Are You Enjoying All the Benefits of the Sabbath?

Very nice. Please be seated. We'll have the main message now, the sermon again. Mr. Delisandro. You know, it's been a long time since I had to apply for a job. Over the years, once I graduated from Ambassador College in 1974, I did have to start looking for work. And over the years, I applied to a good number of jobs, just like you've done. And as I look for work, as you look for work, we were looking for companies, we were looking for a career, we were going to have an attractive compensation package. We were looking for the bottom line in terms of how much we'd be making, and we were looking forward to getting some good benefits as well.

I remember finally, back in the day, prior to 1984, when I was looking for work, I remember on two occasions, I was flown into a couple of different cities. For one job, I was flown into Baltimore, Maryland, and for another job, I was flown into White Plains, New York. In both of those cases, I was interviewed by a psychologist to make sure I was ready for the work. In both cases, I was offered the job. So it was interesting back in the day. Brethren, you and I have been offered and been given a tremendous benefit package by God Himself.

I want to talk about that package today. Let's go over to Mark 2. We'll begin our discussion here. Mark 2, verse 27. He said to them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Brethren, another way of saying that is the Sabbath was made for the benefit of mankind.

God has given you and I as Christians a tremendous fringe benefit program. The Sabbath is very much a part of that fringe benefit program. In fact, let's turn to Deuteronomy 5. I thought it was interesting when Jerry was going through what he was going through today, how much of my sermon will be much like his. As a matter of fact, at one point I thought he was going to go through quite a few of the things I was going to go through, but I really appreciated his message. Here in Deuteronomy 5, you've got the second giving of God's law.

The very last verse, verse 33 is something I want to turn our attention to. Deuteronomy 5.33, You shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.

You know, that verse says so much about our Father God. Who He is, what He is. He is our Creator. We are the creation. He wants us to have a proper orientation in life. He's given us His law. This very chapter, Deuteronomy 5, goes through that law. He wants us to know what life is all about, what the purpose for life is, where we're headed, how to live, and how to live abundantly.

Notice the word in there in verse 33, that you may live, not just any kind of life, but the abundant life. That it might be well with you, that you may prolong your days. All those are talking about signs that we heard in the sermon. These are signs of the great love that God has for each and every one of us. I don't know if you noticed that when you take a look here at Deuteronomy chapter 5, you look at the Sabbath command. Here it is nestled right in the middle of the commandments.

Right in the middle there. Just nestled in there, talked in very nicely. It's the longest of the commandments by wording. I don't think that is any kind of a coincidence or anything like that. There's something about the Sabbath. There's a lot of somethings about the Sabbath. We'll be talking about one of those somethings today that is so very beautiful. Today I want to ask a question. So if you'd like to take notes, you want to put something across the top of your paper, you might want to jot this question down, because I'm going to try to answer this question throughout the course of the sermon. The question is this.

Are you enjoying all the benefits of the Sabbath? We have the annual Holy Days. They're wonderful. They're beautiful. They come once a year. The Passover, the Days of Unleavened Bread, we rejoice in those in a deep meaning. Pentecost the same. The Fall Holy Days the same. But we have a recurring Holy Day that comes once a week. On the seventh day of the week, the world would call it Saturday, we call it the Sabbath. A beautiful time. Now, there are a number of issues. As I was thinking about this concept this past week, I was thinking about a number of basic benefits that we have that are so beautiful.

Number one. Number one. The Sabbath is a family day. Remember family day? Remember when we used to talk about family day back in the day, back when we were all with another fellowship back prior to 1995? Back in the days of Y.L.U. Remember Y.L.U.? Remember all the tires we used to go through as we drove hither and yon all over the place? Church was not too hard to get to, but here we were driving kids for basketball practice. I mean, we would have midweek Bible study. We would have midweek Spokesman's Club. Then on the weekend we had Sabbath services, and after Sabbath services, sometimes on Saturday night and Sunday, we were going to basketball, we were going to cheerleading, we were going to volleyball, we were going to track and field.

Remember all those days? It was marvelous. It was marvelous. And back then, when we had a lot more young people than we do now, we talked extensively about a family day, where we would just simply take the time. You know, life is busy, life is hectic, but the Sabbath is a time when we have got the time. We're not working.

We're not doing all sorts of things. We can spend time with family. You know, we need to make sure we resurrect that. Maybe the kids are grown and out of the house, but if you've got a spouse, you've got family. If you're single, this is your family. We're not leaving anybody out here. The Sabbath is family time. Here in Deuteronomy chapter 5, notice what it says here as we look at the commandment dealing with Sabbath. Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 14. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

You shall do no work, you nor your son nor your daughter. It is family time. You know, God is the Creator. We also know that God is family. And we also know when you put those together that God is the Creator of family. And He's given us the Sabbath to enjoy our family. And we should take God up on that. Here in Deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 1. Deuteronomy 6.1. Now this is the commandment, and these are the statutes and judgments which the Lord your God has commanded to teach you. That you may observe them in the land in which you are crossing over to possess.

