[Philip Aust] In Isaiah 58 and 59, the prophet Isaiah is inspired to describe the distance of Judah, from God, because of sin. And if you remember this section of scripture, Isaiah offers for us kind of getting a bigger picture here – offers us 66 chapters that basically reflect the Bible. If you go and look at several commentaries along these lines—the first 39, which is not a surprise – that's how many Old Testament books there are – generally talk about, in the Old Testament sense, it talks about the failings of the southern kingdom – being Judah – which is to whom Isaiah speaks. But at the same time, there were applicabilities – his message had application – to the northern kingdom of Israel.

The northern kingdom, we know, went into captivity earlier. It takes a little bit longer for the southern kingdom to go in, but that is Isaiah's audience. So I'm going to ask if you will read with me just a few verses. I'm in Isaiah 59. We're going to note about how their unrighteous acts have separated them from God.

Isaiah 59:2. But your iniquities have separated you from God. This is Isaiah speaking, writing. And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He will not hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue has muttered perversity. No one calls for justice, nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; they conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. And it goes further going on to describe how Judah's sins had, again, separated them from God. And if you continue reading in verse 12:

V-12 – For your transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us. For our transgressions are with us. As for our iniquities, we know them in transgressing and lying against the Lord and departing from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood. You can read this whole section here – 58 and 59 – and we're reminded here about how many violations of law Judah was engaging in.

And it's helpful, at least, to remember that while Judah and Israel were Isaiah's primary audience – certainly we know this book to be a prophecy – it applies to you and me today. It has relevance for us today as well as for those in the future. Now we're going to be certainly covering this in the fall holy days upcoming because you can't go through these days without getting in the book.

Isaiah talks at length about these violations of law. And for those who happen to know God's commandments and keep them, we can quickly pick these out. You can go through here and understand the lying that happens. You can go through here and understand the murdering that happens – the killing that happens. And we see these well addressed all the way through this section of scripture.

The same holds true at the latter end of the previous chapter, and that's where I'm heading for here. Remember what Isaiah 58, the first several verses – the first 12 verses – talk about? They talk about proper fasting and having a right attitude. And that is valuable for us to keep in mind. Certainly valuable for us to be aware of as we approach the Day of Atonement. 13 and 14, though, is where I'm going to ask that we focus ourselves here today. 

Isaiah 58:13-14 – If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, so the fourth commandment we're dealing with, 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. If you don't do these things and we honor God. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.

You know, in a time and age when our lives tend to move about as fast as technology, we move at breakneck speed, we live life where there is too much to do and too little time to do it. When life oftentimes feels like what King Solomon would say, “As grasping for the wind,” it is certainly worth our time to ask, “Are we properly keeping the Sabbath as God intended?” Are we properly keeping the Sabbath as God intended? For those who do, we're clear that there are tremendous blessings that God has for us – immediate and long-term – and for those who don't, it's a very different matter. So I'm going to ask that we spend time today looking at God's Sabbath day. And I've entitled this message, How to Delight in the Sabbath. How to Delight in the Sabbath.

Now I had this message going for three, four weeks now, and worked through a number of different things, and so what I'm going to offer you is five points from scripture that clarify how we can make sure that we keep God's Sabbath holy and it is a delight for us. If you want to drop a marker here in Isaiah 58 and 59, we'll be back here. Certainly, there is a blessing that God desires to give us. If we don't do these things, He will not, cannot, does not, give us this blessing.

So, first of all, if we're going to make the Sabbath a delight, we have to prepare for it. Now that seems obvious, doesn't it? Except…I have no idea how your Fridays work, but I can tell you in general how mine work. Friday comes up, I get off work roughly around 4:00, 4:30. I'm on pickup for my daughter right now, so I get off a little bit earlier. And I drive home like a maniac, thinking to myself all the things that have to accomplished before sunset – 7:33 last night. That's terrible that I know that. And as I go home, I think to myself what has to be done before that sunsets. Now, maybe like you, we walk into that house and we're looking around thinking, “What a mess! Did one of my dressers throw up? What happened in this house?” And I have no idea if you've ever done this – I hate to say this – we've done this before – every once in a while, when the house is a complete mess we have gone to the crime scene and thought, “Get those laundry baskets from the laundry room. We are going to fill those things and we're going to hide them out for twenty-four hours.” And the realization that we oftentimes have is – in filling those laundry baskets is – how do we make sure, at least the place looks somewhat clean for the Sabbath. So there is this stacking that goes on of newspapers, and of clothing, and of dishes. Whatever goes in there, goes in there. “We're cleaning the place up because whenever that sun drops we're going to be ready for it.” Along the way, you may recall – and this probably never happens to you – you may recall, or think through, “What am I going to wear tomorrow? Do I have anything clean? Do I have that last pair of underwear and socks? They are to take me through until Sunday.”

