Your Sabbath

In the Bible, there is a lot of symbolism used in the Bible. And when I think of symbolism, I think of a story about the Sabbath. Because the title of today's sermon is, Your Sabbath. Your Sabbath. And there is a story of a very rich and powerful king, who after some amount of time called his Prime Minister to him, and said, I'm going to be leaving for a while.

So I leave you in charge of my 10 sons to help raise them. They are special, they're talented, gifted, and they're perfect. And I want you to continue to work with them. To which Prime Minister said, certainly. At which time then, the king left. And the Prime Minister called all those 10 sons of the king forward, inspected each and every one of them, and came to the fourth son, and thought he did not look like the others.

He was not as beautiful. He was not as talented. He was not as gifted as the other. So he actually took him and put him into the fields with the slaves. And he inserted his own son in, in place, since he considered his own son to be beautiful, perfect, and went along better with the other nine sons. After a great deal of time, the king returned and called the Prime Minister and said, I need to look at my sons.

I'm home to observe them. To which all came out. And as he was looking at them, he came to number four. And he said, this is not my son. To which he turned to the Prime Minister and set away with him. You wicked, wicked person. How dare you try to substitute yours from mine? That story is full of symbolism. It also tells a great story. The king was God. The ten sons were his commandments.

And the Prime Minister was the church. And if you go through history, you'll see the symbolism is very stark. Well, I wanted to give a sermon today on the Sabbath, because it's deeper than you think. Many of you might have heard of a man named Pippin Ferreras. Pippin Ferreras. He is a Cuban. Pippin Ferreras is one of the greatest divers who have ever lived. With only flippers, a mask, and one large gulp of air, he dives into the ocean.

Pippin has a lung capacity of two to three times what a normal person has. It has developed over the time as he was a small child, going to these incredible depths. Pippin does not just dive down to 200 feet, which is unheard of. He dives the depths of 300, 400, and over 500 feet with no tank, just his lungs. The amazing thing is that to him, it's almost as if he lives at that time in another world, because it is quite incredible.

But then, so is the Sabbath to most of the known world. To most of the known world, it is like another world. They don't understand it. The Jews keep the Sabbath to varying degrees. You have all the way from Kabbalah to Orthodox to ultra-Orthodox. The Sabbath is kept in varying degrees. We have the Seventh-day Adventist, which is not what it once used to be. So we have many people in the Caribbean that have come over to the United Church of God from the Seventh-day Adventist.

Because not only do they adopt pagan holidays as Christmas and Easter and various things, but they also have developed a hatred towards God's Holy Days. That I have actually been on the front of some of those attacks before, where they just despise them, which is sad in one way.

And I think that's why we are continuing to grow, as people are reading the Scriptures without a filter and seeing that they are part. The Hebrew Roots Movement, messianic Jews, who also keep the Sabbath, but in varying degrees, more into symbols like tassels, prayer claws, various things that they use on symbols.

Very different as they try to combine belief in Jesus Christ, also with the traditions of the Pharisees, which is kind of a very hard thing to do, when you truly understand the Scriptures. So why do you keep the Seventh-day Sabbath? I hope it is for the same reason you keep the Seven annual Holy Days. I ask, over the last year, it's been three years ago, since I gave a similar sermon like this here, but I asked during the last year why different people in this church, the other churches I go to, keep the Sabbath.

And they came up with five major reasons. I will give those to you, because that's what you gave me. Number one, God says to in the Bible. Number two, it's one of the Ten Commandments. Number three, Jesus kept it. Number four, Paul kept it.

And number five, the New Testament Church kept it. Five really good reasons, all very valid reasons. All are provable from the Scriptures.

In the Scriptures that we have known as the Holy Bible, what day did the majority of the pagans keep?

Well, it's a chronicle fact. They kept the day of the Son, the Son God. Biblically, you can go to Ezekiel 8, verse 16, to prove that point. You don't have to turn there today. Most of you know where that's at. It's very hard to read anything else into it, because it said they were worshiping the Son. And this was Babylon. So I asked the question of why was there such a battle for Christians in the first 300 years after Jesus Christ? Why? Well, you can read all the documented writings that I won't bring out today, as for another time. It's simple and it's historic. And it is called compromise. Compromise. Because there was this great debate for the 300 years following Christ. And there had to be a compromise between the pagans and the Christians. And the compromise was the pagans would swap a deity, and the supposed Christians would swap a day. So the pagans basically swapped soul, the Son God, for Jesus Christ, the Son of God. And the major tenets of Christianity at the time, the major force at that time, changed the day to Sunday instead of Saturday. That's historic. Most of you know it. If you've been around any time or you studied it, just go to the internet. It's all out there. It's in various books, telling you nothing you do not already know. But the Sabbath, why do you do it? You are here today on this beautiful sunny day inside this room.