That you may fear the Lord your God to keep all of His statutes and all of His commandments. Which I command you, you and your son and your grandson. Notice the emphasis on family, extended family. All the days of your life. And that your days may be prolonged. Therefore here, O Israel, be careful to observe it. That it might be well with you. That you may multiply greatly as the God of your Father. He says, He promised you a land flowing with milk and honey. So again, notice God wants to bless the family.

Physical family, spiritual family. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God. The Lord is one. Verse 5. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength. You know, there are those people who would like to yank out and not use the Old Testament. And yet you know from what Paul told Timothy, that if all you had was the Old Testament, you can come to an understanding of salvation. You know, this is the heart and core teaching of what Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount. You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your strength.

These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. Notice again, verse 7. You shall teach them diligently to your children. And shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, when you rise up. The Sabbath is a benefit. It gives us time to spend with our love points.

It gives us time to spend with our family. You drop down to verse 20, same chapter, Deuteronomy 6, verse 20. When your son, here we've got family again, when your son asks you in time to come saying, What is the meaning of these testimonies, the statutes and the judgments, which the Lord our God has commanded you? Then you shall say to your son, We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Brethren, this is a powerful concept. We, you and I, today have been brought out of slavery, not from physical Egypt, but from spiritual Egypt.

And we are free, and we leave the blessing of God to be able to worship with God, and to worship with our brothers and sisters, to worship with our family. Verse 22, And the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all of his household. Then he brought us out from there, and that he might bring us in to give us the land which he had sworn to our fathers.

And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, and he might preserve us alive as it is this day. But it will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all these commandments before the Lord our God, as he's commanded us. The Sabbath is a blessing.

It's a blessing we can use for our family. But let's think about that. If you've kind of gotten out of the habit, let's remind ourselves, one of the beautiful things about the Sabbath is one of the great benefits. We can spend more time with our husband. We can spend more time with our wife. We can spend time with our kids.

I don't care if our kids are in a church. If you have an opportunity, do so. My kids don't attend services anymore. But when I have the opportunity, I do so. I do so.

The Mormon Church has been very strong on this point over the years. I think the Mormon Church sets a very fine example. They always have a family day, and it means a great deal to them. Now, there's another scripture over here in the book of Leviticus, Leviticus 19. It's really interesting, the way God puts this, over the course of the sermon, we're going to turn to this chapter now, and we're going to turn to it later on in the sermon. But I want to focus on these first three verses of Leviticus 19. There's an interesting point here about the Sabbath and about family. Leviticus 19.1, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy. Now notice verse 3, Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and keep my Sabbaths. I am the Lord your God. Interesting, isn't it? Here you've got a special connection between the fourth and the fifth commandments. I think God is trying to tell us something with this. Is he not? That the Sabbath is there for family, to strengthen family. And certainly, again, we don't want to leave anybody out. Maybe you don't have family keeping the Sabbath. Maybe you don't have family even living in the area.

But you do have spiritual family. God is our Father. It says here that we are to revere our mother and our father. God is our Father. On the Sabbath day, we want to be reminded of that fact. The church is our mother. We want to be reminded of that fact.

Proper Sabbath keeping helps ensure that we have this relationship that God values so highly. God is a family. He's creating a family. And He wants us to really enjoy the Sabbath, which represents family time.

When you look at the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, how many times was Christ faulted for what He did on the Sabbath? Especially if He would go and heal somebody. Those people who didn't know any better would say, couldn't you wait for some other day to do that?

And yet when you understand what the purpose of the Sabbath is, the Sabbath is a day of rest, a time of rest. The Sabbath is a time for restoration. What better thing to do than to go and heal somebody? To give somebody rest from the trial they're going through? To give somebody hope and encouragement?

God was very compassionate in doing that. Over here in Matthew 25. Let's turn there for a moment. Matthew 25 and verse 40.

If you don't have family in the church, you don't have a husband or a wife, you don't have kids or grandkids, you've got us.

Like it or not, you've got us. Matthew 25 and verse 40.

Spirit is thicker than blood. We are spiritually family here in this room. So one of the first benefits, one of the great benefits we see on the Sabbath is it's family day. We don't have to be too busy running around, we can spend the time with our family. A second great benefit that we have that God gives us in this fringe benefit program of being a Christian, the second great benefit is that we meet with God. We meet with God. You know, brethren, most of us in this room have been in a church for decades. Some of us in the room have been born into the church.

