Rest & Reverence

Rest and Reverence Today's lesson is over the Sabbath. We will be learning about something that I love. I have seen more and more discussion about this over the past few years. So I wanted to answer a few questions that you may have. It is one of the greatest demonstrators of your faith. An outward action for the inward commitment to Christ. Similar to Baptism. It is a great example of our "fruit" and showing that example to a broken world. -kirk Give and example of how honoring God in this way has provided a change in my life and ministry opportunities What is the Sabbath? When/Where did it start? The word Sabbath originates from the Hebrew word Shabbat, meaning "to cease", "stop", or "rest". The first example we have is at creation. Genesis 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. God elevates the 7th day and makes it Holy. He rested not because he was tired, He rested as in ceasing his work and took time to enjoy all he had created. He was satisfied. It is a special day because it signals that God's creation is finished. *This does not give any command to man. It's set aside as a memorial to God's creation made in perfection. There is no mention of this being law or a command to worship on this day or have any ordinances. The first time the word Sabbath is used in the Bible is: Describe events leading up to it. Exodus 16:22-23 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much-two omers[a] for each person-and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: 'Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.'" Tell the story of the Hebrews in the wilderness grumbling to God. Quail and Manna. Learning to follow God' example of the Sabbath. Learning to rely on the Rest and Provision of God. It foreshadows or what's coming in Chapt. 20 The 4th commandment-This is the first time we have any commandment or instructions associated with the sabbath. Exodus 20:8-11 Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 31:12-17 12 Then the LORD said to Moses, 13 "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a SIGN between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy. 14 "'Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is to be put to death; those who do any work on that day must be cut off from their people. 15 For six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day is to be put to death. 16 Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. 17 It is a SIGN forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'" Remember, that Moses was not up on Mt. Sinai for a quick tablet writing like in the Charlton Heston Movie. He went up there many times. He was up there sometimes for 40 Days! In this section of scripture, God is instructing him on how to make everything needed for the Tabernacle and even the people and workers that will make everything. The Craftsman. He reminds him of the Sabbath and tells him that it is a SIGN of their covenant. The rainbow was a SIGN of the Noahic covenant. Circumsission was a SIGN of the Abrahamic covenant. Sabbath was a SIGN of the Mosaic Covenant And observing the sabbath without being Reverent to God as the creator, without humbling your heart in Piety to the King of Kings, was a disgrace. No matter how many rituals were added. No matter how showy you made the event. It was about finding rest in the Lord on the Day he made holy. We see this in Isaiah 1:11-15 11 "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? says the LORD; I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats. 12 "When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts? 13 Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me. New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly. 14 Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them. 15 When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood. The stiffneck, wickedness of Judah Isaiah 58:13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in the LORD, and I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob." For the mouth of the LORD has spoken. Return to honoring what God made holy and Find Joy in the LORD on the Sabbath. Not in other things. Not in your toil, not in your success, not in your fame and fortune..Wordly things. True spiritual rest and refreshment is only in God. The word sabbath or shabbat was used 100 times in the Old Testament Lets see some examples in the New Testament John 5:1-18 the healing at the pool of Bethesda Mark 8 Now that day was the Sabbath. 10 So the Jews said to the man who had been healed, "It is the Sabbath, and it is not lawful for you to take up your bed." 11 But he answered them, "The man who healed me, that man said to me, 'Take up your bed, and walk.'" 12 They asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" 13 Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, as there was a crowd in the place. 14 Afterward Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, "See, you are well! Sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." 15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had healed him. 16 And this was why the Jews were persecuting Jesus, because he was doing these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father is working until now, and I am working. 18 This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God. Why did Jesus break the Sabbath and even tell the healed man to break the Sabbath by picking up his mat? Matthew 12 :1-8, the same story in Mark 2 and Luke 6 12 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, "Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." 3 He said to them, "Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5 Or have you not read in the Law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 6 I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 7 And if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. 8 For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath." Mark 2:27 27 And he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath Why is Jesus saying this? The sabbath was not meant to be a burden that men had to conform to, the sabbath was meant to be a delight for men to enjoy. The jews added burden to the sabbath There was no law in the old testament against what they did. It went against all the extra stuff that man added to be a religious burden on the Sabbath. The pharasis were strict sabbath keepers. They followed the old covenant and embellishments to the letter. And yet, they missed the WHOLE point of the Sabbath! They found no rest from their endless "Works" to get salvation. The Rabbinic Tradition has 39 categories of forbidden activities in the Mishnah! The Sabbath in the Bible is the last day of the week. Saturday. It was a Holy day set apart by God for us to find rest. Restoration and refreshing of our spirits in Him. To commemorate all that he has created and provided for us. So why do we meet on Sundays? Across the world Churches meet on Sunday. Even small, hidden, persecuted churches, in counties that are against God, still meet on Sundays. Why? What changed?????? Because everything changed with Jesus and The New Covenant. The resurrection covenant of grace through faith in Jesus Christ! This is often called the Lord's Day So what is the Lord's Day? It's a day when we celebrate our Salvation Revelations 1:10 John says "I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day". There is no further explanation. This is at the end of the first century. A quick internet search and you can see numerous