Respect for the Sabbath

I think many of us have been celebrating the Sabbath day for decades. Mr. Bessner is a little new here. He's coming to us relatively newly, but for the most part, most of us have been in understanding, or have had understanding of the Sabbath for quite a period of time.

And it shouldn't just be that, well, that's when we go to church. It should be more than that. And of course, we come together. We come and gather here on Saturday afternoon for this congregation. We do that to assemble together. Of course, we're commanded to do so. We're commanded to come together and to learn and grow. We also come together to encourage each other. That's why we're here.

We're not here for simply what we might learn, because hopefully we learn something. But we're here to encourage each other. Each one of us should feel that we have a responsibility to contribute. Whenever we come to a church service and we come before God, and as we did in our opening prayer, ask God for His blessing, His direction, His inspiration. Now, that doesn't just apply to whoever happens to be the speaker that day.

That applies to everybody. That applies to each of us as we are worshiping God and as we really appreciate the Sabbath. Now, we all know that the Sabbath doesn't begin at 2.30 Saturday afternoon. It starts the evening before. And as we know, that kind of fluctuates as far as when the sundown is. A few weeks ago, it was actually before 5 o'clock. Now it's almost 5.10 here in Kansas City. And of course, it varies a little as far as where you might be. But of course, there's even purpose in that. And we need to be aware of that. We need to be concerned about that, especially as, I guess, we're kind of past that time now.

But here, usually early December or even toward the middle of December, you're often running into Sabbath beginning even before 5 o'clock. And so we obviously are aware of that if we're working or if we're somewhere else. And often we'll be trying to travel back, as I certainly know we can do. But the Sabbath begins on Friday evening. And it's fascinating to see that because God designed it that way. If we turn to Genesis 1, Genesis chapter 1, you see... I just want to use two different... two verses here that we're all familiar with.

Genesis 1, after the first day, here in verse 5, it says, God called the light day and He called the darkness night. And there was the evening and there was the morning, the first day. The description, even in the way it's outlined, is the evening is when the day begins. And then it goes through a nighttime period and then throughout the daylight part of the day.

That's what's called the first day. It's the same thing in verse 8. God called the dawn sky and there were evening and there was morning and that was the second day. You go down through here, each one of these days are designated the evening and the morning. And of course, if you go over to Leviticus 23, this has always been interesting. I think all of us, perhaps, it's not a matter about us simply observing the Sabbath. It may eventually be that we need to explain why.

We need to explain from the Bible why we want, or we not only do, but that even want others to come to keep the Sabbath and to keep it in the way that God designed it to be kept. But here in describing the Day of Atonement, I realize that's not directly a weekly Sabbath day, but it's an annual Sabbath day that are outlined here in Leviticus 23.

And you see the description in Leviticus 23 starting in verse 31. This is about the Day of Atonement. You shall do no work. It's a statute forever throughout your generations and all your settlements. It shall be in verse 32, a Sabbath of complete rest. And of course, that again is describing the Day of Atonement being even a little more of a Day of Rest where we're not eating, we're not drinking.

That's a Day of Fasting. But it says it's to be a Day of a Sabbath of complete rest and you shall deny yourself. But then it defines and even specifically describes on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening until the next evening, you shall keep that Sabbath. And so he's talking about the tenth day beginning the evening before.

And so, again, this is information I know all of you are aware of and familiar with. And I'm wanting to talk about the Sabbath today, not of course to convince you to keep the Sabbath, although I certainly want to encourage you to do that, but I want to remind you. I want to remind you and also, I hope, elevate.

Elevate your respect for this Holy Day that God has created for us.

And see, he actually has not only created it for us, he created it for all of mankind. He created it for the entirety of the entire human race, all of what we would describe as mankind. It's not just simply given to Israel, even though it is directly given to Israel. It's directly given to the house of Judah.

But it's designed for all of humanity. It's not simply designed for a few people.