I think sometimes we forget some of these basic things, or we don't think about them as we should. We are meeting with God. How very important. Let's look at Leviticus chapter 23. Here in Leviticus 23, you know the chapter, it's the one that has all the holy days there, but it also discusses the weekly Sabbath.

A tremendous blessing comes our way when we spend time with our Heavenly Father and our elder brother, Jesus Christ. Leviticus 23, verse 1, And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, The feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim be holy convocations, these are my feasts.

Verse 3, 6 days, talking about the Sabbath now. 6 days shall work be done, but on the seventh is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You should do no work on it, it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.

Now, I want to take a look at something which we may have not thought of in some time. In verse 2, where it talks about the feasts of the Lord, I want to look at that word feasts.

In the Hebrew, the word there is moed, M-O-E-D. Not hard to pronounce, not hard to write, moed.

What does moed mean?

If you look at Brown Driver and Briggs, Hebrew lexicon, their definition is, Moed means a divine appointment.

We have a divine appointment with God.

Once a week, now we can be with God and talk to God 24-7-365. I understand that. But the Sabbath day is a very special time. It's special because God has put His presence in this time. He Himself says it's a special time, that we can't just do whatever we want. We have got a divine appointment with the great God.

Over the years, I've gone to the dentist office where I currently go. I've been going to that location. I've not changed locations. I started going to the dentist there at 13 in Van Dyke when I was a sophomore in high school. Now, that was a couple of moons ago. Sophomore in high school. Now, obviously the years I was living in North Carolina and Tennessee and West Virginia, I was going to a dentist in those states. But when I have lived here in Michigan, to this day right now, where I need to go to the dentist, I jump in my car in Ypsilanti and drive all the way over to Warren to go see my dentist. Why? Because that group of people in that same building had worked on my mother, my father, my brother, my sister, myself, my kids. I walk in. They know who I am. I may know my mouth.

But you know what? About a week before I go for a cleaning or something or other, I get a phone call. I've got an appointment. I need to keep that appointment. Now, if I'm pretty scrupulous about making sure I keep my appointment with my dentist, how about our keeping our appointment with our father God? Now, I want to point your attention to something else here in verses 2 and 3. There's a word in both of those verses, Leviticus 23, verses 2 and 3. The word is convocation. We are told that the Sabbath is a holy convocation.

What is a convocation? Well, according to Vines Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, a convocation is a public worship service.

We are commanded to go to a public... notice it's a command, not a suggestion. It's a command to go to a public worship service. And Vines says also this, it says, the word implies the product of an official summons to worship.

We are summoned by God to worship.

How do you treat a summons? If you are summoned to jury duty, do you just say, well, that doesn't mean anything. I can go, you know, just toss that in the trash. No, you take that fairly seriously.

I remember back in the days when we had a draft in this country. I remember my high school years back in the mid to late 60s. I remember the Vietnam War was very hot back in those days. And I also remember the fact, because there was a draft, that we would get a call from Uncle Sam.

And when Uncle Sam came calling, when he summoned you to the draft office, you didn't just ignore that.

Now, we had some who went to Canada to evade that. We had others who, you know, responded. But you didn't ignore it. You'd add to act on it. And the same thing is true regarding an official summons by God. You know, a summons, according to the American Heritage Dictionary, is a specific action that is required from us. God has commanded a specific action. That is for us to worship Him. Now, we should want to do that. We should want to be here. We are with the great God. That's a benefit. Just being in His presence. Now, I told you we were going to go back to Leviticus 19. Let's do that now. Leviticus 19, verse 30.

There's a principle here about Sabbath observance I want to discuss. I've discussed this in the past. It's good to bring this up from time to time.

Leviticus 19, verse 30. It says, You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord.

All of us are to reverence His sanctuary.

To revere means to regard with awe, with great respect, with devotion, with honor. There's a certain spirit, there's a certain attitude, the frame of mind that God wants us to have. When you and I are coming to services, we need to make sure that we're fulfilling what it says here in Leviticus 19, verse 30. Let me give you some scriptures. I'm not going to turn to any of these. But let me give you some scriptures for your food for thought. In Matthew 22, verses 1-14, we see where Jesus Christ did not allow somebody to come to the wedding supper because they were not properly dressed.

