The Sabbath, Part 3

Okay. Well, today I wanted to give part 3 of a series on the Sabbath, God's Holy Sabbath. But in the very first sermon I gave on the Sabbath, we talked about and looked at the Scriptures that taught us that we have an appointment, a mo'adah, a mo'adim, appointments with God, a religious appointment as it taught us in Genesis 1. Then we saw that we were to keep the Sabbath day pure, clean, holy, and sacred. And as we went through these Scriptures, the first sermon, we saw that God wanted us on the Sabbath to build a hedge with thorns around His Sabbath to keep things out. We also saw that we're to be completely enveloped with the Sabbath, and that we are to be refreshed. Now, fish, the pause that refreshes that we are to take as we come to the Sabbath each Friday evening. On the second sermon on the Sabbath, we discussed how to worship on the Sabbath, and that we saw through Scriptures that we're not only here on the Sabbath, but it is also a time a festal gathering takes place as we are not alone, as the holy angels come before God to worship. And then we realized that the Sabbath is holy time, holy time to God, which means it should be holy time to us. Today, I want to talk about the Sabbath, and it is titled, The Sabbath, A Date with God. A date with God. Most of us find in our lives that we don't have enough time. We all seem to be short of time, don't we? We are short at the end of the week. We seem to be short in the middle of the week. We even seem to be short first of the week, trying to accomplish things and get things done. But it's interesting, as we think about no time, not enough time, but as one man quoted one time, we seem to find time to do the things we really want to do. And that's true, isn't it? We really find the time to do the things we really want to do that we're passionate about doing. It's interesting. Chris brought out fundamental beliefs because the Sabbath in our fundamental belief booklet is number 10. If I wonder, I'll have to ask somebody a question why it's not number 7. I just wondered that. It's listed number 10 because it is a fundamental belief of our church. We believe in the Sabbath. We believe it is holy. We believe God gave it to us and that we are commanded to keep it. Today, I want to talk about the Sabbath in a different way. Date. Date with God. You ever thought about it that way? Because it says that it's a religious appointment. Well, has it changed for you in the time that you've kept it to where it's not just an appointment with God, but it's actually a date you look forward to? Every seven days. You remember your first date with the office of sex? Think about it. Remember your first date with your mate. I remember mine.

You remember your first date with someone where it went bad. Turned in to be a bad date. Not a great date, not a good one, but a bad one. We've all had them, haven't we? Usually.

Remember my wife telling a young man that she's the first date they went out. They went to go get pizza and he burned his mouth on the pizza when he first got it. Then went out to believe he had borrowed his father's brand new truck and somehow it wouldn't even start. So, we all may have experienced some of those things. We're just not like you anticipated it would be. Well, I thought about it because guys usually do the asking out. I don't know how it is now, but I knew how it was 25 years ago. Years ago, he said more than that, so I guess we've known each other longer than that.

But there was a movie Adam Sandler made called 51st Dates.

I was on an airplane quite a few years ago when I wrote the sermon or started putting it together. It was a long airplane ride, so I had time to just try to close my eyes and think about my very first date, then all those first dates. And I came up with 37 first dates. I didn't have 51st dates, but I thought about all the various and it's hard to remember because some were not very memorable. But as you think about your dates, for a guy, you have some bit of preparation. Hopefully that you've also had anticipation for the first date. And then you would, as it was in my time, first thing I had to look and see how much money I had. Because that was going to determine if I could have a date and then what kind of date it was going to be. And then I had to get my car clean, which was never clean the other six days of the week, usually. I had to make sure it looked clean. And then I had to plan. Okay, because in our day, I don't know how it is now, but in our day you would generally go and pick a girl up and you would plan the restaurant where you were going to go out to eat. So you'd have to plan and go, well, since it's my money, I guess I'd better see how much I have and where we could go. Back then it might be pizza or it might be something a little nicer, but that's generally how when. So you would think about these things and then you had to think about, well, what are we going to do afterwards? Because at that time we went out to ball games or might even go see a movie. All these things had to be thought through. If you were planning on a decent date, you just didn't show up and go. She says, where are we going? You say, I don't know. What are we going to do? I don't know. That's generally not how it's done. Unless you want a bad date. And then you always had the the thing when I was younger about meeting the parents, which was never something you look forward to because you're wondering what they're going to be thinking of you and their father is going to ask you these typical questions and so forth. And then you had to have the right clothes. You know, what am I going to wear?

