The Joy in the Sabbath

Anyway, all of us are enduring or have endured the holiday season.

And of course, this season of year is purported to be filled with joy, filled with giving, and filled with family.

And I'm sure there's certainly a certain level of that that some are able to experience.

Yet more often, I think you find reported loneliness and discouragement or depression because it's a facade. It's a facade.

That is the only way you can describe the commercial holiday, all of them, but particularly Christmas. Even though it has what you might see to be the most clear religious connection of some type, it's not.

It is certainly not what God desires, not what God wants.

And I know even the last couple of days, December 25 is the deadest day of the year.

There's nothing open. I recall driving around Tacoma, Washington one day.

It was a long time ago, 40 years ago. Could not find anything open.

We were probably at an activity for the kids, which we would often go to for many, many, many, many, many years. And you always had something going on on Christmas time. I recall being out of the...we lived in Portland, being up into the Tacoma area for probably a ballgame or something, and could not find one place open.

I'd see any more...you know, I kind of know if there's any kind of need. There's Walgreens. They're always open.

No matter what, even Christmas Day, they said they were open. I didn't go over there.

And of course, here in Kansas City at least, those are on every other corner.

Walgreens, CVS, they all build in the same place, I guess, in order to be available.

But I also heard reported, just in connection with the holiday season, that here in the United States, 82 percent, or excuse me, 92 percent, of the people celebrate Christmas. Whether they have any religious connection or at all, that's nine out of ten people observe, at least in some way, a Christmas. In the other ten, or eight percent, 80 percent of them, those who are non-Christians, also celebrate Christmas, just because it's such a big commercial holiday. And in many ways, I think that's very sad, because it is such a facade.

I see a certain benefit in at least understanding something about Jesus. That's the only benefit I see, because most everything else, as far as misinterpreting Luke 2 and Matthew 2, you know, we're all, I think, aware and familiar with that. But I think it's important for us to see that even in our latest Good News magazine, we had a couple of different articles that point out the errors of celebrating, you know, a false holiday like Christmas.

But maybe more importantly, I wanted to point this out to you. I'm sure you not only have the magazine, perhaps have already read that. There were two articles in this past edition, I guess November, December, it must have been what it was.

There were two articles about Sabbath observance, and not just for the Jews, but for everybody. And so I think it's something that we can focus on today. You know, we've gone through a week that's in some ways pretty scrambled in many cases. And yet I want to point out that we can all truly rejoice every week, this week included. Today we're assembled here on the Sabbath, and we don't want to take that for granted. You know, that may become more and more difficult as we go forward.

You know, we would almost predict that it would. But, you know, we should really rejoice, rejoice in the fact that we have, at the end of every week, a blessing, an opportunity, and as I hope to point out, a gift. A gift from God that we can come together and not only enjoy, but truly rejoice in the Sabbath. We have a weekly reminder, and that's going to happen throughout the rest of January and February and March.

We don't get to the Holy Days till April, but every weekend, every Sabbath, every Friday evening, you know, we are going to be able to come together and truly be reminded of what true joy and true peace and true happiness is all about. That's why we come here, and that's why we attend church services, and it's an amazing thing.

So, my question is, do we view the Sabbath each week as we come to services? I know it becomes our habit, it becomes commonplace, and we have to do some of the same things even in getting ready for the Sabbath. You prepare. We have to, you know, our whole lives are rearranged, in a sense, to be able to acknowledge what God says about the seventh-day Sabbath. But I want us to, you know, view the Sabbath as the joyous delight that it is.

Here in Isaiah 58, you have two different topics discussed in Isaiah 58. One of them is how to properly fast, and I'm not going to be going over that today. But I do want to read a couple of verses at the end of Isaiah 58 because they talk about how it is, you know, that we want to enjoy the Sabbath, how we can greatly benefit from the Sabbath.

Here in verse 13, it says, if you refrain from trampling on the Sabbath, and so Isaiah's, you know, telling the people in Israel, the Jewish people, the people who should know better, who do know about the Sabbath, he says, if you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your own interest on my holy day, and that's the emphasis that we see on the Sabbath, that it is not just my day to pick out, you know, what I want to do, or not just my day even to determine when it is, but it is God's holy day.

He goes on in verse 13 to say, if you call the Sabbath a delight, if you look forward to it, not as a burden, because sometimes people can even look at a 24-hour day or a 24-hour period set aside, they can look at it even after you do it for a long time, you can look at it as almost a burden. Oh, well I have to stop. Well, no, I need to stop.