Proper dress on the Sabbath in services is something that we do. And I know over the years we've had people who just poo-poo that. They think, well, you know, I'm so mature, I've kind of grown past that, I've grown by that. I don't need to make sure I wear my best. My best is not talking about an evening gown or something like that. I'm so close to God, I don't need to wear that suit and tie or the nice dress or the nice pantsuit or something like that. Oh, really? Is that what God says? In Leviticus 16, verse 4, the high priest was told, if you don't wear certain things, you're going to die. Now, we're not the high priest. That's understood. But we will be kings and priests someday. And God does expect us to come before His throne dressed in whatever we have that's the best that we have. I think Mr. Armstrong set a very fine example with that. When you read his autobiography, he would tell you that he wrote that, you know, he only had one suit. But he made sure that that suit was freshly pressed, that, you know, if it had to go to the dry cleaners, he would do that, make sure there were no spots. He would wear that week after week. He wore the best he had. But then that does something for our frame of reference. It does something for our frame of mind. It's not just a physical thing. It's something that helps us to really come before God with a proper frame of mind. Romans 13, verse 7, talks about honoring custom to whom custom? In our church culture, we dress as nicely as we can. I do want to have you turn to Deuteronomy 31, because there is a principle here that is very important. Deuteronomy 31, verse 11, says, Notice the thought here. Israel coming to appear before the Lord. On the Sabbath, brethren, that's what we are doing. We are here to appear before the Lord. It's a benefit. It's a blessing for us to be able to do so. There are people in the world who are spending all sorts of money on various self-help books, on psychology, and what have you. People are doing all sorts of damage to their lives because they don't know the way to live, and that you and I are privileged to be able to come to God's presence. He tells us for our good that we should come into His presence with a certain frame of mind. So a second benefit we have is actually meeting with God in a very special way that He commands with a divine appointment with the Holy Summons on the weekly Sabbath. A third area of freedom that we have is just that. The Sabbath is a day of freedom. It's a benefit. It's a day of freedom. During the course of the week, you might put in 12-hour days. You might put in 14-hour days. You might put in 16-hour days. I've known plenty of people. I've done it myself over the years. Back when I was a road warrior and I covered several states, and I would leave on Monday morning and not come home until Thursday night. I know what it's like to have to overnight and just work long, long hours and drive. I was putting on 50-60,000 miles a year in my car, plus what I flew. Steve probably couldn't relate to that, although he's been doing sales work. I understand what it's like to be in a dog-eat-dog society. But the Sabbath gives us freedom. We can stop. We can put on some nice music. We can look forward to maybe the nicest meal of the week. We can talk with our family. We can enjoy the time. We can come to services. There are so many things. We are free from all the encumbrances of the previous week. Let's go back to Deuteronomy 5, where we've got the Ten Commandments stated. We've read verse 14. Let's look at Deuteronomy 5 and verse 15.

And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand, by an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. The Sabbath is a celebration of our freedom from sin, our freedom from Satan. Now I say free, he's still there. He still tries to test us and tempt us and so on and so forth. But we are not in his hip pocket anymore. There is a difference. We do have freedom. We know who God is. We know who Christ is. We have accepted Christ as our personal Savior. Let's take a look at Exodus 35 and look more closely at the freedom we have. Exodus 35 and verse 1.

The stakes are pretty high here. Verse 3. Now when you understand the background right here, when you understand what this is talking about, it's not saying you can't start a fire so you can cook something. The idea is you're not going to start an industrial fire for manufacturing purposes. You're not going to start some sort of a fire that can be used for business reasons. We all understand that on the Sabbath, burnt offerings were given to God. Well, if you're going to have a burnt offering, that means you need to have a fire.

So some fires were built on the Sabbath. Fire, of and by itself, was not the issue. The issue is why do we use the fire? In our day to day, if we're going to fire up the production line so we can get those forts going down the road, down the assembly line. God doesn't want us on that assembly line on Sabbath. In Exodus 34, verse 21, there's something else for us to look at. Exodus 34, verse 21, Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. Now notice the end of that verse. Exodus 34, verse 21, In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. Now, I don't think we've got any farmers here in the room, but we've got some over in Ann Arbor.

And the farming folks there in Ann Arbor would tell you that plowing time and harvest time are the busiest seasons of the year. And in the busiest seasons of the year, God says, you don't work on the Sabbath. You are free from that. You are free to spend time with your family. You are free to spend time with me, God says, but you must not work. Now, there are opportunities that sometimes come our way that we need to discuss. Let's go to Luke, chapter 14. There are occasions where there is the proverbial ox in the ditch.

Let's take a look at that, literally, from here in Luke, chapter 14. Luke, chapter 14. Now, it happened as he went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees, he bred on the Sabbath, and they washed him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before him who had dropsy.

And Jesus answered and spoke to the lawyers of the Pharisee, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Well, of course, what Christ is going to do is just take His word. It's not like He's always got to go to the hospital and drive here and there.

