worship God alone number two tells us with no graven graven image how we're supposed to worship God number three gives us the proper attitude that we're supposed to worship God and number four it gives us a special day that God wants us to be worshipping Him I'm still not convinced you know a for instance what the way I just described that there this is our duty to God in worship I don't see this as giving a command and worship one thing I do want to point out really quick though is do you realize one different thing about number four than the rest of them is it's given and positively instead of negatively the others are you know don't don't don't and this is a positive remember the Sabbath we'll see if I remember to bring it up later why I wanted you to think that so we'll see where my memory goes as I looked into this idea of Sabbath and tried to find Christian authors that are trying to justify a sabbath-keeping thing a lot of them pointed to this Westminster catechism and I was looking forward in my study to getting to the point where I get to look at the Westminster catechism because since they all pointed to this I thought this is going to finally give me the answer that's going to give me some kind of satisfaction about the Sabbath Oh was i sorely disappointed with the Westminister catechism does when it gets to the subject of the Sabbath it says that there's a positive law and a moral law now the positive law what it means by that is that there is something that is morally necess something that's not morally necessary in that law for instance if God tells Israel to pack your bags and move out of Egypt that's not morally necessary and universally in other words that doesn't mean everybody at all times needs to move out of Egypt so if anybody I know that word does this live streaming if you're living in Egypt and watching this you're not in sin if you're living in Egypt because this is positive law this isn't morally binding on everybody at all times but moral law this reflects the moral nature of God so something that reflects the moral nature of God is binding upon all people of all times and then the Westminster catechism points out that the Sabbath would fall under the category of moral law really that was their answer this is why the Sabbath is binding on us today my problem with that is nowhere in the bible does it say that law should be divided up into positive law and moral law and no there what kind of interpretive tool do we have to be able to say this commandment is morally binding and this one is just a positive law there there's no mechanism to make that decision so if we can't make that decision what use is this so I'm not convinced then from this that I should be doing what they said what they say I should so I started asking the question well which day do we keep the Sabbath and let me tell you this in the beginning before I forget is the early church didn't see going to church on Sunday as that they were keeping the Sabbath they didn't think God changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday they didn't see that at all that was just the day that they were going to church a lot of early Jewish believers still went to the synagogue's on Sabbath and went to church on Sunday but they weren't thinking that God changed the day it's just that's the day that they're going to church it wasn't until his historically speaking wasn't until recently that people started thinking of Sunday as the Sabbath and when and remember I say historically in the terms of history maybe within the last 400 years are people starting to think of Sunday as God's Sabbath mm-hmm that's that's that's more of a recent thing so but anyway which day do we keep the Sabbath those who say Sunday look at a few different passages in the Bible's about I think six of them John chapter 20 we have three things first one John 20 verse 1 says early on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed okay so John twenty first one we have the resurrection happened on Sunday verse 19 on the evening of that first day of the week Jesus came and stood among them and said peace be with you so we have Jesus's appearance to the disciples and in verse 26 says a week later his disciples were in the house again and Thomas with them though the doors were locked Jesus came and stood among them and said peace be with you so second appearance to the disciples on Sunday acts 20 verse 7 on the first day of the week we came together to break bread Paul spoke to the people and because he intended to leave the next day kept on talking until midnight so it looks like a church service was occurring on Sunday now the a little bit in question though this is on the first day of the week Paul was speaking to the people right off our minds thing Sunday but to the to a Jewish person when does the first day of the week begin our Saturday night it says that Paul kept on talking until midnight does that mean that the church service started at 9:00 and he just went fifteen hours or maybe this actually started on Saturday night and yeah let's just go an extra 45 minutes or whatever I don't know well let's give this to him let's just go ahead and say okay this is Sunday all right first Corinthians 16 verse 1 and 2 now about the collection for the Lord's people on the first day of the week each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with your income so a collection was being received or taken you receive or take it however you want to