Unfaithfully Keeping the Sabbath pt 2

SPEAKER A You once to every time in the sight of the good or evil sky don't break on you that I choice of life forever with that darkness. And. SPEAKER B The Bible assures us in Ephesians two, verses eight to ten, for by grace you have been saved through faith. And that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. Welcome to faith to faith Here are your hosts, Ettienne McClintock and Braedan Entermann. SPEAKER C Dear listener, greetings and a warm welcome. Thank you for joining us on the program. It's always a pleasure having your company and thank you for joining us today in this Bible study, which is a part two of what we started last week. And this is called Unfaithfully keeping the Sabbath, part Two. Now it's an interesting title because we think typically if someone puts to read from the word of God that they are to keep the Sabbath, that if they kept it, that will be a sign of faithfulness. But we want to unpack this a little bit further and build on what we spoke about last week. But for us to do that, let's just ask God to guide and lead us in our understanding. Gracious Father in Heaven, we just thank you yet again for the opportunity to spend time in your Word. And Father, we just thank you for the promise of the spirit of truth, which you've promised would lead us into all truth. Bless us now, Father, with the presence of your spirit on ourselves and also on our dear listener is our prayer in Jesus name. Amen. SPEAKER D Amen. SPEAKER C Our last program, we closed off with this question whether the Sabbath was made for the Jews only based on some texts we had read, or whether it was given to all mankind. And I think a good place for us to start is to go back to the origins of the Sabbath and the origins of creation. SPEAKER D So we're going to go now to Genesis, chapter two, and we're going to begin in verse seven. But before I read that, I want to just share something that happened when I was younger. The most interesting thing I ever saw when I opened my eyes after sleeping, we were camping out there's like a paddock behind my family's home where I was growing up and opened up my eyes and right above my head was a huge big actually a multiple. There was a few cows putting their heads inside the tent right above my head. It kind of took took our breath away as we opened our eyes. And we feel the breath of a big cow just looking. And they were so curious. They wanted to know what was going on. It's a bit of a shock when you wake up and you see a cow looking right at you, looking straight into your face. And it kind of reminds me of this story in Genesis, chapter two, verse seven, when God created Adam, the first person to ever be created. And he opened his eyes and the first thing that he saw very different from a cow. I'd like to read it to you here in verse seven. It says, and the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being. Just imagine this is a massively humbling thing for God to do, because God is so powerful that he can speak, and a galaxy spirals into orbit. He can speak, and light begins to shine. He can speak, and seas and dry land just are formed. And yet here we have the Creator, which is none other than Jesus Christ, kneeling down on this Earth and with his own hands, starting to shape and to fashion and to design the crowning act of his creation human beings. And as he's going, he's not just throwing the clay together. He's intricately designing everything until there is a lifeless lump of clay right before him. And it's interesting. Everything about Adam so far has been formed and fashioned by God. God is working. God is designing. God is creating. God is forming. And then, as the last piece of the puzzle, the Creator of the universe leans over and with the kiss of life, breathes into his nostrils the breath of life. And at that moment, the Bible says, man became a living being. And just imagine that moment. Adam takes this massive, big breath, and he opens his eyes, and into whose face does he look? SPEAKER C He's created. SPEAKER D His created face. SPEAKER C Yeah. SPEAKER D And can you imagine how beautiful would be the face of God to look into the face of Jesus and to see just love just shining? And God says hi. There's this initial interaction that they have together. And Adam gets himself up on his sits up, and he looks around him, and what does he see? SPEAKER C A beautiful paradise. SPEAKER D So God made a garden for them? SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D And it was called the Garden of Eden, and that word means pleasure. And so God has gone all out. He has not only created dry land because you kind of need dry land as a human being. He didn't just say dry land. They'll just have to make dew on dry land. He makes beautiful trees. And on those trees, beautiful fruit. He makes beautiful rivers. He creates beautiful animals of all different designs and colors and all that kind of stuff. The sun is shining in and diffusing and reflecting through all of the trees and all of the rocks. There's gold and silver everywhere. Everything is just speaking volumes of God's care and God's love for Adam. And Adam is just embracing it. Says, you know, who are you? And then God kind of introduces himself, I'm your creator. I made this for you. Just the beauties of creation. And this was on Friday? SPEAKER C Friday, yes, on day six. SPEAKER D And it's interesting. How much did Adam contribute to this whole creation, the whole work of