But obviously, when Christ is going to heal this person, He's going to give this person a rest. It's silent, verse 4. And He told the cook and healed him, and He let him go. Then He answered him, saying, Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?

Hence the phrase, ox in a ditch, or ox in a pit. There are opportunities that do come up where sometimes on the Sabbath we have to do some things we normally wouldn't do. If your next-door neighbor's house is in the process of burning down, we're not going to stand on our driveway and say, It's the Sabbath! Too bad! Get some weenies. We'll roast them here. No, that is not what we do.

If you're a neighbor's house, there's some sort of emergency, then we can do that on the Sabbath. But we're talking about an emergency. We're not talking about, well, once a month. My boss tells me, I have to come in. If I don't come in, I'll lose my job. Well, that's between you and God, but if it's up to me, I don't go in on that Sabbath. If I have to lose my job, I lose my job. But the Sabbath is something that is not where we can just pick and choose.

Now, a genuine once-in-a-while emergency is one thing. But we don't schedule emergencies. We don't schedule once a month, I'm going to do this. No, that's scheduling your emergency. When I was living, I believe it was in West Virginia, we had a man and his family passing through the area.

He called and we invited him over for dinner. He was a really interesting fellow because he was very high in the government. I think he was the number one person who was responsible for getting out Social Security checks. I don't know exactly what he had to do. He had to approve the batch or whatever. But there were a few times in the course of a year, maybe three or four times in the course of the year, where he was asked to come into work on the Sabbath. Now, if he didn't go into work on the Sabbath, nobody in the U.S. of A. would get their Social Security check. He viewed that in a church view deck as he asked for a ruling.

We viewed that as an ox and a dish because there are plenty of people out there. If they don't get that check, they don't eat. They don't buy groceries. And so it was thought, in that kind of a case, well, okay, that's one thing. So that's truly an ox and a dish. Let's now turn our attention over to Isaiah 58. Isaiah has something to say about Sabbath observance, a couple of really beautiful principles that show where our freedom is in keeping the Sabbath.

Now, the first part of the chapter, Isaiah's going to talk about fasting. But there's principles involved for both fasting and Sabbath observance. And we're going to see that here in Isaiah 58. Let's look at the first set of verses here, verses 1-3. Just cry aloud, Spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet, tell my people their transgression in the house of Jacob their sins. There's a time for this. It's not every Sabbath, but there's a time for this.

Verse 2, Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice, they take delight in approaching God. Notice carefully the wording there in verse 2. As a nation did righteousness, they take delight in approaching. That's not so much they take delight in actually following God. They take delight in approaching God. They take delight in appearances. Verse 3, they ask the question, Why have we fasted, and you've not seen?

Why have we afflicted our souls, and you take no notice? Well, obviously, they weren't doing it the way God wanted them to do it. They weren't doing it the way they wanted to do it. Again, this is talking about fasting, but there are principles here that revolve around Sabbath-keeping as well. End of verse 3, In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exploit all your laborers.

Indeed, you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of the wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high. So, you know, their whole idea here was self-centered. They were trying to get something for themselves on their fast day, as opposed to trying to follow God. Verse 5, Is this a fast I have chosen? God looked at me and said, You've asked me a question. The question you're asking is, Why don't I hear you? Well, are you doing what I've asked you to do? Again, he's talking here about fasting, but the same thing is true about Sabbath observances. We're going to see it a little bit later.

Verse 5, Is it a fast I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bull rush, and to spread out a sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, an acceptable day to the Lord? Starting on verses 6, going through verse 12, we see the fruits of a truly godly fast.

Again, we can translate this into what is proper Sabbath observance. Verse 6, Is this not the fast I have chosen? To lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens? Again, the Sabbath is a day of freedom. Fasting helps free us. To lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, that you may break every yoke.

True for fasting, true for Sabbath observance. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, that you may bring to your home the poor who are cast out? When you see the naked, you cover him, and hide not yourself from your own flesh. We talked about the Sabbath being for family. We talked about families not just physical family, but spiritual family, and having people over to the home on the Sabbath.

Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. You shall call and the Lord will answer, you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. Now, that wasn't true before, but now it is true. Why? Because they're doing things the way God would have them do things. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and the speaking wickedness.

Verse 10, If you extend your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness, your darkness shall be as the noon day. God is going to reveal things to you. He's going to open your mind to understanding. You're not going to be people of dark, you're going to be people of light. Verse 11, The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul and drought, and strengthen your bones. You shall be like a watered garden, like the springs of water, waters do not fail.

Those from among you shall build the old waste places, you shall rise up the foundations of many generations, you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets dwelling. So here we see all this discussion about a proper fast, but again, there's probably principles there about proper Sabbath-keeping.