put it church service right so this is happening on Sunday the first day of the week revelation 1:10 on the Lord's Day I was in the spirit and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet John's revelation happened on Sunday so some advocates of Sunday being the Sabbath might point to these given a summary there was a resurrection to appearances Christians broke bread Paul preached Paul instructed for collection and John had his vision really that that would be the reason for his Sunday being the Sabbath now for me the first three resurrection the appearances and John's vision okay that's just the day it happened it doesn't that doesn't tell me much is just that's the day it happened now Christians broke bread Paul preached Paul instructed for collection I think that that demonstrates that early Christians were meeting on Sunday I have no problem with that but now to say that that's the Sabbath well that's a whole new ball of wax you can't just say that I mean the Sabbath has an incredible significance in the scriptures to be able to just to say well the Sabbath was put on that day because that's the day they went to church no no that is so no one well our other conclusion then as well maybe Saturday what do we have to show us that Saturday is the real Sabbath Deuteronomy 5:14 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God on it you'll shoot usual do not work class seems pretty clear what day is the Sabbath seventh day and Exodus 20:11 for in six days Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all it's in them and rested on the seventh day therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy that seems pretty clear which day is the Sabbath day it's God made the heavens on earth in the six days and then he rested and then we have the seventh day so I would say if we're looking at between Saturday and Sunday if you believe this habit has to be kept as far as a special day of worship or just a special day of rule keeping or whatever you want to call it I think it's got to be Saturday I don't see how you can possibly switch that and people who believe that Sunday is now the Sabbath man you need to really rethink that and how can you come to this Old Testament we saw some very clear verses the Sabbath is the seventh day if that is if you believe you need to keep that you need to be very careful of what the scripture says about what day that is I didn't know what to title this part here I call it the Sabbath's role in the covenant after I get going you'll see what I mean by this but now I want to get going in the direction of where I currently stand on this whole issue and I want to ask the question what are the Ten Commandments now I'm not saying what did the Ten Commandments say honor they father mother don't murder we looked at what they say but what are the Ten Commandments another question similar to that is why is it called the Old Testament that book that you bring into church every week has two parts the Old Testament the New Testament why is the Old Testament called the Old Testament the word Testament some people may get confused with like testify like this is God's you know testifying to people what happened in the former days but that's not what Testament means it doesn't mean testify it's a legal term it's kind of like the last will and testament it's a legal term and so Testament the Old Testament means the Old Covenant the Old Covenant in former times before we are living in the New Covenant times there's many different covenants in the Old Testament the Old Covenant in your scriptures and these five that I have up on the screen or those that are generally agreed upon by scholars noahic Abraham Moses David New Covenant and in covenants there's two different types there's conditional and unconditional covenants and the unconditional covenant is when God makes a promise to somebody and they don't have to do anything this is God saying I am going to do this the Abrahamic covenant is unconditional God says I promise you I am going to bless you I am going to bless your family and I'm going to bless the world for you unconditional Abraham didn't have to make sure he did the right things in order for this covenant to come to pass God said I am going to do this it's unconditional when we talk about the Old Testament the Old Covenant the Covenant that sticks out here that is mosaic the Mosaic Covenant this is what colors most of the Old Testament that we read and the Mosaic Covenant is a conditional covenant people who are given this covenant they had a rolled they had to perform people and then God had his role to perform if they did their job God would do his job if they didn't do their job well we're gonna see what God was gonna do to them okay yep back to the question what are the Ten Commandments then the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets these are the basic covenant documents of the Mosaic Covenant and it goes further than just that the two stone tablets Leviticus expands upon them but the Ten Commandments are just the basic outline of the covenant with the nation of Israel oftentimes in the Old Testament 13 times actually they're called the tablets of the Covenant so this is like a contract to Ten Commandments it's a contract that God makes with the nation of Israel which I just answered this question who's under the Mosaic Covenant this contract that God made with him who is under the Mosaic Covenant it's like Deuteronomy 5 Moses summon all