Because generally, whatever you did would determine what kind of clothes you were going to wear. In Tennessee and Alabama, it might be the best bibbed overall that you have. But everyone had to have some planning. And you, of course, you would ask someone out a week before.

Give them time and young ladies would have they had to know what to wear. So they would ask you, well, where are we going? What are we doing? Usually, their hair had to have extra time spent on it. Anticipation, and of course, there was always the shoes. You know, you got to know what kind of shoes to wear. I was going to go.

But these dates, they were important at the time.

This year at the Feast of Tabernacles, I will have what is called a date night. My wife and I have every year. Are we trying to? She's looking at me like, okay. Because sometimes, when you're so tied up in the Feast, when you're the coordinator, you sometimes find little time to break away, just the two of us. But we tried to make that time. And you try to find the right place, and it's just us talking, where we can spend some time just kind of enjoying the evening. I remember a few years ago, we went to Hawaii for the Feast, and I took special time because I wanted this time to be special because we had both been working so much. We were so busy, and we hardly had time to spend it during the weeks, and we were serving in the churches on the weekends. So when I went there, I went and drove around parts of three days. There were times I could slide away and try to find the picturesque ocean view site. Remember, it was a Capelua Bay Club, and I went in and got the right table, tried to find the table, and met the guy and looked at the menu and saw it was nice. A lot of time went into it.

And it was really a very memorable date for the feast. A memorable date in our lives. We really enjoyed it. I wanted it to be worthwhile. I wanted it to be remembered as one of the best dates in our lives, the best time we spent. And it was. But it took time, it took preparation, it was something you could just do off the fly. Like a romantic or enjoyable date, so should the Sabbath be with us. Because, brethren, it is a date with God. It is a date with God. Exodus 20 and verse 8 says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Well, after you've kept the Sabbath for many, many years, and you understand and you begin to appreciate the Sabbath for what it is, the command almost seems sterile. When it should mean more to us than that. Should have some appeal. See, this is a sermon not justifying the day, but a look at how we observe it, how we keep it, holy, and why. And why we should value it.

What value does God place on His Sabbath? And such value that He's watched His servants down through the years being killed, rather than devalue, deface, or defile the Sabbath day.

I brought a book, a very interesting book I bought, right after it came out in 1998, Dr. Laura Schlesinger, who was a woman who converted to Judaism. And she wrote a very good book called The Ten Commandments, The Significance of God's Law in Everyday Life.

She brought it forward. She had a big radio show, one time a TV show, and they actually, she had one of the top radio shows, so she got on the wrong side of one of the movements that are out there. And they pretty well got her kicked off of the air. She's on a few small stations now, because she dared say, quoting from the Bible, that homosexuality was deviant behavior.

And they made sure that her sponsors all dropped her, and she would, has a very small show now. But one time she had quite a few bestsellers, and this was it. And I do recommend the book, in case you find it in a used bookstore, you find it out on the Amazon or something. It's a very good book. I agree with everything but two things, two statements in the book. So if you get the book, you can, we can talk about the two statements, because they're not that big a deal.

But they were deal breakers for me about green everything in this book. But she goes through the Ten Commandments, and she really breaks it down. But one thing she says here, it's very important about time here, and how important time is, said to realize the value of one year, ask a student who has failed his final exam. To realize the value of one month, ask a mother who has given birth to a premature baby. To realize the value of one week, ask an editor of a weekly newspaper. To realize the value of one day, ask a day wager, laborer who has 10 kids to feed.

To realize the value of one hour, ask a couple waiting for the wedding ceremony. To realize the value of one minute, ask a person who has just missed a train. To realize the value of one second, ask a person who has survived an accident. And to realize the value of one millisecond, ask the person who has won a silver medal in the Olympics.

Said, how many times have you said, I wish I had more hours in a day? The assumption is, given more hours, you could accomplish everything you need to with less stress. But there is just as much chance that given this wish, it would perhaps only mean two more hectic hours to live through on a given day. On page 97, said, we live in a society which the expression time is money. It's credited to Benjamin Franklin.