But starting now in verse 13 and 14, we see explicit instruction about proper Sabbath-keeping. Verse 13, If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words.

Notice the contrast there. God's ways versus our ways. There are a couple. Let's finish verse 14 here. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride in the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, the mouth of the Lord is spoken. There are a couple of very important principles from this whole section of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 58.

Letter A, we focus on God, not self. When you're asking yourself, should I be doing this on the Sabbath, we ask yourself, what am I focusing on? Am I focusing on myself? What I'm about to do, does that draw me closer to God? Does that draw me closer to my brothers and sisters? Do I have a better understanding of the things of God? Do I have a better understanding of the Bible? Or am I just doing my own ways, my own pleasures, my own words?

Letter B, that we see from this example, is we focus on the eternal. What are we focusing on on the Sabbath? Are we focusing on the material? Are we focusing on the trivial? Are we focusing on the temporary? Or are we focusing on the eternal truths of God? Are we focusing on the big picture that God has for us? The Sabbath is a time of freedom. Freedom to really get to where God wants us to be. Matthew chapter 6, verse 21. Here you've got the Sermon on the Mount. And there's a principle here that has so many applications. Let's take a look at this principle. Matthew chapter 6, verse 21.

Matthew 6, 21. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Where your treasure is, your heart will be also. Is the Sabbath treasure for us? Is our heart really in the Sabbath, or is the Sabbath a ritual to us? Is the Sabbath something we just do because Saturdays come? On Saturday we get in our car, we go to Birmingham Unitarian Church. Or is the Sabbath a tremendous treasure? Do we get tremendous joy from thinking about it and anticipating it?

Do we do that anymore? Do we have a preparation? Again, I know my wife, she's got to work long hours many times on Friday, so I know we can't sometimes do it the way we'd like, but do we still at least mentally change gears on Friday? Do we prepare? Do we recalibrate our thinking so we can get ready for the Sabbath, and do we anticipate it and look forward to it? Maybe when we go grocery shopping and think, well, you know, the Sabbath is coming, and whether it be Friday night or sometime on Saturday, I want the nicest meal of the day.

Maybe we can't afford dessert very often, but maybe a little something special on the Sabbath. Again, it does something for our minds, it does something to recalibrate our thinking. Is the Sabbath a treasure?

Is our heart there? Only you can answer that in your own mind. So far, to this point, we've taken a look at the Sabbath and the benefits the Sabbath give to us. We've seen that, number one, the Sabbath is a family day. We've seen how beautiful that is. We've seen the fact that God gives us freedom on the Sabbath. And we've seen the fact that we actually come before God's very presence on the Sabbath. Those are all tremendous benefits. I've got one last thing. There are probably many other things I could say. But one last thing I want to discuss with you that's a benefit that God wants us to keep in mind regarding the Sabbath.

And that is that the Sabbath is a day of remembrance. The Sabbath is a day of remembrance. We tend to be forgetful as people. The older we get, the more forgetful we get. Let's look at Exodus 20. This is the other location where the Ten Commandments are found. Exodus 20. And verse 8. Exodus 20, verse 8. Where it says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

We are to remember the Sabbath. We are to remember it is a time for family. It is a time for us to remember that we're coming in God's very presence. It is a time for us to remember the freedom we have because of how God has taught us.

We have the annual Holy Days, and they're beautiful. We appreciate each and every one of them. The days, the festival of Passover. Passover is not a holy day, it's a festival. The festival of Passover, we appreciate that. And the holy days that are on love and bread, and Pentecost, the fall holy days, we appreciate those annual days. But one thing that we have that is truly remarkable, and that is 52 times a year, we have the weekly Sabbath.

52 times in a year. To help us get our bearings, to help us take a good, long look at things, to help us to review and analyze, and take a good look at ourselves, to make sure that we are looking to the great God 52 times a year. We have an opportunity to remember what God wants us to remember. And one of those things God wants us to remember. Let's go back, well, let's stay here in Exodus chapter 20. Let's drop down to verse 18. Exodus 20, verse 18. Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, the mountain smoking, and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.

They said to Moses, You speak with us, and we will hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin. What you have here in Exodus 20 is a one-time event in the history of mankind. It's the only time that God spoke to an entirety of a nation. He didn't speak just to Moses.

He spoke to everybody, all of them, at one time. And quite literally, you referred to the phrase, the fear of God. Those folks had it. They understood, wow! This is not like back in Egypt, where you've got this human form with a head of a whatever, alligator or something on it. This God is God! On the Sabbath day, God wants us to remember who he is. Every Sabbath, 52 times of the year, if you and I aren't broaching that subject in our mind, something is wrong with us spiritually.

