How Jesus Overcame Satan's Temptation

Well, thank you again, Brian, and I guess now I'm being amplified a little more than I was in Paula Goh. Is that okay? Can you hear all right? I know I can generally talk loud enough, it seems like, but after a while, I think it does take a toll on your voice. So perhaps it's good that we're able to work this out. That's wonderful. And I appreciate being able to see all of you again. Of course, another beautiful day. We melted all the snow off last week, and then we get some more snow. I think we may even get a warmer day tomorrow and then some more snow after that.

So we're not out of winter yet. We've got a little longer. I was looking today. I think daylight savings time changes about mid-March. Is that right? That's what I saw, and I thought it can't be that early. I thought it would be later April, was what I was thinking. But I believe I looked at it just only very briefly, and I thought that's amazing if it's going to be that quickly. But nonetheless, we will have to go ahead and function.

I don't know whether people like daylight savings time or not. I guess I just, whatever time the clock says, that's what I try to function with. But again, a beautiful day. We have a unique setting here where we can see the beauty of the earth. We can see things. As Mike was talking about, being able to praise God. There's a lot of things to praise God for. And certainly the beauty, even of the dead winter type trees, when they get snow and ice on them, God is a great artist. He absolutely knows far more about art than any of us.

And He is able to create things that are just fabulous. And especially, you watch sunrises and sunsets, and no two of them are the same. It is just a fabulous blessing to be able to appreciate God, to praise God, to know about God, and certainly to know about the plan that He and His Son Jesus Christ are working out with all of us.

So I'm excited to be able to be here today. I wanted to talk to you about something that I know all of you are already familiar with. Something that is so very fundamental that you might think, why would I even talk about it? And yet, thankfully, and I didn't conspire with Brian today, but our first hymn today was about keeping the Sabbath. And I want to talk about the Sabbath today. It's something that I think it's always good for us to be reminded about.

But of course, I'm not doing that to convince you that you ought to keep the Sabbath, because you're already Sabbath keepers. And yet, I want to remind you, and I hope to elevate our respect for the Holy Day that God has created for us. He's created this day, and I know that throughout your work week, the six days that you're working, or whatever your schedule is, that you often are looking forward, and I look forward to sunset on Friday evening.

You're aware of when that is. You keep that noted in your mind. Or even if you don't happen to know technically what 607 or whatever it was last night for people in Kansas City, you can watch the sun. I mean, you don't have to know anything. You can just know that the Sabbath is dawning. And so I want to elevate our respect for the Sabbath, I hope, because God created this day, the day of rest. He created it for our benefit. And I also want to highlight a purpose for the Sabbath that maybe you haven't thought of before. Because it's the purpose of the Sabbath.

There may be many purposes that you could say you could equate with the Sabbath. But clearly, one of the purposes that we can see pointed out actually very clearly, and numerous examples about the Sabbath, is one of the purposes, and maybe a premier purpose, of the Sabbath, is to honor the Lord of the Sabbath.

See, that's what we're doing. Whenever we come together, whenever we not only come to a church service, but whenever we respect the sunset to sunset that we know of as Friday night and Saturday throughout the day, what we're doing is actually honoring the Lord of the Sabbath. And I'll point out to you a little more about that as we go along. You read in the Old Testament, and of course one of the problems Israel had was, even though the Sabbath was revealed to Israel, it was given to Israel, it was directed that they would have a knowledge of the seventh day and of the reason why they would observe that day.

You also find Judah and Israel, both of them together, and then later both of them separately, completely ignoring the Sabbath. It wouldn't take very long that they would forget even when the Sabbath was. And in Nehemiah you read about profaning the Sabbath, and they had all kinds of activity and buying and selling and coming and going. And in and around Jerusalem there was no respect, no respect for the Sabbath day. And I think it's good for us to look in Isaiah 58, because here in Isaiah 58 you have a couple of verses that directly talk about what God wanted them and what God wants us to do.

Here in Isaiah 58, starting in verse 13, it says, If you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your own interests on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, and the holy day of the Lord, if you call it honorable, if you honor it, not going your own way, not serving your own interest or pursuing your own affairs, then you shall delight, not only in the Sabbath, not only in the fact that it is a day of rest, that is a day where we can honor God, where actually in a sense we order our lives according to the Sabbath.