We forget that money can be replaced, but time cannot. We would be far richer as individuals and as a society if we were to say that time is priceless, then we might treat it with more respect. Interesting. Said there's an old story. That one day Satan gathered his assistance to discuss the most effective method of destroying the meaning of people's lives. One suggests to tell them there is no God. The other said, tell them there is no consequences to their actions.

A third proposed, tell them they have strayed so far from the right path that they will never be able to change. Which old Satan said, now such things will not matter to them. I think we should simply tell them there is plenty of time. There is plenty of time. You know the Sabbath exists, she says, as a truth in spite of the faltering of some of its participants. It just demonstrates that those who are not godly during the rest of the week lose an opportunity to touch the Divine.

Which I think is true. During the week is hard sometimes to focus. But he sets aside this 24-hour period of time so that we can focus on him. That we can get away and even tells us first that he commands us to do it. But hopefully you did not get up and come to services today because you're commanded to. Hopefully you came there because you wanted to. Hopefully today, when it started last night at sunset and will end tonight at sunset, you didn't stop what you were doing because you were on a mercy date.

A mercy date. Ever had one of us? My wife was telling me about her mercy dates. Okay, thankfully, oh she didn't tell me if I was one. But she went out with guys who came and asked her out even though she had no desire to go to do it.

So her heart wasn't in it. She really didn't want to do it, but she did it anyway. It's all a mercy date. Any women ever been on a mercy date? Can't get anybody to admit it anyway. Yes, yes.

Well, I hope the Sabbath is not a mercy date with God.

But that you really truly care about it. Do you cherish your Sabbath? Do you value your time or dates with your Maker? Is your once a week date, God, upset because you take it too lightly? Maybe you're late for your date, so you leave your date waiting. Or other things just tend to crowd Him out for the first few hours of the date.

This is not an easy subject today because it's a matter of the heart. And do I truly understand the date with God? It's a matter of the heart, not just the head. And you have to remember that the Pharisees and the scribes and the Sadducees all kept it up here. All kept God's law up here. But they lacked the heart. Christ was talking to them by the way.

Here we go. Ever get stood up on a date? You had a date with someone and they didn't show?

I did. Matter of fact, I wrote down three. Three times that I can remember that because you remember those times very much. The first one was Lori. Lori, she was going to church, I think we were about 17, 18, and I had this date. And so I wanted to go out with Lori. I've been wanting to for a long time in the church. You dated various people. You did group dating. But I just wanted to go out with Lori. So I made the plan and asked her two weeks at a time. Make sure because sometimes you ask a week, well no, I've already had plans. So I did two weeks. So we would meet up at the church. She drove in from one area with a parent. I drove in from my area 50 miles out. We would meet at church, have this date, take her home, and as you lived happily ever after. After the date. Okay. I came to church. She said yes. I came to church two weeks. She was there and she wasn't at church. So I asked her cousin who was there. She goes, oh no, she's in Knoxville, Tennessee. She's not Nashville today. She she went up to visit some relatives.

Okay.

Then I remember I was a senior in high school at a date with Susan Berry and been thinking about it. I wanted to go out with Susan Berry. So I asked Susan. She said, yeah, that'll be great. We'll just have a great time on Saturday night. So about dark on Saturday night, I drive up, got all my stuff, get a car, was clean. I was just like, all right, Susan Berry. Drove up to her front house, front of her house, got out, walked from about here to the door back there to the front door, knocked on the door, and there was her brother, Ricky. Hey, Ricky, I'm here to pick up Susan. Susan's not here. Really? Yeah, she went off with a bunch of girlfriends. I said, no, really, Ricky. I thought he was kidding me. He wasn't kidding.

That was a long walk back to my car. Even longer walk back to, longer drive back to my house.

Now I got over it. No big deal, but I never went out with Lori again. Never went out with Susan Berry. Wasn't going to do that again. Have we ever done that to God?

Have we ever stood up God? Were we ever a no-show for one of His Sabbaths? This date that He's had with us and He's planned all week long. Remember what it says? God is love, so He feels it. He felt it.

And maybe you didn't miss the entire date, but you just didn't show up for three or four hours into it.

