Unfaithfully Keeping the Sabbath pt 3

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 again today. We're always pleased to have your company. And as we start part three of this program, it's called Unfaithfully Keeping the Sabbath. We just want to ask God to bless it. So just bow your heads with us in prayer. Please. Gracious Father in Heaven, we just dedicate ourselves and this program to you. We just ask to guide and lead us in our study. We thank you for the freedoms we can experience in this country. But Father, this program goes around the world via the Internet. And there may be people who are not experiencing the religious freedoms that we experience in Australia and New Zealand. And we just pray for a special blessing upon them. And we pray also Father, that your spirit will be poured out on them to give them strength and the ability to remain faithful come what may. And Father, now as we open your word and we look further to this beautiful truth regarding the Sabbath, we just pray for illumination of your Spirit to help us understand these beautiful truths and see what this rest really means as we receive it through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. This is our prayer in his name. Amen. SPEAKER D Amen. SPEAKER C Now, last time we were looking at the program, we actually spoke about Jesus'death on the cross. And we know that Jesus, after he had said it is finished. He had actually completed the work that his Father had given him to do. And the Bible tells us that he was delivered because of our offenses. So then we read in Luke, chapter 23, and we read there verse 54, that it was actually the preparation day and the Sabbath drew near, that the Preparation day is just the day before the Sabbath. It's the 6th day. And it says, and the woman who had come with him from Galilee followed after, and they observed the tomb and how his body was laid. So this is still on the Preparation day on the 6th day on what we call Friday, it says, and then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. So they did this prior to the Sabbath. But when the sun went down, it says they and they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. So these people were Sabbath keepers, they rested according to the commandment. And it's easy for us to say, oh yeah, but the Jews just did that. But Jesus rested in the tomb as well, and so that they now, if there was a change in the Sabbath, would the change in the Sabbath have to be made before Christ's death, or can it be made after Christ's death? That is the question, because quite often people saying that the resurrection Sunday, the first day of the week, the resurrection Sunday, has actually changed the Sabbath. It's no longer the 7th day Sabbath. We now observe what they refer to as the Lord's day. And we have unpacked it in previous programs, showing very clearly that the Lord's day is the 7th day of the Lord thy God. And Jesus says he is Lord of. SPEAKER D The Sabbath, because Jesus is the only one who can change it. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D If Jesus as the Creator established it in the beginning, he's the only one who has the authority to change it. The Bible says that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath, and so obviously it has to be before he dies. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D That if he's going to make any changes to this, especially because he's about to usher in and ratify with his own blood the new covenant. SPEAKER C Amen. That's right. Now, there's the text in the book of Hebrews. I love the book of Hebrews so much because it focuses so much on what Jesus has done and what he is doing at the moment. What he's doing for us now as our high priestess, our mediator between God and man, and how he perfects even our prayers, which may be faulty and effective. He perfects it and then presents it before God faultless. Now, in Hebrews, chapter nine, talking about the covenant, a new covenant, it says in verse 16, for where there is a testament, the word testament, there is the same word for covenants. For where there is a covenant or a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. Now, who is the testator we're talking about here in regards to the new covenant? SPEAKER D That'd be Jesus. SPEAKER C It's Jesus. Jesus said to them when he instituted the supper during that Passover feast, he said, this is my blood of the new covenant, or some translations say of the New Testament, right. So where there is a testament, there must also necessity be the death of the testator. Jesus is the testator. And then it says for a testament is in force after men are dead. In other words, if you write a last will in testament that is not in force until after your death, you. SPEAKER D Can change it before you die, you. SPEAKER C Can change it many times if you want to, you can keep on changing it, but once you've died, it cannot be changed. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C Some people might try, they might take it to court on that. But the will of the person who's died, that is their last will in Testament and is supposed to be honored and respected. Now, I want to add another text to that, and that comes from the Book of Galatians where Paul actually talks about this topic as well. And we in Galatians chapter three and verse 15 where Paul says, brethren, now he's talking to the sisters as well. Brethren and sisters, I speak in the manner of men. Though it is only a man's covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. So how was the new covenant confirmed? Through the death of Christ? That was the blood that actually confirmed it. Jesus said, this is my blood of the new covenant or the New Testament. Now, when the old covenant was made with Israel, there was also bloodshed there. That was the blood of animals and. SPEAKER D Sprinkled on the people. SPEAKER C Sprinkled on the people and said, this is the blood of the covenant. Right? This is the covenant that God made with them when the Ten Commandments was given at Mount Sinai. So we can see here, looking at that, that if there was to be a change in regards to the covenant, the law written in our hearts and our mind, or a change in the law. So we're not talking about the ceremonial law now or the law pertaining to the earthly sanctuary, because that law definitely was changed because we have a new high priest and only the Levites could work in that sanctuary. The new sanctuary, of course, is not the Levitical priesthood, but the Melchizedekian. Did I say that right? SPEAKER D Pretty good. SPEAKER C The high priestly ministry according to the order of Melchizedek, right? That is the superior high priestly ministry. That is the change of the Law. It's gone from the Levitical to the Melchizedekian priesthood. So in regards to the Law, if there was going to be any change regarding the Ten Commandments and regarding the worship day, the fourth Commandment, that had to have taken place before Jesus died. So we're very clear from these two Scriptures looking at Galatians, Chapter Three, Verse 15, and Also Hebrews Chapter Nine, Verse 16 and 17, that there was no change because the ladies who were there to go and put the spices and anoint Jesus body. They still kept the 7th day and rested on it according to the commandment. SPEAKER D And so did all of the apostles through the book of Acts. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D Says they rested on the Sabbath. They went to the synagogue on the Sabbath, as was their custom. They kept doing it. SPEAKER C They kept doing it. SPEAKER D That's interesting what you read there. It says even though it's a man's covenant after it's enforced, so after the person dies, people respect it. You don't go changing it. Like how disrespectful. Like if Grandfather Bob passes away and he's got his will and then all of his friends just start rewriting his will and changing it. It is so disrespectful to the desires because that's what a will is. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D It's the desires of a person after they die. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D It's how they want their they write. SPEAKER C Their being of sound mind. So they still write that in to say, this is My will. I am clear in what I want, so please respect it. SPEAKER D That's right. And so rather than coming to this world to change the law of God, the Bible actually says that Jesus came to magnify the law and make it honorable. SPEAKER C Honorable. That's right. SPEAKER D Jesus said, don't think that I came to destroy the law. I did not come to destroy it, but to fulfill it or to make it more full and to basically show the meaning of it. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And so he uncluttered and magnified the Law. So he said, You've heard that you shouldn't kill people. Thou shalt not kill. He says, I'm going to take it a step further. Don't hate people. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D He says, You've heard what the commandments say, don't commit adultery. He says, I'll take it a step further. Don't lust. SPEAKER C Yeah. Don't look at a woman to lust for her. SPEAKER D So he's getting right down to the very heart of the matter, and he's calling people to a much higher standard. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D He's calling people higher. He says, I want you to be someone who in your innermost soul is true and honest. And he's calling people to follow him. He's calling them to forsake their sins and to be baptized with the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that he would baptize people with the Holy Spirit and with fire, and then as he dies and pays the penalty of our sins and receives into Himself all of our guilt and takes it to the grave, there's no discussion whatsoever of Him changing the beautiful law of God. There's no discussion whatsoever. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And what we've been studying so far in this series on the Sabbath is there's very good reason why he wouldn't change it because the first day of the week, or what we call Sunday was a working day for God. SPEAKER C That's right. Just like the other six. SPEAKER D It's just like the other six. It was just like a Wednesday. Friday 123456 these were working days where God did something. The 7th day is the rest day of the Lord. Yes, the rest day of the Lord. It's the Sabbath of the Lord. And he has always invited his people from the days of creation right down through history to rest with Him on that day. What we're getting to now is this significance of that day. For Jesus, every day of the week is not equal. There's one day that commemorates everything that he has done for this planet, and he is wanting to draw our attention to the fact that he has accomplished not only creation for us, but also eternal salvation. And redemption. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D And it's on that day that we remember that what it was like to be Adam and Eve. They were gifted we looked in our last presentation, they were gifted life, they were gifted the garden of pleasure, they were gifted relationship, they were gifted the beauties untold in the garden. Then Jesus comes to rescue this planet. He works. And on the Friday the 6th day, he says, I've finished the work that you've given me to do. I've completed the work of salvation. And then he dies and rests on the Sabbath. And little did the women know that day when they kept the Sabbath. Little did they know that God had done everything that was necessary for them to be saved. SPEAKER C Wow. SPEAKER D He'd died the death that they deserve. He'd lived the life that they should have lived and he was willing to give them free. A brand new heart, a brand new mind in this experience is life changing. Now, I want to take you to the book of Psalms yes. Because the Psalms with King David writing so much of it, he was someone who experienced God's recreative power. In, in Psalm 51, for example, he's kind of just grieving before God because he's just sinned in taking a man's wife and then murdering that man to cover it up. Yes, he grieves and he says, I've sinned against you, God. And he says, God, what I want you to do, please create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and uphold me, lift me up. That's what his prayer was. And this is the experience that he had. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Now we jump now to Psalm 131. And as we were talking about this verse before we were recording this presentation, it was such a blessing to see the message that came out from here. David, someone who had made so many failures, experienced the recreating power of God, and this is the result. So Psalm 131 and verse two. David says, surely I have calmed and quieted my soul like a wean child with with his mother like a wean child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever beautiful. SPEAKER C Now, I'm looking at the two Sabbaths we hadn't discussed before, the very first Sabbath, where God created Adam and Eve, and it's perfect. God says it's very good. And they have that beautiful relationship with the Lord. No fear, no anxiety, no sin, just perfect righteousness, perfect bliss, perfect happiness and perfect enjoyment in the presence of God. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C Well, God their creator. Then we have the woman at the cross. They want to embalm Jesus, but they can't because the Sabbath's drawing eye. They have a sorrowful, terrible time. Worried, anxious, the disciples are hiding for fear in the upper room. It is a very different Sabbath. But then we know that the resurrection is coming. And after that, all their sorrows, all their sadness, all their fears are turned into joy and actually become bold proclaimers of the resurrected Christ. Now, this story we see here is one that's not one of fear, but it's one of calmness. It is something that is very profound, but this is almost a restoration of what was lost through sin with Adam and Eve. It's getting back to that state of relationship with the Lord. SPEAKER D I love that you've brought that out because Adam and Eve on that first Sabbath, this is a picture of what it would have been like for them. Like a weaned child with the mother. You've seen little children. We were there one time in our lives. SPEAKER C It's true. SPEAKER D You see little children just snuggling up to mum, just snuggling up and just embracing this relationship, disconnection this bond, because that little child where did that child come from? It was the mother who bore that child, carried it. Nourished, it it was the mother who gave birth to that child. It's the mother who fed that child. It's the mother who provided for and would be willing to give her own life for that child. And that little child, very appropriately snuggles up to that mom and just embraces the love that that mother has. That child doesn't know as much as the mother. The child recognizes that its whole existence comes from this mom and that the child needs the mother. And that child just snuggles in close and embraces the mother. And just for us to picture that right now, a mother and a child, the little child just embracing the one who gave it life, that's where David came to in his relationship with God. He says, I'm unashamed to say this, he said I'm like a weaned child with its mother. That's me and God. SPEAKER C Wow. SPEAKER D Like a weaned child just snuggling up close together. SPEAKER C So there's a calmness and a quietness with that connection, that relationship and that trust in God. And just like a baby, a child is now being weaned from his mum. He's starting to grow. SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C He still has that intimate connection with his mum, whom he came from. And we from our Creator's hand in the same way, and from our redeemer's hand in the same way, can also have that confiding trust and also that rest in Christ Jesus, our Lord. SPEAKER D It's interesting that the instinctive desire