And as we go through all of these things, at some point, for whatever reason, my family can quickly tell you…someone starts yelling out a clock, like a countdown. I will yell with our family, “It is 6:30. We have one hour.” And the frenzy becomes even greater. And we continue to rush around putting things away as fast as possible. And this has probably never happened to you. If this is your routine though – I can understand if it happens every once in a while – but if this is our routine every week, we probably need to think through the system we have going. We have a broken system if we are trying to limbo our way into the Feast. And when I say the Feast, it should come on us, not like crashing into a wall at 80 miles an hour, it should come on us calmly and with joy. That's how God intended it. Did I make that up? I didn't make that up. Go with me to Exodus 16. God was clear on this.

This is before Mount Sinai. We'll get there momentarily – Exodus 16:3. Israelites are going to be complaining. That's what they do.

Exodus 16:3 – And the children of Israel said to them, Oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when sat by the pots full of meat – boy, they seem to have forgotten things, didn't they? – and when we ate bread to the full! They seem to have forgotten all the oppression that they were enduring. They forgot the part about – several chapters prior – when they cried out for God, “Please get us out of this!” For you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill the whole congregation, the whole assembly, with hunger. Then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I will rain bread from heaven. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, and I may test them – Sabbath being a test commandment is noted there – whether they will walk in My law or not. And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. So every day they were to collect all these loaves, but then on Friday, we get this separate command – when you go out, whatever you get, double it. Then Moses and Aaron said to all the children of Israel, at evening you shall know the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt. And He lists these things.

Now if you would drop with me to verse 22, He offers this. There are murmurings in 12, and quail also being rained, and – verse 22 – it reads this way:

V-22 – And so it was on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said, ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil, and lay it up for yourselves all that remains to keep until morning.’” So they laid this up till morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms.

And then if you drop down, we see that they have plenty here. And what we find is that the Israelites were given very specific instructions that only applied to the preparation day – that's Friday. Go collect double, prep yourselves, be ready to go.

By the time they get to Mount Sinai – I’ll ask you to go with me to Exodus 20 – the law is codified for them. They already knew the law. We're just getting it in writing here because we can go all the way back with Abraham – go back to Genesis – and he knew the law. But Exodus 20:8 reads:

Exodus 20:8 – Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. No one does work. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

You can go to a number of different commentaries and find that the term Sabbath – Shabbat – means – you may already know this – to cease and desist. Boy, that sounds legal, doesn't it? I feel like a lawyer saying that. To cease and desist. Whatever you do the rest of the time – cease and desist – stop doing that. Stop doing what you do those other days. And God made clear that the way you prepare for that – that cease and desist day – is by planning for it.

Now we would love to think that the Israelites got this information and they acted on it perfectly. Go with me to Numbers 15. We know that the way their obedience ebbed and flowed. And when we get ourselves over to Numbers 15, and we see here that some didn't do this. They were given the command to prepare early, but some fell short.

Numbers 15:32 – Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. Hey, you should have done that the day before. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and to all the congregation. They put him under guard because it had not been explained what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, the man must surely be put to death. Now hold on here, God's a little serious about this. That man should be put to death. All the congregations shall stone him with stones outside the camp. So, as the Lord commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died. That's how serious God was about this.

So we have to ask ourselves – not necessarily if we're out gathering sticks – but what are we doing? When the Sabbath comes, are we ready for it? Are we prepared for it? Have we thought through our preparation? Now if we re-think our preparation – at least we consider our preparation – and I'm going to offer maybe two thoughts along these lines. When should our preparation start? Well, we've already addressed the fact that Friday night is going to be too late – especially with standard time changing for us here shortly. You're going to lose another hour. We're going to lose the same hour. So that may be that physically if we're preparing for the Sabbath adequately, that system needs to somehow shift forward in a week. Everything that you previously did on Friday, or hoped to do, you've got to do on Thursday, or on Wednesday, or on Tuesday. We've got to back this up. In fact, one interesting point that Mr. John Beam mentioned this morning is, he said, “In Israel, it's the only place that I've ever been that they work Sunday through Thursday. And Friday is what it's supposed to be. It is a preparation day.” They do no work in Israel so that they go into the Sabbath ready. 

So, certainly, if we need to adjust our scale so that rather than cramming for an exam, we're ready well in advance. Then physically, then that's what we need to do. But I might pose a question as well along these lines. When should we start preparing spiritually for the next Sabbath? That should happen tomorrow because the previous six days are what ready us for the Sabbath. So as Sunday rolls around tomorrow, we're building – almost in crescendo form – for the next Sabbath. We're thinking through the notes we have taken today, we're thinking about different topics that we are studying, we're thinking about different ways that we need growth – maybe in terms of our own actions – and we're praying. We're anticipating this for a week. By doing this, making these small adjustments, guess what happens? The Sabbath comes at 7:33, and it doesn't show up like an uninvited guest. It shows up as someone that we have looked forward to all week. And we usher it in with appreciation and joy, which is exactly how God desires it. He wants twenty-four hours to share with you. Are we ready for it when it comes? I'll let you answer that question. So, first, to make the Sabbath a delight we have to prepare for it.