Hmm. Interesting thing. There was a football player named Todd Heap. Matter of fact, he plays for the Baltimore Ravens, or he did, until they trade around or whatever. And he played for BYU. And Todd Heap, this tight end, was known because even at BYU, he wouldn't attend any practices or any sessions that were done on Sunday. No coaching, no, didn't work out, wouldn't do anything on Sunday because he believed Sunday was his Sabbath. And so he said no. And so they wondered, well, He's going to be drafted high in the draft. Wonder what's going to happen because the pros play on Sunday. What was interesting is they interviewed him on the draft day and this, of course, came up. You know, he says, well, that's kind of asinine thinking now because now I have to earn a living.

So I really can't go by that now.

You know, God is up here, and that's where he should be. Way up here. You know what's interesting? He is so holy, he can't come down here yet. Okay, everything's got to be purified and clean, and we see there's a time where he is coming down, but everything's going to be perfect when it is. But he's so up there. And you know, one thing he does with the Sabbath is he elevates it up there with him, holy. And so you have God and you have the Sabbath, and it's holy. He's holy. The Sabbath is holy. He elevated the Sabbath to holy.

When we keep it with him, it elevates us, doesn't it? It elevates us in a holy time, in a holy place, in a holy space of time. Do we realize that?

There was a TV show a few years ago, or a movie, called Shallow Howl. I don't know whether you saw it, but it was this guy that all he could look at was the beauty on the outside of a woman, and so he was just this arrogant guy. Somehow he got switched, somebody hypnotized him in the movie, and so then he could begin to see women from the inside, what they were like on the inside.

And that's all he could see. So if someone was not very attractive on the outside, but beautiful on the inside, that's what he saw. He saw them so beautiful on the outside. That's all he could see. Do we, after all these years, do we see the beauty that is in the Sabbath?

Have we stopped just looking on the outside and see the beauty that is in?

Leviticus 23.3 calls it a day of rest and holy convocation. Leviticus 23.3, it's a day of rest and holy convocation set apart for a special purpose. The main purpose, to rest as we should, to assemble together. That's why Hebrews 10, 22 says, don't forsake the assembly of each other. We're to come together!

Because by coming together, it's harder for Satan to pull us apart. I hope we can understand that there is a special purpose for this day.

Jesus Christ, when he was walking this earth, told to us in Mark 2 that he even gave the example. He said, The Sabbath, right? A definite article, not a Sabbath, but the Sabbath was made for man, not man, for the Sabbath.

It's something for us. It's a gift from God.

It's a gift from God that he would love to share.

You ever had somebody do that for you? You ever had somebody like maybe even a meal, buy your certificate somewhere for a meal, and then they ask you to come along and share with it.

Hmm. That's what God did with the Sabbath. He wants to share in the Sabbath. Like you turn to Matthew 12, if you will. Matthew 12, because a lot of people do not understand the heart of the matter when it comes to the Sabbath. They just look at rules and regulations and not taking away from that, but there's more to it than that. That's why this is the third part of the sermon, from the Sabbath. In Matthew 12, verse 1, it says, At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and his disciples were hungry and began to pluck the heads of grain to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Look! Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. And he said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry? He and those who were with him? How he entered the house of God and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priest? Or, have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath, the priest and the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? I profane the Sabbath every week because I work on the Sabbath. Okay?

He says, blameless. And then verse 6, he says, But I say to you, in this place there is one greater than the temple, talking about Himself. But if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. You would not have condemned the guiltless. So they were guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Hmm. Hmm.

You see, there's a matter of the heart. But you see, the Pharisees and the scribes said, you see, they would go and go, well, okay, here's a sin. We need to... Here's another animal. Throw another animal on the fire. Throw another animal on the fire. Throw another animal on the fire. You see? That's all it was. It was a ritual.

He wanted them to move from here to here. He started seeing the Sabbath for what it was. It's so interesting there. You can actually find this on the internet if you want to. This is an old, old note. I actually jumped on there to make sure it was still on there. But you can type in the 39 things not to do on the Sabbath, okay, because that's what the Talmud has laid out in the Hebrew law. You can also find it in the Mishnah, which is part of the Talmud, which are their books, which tells you what things not to do on the Sabbath, things that are not allowed on the Sabbath. You got to go down, and if you read it, it will take you... If you read all the little details about it, it'll take you a couple hours to read all the things that they had laid out. Where did this come from? Because it didn't exist when Malachi ended. But there was 350 years between Malachi and Matthew. The time before Christ, what happened?