But as it says, then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you to ride upon the heights of the earth. See, that's what the New King James points out. And of course, what it is actually saying is that God tells us not to be seeking our pleasure, not to be seeking our interest, but to be seeking what pleases God. And what is it that pleases God more than His creation, more than His creation of mankind, looking to Him, honoring Him, exalting Him, praising Him, and learning to do that even more effectively on a week-by-week-by-week basis?

See, that's exactly what we have the opportunity of doing. And so, we're told that, I think the King James is what I was wanting to refer to a little bit here, because in verse 14 it says, You shall delight yourself in the Lord. See, that was something that Israel failed to do. They forgot who it was that was leading them. They forgot who it was that was nurturing them and caring for them. And as the people of God today, we don't want to forget that.

We don't want to ignore that. And in verse 14 it says, You shall, as you respect and observe the Sabbath, the Holy Day that God created, You shall delight yourself in the Lord. See, that's a part of what all of us are expected to do. All of us need to honor Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, as our Redeemer. And we want to be able to do that more effectively as we connect with Him even more so on the Sabbath day. Over in Exodus 31, you've got the covenant there regarding the Sabbath. And it says here in Exodus 31, Moses said, You yourself, in verse 12, you yourself are to speak to the Israelites.

You shall keep my Sabbath. This is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, given in order that you may know that I, the Lord, sanctify you. For you shall keep the Sabbath, because it's holy for you. Everyone who perfains it shall be put to death. Whoever does work on it shall be cut off. Six days you shall labor. But the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest. Only to the Lord, whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.

Therefore the Israelites shall keep the Sabbath, observing it throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. The sign between me and my people, the people of Israel, that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested.

See, what he points out here is not only that the Sabbath day to Israel and to us as the Israel of God is a sign. It is an identifying sign of the people of God. And just keeping the Sabbath, perhaps by itself, would not be enough to be considered a person who was in connection with God, because there obviously is more to it than just simply observing the Sabbath.

But what it tells us is that they were to do that in order to draw closer to God, in order to come to know God. That was the purpose of the Sabbath, to come to know the Lord, to come to know Jesus Christ as our guide, as our maker, as our master. And we point that out, or we point that out more so as we go into some of the New Testament scriptures that support this. So I'm encouraging us to honor the Lord of the Sabbath on His holy day. And the first thing I want to mention about that is back in Mark 2.

Mark 2 is a scripture that, again, I would imagine you are familiar with. But I want to quickly just read this and then go on to the account in the book of Matthew. Mark 2, in the very last verse, or verse 27 and verse 28, after Jesus and His disciples have had an encounter with the Pharisees about how it was that the disciples were plucking grains of corn in the field.

And of course, the Pharisees were telling them, that's wrong. Don't do that. You're breaking the Sabbath. And of course, in verse 27, the conclusion of that discussion was that the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. See, here He pointed out something specific about the Sabbath. He wanted them to realize that, well, there's really more to it than just knowing which day of the week it is.

There's more to it than just acknowledging it. There's a reason why acknowledging it and honoring the Sabbath, calling it a delight, and actually delighting in the Lord is really what you need to be doing. That's what each of us need to be doing. And you see this more specifically in Matthew 12. Here in Matthew 12, the first few verses is the same account that we read about in Mark. And in Matthew chapter 12, it says at that time in verse 1, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath.

His disciples were hungry, and they began to pluck heads of grain and eat. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said, Look, your disciples are doing what's not lawful to do on the Sabbath. And of course, he said to them, Well, have you not read what David did? When he and his companions were hungry, he entered the house of God, he ate the bread of the presence, the showbread, which it was not lawful for him or his companions to eat, but only for the priest.

I was going back and looking at that account, and it looked like, you know, they were given the day-old showbread, I think. At least it appears, you know, that they were given what was left over. And I don't think that it makes any difference, but I don't know that I really thought about that. And you see that, you know, what day-old bread at some of the, you know, the bakery clearance places.

And I often am looking there to see if they've got anything that looks appealing. But that's the type of showbread that they were being given. Or in verse 5, as he said, Have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath, the priest and the temple break the Sabbath, and yet are guiltless? See, Jesus really had far better knowledge, far better knowledge of the Sabbath than any of the Pharisees.