Secondly, in addition to preparing for it, I contend that to make the Sabbath a delight by scripture, we must make the decision to honor God with our time. Now we just read Exodus 20:8-11, and we are reminded that the Sabbath involves ceasing from labor. And while ceasing from labor cannot be minimized, it also requires the second half of this equation, which means we really need to focus on God.

Go with me to Romans 8. We just read this last week. Romans 8. I'm going to re-read a section of scripture we just covered. And I'm going to re-read it partially for reinforcement, but partially also as a reminder of what this twenty-four-hour-period entails. This doesn't specifically apply to the Sabbath, but the principle is unquestionable here.

Romans 8:1. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. We pointed out and made evident here by Paul's writing, that it's that penalty. We no longer have that penalty. For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

So, I'll stop only momentarily before we get to verse 5. You are different from those in this world. You may go and talk with some of the people you know, who you work with, and they'll tell you – you ask them, “What are you doing tomorrow?” – and I get anything from, “We're going boating on the lake” to “I'm doing the best tailgate thing you've ever seen in your life, because UGA is playing” to “I'm going to catch up on all my bills” to “This is my day to shop, because I don't get any other days to shop, so I'm shopping tomorrow”. What you and I do over this twenty-four-hour-period is very different. And it's because God's Spirit is working with you and me, and that's the point that's being made here by Paul in verse 5.

V-5 – For those who live according to the flesh set their minds – remember the language here, orient themselves – set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit – set their minds, orient their minds – on the things of the Spirit.

You know, I'm going to tie this together with 1 Corinthians 2:14. And I'll read out of the NIV version. It says:

1 Corinthians 2:14 – The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. In recognizing that we have to make a decision to honor God with our time, the only way you and I understand that is by having God's Spirit and God's Spirit working with us. It doesn't happen any other way.

So if we're going to honor God – if we're going to please God – what does that mean we have to keep in mind? Well, I'll only quote Matthew 22:36-40. It means that we have to spend time showing love – our love to God – by honoring Him with our heart, and our mind, and our soul – especially on the Sabbath. It applies all the time, but especially on the Sabbath.

So what are some ways that we can do this? Well, we have to consciously decide to honor God with our thoughts. If you go with me to Psalm 8, I'm going to read words here that too often I miss. I have no idea how you work. I'm up shortly after 6:00 every morning and don't usually get my head on a pillow until 10:30-10:45, somewhere in there. And I know how I work, from the time I get up until the time I go to bed I feel like I am running on a treadmill and I cannot keep up. Probably like you, no matter how many items I have on my to-do list, and how many boxes I tick off, I add about the same number or more. It's always the same thing. And I find myself at times thinking, “Are you missing something?”

As I shared this morning, one of the things that I have the ability to do is three days a week, I'm able to pick up that sweet gal right there. And my inclination, whenever I walk into the house, is, “Okay, you go your way, I'll go mine.” And I try to figure out a way to at least carve-out time, otherwise, I'll be working until the time the sun goes down. “Well, we'll pass that until I put my head down,” I'll think, “Didn't get that all done, and there's more to do tomorrow, but I missed spending time with some of the people that I love.” So I say that, only in the context of, sometimes we can operate on that premise. We can run 100 miles an hour, six days a week, and not stop ourselves. And if you go read Psalm 8, it is helpful to at least recognize, in verse 3, about that there is a bigger world out there. There is a greater context.

Psalm 8:3 – When I consider Your heavens the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and have crowned him with glory and honor. And You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.

It is easy, as a tendency, to become so taken with this world that we do, do, do, do, do and we stop forgetting the bigger picture. The bigger picture is, the Sabbath does this. The bigger picture is that we are to honor God. You know, I don't care how many things you have on that to-do list, you and I both know this, it'll be there tomorrow. I tell myself this. All of those ten items, fifteen items, twenty, they're going to be there tomorrow. Can I stop long enough to at least recognize God's creation? That's what I was reading that in verse there. The Sabbath does this. The Sabbath allows this for you and me. It says, “Hit the air brakes hard – pump them really hard – because we're going way too hard toward the hole.” And the reality is, we need to stop long enough to recognize how things really work in the bigger context. So I offer that we should decide to honor God with our thoughts. We should decide in advance to honor God with our thoughts.