They had rebuilt the temple, moved back into Jerusalem, and the Jews were brought back. And so the teachers were so afraid that they would be taken back into captivity. They would be treated badly again for breaking the Sabbath, which was one of the main things, that they made up these lists of rules and regulations, taking... they needed to look at the Bible, but they needed to do better than the Bible. They needed to do better than God. So they came up, and the teachers of the law at that time... that's why Christ was so shocked... well, he wasn't shocked because he knew, but he got there and just realized all these things they had added.

He gave it a lot. He knew it. So he was shocked and surprised in one way, but he couldn't understand why they kept doing this. But all these teachers taught that you were breaking the Sabbath. So I will read you now as I... not all 39 of them, but these are the things that they said you could not do. Okay, one's carrying. Okay, you couldn't carry anything on the Sabbath. Okay, you couldn't have an extra coat or cloak or anything else because then that was work. You couldn't carry. You had to just wear what you were going to wear. Okay, there's great debate over whether a woman could wear a scarf or not. That's in great debate. Whether that was actually considered carrying or not. It's still being debated today.

So no carrying, no burning, no starting a fire, no extinguishing, no writing.

No writing. Okay, no cooking.

No washing. No tying, no untying, no erasing. Can't write, you can't erase. No sewing, no nodding, no winnowing.

Okay, winnowing, you get that? Winnowing, we talked about it before. It's where grain is kept and they throw it up. Then they catch it and the wind blows all the chaff away. That's winnowing. Okay, this is what we just read about in Matthew when the disciples were going through the grain field, which is more or less wasn't corn as some interpretation. They didn't have corn there at that time, but it was probably wheat or barley. Probably wheat. And so in the field, they walked through the wheat and they just rubbed it in their hand together and then ate it. Yes. Well, see, they said they were guilty because they were winnowing.

Winnowing was put forth so you didn't go out to your farm and start doing all this chores. But they wanted to make it so precise, so exact, that they went into every minute detail. So they said that he was his people were sinning. So no winnowing. No tearing, no sifting, no grinding, no spinning, no warping, no weaving, no building, no demolishing, no trapping, no shearing, no canning, no shaping, no planting, no selecting, no marking, no skinning, no dying. I just went into about 28 or 29 of them. It goes on. And then it is broken down into a lot of words describing if you have questions about those.

Keeping the Sabbath is to be a point of love, not just law.

There comes a time when you've kept the Sabbath and you have to understand it.

It's like raising children at any time. You have to tell them things for their own good, right?

But later on, they realize for their own good, they don't look and go, oh my parents are so bad to me. Have we changed?

Is our understanding with God one of love or is it of law? See, the Pharisees kept the law, but they couldn't see the love in it.

It was just something really strict.

Jeremiah 31 verse 33, we should all know. Memory scripture, right?

Memory scripture, Jeremiah 31, 33, I will put my laws in their minds and in their hearts. I will be their God and they shall be my people. Remember the covenant you heard last week?

See, God realized something didn't work. Where are we? That's Ezekiel, right?

That's Jeremiah.

By the time they got to Jeremiah 31, it was too late.

Nation of Judah, we've already gone so far down. There's no coming back.

With us, are we a story? Are we a story of God? With God of love, are we a story of law? Do we keep our date with God because we're told to or because we love to?

Can we look at it from the inside out and see the beauty that God had planned?

You know, this incredible love story that I will read here.

I'm reading from the New Living Translation because it is a love story. It's a love story about God and His people. It's a love story for us.

It's in Ezekiel 16. If you want to follow, I like the New Living Translation because it spells it out in story-read form.

Because it's a love story that God tells from His side of view.

Here's the viewpoint. Ezekiel 16 verse 4 says, On the day you were born, no one cared about you. He's talking about Israel. He's talking about them being in Egypt at the time.