The Pharisees were looking at what Jesus was doing, what he was allowing to be done. They were looking at what the disciples were doing, primarily, because they're the ones who were picking the grain. They were hungry. They wanted something to eat, and so they did pick the grain. And yet Jesus was able to say, or to tell the disciples and the Pharisees, because he directed this to the Pharisees, that I tell you in verse 6, I tell you something greater.

Or in this place there is one greater than the temple.

See, what was he pointing out? This was on the Sabbath. It was regarding a Sabbath question. It was regarding a Sabbath issue. But what he was really pointing out was that I am greater. I am greater than the temple. I am greater than the Sabbath. I actually am the creator of the Sabbath. Perhaps you ought to ask me, how would you like me to observe the day? They weren't asking that. They simply were looking at it from the way they had always looked at it.

And of course, according to their tradition, according to their commandments, and they were condemning. That's actually what you find as you go forward. I tell you, one who is greater than the temple is here. That's what he was pointing out, that you need to respect the Sabbath. You need to be aware of the Sabbath. But right now, obviously, you are not respecting. You are not honoring the one who created the Sabbath, the one who is the Lord of the Sabbath.

He's going to tell them that in a little bit. He says, I tell you, someone greater than the temple is here. But if you knew that, if you have known what this means, and so here he's pointing out something to the Pharisees that Jesus had a great deal of concern for, he realized that they were not his followers.

They were, in a sense, enemies or adversaries at that point. But he says, if you really understood what this means, that I desire mercy. I desire mercy and not sacrifice. He made a very short statement, and yet a statement that was indicative of what they needed to learn about themselves, about their lives, and about their respect for the Sabbath, and even more so, their respect for the Lord of the Sabbath. Their respect for Jesus Christ as the one who was the Son of Man at that point, who was the Son of God, and who clearly had the authority to explain to them how the Sabbath should be observed.

So he says, if you have known what this really means, that I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would have not condemned the guiltless. See, what do you find in that statement in verse 7? If I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. What he was saying in effect was that the disciples were not guilty. The disciples were guiltless. They were not guilty in the activity that they were engaged in, in their eating of some grain on the Sabbath. That was not a concern. But what he did say is that since you are condemning them, you're looking down your nose at them, they're not meeting your standards.

See, that might be something that all of us have to think about. We don't want to be condemning toward others. That's what the Pharisees were being told. Don't be condemning. Don't be judging everyone about what they do or don't do. That's something that he said, I don't want you to be condemning. I want you to understand the power of mercy. And that mercy is something that I teach, that I preach, and it's greater.

We find other statements that, well, God is not wanting us to just go through sacrifices and certainly not the type of sacrifices we read about in the Old Testament. He's not wanting us to go through those type of a ritual, but he does want us to honor the Sabbath.

He does want us to honor, as he goes ahead to say in verse 8, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. See, he wanted them to realize something that they actually didn't understand. They never connected. The Pharisees never connected the Sabbath with Jesus Christ. They never connected the Sabbath with the power that Christ had, or the authority that he had as the creator of the Sabbath. They never figured that out. And yet I think all of us can figure it out.

We can see the connection. We know that he's the one, in essence, who has dropped our Sabbath observance. Because we want to respect what he says. We don't want to sin, which we see the Sabbath in connection with sin as far as obeying the Sabbath is, of course, right, and disobeying it or dishonoring it is sin. And so we are clearly connected with Jesus Christ being Lord of the Sabbath. And so I hope that all of us can see that connection, that as we respect the Sabbath, as we delight in the Sabbath day, that we also delight and honor the Lord of the Sabbath, who is Jesus Christ.

The second thing that the Sabbath clearly points out, and again, this is always going to be tying back to Jesus Christ. The second thing that the Sabbath points out, we read in Exodus 20.

Exodus 20 lists the Ten Commandments, of course. And starting in verse 8, we see the direction that we have regarding the Sabbath day. He says, Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all your work. Six days shall you labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. And so here God was specifying, as God was giving the Ten Commandments to Moses, He was specifying the seventh day to be a different day, to be a specific day that you would observe and you would respect.

The seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You should not do any work therein. Or it says in verse 11, In six days, see this is what we find in the account in Exodus. We're going to find something different in the account in Deuteronomy. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is. But rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. He blessed, consecrated, and hallowed. He set apart. He designed for man not only an example, but a pattern, a pattern for living. And that was going to involve the seventh day, as it points out here in verse 10.