I need to look forward to stopping. I need to enjoy the Sabbath. But 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 and not serving your own interest or pursuing your own affairs, then you shall take delight in the Lord. See, if we want to know what true joy is, if we want to know what true exclamation and excitement is, well that's going to come from God. See, one of the fruit that we read about is gifts of the Spirit of joy.

And that joy comes from honoring God and respecting God and appreciating God, not simply just obeying God, because we should delight in that as well, because we're turning from sin as we do so. But there's more to it than that.

I would like for us to look the Sabbath beyond just, well, I'm not sinning. I don't want to sin. I'm going to keep the Sabbath. Well, no, we don't want to sin, and we want to turn from sin. But he goes on here to say, verse 14, then you shall take delight not only in the Sabbath, but in the Lord, the Lord who is the Lord of the Sabbath, Jesus Christ. And I will make you to write upon the high places of the earth.

We'll feed you with the heritage your re-ancestor, Jacob, from the mouth of the Lord is spoken. And so here, in a sense, it's a very encouraging statement that Isaiah makes that is, I think, truly incredible. Because as Jesus said in Mark 2, you know, he was talking about the Sabbath, Mark 2, verse 27 and verse 28, he explained that he was the Lord of the Sabbath, but he also said the Sabbath was made for the benefit of mankind. It was made for the benefit of man, not just the house of Israel, not just the Jewish people.

So many people today would equate, you know, Sabbath-keeping. Oh, that has to do with the Jews. And they would almost say that in a derogatory sense, although perhaps they ought to understand a little more about why they do it.

You know, the traditions that are beneficial and that are biblical and godly. And yet, you know, the Sabbath is made for all of mankind. At the end of every week, you know, as we come together, there's three things I want us to be reminded of, to think about. The first of these is what I've already mentioned is that it's, you know, the Sabbath is not simply a Jewish observance. It's really a Christian observance. It's a Christian observance in that Jesus customarily kept the Sabbath, and we are to walk in his steps, we're to follow him.

But I hadn't thought of this before, but if we go over to Acts 16, now all of you have, I think, a sequential Bible for the most part. Exodus 16 comes before Exodus 20.

Exodus 20? Isn't that amazing? Exodus 20 is where you see a listing of the Ten Commandments, and we'll read that eventually here. But I was thinking about this, and I don't know that I had fully thought about it as much as I should before, but I thought this was incredible.

Now before we get to the time when God would give Moses and the house of Israel the Ten Commandments, and one of which would be, remember the Sabbath day, even the wording of that ought to give us an idea. It already existed before he said that. He said, remember the Sabbath, if it didn't exist or if it wasn't available or if they didn't know anything about it, you know, it did exist long before then. But in particular, here in Exodus 16, you've got a, you know, a whole example of, you know, the children of Israel complaining and moaning and groaning that we don't have anything to eat and we're thirsty. And of course they grumbled to Moses. And Moses had to. This was before we get to Exodus 20, as I'll remind you. And so in verse 4, the Lord said to Moses, I'm going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people will go out and gather enough for that day, and in that way I will test them whether they will follow my instructions or not. And so here was an instruction from God to Israel and to Moses directly about how to care for the people. And as we know, when you read through the entirety of this, that God was going to provide quail to eat. He was going to provide manna as bread from heaven. And there are, you know, numerous illustrations or examples we could draw from this, primarily the fact that the true bread from heaven is Jesus Christ that we very much appreciate. But if we go on in verse 5, on the sixth day, when you prepare what you bring in, it will be twice as much as you gather on the other day. So God was reminding. This was not the institution of the Sabbath, as you know, but He was at least reminding people who had been in slavery, and perhaps for the most part unaware and uninvolved in obeying God, at least to, you know, a great degree. They may have been aware, but God was reminding them even more that on the sixth day, I want you to, you know, take, you know, care to prepare for the second day. In verse 8, He says, Moses said, when the Lord gives you meat to eat in the evening, and you feel of bread in the morning, because the Lord has heard the complaining that you utter against them. He says, Who are we talking about, Moses and Aaron?

Your complaining is not against us, but against God. And so, you know, He was pointing out to them that, well, you need to have a relationship with God. He's the one who can provide you food or drink. And in verse 13, in the evening, Quail did come down and cover the camp, and in the morning, there was a layer of dew around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted on the surface of the wilderness, fine flaky substances, fine as frost on the ground, and of course the Israelites said, well, what is it? And they didn't know. And Moses said, it's the bread the Lord has given you to eat.

