Holy Day

1 Peter 1:13 – 16…

There are many things we commit to in life... When we buy a club membership of some sort, a car, or home we commit to being faithful to the payments or we lose it.

Marriage Commitment

The commitment made when getting married, faithful “till death do us part,” is more than saying mere words. It takes real work on the couple’s part, not only to remain married, but for both to be happily married.

For a marriage to succeed every other relationship in life, by necessity, must take a back seat to the person you have committed yourself to….

God tells us, when married, “the two will become one flesh” (Mk. 10:8; Gen. 2:24). To become one takes a willingness on the part of both to fully invest themselves into the life of the other.

Entering marriage with a casual, self-focused eye will lead to its demise.

God established the union of marriage to be a temporal representation of an eternal reality, giving us a picture of greatest union we can have – our relationship with Him!

Ephesians 5:21 – 33… (NOTE: Emphasis here to be put on the “profound mystery” of v. 32.)

Said He, in Hosea 2:19, “I will betroth you to Me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in loving devotion and compassion.”

No greater commitment exists!

For, “just as He who called you is holy… be holy in all you do, for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15).

To “be holy” is in our wedding vows to God – because God will not be “unequally yoked” with His bride. She will be a pure bride. Wrote Paul to the Corinth members,

“I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy. I promised you to one Husband, to Christ, so that I might present you as a pure virgin to Him” (2 Cor. 11:2).

This is the second of three-messages concerning the Sabbath-day; the day of rest God has invited His people to enter with Him:

“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” (Ex. 20:11).

He made it what? Holy.

Q: What makes the seventh day of the week holy, other than God said it was so? What makes anything holy?

When Moses saw a burning bush in Exodus 3:4, after the Lord called to him from the burning bush, what did God say?

V. 5, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”

In Joshua 5 Jesus appeared to his new leader as a man “with a drawn sword in His hand” (v. 13). What was said?

“What message does my Lord have for His servant?” To Joshua’s question came the reply, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy” (v. 15).

What is it that makes anything holy? A: God’s presence. God is holy. In His presence we become holy.

Today God’s holy bride is faltering badly in its professed relationship with Him because we have failed to understand just Who our husband is.

It is right at this juncture – where God meets man, that man fails to meet God. That is, we have failed to meet God on His terms.

Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu, are a tragic reminder of this. Because their minds were clouded with alcohol (Lev. 10:9) they “offered unauthorized/strange fire before the Lord, contrary to His command” (v. 1).

What was the result? Leviticus 10:2, “Fire came out from the presence of the Lord and consumed them, and they died in the presence of the Lord.”

After this shocking event God explained to Aaron the reason for such a drastic reaction from Him.

Leviticus 10:3, 8 – 11…

While writing this message, part of my struggle at this point was to know where to turn to in Scripture because there are so many passages on our holiness.

In His Word God has poured Himself out trying to teach His bride, the church, how to approach Him.

Both Old and New Testaments speak with one voice on this. The same God leading in both – He hasn’t changed:

· Deuteronomy 33:3 Surely You love the people; all the holy ones are in Your hand, and they sit down at Your feet; each receives Your words— (Mary, Sermon on the Mount…)

· Leviticus 20:26 You are to be holy to Me because I, the LORD, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be My own.

· Romans 12:1 Therefore I urge you, brothers, on account of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, which is your spiritual act of worship.

· Titus 2:14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

There was a time when our parents shared precious, face to face, hand in hand, fellowship with God…

Man was in perfect harmony with the Creator. There was NOTHING, no barrier, nothing between us and Him.

On the day of our creation, we came from the hand of God perfect, innocent, spotless, unsullied by a rebellious heart, without sin. For we were “made in the image of God” our Father (Gen. 1:26; Jm. 3:9)!

Tragically, sin entered the scene; and because it did, as Isaiah 59:2 tells us, “… your iniquities have separated you from your God….”

Had it not been for Jesus’ intervention; had not “His own arm brought salvation, and His own righteousness sustained him” (v. 16), mankind would have been lost.

But Jesus did intervene! And because He did, He pleads with us in Ephesians 4 to “no longer walk as the Gentiles do… [but] to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (vv. 17, 24). IOW, to walk like God. To imitate our Father’s step…

What does it mean to imitate God?