And ultimately, as we know, beyond today, in the Kingdom of God, the Sabbath is going to be recognized by all the nations.

And they're going to be learning how to celebrate that day and what it is that it's designed to do, because the Sabbath.

As you drive over here, you know, if Mr. Hudson's driving from Topeka, he knows how to get here. He probably goes the same way, at least I go the same way to his house almost every time.

You know where you are, you know how far you are away, you know how long it's going to take to get there, you know essentially when you want to arrive. So, traveling to services, if we've done it for a while, can become an ordinary thing.

Now, Mr. Brannon, Mr. and Mrs. Brannon have to start out early. They're long ways away, or at least a certain amount of ways away, and they've got a lot of stuff to haul, and usually, you know, they're getting here earlier. So, that's something that you have to plan for on the Sabbath.

But what we're told about the Sabbath is that we need to be reminded of the blessing.

The blessing it is to keep the Sabbath.

And we need to be reminded of God's intended purpose for creating the Sabbath.

Where would you go in the Bible? You could always go to the Ten Commandments, you could go to Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5, and you can see something about the Sabbath. There are some summary statements there, but where would you go?

See, actually, it's in a sense somewhat easy to go in the Old Testament to verses that talk about the Sabbath. It's not as easy to go in the New Testament, although I hope to show you several that would be very good. There are actually two different chapters in the New Testament that are just, you could say, riddled with information about the Sabbath. And it would be good if we were going to explain it to someone else that we knew where those were. Sometimes it's kind of hard to find different things when you're looking for them.

And yet, I want us to start here in Genesis 2, because of course, after the Creation Week, after the six days where God had reshaped the earth, where He had reshaped the earth that had been created, and then became turbulent and chaotic, because of Satan's rebellion. And yet, He reshaped and fashioned that in six days. And on the sixth day, of course, He created man, created Adam and Eve, and placed them here in this beautiful garden. And you can read more about that in chapter 2. But in chapter 2, verse 1, it says, "'Esse heavens and the earth were finished in all their multitude, and on the seventh day God finished the work that He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all the work that He had done." And so here we find God. Now, did God need to rest? Obviously He didn't. He wasn't tired. He wasn't tired. He has all power and all might.

And yet, He's setting an example. He's setting an example for a one-day-old. So who was the one-day-old? Well, Adam and Eve were the one-day-olds. His little kids, His little children, He was setting a pattern here. And it says, "'He rested on the seventh day from the work.'" And in verse 3, God blessed the Sabbath day, and He hallowed it because on it God rested from all the work that He had done in creation.

So He rested from the work that He had done in creating, shaping, reshaping this entire earth for His little kids. And He showed them, in this sense, a pattern. See, God had blessed and hallowed this seventh day as an example to man.

It is a particular day at the end of a weekly cycle. It's not starting in Tuesday and going until Monday. It's not starting on Friday and going until Thursday. There's a pattern that we're all familiar with, and that clearly Jesus was familiar with only 2,000 years ago. And clearly the Jews are quite readily adapting to that today, where they know what the Sabbath day is. See, it can be argued. People can argue all they want.

It doesn't change what God did in blessing, in hallowing the day. And of course what He says was that He rested from His creating. See, the Sabbath day actually helps us. If we focus on it, and we should focus on it, it helps us to remember our Creator. To remember that we're not as autonomous as we would like. We're not as independent as we would think we are.

We're just a creation of God out of the dust of the ground, and that we need our Creator. And we need to worship our Creator. And so we're told to remember the Creator who rested as an example. And of course we're going to honor the One who rules our lives.

That's what we're doing. If we come to church, if we sit here for an hour and a half or two hours, however long that might be, we want to be thinking about God not only during that time, but even beforehand throughout the day. But we want to remember the Creator in Exodus 16. Now this is before, of course, you get to chapter 20 in Exodus where the Ten Commandments are given. And one of those commands, of course, does deal with the Sabbath day that God said should be recognized.