creation? SPEAKER C He became a living being or a living soul when God created him. But he had done absolutely nothing to contribute to the environment. SPEAKER D And so the environment then was a gift. SPEAKER C Yeah. SPEAKER D The garden was a gift. The trees were a gift. The mangoes were a gift. Everything was a gift. And he just happens to just be made at the very end of the Creation Week. And God says, I've made all of this for you. I've made it all for you. Animals start walking by and God says, what do you reckon we should name it? You see, making animals is very challenging. Naming them is quite easy. And so God says, I'll make the animals, but I'll let you name them. SPEAKER C Yes. Yeah. SPEAKER D And so Adam goes ahead and he names them and it's interesting. What was he noticing? SPEAKER C Well, there's a little curiosity starts popping up in his mind here because he notices as he's naming the animals, they come by two by two. There's a male and there's a female. And every different animal, a horse comes by. He calls it a horse. Chicken comes by, a rooster in the hen. And he says, There a goat come by, there's a he goat, she goat. And you see the same with a ram and the you. And he's seeing all these animals go by, and there's male and female, male and female. And then he notices that there is no one comparable to him, there is not a female compatible with him. So God then, after he's named all these animals, he's classified them, whatever we want to call it, given them each a label. He recognizes that there is something missing. As beautiful as the garden is, as beautiful as these animals are, and as beautiful as this work that he'd been given to do, as beautiful as that is, and as much as he enjoyed it, there's something that's a little bit missing. He notices that. And it's remarkable how God, before he even gives him Eve, gets him to notice his need of a companion. So just imagine when you've noticed there's something missing and then God supplies that need. I mean, how grateful would he have been? Now, the first time he opens his eyes, he looks up and he sees God, his creator, and he has this beautiful relationship with God. I imagine that part of his act, interaction with God there would have been to worship Him. That just would make most logical sense, a perfect being in a perfect environment with a perfect God who just created Him as an act of benevolence and love. But then what God does after he's named the animals, he's done a little bit of work. He goes, Adam, it's time for you just to have a nap. You've done a little bit of work, have a little sleep. But the sleep is for a purpose. So he then goes into a sleep. And whenever I read this story, it reminds me on YouTube, there's a clip of a man who'd gone in for surgery. Now, what had happened is when he came out of surgery, he was still under the influence of the anesthetics, so he actually had like, temporary amnesia. And he opens his eyes and there's a lady there with a video camera recording it. And he goes, who are you? And she goes, I'm your wife. He goes, really? You're my wife? He goes, I've hit the jackpot. You are gorgeous. He just can't believe that this woman actually would have said yes to him. And then he sort of closes his eyes and comes back again. You're really my wife. I can't believe this. You are just incredible. What a gift he is just over the moon. And I can imagine after Adam fell asleep, right, and he opened his eyes now a second time on that 6th day of creation, when he opens his eyes. Now, first time he opens his eyes, he sees God. And what an incredible sight that would have been. The second time he opens his eyes, he sees this incredible, gorgeous human being, his wife. God brings and gives him to her and he realizes, but she's actually come from me. She's flesh of my flesh and bone of my bone. God has taken that rib and fashioned it in something incredible. I don't know what our grand great great grandmother looked like, but she would have been a sight to behold. And I can imagine almost like this guy with the amnesia on the YouTube clip. Adam would have gone, wow, this is my wife. I saw my need and God has fulfilled my need. SPEAKER D It's interesting. So who made, you know, Jesus kneels down as the creator of heaven and earth and he designs Eve just like he designed Adam. Breathes into her the breath of life. He's thinking about what Adam needs and he's thinking of making a companion for him. He doesn't do a slap together job. He makes the crowning act of his creation. Eve brings them together. And what has Adam been doing the whole time? SPEAKER C Well, he set asleep at that point. Before that, he was just naming animals, which was really a breeze. I mean, that's not really a hard job, was it? SPEAKER D No, that's something that he could do. God gave him responsibility. God delegated to him some authority, as it were, to make those calls. And so God was creating even before he's in existence? SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Breathed into his nostrils the breath of life. He opened his eyes and he's actually his savior, but his creator at that particular point. SPEAKER C He hasn't sinned yet. Yes. SPEAKER D And then he stands up and he embraces it all. God puts him to rest, makes Eve, and then he opens his eyes and sees her. What a picture of grace is this. Unmerited. Undeserved. Have they done anything to deserve each other? Have they done anything to deserve Eden? Have they done anything to deserve life? Not at