On the Sabbath day, the seventh day. Why do you keep it? Why do you observe it? And hopefully I ask the question, why do you love it? Why do you love the Sabbath day? Two days could not be further apart than Saturday and Sunday. You say, wait a minute, tomorrow's the next day is Sunday. I have to remember how things were kept. I could actually do that. But you can look at it in your mind because that's not the way they looked at things from Scripture. You had one day, two days, three days, four days, five days, six days, seven days. And that week is over. Seventh day, the end of it is over. Then starts a totally new week. First day, second day, third day, fourth day, fifth day, sixth day, seventh day, over. And you start again.

The sunset tonight, this week, is over. We start over the new week. God starts over with a new week.

So today, I want to cover something I covered in my first six weeks, which was over three and a half years ago, in the Fort Lauderdale Church. Except today, I want to go deeper. I want to go, as you might say, to the deep end of the pool. I want to go deep like Pippin for Aris, because repetition is a mother of all skills. And you are called to be Bible scholars, whether you like it or not. You are called to be scholars. Today is a critical class for any Sabbath-keeping Christian. It is a scholars class.

And I say that a Sabbath-keeping Christian, because can you have one without the other? According to this book, you cannot.

Ezekiel 20 and verse 12 says this incredible words there that says from God, the Sabbath is a sign between me and my people. The Sabbath is a sign between me and, what? My people.

I hope we understand that. I hope that's crystal clear. We also are given that a Sabbath is evening to evening, from sunset to sunset. You find that Leviticus 23 and verse 32, in case you did not know that Scripture. But I bring that out because there's actual people who do not believe that. And they actually say they keep the Sabbath day. That's why we look at the Scriptures and that's why we keep it.

So if I'm about to teach you something that is so important, how do I get you to retain it? As I stand before you as your teacher, it's very important that what I give you today, that you retain it. You know why you believe it. And it's not just here, but it's here. Because I'm going to say some things today that may shock some people. I may say some things today that you have never heard before. And I may say some things that you kind of look at and go, don't know if I totally agree with it.

And my question is, or my answer to that is, prove me wrong. Prove me wrong.

And if I'm wrong, I will stand up in front. If you can prove me from the Scriptures that I am wrong, I will stand at this podium and apologize for what I've said. I will do that. But I will not apologize for anything that comes from this Bible. That's not what we do, and that's not what you do.

So how do I get to laminate it in your life?

What I'm about to teach you. Make this so lasting that even Pippin could use this to his Sabbath keeper, 561 feet below sea level.

And as I was thinking about it, it came to my mind.

Last week, this week, I can't remember when it was. I think it was last week, it was last week. So with the help of my wife and the help of two young gentlemen that are going to come up here and help me, young man.

Two of them.

Wait for him.

You'll take that one. Hand one out to everyone.

Should be everyone.

I present to you for your reading pleasure.

Your own Sabbath reminder. That is much deeper than you think.

That is the rest of the Sabbath sermon.

It's on that laminated paper before you.

Hopefully I had 39 or 40 copies. Hopefully there's enough for everyone. If not, Mary's got one. She can give if anybody's missing one. She makes an incredible bookmark.

Teaches you where to go. Teaches you can give a sermon.

You can give a sermon with this in your Bible at any time to anyone.

So I give you seven deep, very deep words from the recesses of the mind of God. They are in your hands. And they are about your Sabbath. Everybody have one? You still have a few left over? You take one.

Anybody else? Anybody else got one? Very good. Did you get one?

The one back here? Good. Thank you.

You got one? Oh, you do? Okay. And your brother got one. Thank you. Thank you, gentlemen.

So let's go as we finish the sermon today. Let's go deep. Let's go to the deep end. Let's dive into God's true Word. And let's make sure we know it. Not that we just learned it, but we have it in the recesses of our mind, just like God. Genesis 2. Why do we keep the Sabbath? Genesis 2, verse 2.

It says, On the seventh day, this is a creation week, On the seventh day God ended his work, which he had done, And he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had done.

You want to be like God?

You need to rest from the work which you have done.

And then verse 3. Then it says, God blessed the seventh day, and he sanctified it. Sanctified it. Sanctified it.

The Hebrew word there is kadass.

Kadass.

Kadass.

And it means to make holy.

So he sanctified. So he set apart this day, one day out of the week. Who did? God did. Man did? No. God did. Not man. This is His. Sabbath did.

But He made it for you.

But it's interesting because this word kadass not only means to make holy, but it means to pronounce pure, clean, holy, sacred. To dedicate pure, clean, holy, sacred.

Pretty big.

Pretty big words from God.

Do you keep the Sabbath day pure, clean, holy, and do you keep it sacred? Because that's why it was made.

It was made that way. The Sabbath, the real meaning is not to prohibit.

The real meaning of the Sabbath is not prohibition, but it is about worship.

It is not to prohibit, it is to get you to worship.

Too many people in the world look and say, well, I couldn't go to the ballgames. Why couldn't go shopping? Why couldn't do all these things?