But here in Exodus 16, you see God's specific reminder. See, now at this point, the Israelites, they could have been aware of that, or it could have been passed down to them from others, from Abraham, or Isaac, or Jacob. That information could have been known, but God made it very clear here in chapter 16. Chapter 16, starting in verse 22, on the sixth day, you were to gather twice as much food, two almers of peace, and when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said, this is what the Lord is commanding. Tomorrow, talking about the seventh day, the Sabbath day, tomorrow is a day of solemn rest.

It is a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you want to bake, and boil what you want to boil, and all that's left over, put aside, and keep until morning. So they put it aside until morning, as Moses commanded. And it did not become foul, and there was no words in it. And Moses said, eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field.

In six days you shall gather, but on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none. So this was orienting Israel to an understanding, and of course, this was going to go on throughout the entirety of the wandering in the wilderness.

They were going to need to have quail, they were going to need to have manna, they were going to need to have this before they ultimately would get to the Promised Land. And yet, here he's telling them, he's telling them what day the Sabbath is. He's designating that for them. And if we drop down even to verse 30, actually, I'm not going to read all of the verses in between, you can read them if you wish, but it says in verse 30, the people rested on the Sabbath day. They were given a pattern, and they were shown what they were to do by God, and then they could follow that pattern.

Of course, when they disobeyed, when they didn't pay attention, they found that, well, it brought it on us, and we couldn't eat it. So they were worked with by God. If we turn over to chapter 31, Ezekiel, or excuse me, Exodus, write letter, but wrong book, Exodus chapter 31, you see, the Sabbath designated as, in a sense, a signifying sign for the people of God.

Now, of course, as I've said, it wasn't just simply given, as we'll see. It wasn't simply given for Israel only. It was given for all of mankind. But here, it points out a special relationship that is being cultivated between God and His people. In verse 12 of Exodus 31, the Lord said to Moses, You, yourself, are to speak to the Israelites. 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 you may know what?

That you know that the Lord has sanctified you. Not only did God set apart and sanctify the Sabbath, He has sanctified His people. His people who respond to His instruction, to His direction.

It says in verse 14, You shall keep the Sabbath, because it is holy for you. Everyone who perfains it should be put to death. Whoever does not work on it, whoever does work on it, shall be cut off. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall be put to death. Therefore, the Israelites shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath as a perpetual covenant. They sign in verse 17, forever between me and the people of Israel, that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed. So it says not only was God creating during that period of time, and then He rested, but as He rested, He was refreshed. And of course, that was the intention for the people who would be set aside by observing the Sabbath, that they would be refreshed. And see, that actually is...you know, all of you do that customarily. You do that to not sin. I mean, we believe that to not observe the Sabbath would be a sin. And clearly, we want to repent of our sins. But see, for people in general, they don't really see the value. They don't see the importance of setting aside a day, and particularly a day that God sets aside. They don't see that as being significant. I saw an article the other day, a national review. It was by Dennis Prager. And the title of this article is interesting to see. It says, There are six reasons why keeping the Sabbath matters. And he's enumerating. He actually teaches on different things regarding the Bible and the law. And yet, he says, six reasons why keeping the Sabbath matters. I'm not going to go through all of those. Some of those don't make too much sense to me. Several of them make a lot of sense. And yet, he can even point out how that the Sabbath, and observing the Sabbath is really an uncommon thing today. Because even though some might argue that, oh well, you could just pick any day, you could rest, or you could, but how many people do that? How many people actually set aside a day that they don't do anything else? They only develop a closer relationship with their Creator.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who work seven days a week, and their families suffer. They suffer because of that, because if they would only set aside one day, that would be a big help. Of course, that's part of his argument in this article about how it really does matter to keep the Sabbath.