Israel the Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb Mount Sinai now we may he made a covenant with us who's he talking about Israel he made a covenant with us at Mount Sinai he's not saying he got made a covenant with everybody throughout all history and it's with us and he expands on this it was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant but with us with all of us who are alive here today hmm it makes it hard for me to see Genesis as creation ordinance when we have appointed out here that God didn't make this covenant with everybody it's only with the nation of Israel and not just the nation of Israel that he was speaking to at the time this has implications to their progeny right everybody down through the ages after this this covenant was made to them not everybody and so Genesis 2 this is not a creation ordinance there is no Sabbath fountain they're given to man that they have to obey so this is who is under the Mosaic Covenant remember that you were slaves in Egypt that the Lord your God brought you out with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day so the Sabbath day carries the idea of remembering the creation and also remembering God bringing them out of Egypt this is something they need to do remembering God for what he has done in the nation now some covenants that God gives in the Old Testament they have signs that are associated with them then no way at Covenant what's the sign of the no way of covenant I will not flood this world anymore right the rainbow and then the Abrahamic covenant circumcision is the sign of that covenant being a guy I'm not going to elaborate on any of that that is just it's just the weirdest sign ever okay Mosaic Covenant what is the sign of the Mosaic Covenant Sabbath the Sabbath is the sign of the Covenant let's look in the Exodus 31 the Israelites are to observe the Sabbath celebrating for the generations to come as a lasting covenant so the Sabbath has to do with the Covenant and in the following verse it will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and on at the seventh day he rested and was refreshed so the Sabbath is special in the Ten Commandments in that it's the sign of the Covenant and this is why Jesus was getting in so much trouble when he was doing things on the Sabbath he's messing with the very symbol of God's relationship with Israel this is the thing that tied them to God this covenant I used them to God and Jesus is doing stuff it's making really nervous so it's not that he was I mean if he ran around and messed with any of the other Ten Commandments it would have bothered them but this one this this is huge to them so he gets in trouble in some ways and as I said this covenant it's conditional it's not that just God promised hate this is what's gonna happen there's conditions given to it Deuteronomy 29 carefully follow the terms of this covenant so that you may prosper in everything you do so following the terms of the Covenant means being obedient to the Ten Commandments the basic covenant documents as well as all the other stuff that comes along with it you have to do those things to be part of this covenant community and if you do that what is God's part what will he do if you fulfill your terms he'll prosper you and everything you do the the prosperity gospel or sometimes called the word Faith Movement I teach on this subjects quite often as well and sometimes they misunderstand some things in the Old Testament about God promising to prosper well this is part of the Old Covenant which were not part of we're in the new covenant era so he's promising that they're going to prosper them and everything they do if they follow the law if they do what God has commanded I don't think any of us would we qualify to even get this prosperity 19 when such a person hears the words of this oath and they invoke a blessing on themselves thinking I'll be safe even though I persistent called my own way they'll bring disaster on the water land as well as the dry so it's not just that you have to follow the terms of the Covenant in order to get the blessings if you don't follow the Covenant you're gonna bring disaster big disaster the Lord will never be willing to forgive them his wrath and zeal world will burn against them all the curses written in this book will fall on them and the Lord will blot out their names from under heaven this is a serious covenant is this good news or bad news bad news Deuteronomy 6 I just love the way this is phrased in the future when your son asks you daddy what is the meaning of the stipulations decrees and laws the Lord our God has commanded you if your kid talks that way you're raising him really interestingly what's the meaning of the stipulations decried yeah that's just I just love the way that is but so how would you answer well it tells you how to answer tell him we were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt but the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand remember now the Covenant is pointing us back to what God did in Egypt also points us back to the creation before our eyes the Lord sent signs and wonders great and terrible on Egypt and Pharaoh and his whole household but he brought us out of there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors the LORD commanded us to obey all these decrees and to fear the Lord our God that we might always prosper and be kept alive as in the case again again telling us what is the results if you do your