He said, On the day you were born, no one cared about you. Your unbiblical cord was not cut. You were never washed, rubbed with salt, and wrapped in cloth, as you did for a child that is cared. Like Matthew, putting a child in her arms back there. Why? He cares.

God was saying to Israel, When you were in Egypt, nobody cared about you. Hey, you can't wait until you lived or died! But I did.

No one had the slightest interest in you. No one pitied you or cared for you. On the day you were born, you were unwanted, dumped in a field, and left to die.

But I came by and I saw you there, helplessly kicking about in your own blood. As you lay there, I said, Live!

And I helped you to thrive like a plant in the field. You grew up and became a beautiful jewel. Your breasts became full and your body hair grew, but you were still naked.

And when I passed by again, I saw you were old enough for love.

You were maturing.

So I wrapped my cloak around you to cover your nakedness and declare my marriage vows. I made a covenant with you, says the Lord's sovereign, Lord. And you became mine.

Then I bathed you and washed off your blood, and I rubbed fragrant oils into your skin. I gave you expensive clothing of fine linen and silk, beautifully embroidered, and sandals made of fine goat leather.

I gave you lovely jewels, bracelets, beautiful necklaces, a ring for your nose, earrings for your ears, and a lovely crown on your head. And so you were adorned with gold and silver. Your clothes were made of fine linen and were beautifully embroidered. You ate the finest foods, choice flower, honey, and olive oil, and became more beautiful than ever.

You looked like a queen, and so you were.

He's progressing his time from Egypt to the time of David, to the time of Solomon, and how they were so looked upon.

This beautiful bride of his, his love affair with the nation, that he loved her and he gave her everything he could.

Everything she could ever want, he gave.

Verse 14, your fame soon spread throughout the world because of your beauty. I dressed you in my splendor and perfected your beauty, says the sovereign Lord. But you thought your fame and beauty were your own.

So you gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking. You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you played the prostitute. Unbelievable!

Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen? You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments that I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them. This is adultery against me. You also, you made, you took the beautiful embroidered clothes I gave you to dress your idols. Then you used my special oil and my incense to worship them. Imagine it! You set before them as a sacrifice, a choice flower, olive oil and honey. I had given you!

Then you took your sons and daughters, the children you had borne to me, and sacrificed them to your gods. Was your prostitution not enough? Must you also slaughter my children by sacrificing them of idols? And all your years of adultery and detestable sins, you not once remembered the days long ago when you lay naked in a field, kicking about in your own blood.

This is what the nation had become when God died.

He had blessed them.

I know you just have to go back to Jeremiah. I think Jeremiah 7 chapter 31 also where it talks about where Manasseh, being of Judah, actually sacrificed all the young kids.

Took the young babies and would sacrifice them in Judah, in that nation. That's who he's talking to here. Judah, and he also ran across the same thing as he had this love affair with Judah, but he realized what Judah was doing. And he actually told, he said, okay, there's a way here.

And he told Jeroboam, okay, break off and take the other 10 tribes. And I will make you even greater than everything Solomon had.

And it was a wonder of the world. He said, I'll give you even greater.

And I will bless you as no other nation had ever been. Bless!

And Jeroboam said, okay.

But he didn't do it.

And he did.

The nation of Israel, the northern tribes, did just as bad a thing.

The guy got spurned by two lovers.

Two that he offered to take care of, two that he would give anything for.

And they turned their back on him and committed adultery. They cheated on him.

Someone turned to Ezekiel 20, if you will.

Ezekiel 20. Verse 4.

He said, son of man, bring charges against them and condemn them. Who's he talking to?

The ones who had turned against him.

The nation, Judah and Israel.

Make them realize how detestable the sins of their ancestors really were. Give them this message from the sovereign Lord. When I chose Israel, when I revealed myself to the descendants of Jacob in Egypt, I took a solemn oath that I, the Lord, would be their God. I took a solemn oath that day that I would bring them out of Egypt to a land that I had discovered and explored for them. A good land, land flowing of milk and honey. The best of all the lands anywhere. Then I said to them, each of you, get rid of the vile images you are obsessed with. Do not defile yourself with the idols of Egypt, for I am the Lord your God. But they rebelled against me and would not listen.