It helps us relate to God in a way that there's really, in many ways, no way of fully describing that, except as we do that, and we cultivate a closer walk with God. We may get into a habit. We may get into kind of a way of life. It's just our way of life. It's just what we do. And certainly, if we're beyond where we're working a given pattern of schedule, well, houses Sabbath different from many other days where you don't have to directly go to a job. Well, it should be. It still should be because God has set it apart. We back up a few pages to Exodus 20. We're familiar with this. Exodus 20, verse 8 says, Remember the Sabbath day. So here's actually the directive in verse 8. It says to do two things. It says to remember the Sabbath, to remember when it is, to know when it is, to know that we ought to observe it. And it says then to observe it or to keep it holy. See, that's a part of what this article points out, that men have a need to relate to God. And if we spend a day every week being reminded of our need, of a relationship with our Heavenly Father, and our relationship with our Lord and Savior, if we're reminded of that, then that's going to create a closer relationship. That's going to cause us to be closer to the ones who really want to be close to us, be in God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. We go on here in verse 9. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. You shall not do any work, you or your son or daughter, male or female servant, your livestock. Six days the Lord made heaven and earth and sea and all that in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and consecrated it. You see different words used. Hallowed it, sanctified it, consecrated. It's not just a matter that it's another day. It's actually a day that God says, I yearn to relate to you, to you as my daughter, to you as my son. I want to be close to you. And of course, some of that is us. How much do we want to be close to God? How much do we draw close to God during the day that he set aside for us to do that? Now, I know all of these are well known to you, but in pointing them out, I hope that we realize that there's more to the Sabbath than simply just coming to services. Because God wants us to draw close to him in prayer. He wants us to study his word. He wants us to do that on other days as well. But on the Sabbath, we may have more time to do that. And certainly he is wanting to encourage that. In Isaiah 58, you see, this is a chapter in Isaiah that tells us how to properly fast. Isaiah 58 is mostly about fasting, but then there's a little section here at the back of the chapter, the end of the chapter, starting in verse 13. The last two verses not only are talking about fasting, but in Isaiah 58, it starts talking about the Sabbath.

Here in Isaiah 58, he says, if you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, then pursuing, even the description there in verse 13 is interesting. What were they doing? This was written to the people of Israel. They obviously were not focused on the Sabbath. They were not focused on observing the Sabbath that God had given to them to actually set them apart. They were ignoring that fact. And so he says, if you refrain from trampling on the Sabbath, so it would appear that it's possible to trample the Sabbath. It's possible to ignore the Sabbath or to disregard the Sabbath. But it says, if you refrain from trampling the Sabbath, from pursuing your own interest on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord, that is honorable. And if you honor it, or some translation say, if you honor Him, not just honoring the day that God sets aside, but honoring Him, not going your own way and not serving your own interest, pursuing your own affairs, if you will take your foot off of the Sabbath and show respect for the Sabbath, it says then, you shall take delight in the Lord. And I will make you right upon the heights of the earth. I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken this. To hear His pointing out that, well, to disregard the Sabbath brings tragedy on you. Blessing comes from respecting what God says. And, you know, He says He will and certainly wants us to delight. He wants us to have a close personal relationship with our Creator and our Maker. So these are all verses in the Old Testament, and again, ones I'm sure all of you are familiar with. But the impact of them should be great. It should not be lost on us as week after week after week do the same thing. And, you know, we want to be reminded. So where would you turn in the New Testament? Where would you go? See, I was going to recommend that two of the very best chapters that you could go to, to prove the existence of the Sabbath and the need to observe it are looked for, because you have not only what you could say would be a paramount example in Luke 4, you have numerous examples in Luke 4, as we'll see. And you can also go to Acts 13. That's going to talk about Paul and what he did, how it was he interacted with people, and how it was that he actually brought people to be aware of their need to relate to the Creator. So, Luke 4 and Acts 13 would be two primary chapters I would think you could focus on. And there are others. We may not be able to go through all of them. But here in Luke 4, if we look at this, Luke 4 is, of course, describing what Jesus did. Now, Jesus observed the Sabbath all of his life. He grew up in the Sabbath keeping home. He grew up as a Jew. He was aware of the temple. He was aware of the Pharisees. He was aware of the Sabbath. His parents were aware of the Sabbath. They were Sabbath keepers. But, of course, there was more to it than that. Since in verse 14, Jesus, filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, returned to Galilee. Galilee was to the north of Jerusalem. And so he went back up around where he grew up, around Nazareth, around Capernaum, around the Sea of Galilee. It says, he returned to Galilee, and a report about him spread through a surrounding country, began to teach in their synagogues, and was praised by everyone. Now, when were they teaching in the synagogue? Well, they were doing that on the Sabbath. That's when the Jews would meet together on the Sabbath.

