Sermon Tone Analysis

Perhaps you have seen them, the signs popping up all over Greene County attempting to encourage young people struggling with suicidal and addictive thoughts.

One in particular caught my attention the other day; it read, “You are Enough”.

This short phrase perfectly sums up the spirit of our age.

That is the idea that meaning is found within ourselves.

I was saddened as I read this sign because what it was offering as the solution, was in fact the problem!

Why are so many young people today suicidal, addicted to drugs or depressed?

They are struggling because they have been fed the lie that they are enough, and that meaning, happiness, and peace can be found within.

Scripture is clear on this; we can only find peace for our restless souls in God.

Only God is enough!

God however, knows that our sin nature constantly pulls our hearts off course, this is why God ordained the Sabbath.

On the holy day of Rest, we are able to re calibrate our internal compasses to point to God, rather than other things, including ourselves.

With this in mind, let us eagerly hear God’s Word to us this morning.

First we will look at the commandment, found in Ex 20:11:

Now let us turn to the prophet Isaiah:

Now let us hear from Jesus Himself:

Finally, from the book of Hebrews:

May God bless this the reading of His holy and infallible Word.

Taken together, these texts teach us that ultimately Sabbath is found in God.

Sabbath is Ultimately Found in Christ

On the surface, Sabbath seems like a simply theological concept to understand.

Sabbath means “rest”; therefore, the Sabbath day is a day to rest from our normal work.

It is widely accepted, that at least one day of rest is necessary for our physical and mental rejuvenation.

However, once you start reading your Bibles it becomes clear that God means a whole lot more by the term “rest”.

For example, Scripture speaks of God giving Israel “rest” from their enemies.

It also speaks of the inheritance of the Promise Land as receiving “rest”.

In Psalm 116, we learn that “rest” is the soul of a person returning to a state of peace after a time of emotional turmoil:

Ultimately, Jesus reveals Himself to us as the incarnation of Sabbath saying:

Getting back to the placards popping up all around town, they are addressing a real problem.

People in general, but especially young people, are lonely and hopeless.

Drug addictions and suicides are at an all-time high.

Our nation is facing a real crisis and it needs a real answer.

This is why the biblical concept of Sabbath is so important.

The last days of the Roman Empire, were a time much like ours.

At that time there lived a young man by the name Augustine.

His mother was a devout Christian, but his father was a pagan unbeliever.

Just like many of today’s youth, Augustine, turned to sexual immorality, controlled substances and false ideologies to give his “restless” soul “rest”.

However, his efforts only brought him misery.

Then his mother’s prayers were answered; over the courtyard wall he hears a child chanting this phrase over and over, “Take it, read it!

Take it, read it!”.

Looking up, he saw a book laying open on a table.

Walking over, Augustine picked it up the book and read the first thing he set his eyes upon.

This is what he read:

He had picked up a Bible!

He did not have to read any further, these words burned in his very soul.

At that moment, He remembered all that his Christian mother had taught him and as he did, he turn to the one who was enough—Jesus Christ!

Years later he wrote the very first autobiography, entitled Confession, in the first paragraph of that autobiography we read these famous words, “You have created us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless until it finds it’s rest in You.”

Do you hear what he is saying?

He is saying we will find not rest or peace until we find our Sabbath in Christ!

This is why....

The Sabbath is a Gift

In our Scripture lesson from Mark’s Gospel, we find Jesus once again in conflict with the Pharisees concerning the Sabbath.

The Pharisees had made keeping the Sabbath a burden.

Jesus responds to their accusation with these words, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

In other words, keeping the Sabbath is for our benefit, not God’s.

Then He adds, “So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

In other words, Jesus, is the very One who gave Moses the Ten Commandments, and everything He says concerning the Sabbath is authoritative!

So, what are the benefits of keeping the Sabbath.

Our second Scripture lesson from Isaiah 58 tells us.

The first it says that by keeping the Sabbath “you shall take delight in the LORD”.

We just sang these words, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.”

The Sabbath is God’s gift to us because it “tunes…and…binds our wandering hearts to Him.”

This is why the author of Hebrews exhorts Christians to keep the Sabbath saying:

Why do we need to meet weekly with God’s people to be encouraged?

The author of Hebrews says it is because we will not “hold fast to the confession of our hope”.

Just as a log, taken out of a fire and left to itself will grow cold and finally burn out, so we as Christians will find our faith grows cold and goes out without keeping the Sabbath.

Therefore....

The Sabbath is a Delight

The Fourth Commandment is indeed a commandment, but it is only a commandment that can be obeyed with delight.

In our text from Isaiah, we are told we must “call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the LORD honorable”.

All cultures have special days, day which people look forward to and enjoy.

In the United States for example, most people most people look forward to and enjoy Christmas and Thanksgiving.

However, we have all known people who have made these two days burdens.

Without question there is much to do as one prepares for these holidays.

If we lose the big picture, they do become burdensome.

However, if we remember what they are really about they are the happiest days of the year!

This is the way it is with the Sabbath or Lord’s Day.

It should be the best day of the week.

The Heidelberg Catechism refers to it as “the festive day of rest”!

Even the commandments found in Scripture for keeping this day are a delight if you look at them in the right way.

For example, in Isaiah 58, we find the command “do not do or seek our own pleasure”.

Another way of translating this phrase is, “do not do or seek your own business”.

In other words, we are not to engage in our normal business.

We live in a 24/7/365 world.

What a relief, what a delight, to hear the Lord God Almighty say, “Stop it!

Six days is enough to do your normal business, give one day a week to refreshing yourselves in me!”

Christians often ask, “Do New Covenant believers have to keep the Sabbath?”

My response is, “Why would a New Covenant believer not want to?”

You are NOT enough; we all need one day a week to rest in the One who is!