This is what the Lord has commanded you. And so, you know, this whole illustration, you know, maybe took a little longer than it would take for us to read through this, but you can see what was happening. God was pointing out something about the seven-day week. He was pointing out something about the six days that you do your own work, and on the sixth day, you prepare and you will not go out.

And even, he said, if you try to keep it on Tuesday till Wednesday, then it'll rot. It'll just, you know, stink in your ice chest. It won't work. You try that on Friday, keeping it over till the seventh day, and it's just fine. That was, you know, to be focused on, you know, their thinking. So if we drop down, let's see, in verse 22, Exodus 16, verse 22, he said to them, on the sixth day, they gathered twice as much food, and when all the leaders of Israel came and told Moses, this is what the Lord has commanded, tomorrow, verse 23, so this would be the seventh day, tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, all that's left over, put aside to be kept until the morning. And so they put it aside until morning as Moses commanded, and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Again, how many times did he need to reiterate the fact? It wasn't simply in the legalized code of the law that you are to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. This was given as a matter of practical function. It was given before the Ten Commandments directly were given, and I think it's amazing.

In verse 27, the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather. They didn't find any. You know, stiff-necked, hard-headed, rebellious Israel. They went out, but in verse 28, Moses, or Lord said to Moses, how long will they refuse to keep my commandments and my instructions?

See, God had clearly given them other commands, and clearly, I think this was a reminder of the Sabbath day and directly an institution of it before you even get to the listing in the Ten Commandments. But in verse 29, 29 is what I want to really focus on. The Lord has given you a gift.

The Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, on the sixth day, He gives you food for two, and each of you stay where you are. Do not leave your place on the seventh day, so the people rested on the seventh day. See, the Sabbath day to the people of Israel at that time, to the people of God today, is a gift. It's a gift that we have been extended. It's not a burden, it's a blessing, it's a gift. And of course, we read in Isaiah that we're to delight in that day.

We're to be thrilled that we have a knowledge of something that is critically important and significant for us and has great number of meanings, and yet what God wants us to do is to truly rejoice. In Exodus 31, you see an example. If we turn over a few pages, you see, and this is at the time right before in verse 18, that God would finish speaking with Moses and give him the two tablets of the covenant tables of stone written with the finger of God. You know, here in Exodus 31, starting in verse 12 or verse 13, you shall keep my Sabbath. For this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, given in order that you may know that I'm the Lord, or that I, the Lord, do sanctify you. See, now many times you read that and you say, oh, the Sabbath is a sign of the people of God. Well, it is. It does signify, you know, that the people of God are respecting God and that they are honoring God in the way that he wishes to be honored.

But see, what does it say in verse 13? It says, you shall keep my Sabbath.

You are to do this throughout your generations. The Sabbath was given. It was given as a gift in order that you may know that I, the Lord, have set you apart. I have sanctified you. I have given you a special blessing. See, we're set apart by God. We're not set apart by obeying.

We want to obey and we want to turn from sin and we want to honor God, but we're set apart because we are brought into a special closeness with God, with our Heavenly Father. And in a sense, we should celebrate that every weekend.

Celebrate that every Sabbath, every Friday evening. It's five o'clock or a little before or after right now. The Sabbath begins. We have to be kind of prepared for that. We need to be at least thinking of it ahead of time and, of course, running then throughout the day.

But I think it's fabulous to see that, first of all, the Sabbath is a gift to the people of God who are set apart by God to benefit from that blessing. The second thing I want to mention is that we're reminded on the Sabbath and this is helpful for all of us.

If we're truly going to rejoice in the Sabbath, if we're going to share the joy that God wants us to have with Him and with one another, we're going to be reminded of two things.

See, in Exodus 20, back up a few pages here, what does it say? See, it says something different in Deuteronomy 5. A little different, and I want to point these two out. In Exodus 20, in verse 8, it says, Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. So again, even the way it's stated, remember it. Well, if it didn't exist or if it already wasn't in existence, it became a gift to man on the day after Adam and Eve were created. They were created on the sixth day. We didn't take time to go through Genesis 2, but you can go through Genesis 2, verse 1 through 3 and see the Sabbath day was given not just to Israel because Israel obviously didn't exist, it was given to man. And it was blessed and it was sanctified. It was set apart by, it was hallowed by the great Creator God. But here in Exodus, chapter 20, we're told to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.