I'll only quote Philippians 4:8. It says:

Philippians 4:8 – Finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent or praiseworthy. Think on those things. If that should happen any day, God gives you twenty-four hours to do so on the Sabbath. So we should honor God with our thoughts.

Second sub-point along this major point is we must decide to honor God with our words. I'm going to ask you to turn with me to Luke 4. Christ made it unmistakably clear, by example, what we are to follow. Luke 4:16. We've been reading from Isaiah. Christ sets us an example about or to do exactly what we've been doing.

Luke 4:16 – So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And was His custom, He went into the synagogue – here's Sabbath services – on the Sabbath day and stood up to read. And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written – they are words coming out of His mouth. Here's the word, with words coming out of His mouth. The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He has appointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor, He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed; to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And verse 20 reads:
V-20 – and then He closed the book and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And everyone went, “Whoa!” I always think that's funny. Whoa! Did you see that? He had to have been very passionate in the way He read this because those were His words. He inspired those words. But what we find here – reminded us – is that Christ, out of His mouth, on the Sabbath day, spoke the word of God. And we are, too. We benefit, we honor God when we do this.

So, we have to think – decide to honor God with our thoughts. We have to honor God with our words, and we should also honor God with our actions.

I'll quote 1 Peter 2:12 – again from the New International Version.

1 Peter 2:12 – Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then, even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior and will give honor to God when He judges the world.

So I have to ask, “If we were to go and interview your neighbors, would they have any idea that you keep the Sabbath?” I would hope so. We know that you walk out of the house with a dress or a tie on – hopefully not both. But we hope you walk out with a dress or a tie on and you know they see this. You are a testimony to them of this covenant relationship you have with God. Certainly, our actions should reflect that it is the Sabbath – what we do is different.

And if you're back in Isaiah 58, I'll re-read just a few things here – just reinforcing these points of think, talk, and act in honor of God today.

Isaiah 58:13 – If you turn your foot away from the Sabbath – Isaiah 58:13 – from doing your own pleasure on My holy day, and call it a delight – that's verbal – that's word – the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him not doing your own ways, not finding your own pleasure, not speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord – and He will bless you tremendously.

You know, deciding to honor God means we think through the Sabbath in advance. It doesn't mean we just show up and hit it like a brick wall and trust that everything is going to unfold okay. It means that we can do all those other things for six days that we have to do, but this twenty-four-hour-period is different.

Okay, so if I haven't stepped on toes yet, it's fine Here's a chance for me to step on toes. I made a comment about this more recently about the impact of these smartphones. I say they're smart. I think that's, well, an overstatement. And I have read about these of late…I've had some discussions with some of you about how they are changing who we are. And we don't give much attention to this – how they are changing who we are. I'm going to ask that a video play here – if you're good to go – a video played here in a second from Nicholas Carr. Now Nicholas Carr happens to be a recent Pulitzer Prize-winning finalist. Feel free to click. I'm not worried. He has a Masters of Arts and English and American Lit from Harvard and he has authored since, mid-2005 thereabout…he spent a lot of time analyzing how these phones are changing us. And specifically there are a range of videos you can watch on him that will condense what he's finding in neuroscience about what they are doing to us, but I'm going to ask that just a five-minute interview be played – this is a PBS interview – and I want you to hear about not just how we use these phones, because they have ramifications for what we do on the Sabbath, but also how they inhibit our ability to connect with God. He won't say that, but if you listen, you're going to hear this out of him. Are you good to go? Okay. Hit it.  

JEFFREY BROWN: Hello, I’m Jeffrey Brown. Welcome to Art Beat at the PBS NewsHour. Joining me today is Nicholas Carr, author of “The Shallows: What the Internet Is Doing to Our Brains.” This began with a provocative article a couple of years ago titled, “Is Google Making Us Stupid?” Did you expect the kind of backlash that provoked?

NICHOLAS CARR: I didn’t. When I wrote that article, I really saw it as a personal essay about my own experience in using the internet and how it was influencing the way I personally think. I was quite surprised about the controversy the article set off.

JEFFREY BROWN: This started in a very personal way – what you saw happening to your own thinking?

NICHOLAS CARR: Yeah, it was back in about 2007, and I had been on, like a lot people, had been using the internet a lot for about 10 years by then, and obviously had received all the great benefits we get when we go online, but I noticed that I was losing my ability to concentrate, and I particularly noticed it when I’d sit down, for instance, to read a book – something that used to come completely naturally to me. I’d get a couple of paragraphs in, or a couple of pages in, and my mind wanted to behave the way it behaves when I’m online, jumping from page to page, checking email, clicking on links, doing Googling. That inspired me to start to think about how the technologies we use in our day-to-day lives like the net can influence actually the way that we think.