We need to touch base with the fact of who God is and who we are. I mean, this is an excellent example. The mountain is smoking and quaking, and people are so afraid to say, you know, we've seen enough. Moses, you talk to us. Sure, you might stammer and stutter, you might have all sorts of speech impediments, but hey, this God, we don't want to get this wrong side here.

Of course, we understand God is a loving God, an immerseable God, and a God who's intervened in our lives so many times. But we need to remember who God is. The Sabbath is a day for us to remember who God is. Now, let's go to Exodus 31. This sounds familiar. Exodus 31. We heard a little bit about this in the sermon head. When Jerry said, let's turn to Exodus 31, my ears, all of a sudden I had four or five sets of ears. But Jerry did a very fine job with his message today. Exodus 31, verse 12. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, Surely, my Sabbath, you shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you.

As Jerry correctly pointed out, the Sabbath is not the sign of an agreement. The Sabbath is not the sign of a covenant. The Sabbath is a sign of God's people. You and I have lost brothers and sisters spiritually because they didn't understand that fact. They thought that when the old covenant was done away, the Sabbath was done away. No. The Sabbath preceded the old covenant. When the old covenant was done away, the Sabbath could not have been done away. The Sabbath is eternal in nature.

And here we've got an eternal, a perpetual covenant with the people of God. Verse 14, You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you, everyone who profanes it shall be surely put to death. Brethren, that's still true today. Now, if you and I break the Sabbath today, there's not going to be somebody who's going to shoot you or I. But once we have been called, once we understand and know the truth of God, if we begin to go a different direction once we've been called, as we see there in Hebrews 10, once we've tasted of God's Holy Spirit and known the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, if we turn our back on that, then we will perish in the lake of fire.

You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, verse 14, for it is holy to you, everyone who profanes it shall be surely put to death. For whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath, they shall surely be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. You know, brethren, years back, Mr.

Armstrong used a very simple discussion about this point, because there would be those who would say, well, you know, the Jews, the Israelites, they've got to keep the Sabbath. We've got Exodus 31, they've got to do it. It's a racial, it's a national thing. But we, New Covenant Christians, we don't have to do it. Mr. Armstrong says, well, do we have two different kinds of Christians?

Do we have one set of laws for this Christian and one set of laws for that Christian? No. We are all one in Christ. If the Israelites have got to do it through all their generations, so do we as Christians. And that is the case. Verse 17, it is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

Brethren, is there a need for us to be refreshed spiritually? Is there a need for us to rest spiritually? Is there a need to remember who God is and who we are? Absolutely. I don't care which way you want to slice it. There is no reason why the Sabbath has been done away. There is no reason in Scripture. And even if you look at it from a logical point of view, there is no reason for the Sabbath to have been done away.

There are yet other things for us to remember. Let's take a look at Hebrews 10. I was talking about that just a moment ago. Hebrews 10 tells us something else we need to remember. We need to remember who our family is. We need to remember who our family is.

We need to remember who God is. We need to remember who we are in relation to God, and we need to remember who our family is. Hebrews 10. And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Notice it doesn't say, let us consider one another to gossip. Let us consider one another to say awful things, or to impute motives, or to do something negative.

No. Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another and so much more as you see the day approaching. Brethren, we are to remember who we are. And I'm hoping that every Sabbath day before you come to services, that you, and I've said this so many times, I'll say it again, I'm hoping that you're asking God for Him to intervene in your mind, that you would ask Him to give you understanding and discernment and wisdom so that you would know if somebody is really hurting here in a Sabbath.

You know, sometimes people come to church and they've got a big smile on their face. If you didn't know Ted Logan had cancer that can kill him if God doesn't intervene, He doesn't complain. He comes to services. He does His job. He's very pleasant. He doesn't bemoan what's going on in His life. But if you didn't know, if you were a stranger, you'd think, well, that's just a fairly slender fellow in church. But, you know, when you do know, then you want to be able to go up to a fellow like that or anybody in church and be able to be there for them. And I know that so many times people in church say, I don't know what to say.

I just don't have any profound... I'm not a profound thinker, Mr. Delisandra. What do I say? What do I do? Well, you can go up to a person and give them a hug. You can shake their hand. You can tell them you'll fast on their behalf. You'll pray for them. And you mean that. You'll actually do it. You don't have to be a profound thinker. You don't have to say why sayings. You just have to be there for them. I remember when my dad died. I was 25 years old when dad died.