And so in verse 16, when he came to Nazareth, now this was his hometown. I don't know what your hometown would be. I guess I grew up for 18 years in a little town called Coyle, Oklahoma. It was a small town, very small town. Was I recognizable in the town? Well, of course. There's only 200 people in the school. There's only 400 people in the town. Did everybody know who everyone was? Well, yeah, we did. And clearly, when Jesus went back to Nazareth, everyone knew who he was. He was, of course, a little older. But it says in verse 16, when he came to Nazareth, where he'd been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, as was his custom. And he stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him, and he enrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written. So here Jesus was going to read something in the synagogue. He was going to read a section of Isaiah 61. And he would later say, as he rolled up the scroll in verse 20, he gave it back to the attendant, the eyes of the entire people of the synagogue were on him. He said, today, this scripture has been fulfilled in your ears. And so he was, of course, in a sense, beginning or promoting his ministry. He was promoting his gospel of the kingdom of God. He was promoting what it was that all of these Jews and Gentiles who were there, because there were some there, as we'll see even as we read further. He says in verse 18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives the recover of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor. Now, there's more to that when you go back and read Isaiah 61. But this was a part of the proclamation that Jesus made as he began, in a sense, a public ministry that would last for three years. But here in this case, he clearly was in the Sabbath, as he always was, as was his custom. And he was announcing to them, I'm here to fulfill what it says. I've come, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me. I've come to anoint those who are in need to provide the gospel or the good news to the poor, to proclaim the release to the captives of recovery of sight to the blind. He was able, he was, in a sense, talking of himself, talking of what he was going to do. He could forgive sin. He was God in the flesh.

He could forgive sin. He could heal the sick. He was so far ahead of all the rulers of the synagogue. And yet he was there, as his custom was, and in verse 18, where he talks about proclaiming a release. See, in essence, this also was a reference to the Sabbath. A reference to the Sabbath in that the Sabbath, as we follow the command to remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy, you can only do that if you have the freedom to do so, if you're a captive.

If you are enslaved by another nation or another people, the people of Israel couldn't obey. But see, as all of us need to come to see, we've been released from our captivity to sin. You read that in Romans 6. There's a long section about it, because we've been in captivity to sin, to disobedience, to our own lust, to our own nature, and we've been released. We've been, the blood of the Lamb has covered our sins. And so Jesus proclaimed that and even tied it into the Sabbath. We drop down to verse 30.

As I said, I think chapter 4 is a good place to go, because it's not only the perfect example of what Jesus did, but in verse 31, chapter 4, verse 31, he went down to Capernaum, a city in Galilee. So he had been in Azeroth, and now he's going over to Capernaum. They're not too far apart. Capernaum is on the Sea of Galilee. A city in Galilee, and in verse 31, he was teaching them on the Sabbath.

And they were astounded at his teaching because he spoke with authority. See, again, not only was it his custom, not only was he there in the synagogue and proclaiming who he was, but here it says in verse 31 that he continued to teach on the Sabbath to others who were in Capernaum. If we drop down to verse 40, actually in verse 38, it says, after leaving the synagogue, he entered Simon's house, where Simon's mother-in-law was suffering with a high fever, and he stood over her and rebuked the fever, and it left her, and immediately she got up and healed, served them.

