Winter Retreat Session 2

SESSION 3:

THE LORD WHO SANCTIFIES: JEHOVAH M'KADDESH

EXODUS 31:12-13

THE POINT: God sets His people apart for a holy purpose.

Intro

Good Morning, how is everyone? it is the first Sunday of 2022. How we feeling? Tired? Yeah, me too. Hang with me. We are goin to be alright.

So does anyone know what Sabbath Means? Day of rest, that is a good working definition of Sabbath. We all need this.

Random trivia fact for the day. In the Soviet Union, they eliminated weekends, they sized control of the means of production 7 days a week. anyone want to guess what happened?

Productivity went down.

Why? Cause people went crazy. They literally lost their minds because that was all there was, work. All work and no play makes jack a dull boy, so the quote goes. It’s really more like all work and no play make Jack lose his mind.

We need rest, we need a Sabbath. We live in a country that is pretty respectful of the weekend, for the most part. Most jobs even if you work weekends try to let you have a couple days off.

But more importantly seting a side a sabbath day not just for rest, but for holy restoration is what we are talking about.

Our Theme is GOD IS, so the name of God we are learning about is Jehovah M’Kaddesh: The Lord who Sanctifies.

So take your bible, turn to Exodus 31:12-13

Exodus 31:12–13 NAS

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “But as for you, speak to the sons of Israel, saying, ‘You shall surely observe My sabbaths; for this is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

1. OBSERVE THE SABBATH (vv. 12-13a)

• When God created the universe, He worked for six days, then rested on the seventh. This was to establish a pattern His people were to follow. Sabbath means"rest," and this day was to be set apart for God's people to rest physically.

We still follow this patter for the most part, we have a Saturday thrown in there, but the Sabbath is where you find rest. We all desperately need rest.

I know that with school and the way college admissions go some of you are pushed to fill every waking moment with doing something, studying, extra-curricular stuff, anything to make You stand out.

But how do you feel when you don’t rest. When you don’t rest, you literally start to lose your mental faculties. You’ll go crazy, and your work and study will suffer.

The Lord knows how we are wired because He created us. The Lord knows what we are like on the inside. We need rest, we need Sabbath.

If we don’t we will fall apart, and more importantly, you relationship and walk with the Lord will suffer. We need the Sabbath.

So first thing I want you to write down is Observe the Sabbath, this is the first part of the verse, we need Sabbath, the Lord tells you, Observe the Sabbath. This is super simple, want an easy command of the lord? Rest. Find holy restoration. See if your walk does not improve.

Let’s keep going. We are only in really one verse, v. 12 is just a narrative piece.

2. A SIGN FOR GENERATIONS (v. 13b)

Okay, the second thing I want you to write down is this, A sign for generations.

This day which was set apart was a reflection of a much larger spiritual reality.

• Israel was to observe the sabbath continually to remind them of God's purposes for them.

• Ultimately, the sabbath wasn't about physical rest, but finding spiritual rest in Jesus.

This rest is for us personally but this rest is also a Sign for the generations, this kind of pattern gets passed down. This sign gets noticed

This is an easy one to point out, but CFA. CFA takes Sunday off. CFA is the most profitable chicken sandwich company on the planet. They Kill Zaxby’s, Canes, Huey Mr. Magoos, KFC, any chicken slinging place, they killing them. They only work 6 days a week. Closed on Sunday. The given all of their employees a day to rest, a Sabbath.

This gets noticed, people know, you ain’t getting chicken on a Sunday from the CFA. And that is just a company. But think aboit your life, if you made a Sabbath a priority. I’m not saying in a legalistic way, but think about, Sunday’s are off limits for the most part. You are going to make sure you are worshiping that day. People will notice this, your friends will notice it.

It is a sign that you are not just some one says they are a Christian, but some one who is a follower of Christ. You need to rest, you need to rest with your father, in his house.

Okay, let’s look at one last part of this verses

3. GOD'S PEOPLE ARE SET APART (v. 13c)

What does Sanctify mean? I Know if you have been rolling with us on Wednesday nights for a while I have asked you. Think back. What does Sanctify mean?

• Because of sin, we are not holy. set apart for sacred purposes. To be made holy, Ex. 31:13 “ you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.”

• Because of sin, we are not holy.

When you are born, when all of us are born we are born with a sin nature. You are born un-sanctified, you might have been cute, but you had a sin nature. When little Price is born, she’ll be so cute, bit will have a sin nature.

There is nothing we can do about this,

when you are born you are like a cup of water someone has poured salt in to, if I were to give you a cup of water and you put salt in it, there is no way you could make it unsalty, the water itself could not make it unsalty.

There is nothing you could do about. We all have this sin nature. We need someone to outside of ourselves to make us Holy, we cannot do it alone. There is no way we in our own power can make us Holy, we can;t earn our way to heaven, we can’t work hard enough.

The only thing any of us can do to be holy is to trust in the one who can make us holy. To trust in the only one who is Holy. Christ. Christ is the only one who can make a way for us to have salvation, for us to have relationship with The Father.

If you are a follower of Christ, you are set apart, you have been made holy and are being sanctified daily. I know we have talked about suffering some here this weekend, suffering brings sanctification more than anything eles.

My Pastor back in Nola, would always say when something was going to be especially bad, he would say, it’ll be sanctifying for you.

Pain makes us realize what is important, remember, would God be enough if he was all you had?

• God has made us holy and set us apart for His purposes- so that the world can see His glory through us.

We are not just set apart just to be set apart, no we are set apart and then sent out, if you a follower of Christ, you are living on mission, you were set apart so that others could see the Glory of God. If you are a follower of Christ, congrats, you are a missionary. You are set apart to be sent together. The Church is not a place but a people, sent out to be a mirror reflecting light in to the darkness.

So if you have an question about what we have been talking about, if you do not know who you follow, or want to know what it means to be a follower of Christ, come talk to me, talk to one of the leaders. I want you this weekend to have a high view off God than you did when you came. For some of you that could be have a view of God as Lord for the first time. Life is too short, eternity is long, and Hell is to real to not know what you believe. To not see Christ as Lord, to see Christ as King.

Pray with me.