end of the contract you'll be you he'll prosper you and you'll be kept alive and if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God as he has commanded us alright wait for it so else happens if you do this if you follow all these Commandments as he has commanded you that will be our righteousness your righteousness is based on your keep being not just a 10 commandments but all the other things that go along with it in like Leviticus in' all this that will be your righteousness son if I answered your question filled ok thanks Adam heavy that is the Old Covenant so turning to the New Testament what is the Sabbath like in the New Testament or heard the earlier testimony talking about how well you know Jesus kept the Sabbath and that is a belief of seventh-day adventists well Jesus kept the Sabbath and I mean it well I'm sure that he did because he was born as a Jewish person under the Mosaic Covenant he would have been someone who kept that Sabbath but still there were some very different twists that he brought to the whole picture Oh first of all I'm glad I put this in the PowerPoint or I would forgot to say the ten commandments are all repeated in the New Testament except for the Sabbath so we see all the other ten the the nine Commandments is being binding upon us because they are repeated but I've said to people sometimes that oh the Ten Commandments they don't apply to me and that just blows their mind if you don't apply to you what do you mean you can go out murder well no those things are reiterated other word in the Bible but two Ten Commandments it this is a covenant that God made with Israel not with me with Israel and it doesn't apply to me and the Sabbath as far as this day that I have to keep every single week on Saturday doesn't apply to me because that's a sign of the Old Covenant which we're going to see some new ways to think of the Sabbath if I can get to them in 20 minutes so Jesus in the New Testament I mentioned earlier he's always getting in trouble on the Sabbath right he trampled the Sabbath at least he trampled the Pharisees understanding of the Sabbath he would heal people often on the Sabbath and as I was preparing for this in the last weekend I was reading one commentary that said that Jesus seemed to even go out of his way to heal on the Sabbath and do whatever miracles on the Sabbath to upset the religious authorities isn't I thought I sat back into thought about this and at first I'm thinking you know I don't know if I can agree with that because we don't know everything that Jesus did was it John who said that you know we now we haven't said told you everything that Jesus did because that would fill up volumes of books so all we know is what's written in the New Testament of what Jesus did and over and over Jesus is doing things on the Sabbath that's upsetting people well how do we know all this is love the Holy Spirit sounds like he went out of his way to inspire the biblical writers to record all the stuff that happened on the Sabbath day so either it's right that Jesus just went it went out of his way to do all these things on the Sabbath or the Holy Spirit went out of his way to inspire the authors of scripture to record what Jesus did on the Sabbath which one it is I don't know but I think it's pretty clear Jesus was doing things that really made people uncomfortable on the Sabbath he healed people on the Sabbath he allowed his disciples to pick grain now was this really against the Sabbath or was this something that the Pharisees added you know what the Pharisees did it you take the rule one rule here you're not supposed to do this then they put like five different rules in front of it so you never get to that one rule so you don't break it this legalism but they're gonna make sure nobody's gonna break that rule and that's probably what's going on with this is disciples picking brain I've never seen a verse saying you don't pick grain unless that's work but weren't they eating it I mean they're taking this idea so far that they've distorted it but it's interesting Jesus never just tells them you know what you've just you've distorted what what the Sabbath is really about and this is what the Sabbath is really about and this is how do you keep it instead this this account is actually found in mark chapter two in Matthew 12 he gives them reasons why it's okay for his disciples to do it what they did you know he talks about David and how he broke the Sabbath when he did whatever but two important statements that he made he says the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath now I don't have a completely fleshed out in my mind what all that means but remember when I pointed out to you that in the Ten Commandments the Sabbath was different it was stated positively as if keeping the Sabbath that was supposed to be a more of a time of reflection and relaxing as you look back at creation as you look back at what God has done for you the Sabbath was made for man man to stop and rest and relax and what did the what did the Pharisees do they flipped it on his head and made it a list of rules so instead of rest now it's a bunch of rules that we need to watch out for and the other thing he said is that the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath and right before he says he's the lord of the Sabbath he also says that something is greater than the temple is here before you and and what is that it's him and he's Lord of the Sabbath and again I haven't