See, he was able to provide a lot of benefits to people. He was able to heal the sick. He was able to care and nurture for them, but it says this even in relationship to him preaching in the synagogue and being there and teaching and then walking out of the synagogue and seeing the need, seeing the benefit that this woman could use of his healing.

And it says in verse 40, as his son was setting, all of those who had any who were sick, various diseases, brought them to him and laid his hands on them, and demons came out of them, proclaiming, you're the son of God, and he rebuked them and would not allow them to speak because they knew he was a messiah. See, Jesus had a remarkable interaction with other people. He had an incredible ability to heal the sick and to nurture and care for those and teach about the Sabbath.

And amazingly, it says at daybreak, verse 42, he departed. He went into a deserted place, and the crowds were looking for him, and when they reached him, they wanted to prevent him from leaving, he said, I need to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God to other cities as well, for I've been sent for this purpose. See, that was his reason for being. He was there to proclaim the kingdom of God.

He was there to give a message. In many ways, as we've covered here in the last few years, he was giving an introduction. He even said, when Pilate was questioning him, are you a king? He said, yes, I'm a king, but I'm not installed right now. That's going to happen. That's going to happen in the future, but I'm proclaiming the kingdom of God. And clearly, this is what he said. So it says in verse 44, he continued proclaiming that message in the synagogue of Judea.

So, keeping the Sabbath, serving other people, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, that was what Jesus was about. That was what he did. If we go on over to Acts 13. Acts 13 is another example of, in this case, the apostles keeping the Sabbath. I think the one in Acts 4 of what Jesus did and how it was, not only was he customarily keeping the Sabbath, but he continually did that.

You're going to see the same thing here with Paul. Now, Paul was a Sabbath keeper. He grew up a Pharisee. He grew up of the house of Judah, of the tribe of Benjamin. He was extremely knowledgeable in the law, even said, and I don't know that any of us could say this, and I'm And yet, what we find Paul doing is interacting with not only Jews, but also Gentiles, and doing this in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, in order to introduce them to the gospel of the kingdom, which, of course, he had been called to proclaim.

Acts 13. It says in verse 16, Paul stood up, and the gesture began to speak. Paul was speaking to both Jews and Gentiles on this Sabbath day. He was in Antioch. He took an opportunity to share the gospel. In verse 27, he says, because the residents of Jerusalem and their leaders did not recognize Jesus, or understand the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath, they fulfilled these words by condemning him.

So he was talking about the Jews who had been around when Jesus was alive. He says they put Jesus to death because they didn't pay attention. They didn't pay attention to what the Old Testament says about the prophet coming. And those words are read to them every Sabbath. We'll find more about what he does here in verse 38. Verse 38 says, Let it be known to you, brethren, that through this man, Jesus Christ, forgiveness of sin, is proclaimed to you. And by this Jesus, everyone who believes is set free from their sins, from which you could not be freed by the law.

See, they didn't have any way of reconciling their sins. You have to be forgiven through the mercy of God and through the sacrifice of Jesus. That's the only way you could be reconciled. But in verse 42, as Paul and Barnabas... See, this was a message that he was proclaiming in a Gentile city of Antioch. Antioch was along the Mediterranean coast. It was up into, I think, into what we would call Turkey today. And yet, here Paul is. He's proclaiming Jesus Christ.

He's proclaiming the kingdom of God. He's telling them, now, well, every Sabbath you hear about this, but you may not pay attention. And in verse 42, as Paul and Barnabas were going out, the people urged them to speak about these things again the next Sabbath. So were they going to come back? Were they going to be back? Did they see any reason to respect the Sabbath or to observe it or to follow up with that?

Well, clearly, this is what Paul anticipated. Verse 43, when the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews devoured converts to Judaism, followed Paul, and they spoke to them and urged them to continue in the grace of God. And so Paul had a lot of information that he could share with them, and yet he was doing this on the Sabbath. If we follow on down to verse 44, the next Sabbath, almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord.