all. It is a gift from God to them. And what's the only appropriate response? SPEAKER C Gratitude and thanks and praise. Gratitude and worship. SPEAKER D Thanks, praise and worship. And just to embrace it, just to embrace this reality, which is just amazing. This is who God is. And as the sun begins to set, we love sunrises and sun sets. SPEAKER C Beautiful. SPEAKER D Just imagine the sunset on that first Friday night where they got to spend with God as well. And so, as the sun was setting that Friday evening marking the end of Creation Week, it marked the beginning of a brand new day. Yes, the evening and the morning marked the transition to this new day. And so, as the next morning when they woke up, they are in this day called the rest. It's interesting. In Genesis, chapter two, verse one, it says thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. And on the 7th day, God ended his work which he had done, and he rested. Which is the word Sabbath. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Often people don't realize when they talk about the Sabbath, the word actually means rest. And he rested He Sabbathed on the 7th day of the week from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the 7th day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. The first full day of life for them is a day where they get to rest in the presence of God. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And to worship. SPEAKER C And it says that God actually blesses the day because he had rest in it. So what happens is that first day is a full day of rest where God spends with Adam and Eve, and then it says there that he blessed it, he sanctified it and he hallowed it. So he made it holy and made it special. This first full day with God then becomes a memorial of that first time they spent with God, but also it becomes a memorial of God finishing all his work. Now, I just want to add something to here, because there's actually three steps to get to the Sabbath. If you look at the creation account, typically we look at the six days of creation plus the Sabbath. Then if you look at the first three days of Creation, day one corresponds with day four, day two corresponds with day five, and day three corresponds with day six. Because if we look at and I'm not going to unpack day two and five and three and six at this stage, because for time's sake. But day one, God actually said, let there be light, and then he separates the darkness from the light. But it's not until day four that he actually adds to that. And we can read in Genesis one, verse 14, that says, then God said, let there be lights in the firminant of the heavens to divide the day from the night. Now, God's already divided light and darkness in Genesis chapter one, verse verse three. And now we see that God is actually putting lights in the heavens and he divides the day from the night. And then it says, and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years. So this is where we get the demarcation of days and years and we get our seasons. But the word season there in the Hebrew is the word moed. Now, the word mohed actually can mean seasons, but it actually can mean quite a number of things. Matter of fact, it's translated 150 times in the King James as congregation, and it's also translated 23 times as feast, 13 times as season and appointments and solemn assemblies. So there's all these different translations. So what happens is we have light and darkness day one, we have the lights and the firmaments of heaven, which separates the day and the night. So the light and the darkness between day and night. But then it also says, God institutes these things for seasons or for a time to meet a sacred assembly. That's what the word moed means. Now, it's not until we get to the 7th day that that sacred assembly actually starts making more sense. God builds on it again. He builds from the first to the fourth and now to the 7th. And God then institutes the 7th day, the day would he arrest it after he'd finished all his work? Then he blesses it and sets it aside. But did God actually give this gift of the Sabbath to Adam and Eve? Or was it only given later to save the children of Israel at Mount Sinai? SPEAKER D Well, it's interesting, when God made this day, this 7th day, when nothing was done except for resting as the Word, there God Sabbath. He rested with his creation. This is before sin. This is the perfect ideal environment. So when God's like, what can I include? What's the ingredients to make a perfect world? The Sabbath was central to that because it was a time where they could come together and they could acknowledge and understand who he is and embrace who he is. Jesus, though, in the book of Mark, if we head there to Mark chapter two, jesus, as the one who was doing the creating back in Genesis, has the final say on all questions to do with the Sabbath. Verse 27 of Mark two, he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of man is also the Lord of the Sabbath. SPEAKER C Wow. SPEAKER D Do you want to tell us about what that word, the word man? What is that in the Greek? SPEAKER C Well, the word in Greek for man is anthropos. If you were to study humanity, they call that the study. They call it anthropology, don't they? SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C So the word anthropos actually refers to all of mankind. So when it says that the Sabbath was made for man, it doesn't say the Sabbath was made for the Jew. So when God made the Sabbath