You know, you wonder, do people care? And I remember who came to the funeral. I remember who gave me the hugs and so on and so forth. And I also remember those who came to the visitation. Nobody was eloquent. You know, dad died suddenly. So, you know, I wasn't looking for eloquence. I was just looking for my brothers and sisters. That's all I was looking for.

You can do that. You can be there for people. We have family here. A number of years ago, there was the HBO miniseries Band of Brothers. I enjoyed watching that so much, it went on to actually purchase this series. Not because it glorifies war, because it doesn't really glorify war, but what it does glorify, if you can put it this way, it shows men in a very difficult and trying situation being there for one another.

And boy, does that movie show that. It really does. Now, there's one other thing we need to remember on the Sabbath. I said the Sabbath is the Day of Remembrance. We need to remember what our priorities are. We need to remember what our priorities are. And here I'm not going to give you a listing of scriptures. I'm not going to turn to these.

There's about half a dozen or so scriptures here. So let me just read this citation here and give you a little bit of an idea. 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 9. 2 Timothy 1.9. We are to remember our priorities and our priorities that we have been called with a holy calling. You're not just anybody.

Oh, you and I don't think we're much... when we think about ourselves, we're not the handsomest, we're not the prettiest, we're not the smartest, and we're not the dumbest, we're not the ugliest. You know, we don't have the most money, we don't have the least money. We don't have the most down to the least down. We are just people. But one thing we do have, we have a holy calling. For whatever his purposes, God has tapped us on the shoulder, and He's using us in His work.

We need to remember that. 1 Peter 2, verses 9 and 10. 1 Peter 2, verses 9 and 10. A priority we have is to proclaim the praises of God. That is not Protestantism. That is good Christianity. To proclaim the praises of God. How many times have people come to me and said, you know, people have prayed for me, you anointed me, I've been healed, this, that, or the other.

And what do I say? I say, well, go tell everybody you can. Tell people about that. We live in a jaded society where people wonder, is God around? Is He doing anything? I've lost track of the people whose prayers have been answered, who've told me about the various answers that are prayed. And when we tell people, we're not bragging, we didn't heal ourselves, we didn't open a door, God did that for us. We are praising His name. And again, people think that word praise is some sort of a Protestant negative thing, but no.

Take a look at what Paul does, you know, all through the Scripture. Paul talking about praising God. We're simply giving God due credit for what He's done in our life. Matthew 5, verses 13-16. Matthew 5, verses 13-16. We are to remember that we are the light of the world. When people think of your name, what do they think of? We are to prioritize our life in such a way, when they think of our name, they think of something positive.

Oh, Randy Del Sandro. That guy's a train wreck. You know, we don't want that. We have to be the light of the world. Luke 9, verses 23-26. Luke 9, verses 23-26. Where it talks about taking up our cross daily and following God, following Christ. That's a priority. That is a daily priority. We need to remember that priority. To take up our cross. An instrument of death. The old man, the old woman, is to die. Just two more here. John 4, verse 34. John 4, verse 34. Christ said His food was to do the work of God.

Our priority is to remember that we are doing that work with our older brother, Jesus Christ. We are doing the work of God. We have been tapped on the shoulder. That's why we've got a holy calling to do the very work of God. This world needs so desperately a new world order. So desperately. When you see the people around the planet who are starving physically, when you see the people starving spiritually, when you see the lack of understanding. I was talking about all the driving I used to do. Turn on the radio. Have you listened to modern lyrics today? If I were to stand here with a piece of paper with the lyrics on most of your commonly bestsellers, I couldn't even read it to you.

Every other word would be bleeped. Words that used to make a sailor blush. These are commonplace. You've got these little girls singing this, and people are buying their CDs. We live in a rude, crude, in-your-face culture. And we desperately need the kingdom of God. And you have a special place in this. There's only a few people in the world whose prayers matter when it comes to that.

And you're one of them. You're one of the few God has called to help usher in that new kingdom. Lastly, John 17, verse 4, We not only work together corporately to do the work, God has given each and every one of us a job to do. When Christ's life was coming to an end physically on this planet, He said, I finished the work. What work has God called you to do individually? That's something for you to meditate.

Use the Sabbath to meditate on that. What exactly has God called you to do? Not just to be coming here to church. That's a part of it. What else does God want you to do individually? Those are priorities. Those are things we must be remembering, things we need to be thinking about and doing. So, brethren, today we took a walk down memory lane, so to speak. We took a look at a subject we know so very well.

But a subject sometimes I think we take for granted. We saw that the Sabbath is a day for family. We saw that the Sabbath is a time for meeting with God. We've seen that the Sabbath is a day of freedom, and that the Sabbath is a day of remembrance. Brethren, let's you and I read double our efforts to keep the Sabbath holy as God designed it.