If we go back to Genesis chapter 2, we read a account again you're familiar with. It says in verse 1, The heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude, and on the seventh day, so again the same day that he's talking about here, the seventh day God finished the work that he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and he hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

And so what do we find? Well, the Sabbath day is a reminder. It's a reminder of creation. It's a reminder of the six days that God worked to recreate the earth. And then he rested on the seventh day, and of course we're following that pattern. We're following that pattern as we observe the seventh day of the week. And of course you find in other accounts that it's not just one day and seventh, but it is a seventh day.

And I think the weekly cycle is one that everyone agrees on pretty much, as far as which is the first day of the week, and which is the second and third, and which is the seventh for that matter. Many people, they don't see any differentiation between that. They don't see that, well, any day is okay, just any seventh day. Now it talks about the seventh day, even at the time when Jesus died, when He was crucified and put to death, the women who came to be around Him, they rested on the Sabbath according to the command, and then it says on the first day of the week, the next day they came and they found He wasn't there.

See, it showed which day was the seventh, which day was the first, and so it was specific that the particular day of the weekly cycle was important. But more importantly, what was it pointing to? Well, it was pointing to creation, and it was pointing to the Creator, to the One who created the heavens and the earth. Now, I know we see the Word somewhat interchangeably here as we look into the Old Testament, God and the Lord of the Old Testament.

We see those somewhat interchangeably at times. And yet, here it's pointing out how the One who created the heavens and the earth to begin with, the One who recreated and fashioned them when man was going to be placed on earth, was the One who would later become Jesus Christ, the One who is the Lord of the Sabbath, the One who is our Creator. And so again, worshipping the Lord of the Sabbath helps us and reminds us of the fact that we're a created being.

I think I'd mention that to you. That's always something that stands out when you read about Lucifer forgetting. Forgetting the fact that he was a created being. At least that's the only reason I can come up with that he would choose to compete with God, and choose to rebel against God and take others as far as the angelic realm that he dealt with, take others with him in that rebellion.

He forgot that I am a created being. And as a created being, there is a more powerful, more fabulous, more wonderful being who actually brought me into existence. And again, that's important for human beings to be mindful of as well. Because if we keep our mind focused on the Lord of the Sabbath, the creator of the heavens and the earth, our creator, then we're going to have a deeper respect and a deeper love for our God as we should. So that's the second thing that I wanted to mention. The third thing that I do want to mention here is pointed out in Deuteronomy.

Deuteronomy 5 is again a recounting of the Ten Commandments. And here you see a little different focus. It doesn't mention creation. It does mention that in Exodus. But here in Deuteronomy 5, it says in verse 12, observe the Sabbath day and keep it holy. As the Lord your God commanded you, six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. You should not do any work therein. And down in verse 15, it says, remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt.

And that the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commands you or commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. And so here we see actually a different connection. Not only is Jesus Christ the Lord of the Sabbath, but also, you know, He is the Creator. He's the one that we would be reminded of as we keep the Sabbath.

And then finally, here He points out, remember you were a slave in the land of Egypt. And that that Lord, the Lord Jesus Christ, brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore you were commanded to keep the Sabbath. Here's another reason to keep the Sabbath because we're to honor the one who delivers us from bondage.

You know, you could say, well, this looks like it's talking about Israel, and yes, it is. And yet that example, that type that was created there, actually points to Jesus Christ. It points to the fact that He's the one who actually delivers us from bondage. He's the one who does so. Let's take a look in Romans 6.

You know, all of us recognize that as God brought us to an awareness of our sins, as He brought us to an understanding of repentance, and as He brought us to see our need for Him, He actually did so by giving us an understanding of sin. And of course, the Sabbath was a pretty prominent part of that. I would think most of us could think back. I certainly remember long ago when I was an older teenager that I became aware of when the Sabbath was. That wasn't a convenient knowledge at that time. It wasn't something I was just thrilled about, although I kind of knew it.

I could read. I could read what it said. I could see when the Sabbath was, but it didn't conveniently fit into my life right at that time. That was not going to be something that I wanted to pursue, except after a couple of more years, I fully concluded I cannot ignore this truth and this knowledge any longer. It is something that does direct us. It does guide us to see our need for God and our need to appreciate the One who brings us out of bondage.