originally, we have to go back to the Garden of Eden, we've got to go back to creation and look at what God did there and the sequence in which God made it. Because what happened is, did the Sabbath exist before man? Not at all. The Sabbath didn't come until the end of the 7th day. After God had rested, he instituted the Sabbath. That's right, on that day. But when we look at day six, man was made. And after man was made, then the Sabbath was given to man. Man wasn't given to the Sabbath, because if the Sabbath had come first and then man, then you could say it could be the other way around. But very clearly, Jesus says that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. And then he goes on to take this name, this title headed refers himself all the time, the Son of man. This is referring to Christ in his humanity. Therefore, the Son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath. Now this title, Lord of the Sabbath, if someone had to ask you, just based on this text, which day is the Lord's day? Which day would you say, based on this text is the Lord's day? SPEAKER D Would it be the Sabbath that was kept by the Jews right back to Sinai and right back to creation? SPEAKER C Yeah. The Lord's day is the Sabbath. Now, if we go to Exodus, Chapter 20, which is the commandment that was given to Israel, all right, people always say it's only to Israel, right, where they are told to remember the Sabbath day. That's not a new commandment, is it? When I tell you to remember something, did it exist prior to me telling you? SPEAKER D That's correct. SPEAKER C It has to exist prior to me telling you, remember the Sabbath day. So it's not god says, okay, from now onwards, you are to keep the Sabbath. Because there are some people who actually say, look, the Sabbath was only given to Israel, and if it was given at Mount Sinai in Exodus 20 to Israel, only God would not have said, Remember? Remember what? Well, it's not the first time I've told you it actually comes from the creation. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Then it says six days. So it actually means it's the whole creation there. Six days you shall labor. So 123456. So from what we call Sunday right through to Friday, six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the 7th day is the Sabbath of who? It's the Sabbath day of the Lord your God. So if someone wants to ask me what day belongs to the Lord your God, you'll have to say the 7th day Sabbath. The Old Testament says that. And then if we go to Mark, chapter two, verse 28, jesus says, therefore the Son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. So in other words, when he says Son of Man's, Lord of the Sabbath, speaking of himself, it must be telling us also that the God who said the 7th day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God is the same person now in human form who can also claim to be the Lord of the Sabbath. The Lord's day is the 7th day Sabbath. Now, there's some people who claim that the first day of the week, which we now call Sunday is the Lord's day, but it's not based on any text in Scripture. Matter of fact, dear listener, if you can find it in your Bible, I'm talking about the King James or the new King James, because there are some translations who've taken liberties. There's about five modern translations who've taken liberties and called the Lord's day in Revelation, chapter one, Sunday, which is not biblical. If you can take a King James or new King James Bible, a reliable source and show me from it that that Sunday is the Lord's day, give you $10,000 so you can contact us and get $10,000 if you can find that text. It's very clear from Scripture that the Lord's day is the Sabbath, both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. Now, where does the term Lord's Day then come from? Well, it only comes from tradition, church tradition. Over a period of time, the church when it apostatized, it fell. You know, Paul talks about the apostasy, the falling away, the Son of perdition. That falling away is when a lot of traditions were actually introduced into the Christian church. And as a result of that, over many centuries, they then started calling Sunday the Lord's Day. But in the Bible, you can find no such thing. Matter of fact, when you look at the Scriptures, if you look at the Bible, there's places where Jesus actually speaks against some of these things that have come into the church even in his day. And we can read there in Matthew chapter 15, he says there, thus you have made the commandments of God of no effect by your tradition. In other words, you undermine the commandments of God by your human traditions. And then he talks about these people who draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far removed from me. Now remember, we've spoken the previous program about circumcision and uncircumcision, and our circumcision was supposed to represent something it's an external sign, but to represent something internal, which was the circumcision of the heart, where god was transformed and changed their hearts. And the Sabbath, as we spoke about previously, the Sabbath is a sign that it is God, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, who makes us holy. SPEAKER D It's interesting, the Devil has drawn a target on anything that reminds us that we are to depend upon God completely and solely. He perverted the right or the seal or the sign of circumcision. And he's also trying to do it to the Sabbath as well, so that people