Ephesians 5:1 – 20…

Are most professed Christians today imitating God?

A Christian polling firm (Barna) found that most of the lifestyle activities of born-again Christians were statistically equivalent to those of non-born-again people. When asked to identify their activities over the last 30 days, born again believers were just as likely to visit a pornographic website, to take something that did not belong to them, to consult a medium or psychic, to physically fight or abuse someone, to have consumed enough alcohol to be considered legally drunk, to have used an illegal non-prescription drug, to have said something to someone that was not true, to have gotten back at someone for something he or she did, and to have said mean things behind another person’s back.” (Scottfreeclinic.org – “This is one of the most critical decisions you will ever make.”) COMMENT…

Not only that, too many among us act like spoiled children, demanding from God that things go our way?

I’ve heard church members say too many times… “I’m so mad at God! Why hasn’t He heard my prayer?” Or, “Why has He allowed ____________?”

There are two passages, both in Hebrews 12, that are crucial for us to grasp when we consider what it means to be espoused to a holy God.

1. Hebrews 12:9 – 10…

EGW: When He permits trials and afflictions…. If received in faith, the trial that seems so bitter and hard to bear will prove a blessing. The cruel blow that blights the joys of earth will be the means of turning our eyes to heaven. How many there are who would never have known Jesus had not sorrow led them to seek comfort in Him!

The trials of life are God’s workmen, to remove the impurities and roughness from our character. Their hewing, squaring, and chiseling, their burnishing and polishing, is a painful process; it is hard to be pressed down to the grinding wheel. But the stone is brought forth prepared to fill its place in the heavenly temple. Upon no useless material does the Master bestow such careful, thorough work. Only His precious stones are polished after the similitude of a palace. (MB, p. 10)

Never forget that Jesus has allowed these trials, “…in order that we may share in His holiness!!!” In order that we might be like Him. Why? So we can, once again, walk with Him! This time in the earth made new!

2. Hebrews 12:11 – 14…

“…and to be holy; without holiness NO ONE will see God.” COMMENT…

Again, our message today is about Sabbath day, the seventh-day of the week. But we have spent most of our time trying to develop an appreciation of holiness. Why?

Because, without understanding that when we approach this holy Day that we are approaching a holy God we will not know what it means to “keep the Sabbath day holy.”

The Sabbath day is a sacred reminder of our perfect beginnings, as we already saw… “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them [including us], but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” (Ex. 20:11).

God not only had these words written in stone, but the people heard them spoken that day from His own mouth.

These same words were to be heard throughout all time, “Remember – Remember the Sabbath day [How?] by keeping it holy” (Ex. 20:8).

This day was carved out of time! as a perpetual reminder of Who our creator is.

A similar sentiment can be heard from the same source when He said, concerning the Communion service, “Do this in remembrance of Me” (1 Cor. 11:25).

So, how we are to approach the Sabbath day?

We are to approach these sacred hours as we would approach God – as holy. He has set them aside for us. He has made these hours, from sunset to sunset, holy.

Jesus informs us of this very thing when He says, “Sabbath was made for man…” (Mk. 2:27).

To approach this Day casually and thoughtlessly, as Aaron’s two sons did, is spiritual suicide.

To treat the Sabbath day like any “common” day is to ignore the “Lord of the Sabbath” (Matt. 12:8) on His day, and to not give Him the honor due His holy Name.

God tells us plainly in His Word (Lev. 23:3),

"There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live, it is a sabbath to the LORD.

How we spend these holy hours is not guess work. If we are as committed to Jesus, if we are committed to His Word, then how we spend time with our Creator, on His holy Day, will not be confusing.

Also, let’s remember, God is not interested in being drug around on the Sabbath at our whim, heedless of His presence with us on His Day.

Isaiah 58:13 – 14…

APPEAL:

Are you committed to the One who has espoused you to Himself through His Son?

Are you as desirous to keep the Sabbath day holy as He is in spending this time with you?

Do you love Him… “If you love Me,” says Jesus, “[then] keep My commandments.” –John 14:15

Closing Hymn: #51, “Day is Dying in the West