accounts of people using the term Lords Day starting in the early 2nd century. It was always the first day of the week. The day following the Sabbath. It was the day that Believers in Christ, Christians, in the early church always met and honored the Lord. Our savior. March 7, 321 AD Roman Emperor Constantine passed a national Sunday law. It limited work that was done on Sundays. Some see it as a mixing christian faith and paganism, but most see the significance as solidifying Sunday as the primary day of worship.Some see this as a conspiracy and say that worshiping on Sundays is a pagan act. LOL.Come on. The internet is full of wonderful information. The fact is that it was already happening since the day of Resurrection! Here in this country, we used to honor Sundays a great deal more. How everything was closed down on Sundays in reverence for the day. How we compromised just a little and now most things on Sunday are just like Saturday. Acts 20:7-12 An example of the early Church meeting on the First Day. This was well into the ministry of Paul. Years after Christ. There was no command to meet but they were doing it. It was already customary. This is funny story of Sunday Worship It is also a great example of people's hunger for teaching of the gospel. It wasn't our 1 hour service. The new covenant focuses on Christ as our Savior. Christ rose at Dawn on Sunday Morning. We just celebrated this. Resurrection Sunday! Matthew 28. Luke 23-24. We also see the transition from the day of Sabbath to the Day of Resurrection in all 4 gospels. The first Sunday Resurrection Jesus appears Jesus is worshipped Jesus appears on the road and gives a sermon Jesus appears to the apostles and another sermon Second Sunday he comes back to the disciples and talks with doubting Thomas Then Act 2 the Holy Spirit comes upon the disciples on the day of Pentecost. Which was a Sunday. 50 days after the sabbath When did the sabbath change from Saturday to Sunday? The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith (Chapter 22). It declares that after Christ's resurrection, the Sabbath was changed from the last day of the week to the first day, thereafter known as the "Lord's Day" or "Christian Sabbath" Christians are to make Sunday the new Sabbath and generally follow the prescriptions and limitations of the old sabbath. So where is the scripture that says that is okay?????????????? There isn't any. So under what authority did this group of men change God's decision to make the 7th day, the Sabbath, Holy and set apart??????????? They did NOT have the authority. The Sabbath is NOT Sunday. We don't have any new testament commands regarding the first day of the week. We just have the very obvious fact that God filled that day with the most significant events in the founding of the church. Namely the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the arrival of the Holy Spirit of God!!! The events of the resurrection and the birth of the church, and the empowerment of the church. the completion of salvation, the coming of the Holy Spirit. These glorious foundational realities that are at the very heart of redemption. These are the realities that replaced the sabbath. The sabbath was made to remember the Creator and the First day (Sunday) was made to remember our redeemer. The Debate-So should we as Christians be bound to the Sabbath? Many argue that the Sabbath was done away with Jesus and we are not bound by that old Covenant. Instead, we celebrate, The Lords Day- Sunday. The sabbath was given in the time of Moses and abrogated in the time of Christ For Keeping the Sabbath: John 14:15 "If you love me, you will keep my commandments. Exodus 16 Example of the Sabbath before Moses received the written commandments. Isaiah 56 is an example of God telling Gentiles to keep the sabbath Isaiah 58:13 Find Joy in the Lord Matthew 5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For not Keeping the Sabbath: Galatians 4:8-11 8 Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. 9 But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more? 10 You observe days and months and seasons and years! 11 I am afraid I may have labored over you in vain. Days and months and seasons and years were all part of the ceremonial laws of Mosaic Covenant. To require Christians to follow such OT laws is to forfeit the gospel of justification by faith alone, in Christ Alone. This also clearly implies that Christians are no longer under the Mosaic Covenant. Some see this verse as evidence that the Jewish seventh-day Sabbath commandment was also part of the ceremonial law that Christians, under the new covenant, no longer need to follow. Others believe that the weekly Sabbath command is not temporary but goes back to God's pattern in creation. Hebrews 8:6-7,13 6 But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second ... .13 In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away. **Ephesians 2:13-16 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. He is our peace and abolished the law of commandment expressed in ordinances Under the new covenant. The Sabbath has been abragated. Christians are not obligated to observe the Passover, circumcise their male children, keep a kosher diet, appear before Yahweh three times a year in the holy city, and celebrate the new moons of the Sabbath. These things are all types and shadows of things to come. All things changed with Jesus. Jesus is the fulfillment!! Colossians 2:13-17 13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him. 16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. let no one judge you by... It feels as thought this scripture does not do away with anything, but rather is for judgment against fellow believers. If you have a spiritual conviction to a certain day (not worldly guilt) then you should do what the spirit tells you to do and not look down on your brethren that live in the freedom that Jesus provides. Romans 14:1-9!! Don't make an issue out of the Sabbath. This is not a Salvation Issue! 1 As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. 2 One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables. 3 Let not the one who eats despise the one who abstains, and let not the one who abstains pass judgment on the one who eats, for God has welcomed him. 4 Who are you to pass judgment on the servant of another? It is before his own master[a] that he stands or falls. And he will be upheld, for the Lord is able to make him stand.5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 The one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord. The one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord, since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. 7 For none of us lives to himself, and none of us dies to himself. 8 For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. 9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. -There is not a single commandment in the new testament about keeping the sabbath James 1 and 2: Mercy triumphs of judgment. The perfect law, the law of liberty This topic has been a source of debate for thousands of years! Men, who are much smarter and well versed in theological doctrine, have amazing sermons and dissertations for each side. The good news is, that you have the ability and the honor of seeking the Creator of the Universe! Read his Word! Seek him in Prayer! Ask him how you can Honor Him! Should YOU honor the Sabbath? Never listen to anyone with an open mind, Listen to someone with an open bible Sermon 04/12/2026 1