So when was it that Paul was preaching? When was it that the Jews were going to be in the synagogue? But again, it's not just the Jews now. It's the whole city. Everybody in Antioch is going to be there. They're going to listen to what it is that Paul has to say. See, it's absolutely fabulous here in Acts 13 to see the way that Paul interacted with people in Antioch, which was a Gentile city, but also that he proclaimed the word of God, he proclaimed the message from God. But he was doing so on the Sabbath in chapter 17.

Chapter 17, you see Paul and Thessalonica. Of course, you read through this book of Acts, and you see what Paul's custom was. You see how it was that he went to the Jews, and he went to the Gentiles, and he told them what God's message was. He told them about the kingdom of God. He told them about proclaiming an allegiance to the kingdom of God. He told them about developing a rapport in a relationship with Jesus Christ and with God, their Father.

That's what...and we're not going over all that information, but that's what he was proclaiming to them. He was telling them here in chapter 17, in verse 1, Paul and Silas had passed through Ampippalus and Apollyonna, when they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue in the Jews. So clearly at this time, they were talking to the Jews in the synagogue. And Paul went in, as was his custom. He went in on three Sabbath days and argued 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, whom I am proclaiming to you.

And of course, some of them were persuaded and joined. Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks, and not a few of the leading women. So here you've got three different categories, some who would be considered Jews and regularly, you know, there in the synagogue, others who were Greeks. You know, it doesn't look like the synagogue was a closed place. It had to be an open place for Greeks to be able to comp.

And of course, he talks about the leading women being individuals that apparently would have influence, even with others. But, you see, in Thessalonica, this was Paul's custom, as far as keeping the Sabbath, or at least preaching on the Sabbath to these who would come and listen to the message of the Kingdom of God. In chapter 18, Paul is in Corinth now.

He goes into, of course, a lot of different cities, Asia Minor, Corinth being into the area of closer to Greece. Verse 1, after Paul left Athens and went to Corinth, he talks about his interaction with Aquila and Priscilla. And in verse 4, he says, every Sabbath he would argue in the synagogue and would try to convince the Jews, well, no, not only the Jews, but also the Greeks.

Paul's record, his example or his pattern was keeping the Sabbath, but also proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom of God to not only the Jews, but also the Gentiles. So, coming to understand God, coming to understand and truly relate to God, involved respecting the Sabbath as Paul was doing.

And then finally, if you went to look for, you would have some very strong information in the New Testament about the Sabbath here in Acts 13. And we mentioned a couple here. But in Mark 2, you see Jesus, of course, being criticized, criticized for not keeping the Sabbath in the way that the Pharisees wanted him to. See, they had their own rules. They had their own laws. This wasn't what God said.

What God said was, remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy. That's what you were to do. And of course, that would involve not working. And yet, they had put together hundreds of other rules about how far you could walk and all the things that they would delineate. But here in Mark 2, you see Jesus being criticized for his disciples gathering a little food on the Sabbath.