of a little child and a mother to be bonded together where does a child go when it gets scared, wants to run to mum. SPEAKER C That's right. SPEAKER D It's interesting. That child is not with its mum because it has to be, because there's no other option. And it just has to just put up with it until it can run away from mum. A little child doesn't need to be dragged, clipped to its mum. SPEAKER C No it wants to know nothing else, especially if something has happened. SPEAKER D If something's happening, all the child wants to do is to go to mum and all the child wants to do. SPEAKER C Is to that's where the comfort is. That's where the comfort is, that's where the security is. SPEAKER D This point just once again, you don't have to force a little child to hug and to embrace its mother. You don't have to force them. The child's not there by obligation. The child wants to be close to its mother. The child recognizes how much it needs its mother. And then after saying that he's like a wean child with its mother, he says, like a weane child is my soul within me. He says, O Israel. He's speaking to the people. O Israel, hope, or another word is trust. SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D Put faith in, put confidence in o Israel, hope in the Lord from this time forth and forever. David effectively says, people of Israel, it is my prayer that you have this kind of a relationship with God. You don't come to Him out of obligation. You don't come to Him because you have to and there's no other option. You come to Him because you acknowledge that it is he who gave you life. It is he who would be willing to give his life for you. It is he who has nourished you, provided for you and is willing to have an intimate, close relationship with you. SPEAKER C I just love the word picture you painted there and connecting it back to mature people. Now, with God as a child is a wind child is with his mother. Now, is this available to all of us, this kind of relationship and this kind of trust? SPEAKER D Absolutely it is. Absolutely. And the Devil is trying to rob us of this experience. He would have us have a very surface kind of a relationship out of compulsion. You tick the boxes. And this topic is called unfaithfully. Keeping the Sabbath. SPEAKER C Right. SPEAKER D Now, based on what we've looked at so far, if someone was to just do the essential basics and keep the Sabbath and not work and do different things, but not be like this little child, embracing and depending upon the Father and just depending upon God and just embracing this reality and fully depending upon God, are they truly keeping the Sabbath? SPEAKER C That is a good question and that's what we want to unpack in the next few remaining minutes. So is there something that would stop us from entering into this rest that God offers us? That's the question. SPEAKER D That's the question. So I'm going to take us to a verse now, Romans chapter 14, and just the final part of Romans chapter 14 and verse 23, it says, for whatever is not from faith is sin, whatever is not from faith is sin. And so we've got this title unfaithfully keeping the Sabbath. If we enter into that Sabbath time without an attitude of complete dependence, and trust and embrace of everything that God has done. SPEAKER C So are you talking about distrust now? SPEAKER D That's right. SPEAKER C Unbelief. SPEAKER D So if we do not have that intimate trust and full, complete dependence upon God, that's what faith is? SPEAKER C Yes. SPEAKER D If we do not have that as we enter into the Sabbath, the Bible actually calls it sin. SPEAKER C Well, so you might be wanting to say keep the Commandments, the Ten Commandments, and you want to give a tick at the end of the 7th day and said, I've kept the Sabbath. But if you have not done it through faith, you're actually not keeping the Commandments, because we believe that sin is the transgression of the Law, the Fourth Commandment obviously being one of the Ten. And if you outwardly have kept it right so you've not done any work in it. You your man servant and so on and everything else that goes with it. However, you have not entered into it by faith. You're actually doing the opposite of what you are claiming to do. SPEAKER D That's exactly right. SPEAKER C So unbelief will actually undo the rest that God offers each one of us. SPEAKER D It's interesting, faith is the rest. Because faith is dependence and trust. Yes, because it's actually a very precarious thing to put your confidence in someone who's not going to come through for you, like putting our trust in someone. Can you be here? Can you deliver the so and so? And they just don't turn up. That's a cause for anxiety. But when there is someone who has proved himself over and over again that he is willing to go to the absolute nth degree to keep his promises, what greater place of rest than putting trust in someone who is completely faithful? So our faith is simply putting trust in the one who is faithful. And once we embrace God as the one who created us, adam and Eve didn't contribute to that. They simply embraced you are my Creator, I am your creation, and that's good enough for me. They then enjoyed the blessing that came from his creation. They enjoyed the mangoes. They were blessed in that. And then also Jesus as the Savior, the recreator. When we embrace that reality