They did not get rid of the vile images they were obsessed with or forsake the idols of Egypt. Then I threatened to pour out my fury on them and satisfy my anger while they were in Egypt. But I didn't do it, for I acted to protect the honor of my name. I would not allow shame to be brought upon my name among the surrounding nations. So I brought them out of Egypt and led them into the wilderness. There I gave them my decrees and regulations so that they could find life by keeping them. And I gave them, verse 12, I gave them my Sabbath days of rest as a sign between me and them. It was to remind them that I am the Lord who had set them apart to be holy. But the people of Israel rebelled against me and they refused to obey my decrees there in the wilderness. They wouldn't obey me, my regulations, even though obedience would have given them life. They also violated my Sabbath. What does he say in verse 16? For they had rejected my regulations, refused my decrees, and violated my Sabbath days. Verse 18, I am the Lord your God. I told them, follow my decrees, pay attention to my regulations, and keep my Sabbath days holy. For they are a sign to remind you that I am the Lord your God. Verse 21, but their children too rebelled against me. They refused to keep my decrees and follow my regulations, even though obedience would have given them life. They also violated my Sabbath day. How many times does he have to say it? Says it time and time again. The Sabbath. Why it was so special to God. He wanted it to be special to them. But they turned against me. I don't know. Most of you probably have in your lifetime been heartbroken. Some young girl, some young man broke your heart. Fell in love, something happened, and they broke your heart. And you felt like, boy, how is it going to be forever before I get over this? You see, with God, He loves so deeply, He never got over it. So interesting that He tells a story time and time again all through the Old Testament. And I'll never forget in Hosea, somewhere in chapter 2, He actually tells a story. And I think it's in the Old King James or the New King James. But He actually says, as He was describing this beautiful wife that He wanted, that He cherished, that He loved. And He said all the things She did bad. And then He said, She forgot me. He said, She forgot me. When you read it and you read the story, it just rips at your heart. I mean, have you ever known anyone that maybe you've gone through some divorces? Here, a relationship where it just rips your heart out when you hear a story of someone who had gone through something like that. Done some counseling of people who have divorced or had these problems, and it just tears my heart out. How some people can be treated. And when you read this, it just brings to home how God has been treated and how all He wants is to be loved. Because God is love, and all He wants to do is love us, and He wants us to love Him back. And a big part of that is the Sabbath. He wants a date with you, and He wants a date with me every week. Special time, one on one. Because you cannot possibly love Him as much as He loves you. It's a one-sided relationship. No matter how much you say you love God, it's nowhere near how much He loves you.

Not even close. I think it's time that the church showed God how deeply they do love Him. And that it's no longer a date of obligation. It's no longer a mercy date, but it is a date with God to show our love. Finish up here.

I'm out of time. I have to make it. I think I can put wings on my car, Humberta.

I'm going to save that. I'm going to save that. That's too important for me to try to fly through it.

What should you do on the Sabbath? I've got a list I want to go through at another time. It's actually where I actually interview people in the church and ask them how they could increase or make better their relationship with God on the Sabbath. And they gave me, as a matter of fact, 19 different ways. Different people, probably a dozen people, told me how they realized that after examining their Sabbath, they could actually have a better date with God. How they could be a better mate to God. And so I want to go through these later on. We might even do it in a Bible study sometime, because it's so interesting. But what should you do? How about visiting the sick? Done that? How about more study and more prayer? How about just you and God alone in a room for quite a few hours? How about you and God on the ocean? Take a walk and spend the whole time talking to God on the Sabbath. You have a beautiful creation that He's given. Or in a park. How about going through some extra things for your date with God? How about building that relationship? I've known some people who never got married. And they just felt like they had such a good relationship with God. They were afraid somebody would mess it up. You know, as much as I've done counseling, I hated to disagree with them. Because like I told them, only God can bring you the true mate into your life. Anything else is just a cheap imitation. I hope we will see that our date with God is about love, and we need to spend more time with God. Have that relationship. Because it's here. It's a matter of the heart. I can tell my wife I love her all I want, but do I show her? Does she see it? That's what really matters. With God, does He see it? Does He know it? Let us never, ever, ever have to hear God say, she forgot me. She forgot me. And He'd be talking about us.