fleshed out completely in my mind what it all it means that he's the Lord of the Sabbath but I know that he's saying something is greater than the Sabbath is in front of you something that is greater than the temple is in front of you and as Lord of the Sabbath he has two prerogative as one author put it he has a prerogative to say to his disciples go ahead and pick green that's what you want to do he's above that he's the Lord he's the one that gave the commandments to begin with 2:16 therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival a new moon celebration or a Sabbath day on the New Testament we don't see believers being now commanded keep this day as a day of rest the Sabbath day the seventh day now one judge you about that and the way I apply that is I know people who believe Sunday is the Sabbath I don't find it my mission in life to try to prove them wrong and to sit them down and show my like to talk about the subject because I've read too much and but I'm not going to force it down anyone's throat it's not that big a deal I'm not going to make them but they shouldn't try to tell me stop mowing your lawn don't you know what Sunday yeah so let's sit down and look in the Bible where this is they don't mow your lawn right we're gonna see something in a little bit about a Christian view of an understanding of the Sabbath so I don't take that to mean I'm mocking any idea of the Sabbath there is some good news ahead of you what is our righteousness now in the New Testament remember what was the Old Testament righteousness doing the works of the law being obedient God gave us this law and if you're careful to do everything in it that will be our righteousness in the New Testaments we have in Philippians 3:9 says I may be found in him this is Paul talking he's given his testimony to people and in his testimony he just got through talking about all these wonderful rules that he used to follow and rely on to be right before God and after he lists all these rules he says and but now I may be found in him Jesus not having a righteousness of my own that comes through the law but that which is through faith in Christ the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith not on keeping your Sabbath day holy this is where you get your righteousness from Christ your faith in Christ and it's something that is attributed to you it's not that you have become righteous I'm not righteous in myself but I am counted righteous before God Christ's righteousness covers the person who has faith in Christ now talking about the Covenant the Old Covenant compared to the New Covenant Colleen did a bunch of reading in Hebrews and man Hebrews is the book for seventh-day Adventists to read to digest the thing through because it's a wrecking ball and it's a building structure - it will build you up or you need to be Hebrews eight the days are coming declares the Lord when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and with the people of Judah now he's he's talking about in the Old Testament Jeremiah when it talks about the new covenant that's going to be coming the backdrop in the book of Hebrews art is that there are people thinking that you know this new stuff we have with this you know Jesus he's a pretty cool guy and all that but that stuff we had before was pretty cool too maybe we should go back to that I kind of liked that stuff and so the author of Hebrews is writing to them don't go back to that and so now he's looking back at what they did have and say yeah and looking at how the new covenant was talked about so looking again in Hebrews 88 the days are coming when I'm gonna make the new covenant the new covenant is coming verse 9 it'll not be like the Covenant I made with their ancestors because they did not remain faithful to my covenant and I turned away from them declares the Lord so he made the Mosaic Covenant with them it didn't work out too well and he turned away from them first thirteen by calling this covenant new he has made the first one obsolete and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear so if the Old Covenant is gone that sign of Sabbath though there is an idea of Sabbath for us we're going to see next there is an idea for us as Sabbath but the idea of the Sabbath began a sign of the Covenant well the covenants gone the Mosaic Covenant is gone you are not held to the Covenant now does God still now this God saying go ahead and murder now I don't care well of course not but you're not under it as far as a contract that contract has been released from the Israelites it's been released from this planet through the blood of Jesus Christ the first one is obsolete and what is obsolete is outdated and will soon disappear and it did disappear and it is gone no one place that Sabbatarians like to look at to say that yeah there is Sabbath that's supposed to be kept today Hebrews four nine there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God see we're supposed to keep the Sabbath because it says in Hebrews there is a Sabbath rest for the people of God so we need to keep the Sabbath let's look at the context of this because it's really important tool stuff and we're going to go back to Hebrews three so as the Holy Spirit says today if you hear his voice do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion during the time of testing in the wilderness now let me explain the context here he's speaking definitely to it Israelites because they understand what he's pointing