think that they either need to abandon it or need to keep it in order to be saved, like trying to earn God's favor in some way. But as you've just pointed out, the Sabbath is the whole purpose of the Sabbath is to remind us to depend completely, 100% in God, because he is the One who makes us holy. Now, it's very interesting. We've looked at 123456 days of creation, and God did all the work. He created everything. He created Adam, he created Eve. He brought them together. He is the worker. And on the Sabbath day, the 7th day of the week, they rested together in what God had accomplished for them. They got to experience the benefits of what He Himself had done. Now, Jesus, as The Creator, had something in his mind. He knew that Adam and Eve would be unfaithful to Him. And in his mind, he knew what it would cost Him. And as the Creator, he made a pledge. He'd made that pledge for eternity past. He made a pledge that he would come and save humanity. Now, the Creator becomes the recreator, the Creator becomes the Savior, and he comes to this planet. And it's so interesting. As Jesus is nearing his death in John chapter 17, and we're looking at verse four, this is his final prayer to His Father. He says, I have glorified you on the Earth. I have finished the work which you have given me to do. And he says, and now, Father, glorify me together with yourself, with the glory that we had before the world was. So Jesus says, I've come to this planet to accomplish a work, Father. You've given me the work. The work is to save human beings. Yes, to save human beings. And as we jump over the page to chapter 19 of John, and we look at verse 30, there. Is it verse 30? That's right. So when Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, It is finished. What was finished? SPEAKER C Well, the work that His Father had come and given Him to do. As we just look at John chapter 17 and verse four. SPEAKER D That's exactly right. And what day was this? SPEAKER C This was the 6th day. SPEAKER D This was the 6th day, which is Friday. So fascinating. Friday afternoon, the Creator hangs upon the cross and he says, It's finished. Just as he had at the end of the 6th day in Creation, said, I'm done, now I'm going to rest it is finished. I've finished creation and now I rest on the Sabbath. Yes, here the Creator God is strung up on the cross and he cries out it is finished. I've accomplished salvation for humanity. And what does he do on the Sabbath? SPEAKER C Well, he rests. But he rests in the tomb, doesn't he? SPEAKER D He rests in the tomb because of they completed work. Because he completed it. SPEAKER C Wow, that is powerful. And we can look at all the Gospels who talk about what happened on the Sabbath day and what happened on the first day of the week. And I just want to go to that text in Luke chapter 23 where it talks about the Preparation Day. And that Preparation Day is what we now call Friday. It's the 6th day, preparation day for the Sabbath. And we are Luke chapter 23, verse 54 and says that day was the Preparation Day and the Sabbath drew near. And the woman who had come to Him from Galilee followed after and they observed the tomb and how his body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils and they rested on the Sabbath according to the Commandment. And then in verse 24, verse verse one, it says and on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. So we can see very clear that Jesus died on the Friday after he said it is finished accomplishing the work, all the work that the Father had given Him to do. Then they put Him in the tomb. He rested on the Sabbath day and so did his believers and the followers and the woman who had prepared the spices. It says they rested on the Sabbath according to the Commandments. And when the Sabbath was over very early, that first dawning of the first day of the week with the sun rising, then they came to the tomb there. So it's very clear now, I'm just. SPEAKER D Looking at our time, we've had so much fun presenting on this topic. We might have to make this a part three because we haven't actually answered our original topic, which is unfaithfully keeping the Sabbath. We've had another wonderful presentation together. We have learned that Jesus is the Creator and that he does all the work. And the appropriate response which the Sabbath commemorates is that we respond to that and we say, okay, I embrace everything you've done. Jesus comes as the Savior, he dies on the Friday, completes the work of salvation and then rests. And he invites us into his accomplished work of salvation. SPEAKER C Amen. SPEAKER D So how in the world could we unfaithfully keep the Sabbath? What was to be a two part series turns out to be a three part series where we will go into this. It's always exciting to explore God's word. SPEAKER C Amen. SPEAKER D It's going to be fun to take it one step. Further to answer this question and we. SPEAKER C Look forward to that. And dear listener, we pray that you will also catch up with us next time when we look at part three of this topic unfaithfully keeping the Sabbath. Until we meet again, may God bless you and keep you. SPEAKER B Thank you for joining us on Faith. To Faith. If you would like more information about today's program or if you have any questions, please contact 3ABN Australia Radio by Phoning. 02 4973 3456. Or you can send an email to [email protected] You can also contact us on our 3ABN Australia radio Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you.