JEFFREY BROWN: So you went to look at the research on neuroscience, and a lot of the book takes us through that. What was the key thing you found in terms of the impact of the internet? One thing you talk about is this idea called plasticity.

NICHOLAS CARR: Right, and one of the curious things about my own experience was that the time I spent online seemed to be influencing the way I think even when I wasn’t in front of a computer – when I was sitting down and trying to read or trying to concentrate. What I found is the recent discoveries about, what brain scientists, call neuroplasticity really helped kind of unravel that conundrum, because what brain scientists have discovered over the last couple of decades is that even, as adults, our brains are very malleable – very plastic – and they are constantly adapting down at the cellular level to what we use our minds for – to our environment and so forth. What we can I think – theorize – is that, as we train our brains to take in information very, very quickly in a very interrupted, distracted way, little bits of it come at us all the time, the way we experience it online that strengthens those parts of our brain that are good at multitasking and good at zipping up, shifting our focus very, very quickly. On the other hand, we are not exercising those parts of our brain that are involved in deep concentration, deep attentiveness, things like contemplation and reflection. And so what happens in the brain is, that what we use gets stronger – the actual cellular connections – and what we don’t use, weaken.

JEFFREY BROWN: What are we losing in terms of our thinking process, our ability to think more deeply?

NICHOLAS CARR: What we’re losing is the ability to pay deep attention to one thing over a prolonged period of time. It can be a long book. It can be listening to or engaging in a long conversation without checking your iPhone, or your BlackBerry, all the time. Any kind of thought process that requires focus on one thing is what is being disrupted and, unfortunately what another thing brain science tells us is, that the process of paying attention – paying deep attention – activates a lot of our deepest thought processes, our long-term memory, the building of conceptual knowledge, critical thinking – all of those things hinge on our ability to pay attention.

JEFFREY BROWN: Is it also possible, though, that the gadgets that are connecting us to the internet are themselves evolving – perhaps in ways that might help us in the future? I’ve seen some suggestions, for example, that on the iPad, people are spending more time on a particular application rather than flitting around, as you worry. So is there a chance that gadgets will perhaps help us?

NICHOLAS CARR: I think it would be nice to think that these will evolve in a way that return us to our attention span, but unfortunately, I think the way they are going to evolve is the way that the net has evolved up until now, which is pushing even more distractions and interruptions on us pretty much all day long.

JEFFREY BROWN: Nicholas Carr is the author of “The Shallows.” Thanks for joining us.

NICHOLAS CARR: Thanks, Jeff.

JEFFREY BROWN: And I'm Jeffrey Brown for Art Beat PBS News Hour. Thank you for joining us.

So I played this, not so as he advocates – because he does advocate this in a number of presentations – I played this not so that we all take our cell phones out with a hammer and smash them – that's what he says in one of the other presentations – but it's more importantly so that we are aware of how these phones are changing us – of how our technology is changing us. I'm sure you picked up on there – I tried to draw attention to – the fact that what it's doing is, it's creating, in our own thinking, a superficiality about life. Don't know something? I can google it. Why do I need to remember it? And in doing so, we are separating ourselves from the capacity to think deeply about anything, and that includes God. So, as I offer here, in terms of thinking through how to prepare ourselves for the Sabbath day and make conscious decisions, I'm not up here telling you to throw your cell phone out. I'm just asking that you and I, beforehand, think through how it's impacting us. In some of us – in some of our cases – the only connectivity we have with our families on Friday night is through that cell phone. I'm not telling you to stop that. I'm just asking that we pay attention to what that cell phone and what this technology is doing to us. If we don't think Satan is behind this – there are a whole lot of benefits of that phone – I get that – but if we don't think this whole flittering around – and he talks about it – isn't impacting people spiritually, we're kidding ourselves. So we have to make the decision beforehand about how we use it and wind up on, as I noted last week, cat videos over and over on the Sabbath – six or seven clicks away – because that's the tendency when we're on a phone. So the realization that we give attention to God on the Sabbath day…we prepare for it.

You know, the aim is – and Christ made this clear in Mark 2:27, which was referenced in the Beyond Today program – this Sabbath should not be a burden. It should not be this painful, twenty-four-hour begrudging imprisonment. That's not how it works. The Sabbath itself is a time that we are to rejoice – that we are to turn to God, that we are to fellowship with God. If you remember, Christ went through the cornfields and picked corn, picked grain, so that they could eat. He went through healing on the Sabbath – huge opposition. We see examples here that He was not a muck. It's not like He closed up shop and did nothing for twenty-four hours. But there is a balance that we all need to strike and we must consciously make a decision about what that is, rather than let it just happen to us. So to make the Sabbath a delight we must make the decision to honor God with our time. So, first, two points have been more broadly about the Sabbath.