out when he says a time of testing in the wilderness after the ten commandments were giving to the nation of Israel they they start heading towards the promised land God sends twelve spies to go into the promised land the spies come back to Moses Joshua and Caleb say oh man this place is like a land flowing with milk and honey something not I have lactose intolerance so that's just like whoa okay you know you guys have it you know honey I like but yeah that's that's that's that's a scary thing it's like battery acid and honey you know no does bad things to me but anyway these Joshua and Caleb they come back to say whoa who looks great the other ten spies come back and say there's giants in the land and we look like grasshoppers we shouldn't go let's not do it they didn't trust God God said I'm gonna give you this land and in Hebrews here it starts to sound at times like he's saying like it's talk about salvation through obedience because he's talking about the people who didn't obey but what I think you'll see through the lines as we read through this their disobedience comes through not trusting him he said I'm gonna give you this but they saw these guys that look like giants and we look like grasshoppers and we're not going so after this they wander in the wilderness for 40 years this wasn't a long journey to get the promised land God led them in circles for 40 years until one generation dies a new one comes up and then they get to go into the Promised Land so do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion during the time of testing in the wilderness verse 10 that is why I was angry with that generation I said their hearts are always going astray and they have not known my ways so I declared on my oath in my anger they shall never enter my rest rest that he's talking about here is a promised land now just as when we saw with the Ten Commandments it used the word Sabbath to give like a new meaning or to use the creation account as an illustration now we see it happening here with going into the promised land is given a new illustration of what he's talking about here they shall never enter my rest because of disobedience and remember the context Hebrews is talking about people of thinking maybe let's not continue with Christ are they going to go into God's rest I declared my anger they shall never enter into my rest for the people that wouldn't believe God wouldn't trust him to give him the promised land and then into for therefore since the promises of entering his rest still stands let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it God's promise of salvation in Christ is still open to you guys you can still come into that rest why are you thinking of going back to what you had really the Mosaic Covenant that's what you want the the call to his rest is still open the door is not closed to that he's telling them for some where he has spoken about the seventh day in these words on the seventh day God rested from all his works and again in the passage above he says they shall never enter into my rest now he starts to bring up the idea of the creation account and he's going to use the word Sabbath here really soon he's not introducing the word Sabbath and the idea of the Sabbath being a day that you need to follow these rules do no work and don't carry a load and all these things because he's contrasting it with the disobedience of other people so he's not introducing now more stuff they have to do he's talking about God's rest verse 8 for if Joshua had given them rest God would not have spoken later about another day their remains then as Sabbath rest for the people of God now he's using the word Sabbath in a different way than it has been used before now he's saying Sabbath rest using it as an illustration of people going into the Promised Land of people resting from their works not as us one day a week thing we continues for anyone who enters God's rests also rest from their works just as God did from his let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience and what is the disobedience not trusting God not trusting God at His Word I will save you trust me and you look behind you think what looks looks good pretty bad look good back there what we had know the author of Hebrews says no don't go back to that there's a Sabbath rest of God if you are saved if you have put your faith in Jesus right your righteousness comes from Christ on the basis of faith that is your righteousness you are in God's Sabbath rest you don't have to work any longer you don't have to persevere under rules in order to prove yourself worthy before God you are worthy before God because Christ has made you worthy doesn't mean life is simple doesn't mean life is easy but God love you you are an adopted child of God and you are saved you have entered into his rest and you can trust and rely on him don't look back what you had before was not a good news it might have been a good culture it might have been fun at times you had a good time with your friends and family they're stuck back there but you need to press on with what God has laid before you and walk the road thank you [Applause]

Channel: Tim Martin

Views: 1,931

Rating: 4.2207794 out of 5

Keywords: Sabbath, SDA, Adventism, Seventh-day Adventism, Adventist, Ellen White, Ellen G. White, EGW, Covenant, Cult, Heresy, Christian, Commandment, Jesus, Bible

Id: PlAFHv4Mu5k

Length: 48min 12sec (2892 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 10 2020