that Jesus has saved me completely and nothing that I can do can make Him love me more or love me less and fully embrace that, that there. We're in a place where we can truly faithfully keep the Sabbath, putting complete confidence in everything that God has done. Otherwise we're just taking an RDO on what happens to be the Saturday or the Sabbath. We're just having a random day off, a registered day off. Anyone can do that. There's some people whose work schedules have Saturday off. Are they keeping the Sabbath? SPEAKER C No, not at all. SPEAKER D Keeping the Sabbath is embracing what Jesus has done and resting in that knowledge and being like David, like a weaned child with its mother, coming close to God. Not because you have to, but because you just can't help it, you want to. SPEAKER C That's right. That's beautiful. I like how you unpack that. Now, it's interesting, when God actually took the children of Israel out of Egypt, he was offering them rest as well. And then he told them in the fourth Commandment there to remember the Sabbath day. Now, we've already unpacked that that the Sabbath was already in existence because you can't remember something that doesn't exist or hasn't been there previously remember the Sabbath day. But then it talks about this faith promise and how faith is how we enter into the rest of God is through faith. And it says there that God had offered them rest and they couldn't enter into this rest because of unbelief. And we find that text in Hebrews chapter three and verse 19, so talking about the rest and that God said that because of their unbelief they couldn't enter his rest because they didn't obey. It says there in verse 19 so we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. Now, unbelief produces what sin. What is not of faith is sin. And if we just go further down in Hebrews chapter four and verse six, it says since therefore it remains that some must enter, it enter that that is the rest of God. And those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience. We see that they couldn't enter because of unbelief. In Hebrews chapter three, verse 19. Now, in Hebrews chapter four and verse six, we are told that they could not enter because of disobedience, because the faith component brings salvation, it brings obedience, unbelief brings disobedience. And as we work through that, it said there that if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not afterwards that's God would not have afterwards have spoken of another day. So it says, there remains therefore a rest for the people of God, for he who has entered his rest, that is, the rest of God, has Himself also ceased from his works as God did from his. Now, when did God rest from his works? On the 7th day, as we discussed previously. SPEAKER D That's so interesting, the whole idea of entering into his rest, jesus has accomplished everything for us, and we get to enter into and benefit from and rest in everything that he has accomplished for us, which is such a wonderful, wonderful hope that we have set before us. SPEAKER C Absolutely. Now, the thing is, there, if we look at Hebrews chapter four and verse four, just to connect it back to the Sabbath, it says for he has spoken in a certain place of the 7th day in this way, and God rested on the 7th day from all his works. And again in this place they shall not enter my rest, since therefore it remains as some must enter it. And those to whom it was first preached did not enter in because of disobedience. Again he designate a certain day, saying in David today, after such a long time. So then it talks about Joshua not giving them rest. And then it says therefore, since there remains a rest for the people of God, that word rest, there is Sabatismo rest for the people of God. And he was entered into that rest has himself ceased from his works. SPEAKER D In Matthew, chapter 15, jesus speaking. He's quoting a prophecy from Isaiah. He says, These people draw near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. And in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. The key issue here is that their hearts, which is I guess, a synonym for trust in intimacy and that love, their hearts were far from me. And that is what the devil achieved through tempting Adam and Eve. Their hearts were far from God. But the Sabbath is all about bringing about the opposite, us coming to the place where our hearts are drawn to God like a weaned child with its mother, where we put complete trust and dependence upon God. Not just honoring God with our lips, not just saying it, not just going along with it externally, but having an internal experience. And just like Jesus says, come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. SPEAKER C Beautiful. That is a wonderful text. And dear listener, we pray that you would also by faith enter to that rest that God offers us, all who are labored and are heavy laden, and Jesus has promised that he will give us rest. Thank you for joining us on the program Faith to Faith today. Thank you for being part of part three of this program unfaithfully keeping the Sabbath. May God continue to bless you, and may you continue day by day to enter into his rest, of which the 7th day Sabbath is a sign that God is the one that makes us holy. Until next time, god bless. 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.