Here in Romans 6, starting in verse 16, it says, But it says in verse 17, thanks be to God, that you, having once been the slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart, obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you have been set free from sin, having become the slaves of righteousness. See, that's what all of us benefit from as God brought us into an awareness of our sins. He brought us to an understanding of our need for repentance.

He brought us to an awareness that that had to be from the heart. It couldn't be a cursory thing. It couldn't be a simple thing. It had to be something that affected our heart and our mind. And clearly, this transition that is spoken of here in Romans 6 is that we have been in spiritual bondage and that we had been brought out by the mercy, by the forgiveness, by the blessing of the grace of God that was coming to us through Jesus Christ our Lord.

And I think it's amazing, as I look at some of the other accounts, and I know many of you perhaps could easily go through the accounts, where you find Jesus and the disciples keeping the Sabbath in the New Testament. I want us to go to those. I'm going to quickly go to a few of them. Here in Luke 4, Luke 4 is a chapter that you would often go to for this, because it says in verse 16, when he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. Now, this is clearly an example of Jesus Christ, an example of what Jesus did customarily.

And if you drop down to verse 31, it says, He went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee, and was teaching them on the Sabbath. And of course, they were astounded at his teaching because he spoke with authority. Now here, not only do we find that Jesus was keeping the Sabbath as a way of life or as a custom, it was something where he knew he could reach the Jewish people if he was speaking.

And here in verse 31, he was teaching them on the Sabbath, and they were all amazed at what kind of authority he had. But I'd like for us to back up and take a look at verse 17. See, what was it that he was teaching on the Sabbath? What was it that he had to say to these Jews whom he was speaking to? Verse 17, he took, or he stood up to read in this particular case, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and he opened the scroll, and he found the place where it was written.

Now here we find that Jesus, in this case, was reading Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61, the first few verses. And you find that he only read a part of that section of Scripture. He didn't read the whole thing. There is more that is added there in Isaiah.

But here it is of what Jesus was teaching. He says, the Spirit of the Lord is a fun one, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, and the recovery of sight to the blind, and to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

See, what was it that Jesus was teaching? What was it that he had to tell them? He rolled up the scroll, he gave it back to the attendant, he sat down, and the eyes of all the synagogue were on him, and he began to say to them, today, this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing. And all spoke well of him, and were amazed at the gracious words that came from his mouth. See, what was it that he had to tell them? Well, he said, I'm here to release people from the spiritual bondage that they are in.

I'm the one who has the capacity to do that. I'm the one who can offer forgiveness of sin. I have that authority, and I am not only the Lord of the Sabbath, I am not only the Creator, but I am the one who extends the spiritual release that every human being needs. See, that's what he was teaching, even in the examples of him keeping the Sabbath. If we look in chapter 13 of Acts, chapter 13, you have several examples here in the book of Acts where the disciples were keeping the Sabbath.

And of course, you can go to those verses and you can say, well, you know, they were observing the Sabbath, or it was on the Sabbath, and clearly it was noted to be on the Sabbath. But what I want to point out was what was it they were teaching? What was it that they were staying on the Sabbath? Here in Acts 13, in verse 42, it says Paul and Barnabas were going out, and people urged them to speak about these things again the next Sabbath. And so clearly an example of them, Sabbath to Sabbath to Sabbath, doing teaching and preaching.

But see, what was it that they were preaching? Well, let's back up to verse 32. What they were actually saying was that we bring you the good news. Verse 32, we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors, that He has fulfilled for us their children by raising Jesus. And of course, He was talking about Jesus being raised from the dead. He goes on in verse 38. Verse 38 says, Let it be known to you therefore, my brethren, that through this man Jesus, through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.

And by this Jesus, everyone who believes is set free from those sins from which you could not be free by the law of Moses. He says up to this point, you know, you've not had this type of forgiveness. You've not had this type of mercy. You've not had this type of redemption available to you. But that through the Lord of the Sabbath, through the Creator of the universe, through the one who delivers us from bondage, Jesus Christ. You know, that's what we're preaching to you. That's what we're teaching you.

That's what we'd like for you to understand and receive and be able to connect with. And so he was telling them something more, or they were preaching more, than simply as we see recorded the fact that they were observing the Sabbath. They were respecting the Sabbath. They were teaching Jesus Christ on the Sabbath. In chapter 17, chapter 17, verse 1, Paul and Silas were passing through Ambipolis and Apollyonna, and they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews, and Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbaths he argued with them from the Scriptures.