Point three. To make the Sabbath a delight we must prepare for the Sabbath service – this service – both physically and spiritually. I'll ask if you will to go with me to Hebrews 10. We'll read five verses here – Hebrews 10. So, the Sabbath being that twenty-four-hour-period that we consciously go into it and we prepare and decide beforehand how we're going to honor God. The Sabbath service, separately, is what's addressed here in Hebrew 10:19.

Hebrews 10:19. Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus – that's what we do here on the Sabbath. We go into – just as the priest in the Old Testament – we go into a holy place. Having boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, and having a High Priest over the house of God, let us draw near – I'm in verse 22 – with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. And I'm dropping down to verse 24:

V-24 - 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 the more as you see the day approach.

You know, what's provided here is a reminder that Christ's sacrifice gave us direct access to God. And what God does is, He establishes a day, and a place, and time of His choosing, that we have the opportunity to come and learn. So how do we prepare for Sabbath services? Well, I'm contending that we do so first, physically and spiritually. Physically – that means we need to take the time to, again, be ready for the service. That can come in a variety of ways if we think through about even the high priest – was talked about here. You can go back and read about all that the requirements of the high priest in the Old Testament and I think that you'll be blown away. It's been awhile since I've read that. I’ll go ahead and read five verses – Exodus 28. The entire section of Exodus talks about what Aaron had to do – pretty amazing stuff – what God provides in terms of, “before you come into My presence on the Day of Atonement.” When you come into this place what should you be doing? What should you be wearing?

Exodus 28:1 – Now take Aaron your brother, and his sons with him, from among the children. And you shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. So you shall speak to all who are gifted artisans, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom, that they may make Aaron's garments to sanctify him, that he may minister to Me as a priest. And these are the garments which they shall make: a breastplate, an ephod, a robe, a skillfully woven tunic, a turban, and a sash. Believe it or not, I don't expect any of us to show up next week with this one. But it is helpful to understand what Aaron and his sons had to wear. So they shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother and his sons, that he may minister to Me as priest. They shall take the gold, blue, purple and scarlet thread and fine linen...and it goes on from there.

So there may be this seeming disconnect – “So, what are you telling me here? Why are you talking about a high priest?” Okay, I'm going to quote 1 Peter 2:9. You know what it says – memory verse.

1 Peter 2:9 – But you are a chosen people – this is God talking to you and me – you are a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God's own special people, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light.

Revelation 1:6. I'll quote: To Him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by His blood and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father.

God looks at you and me as priests in training. So all I would advance here is, in preparation for the Sabbath, that we think through how this works. Now my job – you know this; it's not that – I don't hope it is – to run around and be on, like, tie duty and have a ruler out for what everyone is wearing. That's not what my job should be. But we should give attention to how we present ourselves to God. We should be aware that whenever we come into the presence of God, it's not…it is to see others here in the congregation, but we are coming to connect with God. So physically we should be prepared.
 
Additionally, we should be spiritually prepared for Sabbath. Now I've already noted the preparation really begins the previous Sunday. It is helpful to understand that. At the same time, it's helpful for us at least to consider a range of things that, even in prayer, we should be considering. I know routinely, oftentimes, in anticipation for services, “Well, please bless those who are speaking.” And that's all well and good – and I probably would contend and we should all be doing that – but I have to maybe ask, “How often do you pray for everyone just to arrive at services?” There are no guarantees there – especially not in Atlanta. Do you pray for the songleader? We got a new songleader today. Did you pray for him? Do we pray for those who do Sabbath school? Do we pray for those who do translation – that they put up what's right for Mr. Crow over there? All of these come into play and certainly, we can take the time in preparation – spiritual preparation – for services to make sure – it's not going to be perfect every time – but to take the time, so we are ready and others are ready. Do you pray that the message itself will apply to you? Every once in a while I am struck where someone will come to me, and that individual will say, “That was a great sermon. You made an excellent point and here it is.” And I'll think to myself, “I don't ever remember saying that. I don't remember saying anything along those lines. I know it wasn't in my notes.” So the miracle that had to have happened had to come somewhere between it coming out of my mouth and your ears. And what you wound up interpreting was, in this case, a result of God working a miracle with you.

You know, I'm just going to look at two scriptures. 2 Chronicles 12. Now this scripture does not specifically speak of preparing for the Sabbath, but it is a helpful point to note. 2 Chronicles 12. We'll just go to two verses here, and then we will run over to Ezra 7. 2 Chronicles 12 – here's about King Rehoboam's failings.

2 Chronicles 12:13 – So King Rehoboam strengthened himself in Jerusalem and reigned. Now Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he became king; and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord had chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to put His name there. His mother's name was Naamah, an Ammonitess. And he did evil – verse 14 is what I'm after. Because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord. That's where I'm with you. He did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord. Why did he fail? No preparation spiritually there.