Six days you should labor and do your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord. You shall not do any work. Four in verse 11. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and sea and all that in them is, but he rested. This is when the Sabbath was instituted. The Sabbath began because it's designed for man. See, did the angels keep the Sabbath? No. You know, I don't know that the Sabbath would have been involved in angel service to God. That again, you know, maybe has more answer than I know, but it doesn't appear that that would have been necessary. It wouldn't even have been required until you had an earth that was shaped by God for man. And then, you know, on the seventh day, the Sabbath was designated. It was created in a sense. It was designated by God resting. And that's what we see here in verse 11. In six days the Lord made the heaven and earth and sea and all that in them, but he rested the seventh day and therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and he consecrated it. See, now what is the focus? What are we to remember? Not only that the Sabbath is a gift that has been given to us by God, but that we're to be reminded of our Creator, reminded that we are a creation of God. See, I've mentioned this to you about this before. You know, Lucifer forgot he was a creative being. That's one of his big flaws. He forgot. He became so arrogant, so opinionated, so selfish, so filled with pride, and so filled with hatred and anger that he decided he could rebel against God. That he could have some way, in some way, be victorious in overthrowing the throne of God. Utter insanity is what Lucifer, you know, became when he became the adversary of God. But what we see in the Sabbath is a reminder that we're created beings, and that we need God, and that we can appreciate the Sabbath. And, of course, it's wonderful. It's great even the other night just to watch the full moon. You know, you've got advertising about the full moon being on Christmas Day. I guess that's not very common.

And yet, if you're able to see it, it's just incredible to see, you know, the full moon, and be able, and especially if you're in an area that's darkened, and it's real bright, and it's, you know, it's just beyond, you know, you can see 241,000 miles. That's what you can see whenever you see that, or close to that. I'm forgetting. I think the sun's, what, 93 million? The moon's 240-some thousand. You can see that far. You can see, you know, this wonderful light that God is set in the night. And yet, if we, you know, think about the Creator, if we think about how did God set this up, and I'm, you know, I'm great at, I love to look at clouds. I love to watch clouds, because they're, they're incredible. They're incredibly beautiful. Well, let's go on to Deuteronomy 45, because not only do you have the directive about that we should be reminded on the Sabbath of the Creator, that we are in subjection to the Creator, that we are, we have been blessed with another gift of understanding what the Creator is doing. What the Creator is doing in expanding His family. What He is doing in guiding and leading and blessing and encouraging us toward being a part of His family here in Deuteronomy 5.

If we drop down to verse 12, it says, observe the Sabbath day, and again, keep it holy. So we, we want to understand how to do that, or learn how to do that, learn how we can appropriate that in a proper way. But observe the Sabbath and keep it holy as Lord commanded, six days you labor, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God, you're not to do any work.

And so again, that part of the instruction in this listing of the Ten Commandments is the same.

But verse 15 is different, because it says in verse 15, remember, it's not talking about creation in this case, but he says, remember that you were slaves. Remember, you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commands you to keep the Sabbath. See, so not only are we to be reminded of our great Creator, but we're reminded of His plan and purpose and the fact that as our Redeemer, as our rescuer, as our deliverer, He has brought us out of having been enslaved to sin. He's brought us out of that. See, that's what the Redeemer does. It teaches us more about God, about what His plan is and how it is, you know, that we think about that. We should think of it every day, perhaps, but we certainly should think of it every Sabbath that, you know, God delivered us from being captive, from being enslaved by the world and by the devil and the delusion and, you know, the facade that He has created.

And so apart from the fact the Sabbath is a gift to us and that, you know, it is given to us to remember God as our Creator and as our Redeemer. The third thing I want to mention is what we read in Hebrews chapter 3 and 4 or even in chapter 10 because in Hebrews 3, and this, of course, is Paul writing to the Jewish Christians who were very familiar with keeping the Sabbath.

This was not new to them. This was customary. This was what they commonly did.

But they were needing to do it with an understanding that Jesus was greater than any angel and that He was greater than Moses. He was greater than everything in the Old Testament and He needed to be worshiped.

That's what Paul wanted the, you know, Hebrews here, you know, to understand.

But he says in verse 12 of Hebrews 3, Brethren, take care that none of you have an evil unbelieving heart that turns away from living God.