Verse 23, one Sabbath, Jesus was going through the grain fields. And they made their way, or as they made their way, the disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees said, look, why are you doing what's not lawful on the Sabbath? See, they didn't have the right respect for Jesus Christ that they should have. They, of course, were going to be instrumental in later putting him to death. But here, he was working with his disciples. He was teaching them. He was showing them how they could be his servants. But Jesus said in verse 25, have you never heard what David did when he and his companies or companions were hungry and in need of food? He entered the house of God, and Abiathar, the high priest, gave him the bread of the showbread, or the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat. He gave him some of that into his companions. He gave them an example of something that was outside the law. This wasn't the lawful intended purpose for the bread of the presence. This was only supposed to be used, but in this case, David showed up, and his band, who were with him, they needed food, and Abiathar gave it to them. See, now, they couldn't explain that. They couldn't, you know, they said, well, you know, that sounds like a bad thing to us. But when you see Jesus actually concluding, and of course, you find that Jesus was criticized by the Pharisees over and over, not only for what he did, but how he helped other people, how he cured, how he healed, how he extended love to others on the Sabbath. That was what his example was. But he said in verse 27, The Sabbath was made for mankind. That's about as clear a statement as you can find about the fact that the Sabbath wasn't just made for Israel. Yes, it was designated to Israel, and they were set apart. They were sanctified by observing it. Now, they were polluted when they profaned it, when they forgot it, when they ignored it. You know, they were apart from God. They were not cultivating a closeness to God and a relationship with God. But here, you know, Jesus had to point out to the Pharisees who were really good at making laws and then trying to, you know, force people to obey them. That was the description you have for them. He says, The Sabbath was made for man. It was made for the benefit of man. It was made for man to come to relate to God. It was made so that all of mankind can have a respect for what is holy. They can understand that life is far more about a relationship with God than it even is about eating something. That's what he wanted them to understand. He said, The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. So he was pointing out to them, well, man wasn't just made just to keep the Sabbath. We do keep the Sabbath because we want to do that out of respect for God and out of honor and to really relate to being holy. It's incredible, you know, that one of God's names is holy. And of course, you see the angelic host and the 24 elders bowing before God in Revelation 4 and 5 saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. See, that was the way that they address him. That's the way we need to address him as well as we are thankful for the relationship that we can have. But in verse 27, see verse 27 and verse 28 gives some very fabulous highlights of what we want to know about the Sabbath.

Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man. It's made for the benefit of man, not man for the Sabbath. And he says in verse 28, as we saw mentioned back in Isaiah 58, so the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.

He says, I have the authority and I have the prerogative to instruct my disciples in what they are to do, how they are to respect the day. You know, you're not respecting the day, he could say to the Pharisees, you're not respecting it by all of your, you know, rules and all of the things that you put set in place and then you insist on other people doing. He said, that's not what I designed this day to do, but I am the Lord of the Sabbath. And so whenever we worship on the Sabbath, whenever we come before God, we are exalting our Father and we are relating to the Father, but we're delighting in the Lord of the Sabbath, who is Jesus Christ.

See, fabulously, you see in the New Testament, not only the recognition of the Sabbath and clearly the need to respect and observe it, but to understand the need to relate to God through our respect and our obedience in observing the Sabbath. So you've got plenty of information in the Old and in the New Testament regarding the Sabbath. Again, all of us, you know, we don't want to let days go by. We don't want to let Sabbaths go by where we don't draw closer to God, where we don't acknowledge our need for Him and our need to be in submission to Him, but that when we are observing the Sabbath, the Sabbath, they allow us wonderful things. First of all, there's four things I'll mention here. The Sabbath allows us to rest from our labors. You know, that after a week of work, that's a wonderful blessing. That causes you to be able to rest, to be free.

Observing the Sabbath allows us to respect God's Word and to turn from sin. We can experience the power of God to cleanse us. If we're praying to God and drawing close to God and appreciating the fact that we can be cleansed and forgiven by God, that's also a benefit of the Sabbath. We come together on the Sabbath, the fellowship of our brethren, and of course, we're not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, but we are coming together to build each other up, to encourage each other. And then, finally, observing the Sabbath allows us to truly worship the Lord and the Sabbath. And whenever we read here in Mark, and you see it also mentioned in Matthew, I think, in chapter 12, how that Jesus points out, that's who I am. And whenever you respect the Sabbath, then you are coming to respect Jesus Christ. And so, we come together to worship God in spirit and in truth, and whenever we come and we celebrate this day, every weekend, every Sabbath day, every Saturday, as many would look at it, what we're truly doing is worshiping the Lord and the Sabbath. And so, it should have far more meaning than just the day to go to church. It should have. The meaning for us of truly relating to our divine spiritual family, and with God the Father, and with the Lord and the Sabbath, Jesus Christ.