Go with me over to Ezra – not too far away. Ezra, next book – Ezra 7. One verse here. Don't have to go any longer than one verse.

Ezra 7:10 – For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.

So what we get out of King Rehoboam: lack of preparation – failure. Ezra: spiritual preparation – success. That's pretty easy to flow with. I get that. The reminder here – and here's what I would just ask that we keep in mind – is that we have to prepare ourselves for the service – physically is certainly important, spiritually – very important. And when we do, we benefit greatly from the service. There is an old adage and it says this way, “Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.” So I have to ask, “Are we failing to plan? Or are we planning well for services?

Let's go to point – was that three? – we're at four. To make the Sabbath a delight we must maximize our time once at services. We have to make the most of our time here. Mark 6 – we'll just read two verses here. I think this was referenced in the Beyond Today program as well. Mark 6 – this fits with Matthew 13.

Mark 6:1 – Then he went out from there and came to His own country, and His disciples followed Him. Again Christ. And when the Sabbath had come, He began to teach in the synagogue. And many hearing Him were astonished saying – again, middle of verse 2 – “Where did this Man get these things? And what wisdom is this which is given to Him, that such mighty works are performed by His hands!”

You know, it is helpful to understand we have to prepare for the service, and then, when we get here we have to be on our game. Before service, it's worth us thinking through how do we work well in terms of the learning process. Well, I talk in class, at times, about the importance of immediacy in the room. And immediacy basically means closeness. And what the research generally tells us is students who sit in my classes generally connect well with the information and learn it at a much higher level if there is a connection between those students and me. One of the things that helps students learn then – as I tell them – is get to class early and spend time getting acclimated to the environment. The same thing applies here. Coming to church early and sticking out your hand, saying, “Hi, how are you?” listening for a while, encouraging someone, actually is a part of the learning process. It readies you for the message that you're about to hear. So before the service, make sure you give yourself enough time to get here. Make sure you're nice, and parked, and tucked in well, so when the service starts you're ready to receive what's there. Once the service starts, if we're going to make the most of this, it’s certainly helpful that we focus on what's happening along the way.

So, if we're singing – this may sound nutty – sing with all your heart. We see that all the way through the Old Testament. Now I may say that, and at the same time, I've been just as flawed – just as limited here on this one – thinking to myself, “Oh, I can't believe he did that. Why would he do that? Why would she wear that? What was she thinking? And along the way about two verses later, I go, “Oh, I guess we're done with that song.” Am I getting the most out of this? No, I'm not. I'm just as human as you are. So when we're here take the time to sing.

When we're looking up scriptures, take the time to look up those scriptures. Psalm 119:105 – because David makes clear here, by language, how much he loves God's word. It's an unmistakable memory verse. Well, verse 97 talks about the love that he has for God's law. Psalm 119:105 says:

Psalms 119:105 – Your word is a lamp unto my feet and a light to my path. Why wouldn't we want to enjoy the light and the lamp? When we're here, it is valuable that we take the time to go through those scriptures and to flip to them.

Acts 17:11 – again the notion is that the Jews – the Berean Jews – were of noble character because they consistently examined scripture. Mr. Herbert Armstrong used to say, “Blow your Bible off. Don't believe me. Look at it in your own Bible.” 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says:

1 Thessalonians 5:21 – Prove all things – how do you prove it if you're not looking at it? Prove all things, hold fast to that which is good.

And then as well, here's an admonition, it's worth us taking notes. Now I won't go there, but what good can notes be? Now, I've been like you. I've done this before. I have my notebooks in one section of my closet, thinking to myself, “Well, there's a lot of notebooks.” But writing stuff down actually benefits us. In fact, we know that retention goes up whenever we write stuff down. Could this show up anywhere in scripture? I won't go there – I'll just reference it – Deuteronomy 17:14-20. Remember what was the requirement for the King once someone is made the King of Israel? What did the King have to do? He had to write all the law. How long did that take?
Years ago, I sat…I was interviewing at University of Missouri St. Louis. And the guy who I was interviewing with was really smart. And I asked him – I won't tell you his name – I asked him, “How in the world did you become so prolific at writing articles, that are so good, so fast?” And he said, “Well, in graduate school, I had a teacher, and he used to make me go and get the best writers of science and I had to copy their articles, over and over and over again.” And I said, “Most articles are about 20 pages, single-spaced.” And he said, “Yep, that's what I had to do. I actually got a grade out of THAT!” And he said, “You know what I figured out after doing this – because I had to bring this guy handwritten notes? I figured out that I could talk in the voice of the author who was writing the article. So I could talk like Mr. Smith – Dr. Smith. I could talk like Dr. Jones.” And he said, “It took me about five or six times of writing articles exactly in the voice of the person I was involved, and next thing I know, I knew exactly what this person was thinking, and how to talk like that person, and how to think like this person.” Note taking is helpful along these lines. When we take notes, there may be just like a stack there. We don't, necessarily, think we'll ever go back to, but the time we take in writing a note is imprinting on our minds God's word. It's worth our time to do this.