He says, he was kind of giving them a warning, you know, you need to benefit from the Sabbath, you know, more so than you ever could in the past. But as you are able to today, in verse 13, exhort one another. Every day, as long as it is called today, so that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. What are we supposed to do here on the Sabbath?

Well, we come and we worship God and we honor and we sing and we appreciate the fact that God is rescuing us and that He is our Creator and that He holds out before us eternal life.

That's what we should be reminding not only ourselves of, but each other of. And he says, I want you to exhort one another as long as it's called today. And he's mentioned, he's going to refer in chapter four to this today being the Sabbath. This today being a day when you meet together and you fellowship and you worship with one another and you are doing that with joy and with excitement. Lest anyone, none of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

That's in a sense, you know, you read some of the words in the Old Testament that are talking about the Sabbath and it tells you to guard, guard the Sabbath. Not that you're just simply protecting the day, but you're utilizing it in a God-ordained way. Here it's saying, you know, be on guard against the deceitfulness of sin because sin is far more deceptive, far more cunning, as certainly Satan as the God of this world is far more cunning, you know, than human beings ever would imagine. You know, we don't want to fall prey to that. He says, you have become, verse 14, we have become partners of Christ. If only we hold our first confidence firm to the end, and so we need to persevere, as our sermon that encouraged us to do. We want to persevere, and that is a part of what, you know, we're told. If we jump over to chapter 10, it says, even more so here in chapter 10, verse 23, it says, let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who is promised is faithful. And in verse 24, let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds. See, that's a part of our fellowshiping, to provoke one another to love, to truly know how to love one another and other people, our families, our children, to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together. So when do you meet together? Well, on the Sabbath. They were commonly doing that. It was part of what the church was doing, of course, at the time. Not neglecting meeting together as a habit of some, but encouraging or exhorting one another. And all the more, as you see, the coming of Christ. All the more, as you see, the real solution. And really, another picture of what the Sabbath is about. As you anticipate the kingdom of God, the thousand-year rule of Christ to come to put a concluding point on, you know, the six thousand years of man's rule. See, we are, you know, asked to remember, you know, that the Sabbath is a gift from God that He wants us to rejoice in. To keep in mind the fact He's our Creator and He's our Redeemer and that He holds out before us eternal life. And that we are to come together. You know, there is. We jump back here to chapter 4. Chapter 4 and verse 9.

So then a Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. And 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 may fall through such disobedience as theirs. So that we may not stumble or fall or give up. We want to be encouraging. We want to be uplifting. And, you know, I know that all of you do this quite well, and so I'm kind of preaching to the choir, but we don't want to forget that God shows us clearly how it is that true joy, true peace, true happiness is within the Word of God.

It's within the law of God. It's within the purpose and plan of God. And we're simply, you know, we're following God's instructions when we celebrate and observe the Sabbath. So we want to delight and rejoice with joy in the Sabbath every week, and we can conclude here in Isaiah 56.

We started in Isaiah 58, but in Isaiah 56 you see another admonition. Isaiah 56.

I only want to read a couple of verses here, but it says in verse 2, happy is the man who does this, and the one who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil, and goes on and talks about others that will learn to keep the Sabbath and to be celebrating that. In verse 6, and it says eventually, and this is talking even of a time further on when God makes his knowledge available. Now foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister in, to love the name of the Lord, and to his servants, all who keep the Sabbath, who do not profane it and hold fast my covenant these, I will bring to my holy mountain. See, I think a reference to the kingdom of God, to, you know, the fact that Jerusalem is the capital of the kingdom that rules the earth. I will bring them to my holy mountain. I will make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people.

See, to try to get everyone to worship together in unison and harmony today is quite difficult, even, you know, among all of us. It's not as easy as you would think, and certainly with people having all kinds of various ideas. See, this is speaking of a time when true joy is going to be available to all of mankind, and yet it talks about in connection with, you know, people coming together in a house of prayer for all people, but who are joyfully celebrating the Sabbath, joyfully celebrating what God has set this Sabbath apart for, and in so doing, you know, He sets us apart as well. So remember, you know, as we come together every week, the Sabbath's a gift from God to us. He wants us to rejoice. He wants us to be reminded of Him as our Creator and our Redeemer, and that He wants us to encourage one another and to lift each other up in love and in good deeds, because that's, you know, that's a part of His purpose and plan for us.