Okay, now that's clearly, again, an example of the Sabbath being observed. And yet, in this case, Paul was arguing with the Jews who were there, or at least he was trying to convince them of something. And what was it that he was trying to convince them of? Well, his message, Paul went in, as was his custom, on three Sabbaths, arguing with them from the Scriptures, explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, This is the Messiah, Jesus, the Christ Jesus, whom I am proclaiming to you.

And some of them were persuaded, and they joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women. So the message that he was preaching on the Sabbath, that he was teaching about on the Sabbath, was about the Lord of the Sabbath.

It was about the one who could release them from the spiritual bondage they were in. And that was, of course, Jesus Christ. On over in chapter 18, you've got again another verse that talks about the Sabbath.

Chapter 18. Here in this case, verse 1, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. And of course, as he went to Corinth, he was going to find Aquila and Priscilla. He was going to start working with them because they were all tentmakers. And it says in verse 4, every Sabbath, he would argue in the synagogue and would convince the Jews and the Greeks, again, what was he convincing them of? Well, he was convincing them about who Jesus Christ was.

The fact that he was not just a man that they looked at as an ordinary human being. See, that's what they thought. That's what they had said. Don't we know this man? Don't we know his parents? Don't we know Joseph as a carpenter there in Nazareth? Don't we know Mary? Jesus is really no different. That wasn't the case. See, Jesus was different.

He was quite different. He was the Son of God. He was the Son of Man. And he was the one that they were being, in a sense, troubled by. They were stumbling over who Jesus Christ was. And yet, for those of us today who see Jesus, and not only as the Lord of the Sabbath, but the Creator of the universe, and the one who delivers us from bondage, we see him in a completely different light. They didn't want to accept him. They didn't want to appreciate him. They didn't want to acknowledge who he was. They didn't want to acknowledge his authority, even though it was very clear. He spoke with authority.

He spoke knowing what he was talking about. And yet he did that in order to show just how much authority that he did have. And thankfully, brethren, how much authority he has in our lives. How much authority he has in the work that the Church is to do. How much authority that he has to help us whenever we're down, to be able to pick us up and to give us encouragement.

And of course, you find back in Hebrews a section that we won't read through here for the lack of time. But in Hebrews 4, you have a section that talks about the Sabbath remaining for the people of God. And not just a Sabbath where we are observing the seventh day and keeping and respecting that day, but projecting that into the future. Where ultimately, for the entire world, a Sabbath rest, a millennial reign of Christ is going to come to this earth.

And ultimately, that will affect all of the people on earth. And actually, maybe we can read one verse there in Hebrews 4. Starting in verse 8, if Joshua had given you rest, then God would not speak later about another day. So then a Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. For those who enter God's rest also cease from their labors, as God did from His. So let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest so that no one falls or may fall through such disobedience as there.

Here he points out, and this whole example is pointing out, that the Israelites, they didn't believe, they didn't obey, they didn't receive the Promised Land, some of them did, but many of them who did not believe, did not go into the Promised Land. But it talks about in verse 2 that their belief or lack of it was not united by faith. And see, brethren, that's where we are today.

Our belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, our belief in His power, in His ability, in His return, our belief in His power over death, our belief in the fact that He can change and mold and guide our lives, because that's what we're asking for. That's what we're asking that God will do, and that He will do that through Jesus Christ who is our Lord and our Savior, our faith in that, our faith in Him, our faith in the fact that we want to have the faith that He had. See, He had a great deal of faith far more than any of us could have, and yet He tells us to ask that He would give us that faith, that He would help us in being able to handle the difficulties that we deal with, to go through the trials that He allows us to go through, and yet always having, not only with our belief, but having that united with faith, that we can look toward the future and be excited about that.

So I hope that perhaps this gives a little bit of a, not only a reminder, but also an appreciation for the Sabbath and for the Lord of the Sabbath, because we're told to delight in the Sabbath, but also in the same verse or in the verse following, to delight in the Lord of the Sabbath, to delight in that connection that we can have with Jesus Christ, and to be able to be the people of God who are not only just keeping the Sabbath, but who are directly connected to the Head of the Church and to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So as we celebrate each Sabbath, let's honor the Lord of the Sabbath.