How about after the service? Well, once we finish the service, we certainly have the opportunity to do more fellowship. We can talk about the messages and we can listen. We can listen to other people. In class, sometimes, I will talk about the role of noise in communication. And the notion of noise is – we don't really hear anything now; it's actually really quiet – but noise oftentimes works as a distraction. If you've ever tried to talk with someone, say in your house, and the next door neighbor is mowing the lawn, and just going and blowing, and it's so loud you're yelling, that's noise. And I'm not necessarily talking about that here. What I am going to reference here, because, generally, it's not too bad in this room, we deal with – I've already pointed this out - we deal with internal noise all the time. And that internal noise we need to be conscious of. So, for example, if someone is speaking, or if someone is talking with you, we can't be distracted to the point that we are off wandering somewhere, and the person is still talking – it's like, “Oh, you're still there. Good to see you again.” Or – I know you've done this, because I've done this at church – you'll be listening to a message, and someone will make a point, and you'll think, “Yeah, that reminds me of the time…” and five minutes later, I'll come back and think, “What's he talking about?” That internal noise has limited the message that has been intended to come through for us during services. So we need at least to be aware of that internal, if not the external, noise.

At times we can forget that the Sabbath service is really a part of the greater command to keep the Sabbath holy. I would contend how we approach the Sabbath and the service itself is how we approach God. We have to be mindful of that. So, to make the Sabbath a delight we must maximize our time at services.

Here's my last one – fifth. To make the Sabbath a delight we must remember that it points to a greater reality. And that would be God's Kingdom. Isaiah 56. Now I've already noted here, if you have a marker back in Isaiah 58, you're going to go forward two chapters. I've already talked about here – about the fact that God finds the Sabbath important. It's a command. It's a covenant. It's a holy day. It's a test. It's all these things. We can't put enough stock in comparison to how God views this day – vitally important. Isaiah 56:1 reads:

Isaiah 56:1 – Thus says the Lord: Keep justice, and do righteousness, for My salvation is about to come, and My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this And the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, the Lord has utterly separated me from His people, nor let the eunuch say, here I am, a dry tree. For thus says the Lord: to the eunuchs who keep My Sabbaths, and choose what pleases Me, and hold fast My covenant, even to them I will give in My house and within My walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. What we do, and the rest we get on the Sabbath, pictures what we will experience in the millennium and even more so in God's Kingdom with Heavenly Jerusalem.

I'll go to one more place – Hebrews 4. Well, I'll go to Hebrews 4, and then I'll go to one final scripture and then we're done. We can't miss that the Sabbath has eternal applications – eternal meaning.

Hebrews 4:9-11 – There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest – verse 10 – lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. Oh man, I jumped. Forgive me. Let's go back to verse 9: There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. God set the example He just wants us to follow. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. So what we're reminded here, in terms of the Sabbath and making it a delight, in our obedience we're giving God the opportunity to bless us, is, we're being reminded of what is to come in terms of the millennium. Feast of Tabernacles reminds us of that – and ultimately His Kingdom.

So, I've run five points by you. And you may be thinking – I have no idea if this is you – you may be thinking, “So why talk about the Sabbath? We know that you've been told, admonished, give meat in due season. Why spend time on the Sabbath today?” Leviticus 23. I waited and held this – Leviticus 23:3. Why would he talk about this today? Why these five points?

Leviticus 23:3 – Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Back up to verse 1:

V-1 – And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: the feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, these are My feasts. You know what we just went through? We went through five points in order to keep the Sabbath holy, to make it a delight. The same five points apply to the Feast of Trumpets. The same five points apply to the Day of Atonement. The same five points apply to the Feast of Tabernacles. The same five points apply to that Eighth Day – the Last Great Day. So what we've done here is, we've prepared ourselves for exponential learning. I'm looking at Mr. Talbot. For our learning to be dramatically improved, as we look forward to these fall Feasts.

You know, Isaiah 58 and 59 focused on mankind's restoration from God – excuse me – separation from God, because of our sins. And we see this clearly in Isaiah 59 as we began this message. And as we back up to Isaiah 58:13-14, we see it as well. I will read these two verses in closing again.

Isaiah 58:13-14 – If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your own 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, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I – that being God – will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Let's make sure we do these things, not just for the Sabbath but for the Fall Holy Days so that God can delight in us and bless us the way He longs to.

Happy Sabbath and have a wonderful Fall Feast season.