When we tied down to some old law, it's not about prohibition.

It is about holy.

And we have been called to worship a holy God on a holy day.

It's that simple.

Second word I'd like you to go to is Genesis 1, verse 14. Genesis 1, verse 14.

It says, Then God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night, and let them be for signs and... There's our second word, seasons. Seasons, and for days and years. The actual word in Hebrew there is, comes from the root word, Moed, but it's actually, Mohedim. Mohedim.

That actually means religious appointments. God put a time, a clock, if I can use that word, a big clock, so we would know when a day ended and when a day started. We would know when a month starts and when a month ends.

And He did all this because He said every seventh day, I have a religious appointment with my people.

And seven times during the year, and He makes it perfectly clear when those seven times are.

We have four coming up next month.

He has a Mohedim, religious appointments with Him on those four days.

That's what this means in Hebrew. Why do you keep the Sabbath day? Why do you keep the Sabbath day? Why do you keep the Sabbath day? Why do you keep the Sabbath day? Not just because He said to, but hopefully it's because you want to.

You want to keep that religious appointment.

You want to keep that appointment with God. He's going to be there.

And as Hebrews actually shows, Chapter 12, so does a heavenly host keep those days. Ten thousand times, ten thousands.

Millions upon millions of angels are at this festival gathering. That's in Scripture.

Happens every Sabbath. It happens seven times during the year. That's why we keep the Holy Days. So He has an appointment, a religious appointment.

Do you keep it?

I know when I've had appointments, I just, we just had one Thursday, Mary and I had to go to down here in Miami. And I thought it would take me 35 minutes to get one side of town of Miami to the other. I was mistaken. It took longer than that. It took over 45 minutes to get from one side of Miami to the other at 3.30, 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

After 1 o'clock, don't you?

I tried to make it another time, but it didn't work. So I had this appointment.

And so I realized five minutes to four, we were still 15 minutes away from the GPS. And I said, so I had Mary while I was driving, call, say we were running late. Because I know how important it is to keep appointments.

I had many times when I had my own business, oh, 20 years. And I realized how important it was that I didn't keep any of my customers waiting and think, they'll just wait. And I know many times that someone made an appointment with me at my office, and they didn't show up.

10 minutes, 20 minutes, 30 minutes late. Because I just figured in my own mind at that time, my business was not that important to them.

And obviously, it wasn't.

I very seldom did business with someone who treated not me, but my company with that. Disrespect.

I've always had a problem of always wanting to be on time. Because I realize procrastination is not of God.

And he's always on time.

And if I was called to meet President of the United States, I would not be late.

I would make sure that I was not late to that appointment. I would make sure that I'm always there. I'd make some of my appointments with, at the time, some very important people in my business. I would get there five or ten minutes before, but never just drive around the little neighborhood just to make sure I knew where the house was so I could arrive there just in time so they could see me pulling up at one minute till. Because I wanted them to know that I was hopefully a person of integrity, and I was someone who would be on time. Yet if I told them something that we would do, they would know that, well, he does keep his word about being on time, that so many people do not.

I bring this up to you because I must confess to you that I had to repent this morning on my knees before God.

And by doing this study into this, I realized that I had, I had sinned in this way.

And I wanted to confess to you, because I confessed to God, that we have not kept our religious appointment with God, as we should have, in this congregation, and it is my fault.

I take full responsibility for it, as I repented to God for it, and told him if it's within my power, it will never happen again. Because I realized, as I was kneeling, and as I went through this religious appointment, and I went through this Sabbath and the Holy Days, and all this stuff's been going through my mind, I realized I was wrong, and I have sinned against God. But we have an obligation in this church. This is not some church that just, you can come as you are.

We accept all who are wanting to worship God. And in that manner, we will do our best to represent God in this church on this day.

So the people who come and visit, we even go as far as putting it on the internet, that we worship God at the Hampton Inn, Miramar, at 11 o'clock.

And we lied. It's that important.

It is my fault we have not started on time.

And it will end today.

We have an obligation to keep Him at the forefront. And I know I kind of got here, and that's not three years ago. Well, you know, it's just the way South Florida is, the way the Caribbean is, and it's not the way God is.

And we are not holding Him in the respect that we should be done.

And I take full responsibility for that. We will start on time every week. Something can happen, but brethren, we need to show up on time.

There's things that happen. Ox and the ditch, that should only happen once or twice a year at most.

We are here to worship God. We are here asking Him to bless us. Every single person in here, I pray for. And I have to ask every day, almost every day, that He blesses you, protects you, guides you. And I can't do that if we are in a state of constant sin.

All of us sin, but when sin becomes a way of life, that's when we will not be in His Kingdom. He makes that perfectly clear.

It's a way of life. We've developed a way of life here.

And I am going to correct that in the churches in the Caribbean. Because I want us all to be in the Kingdom.

I want us all to be like God. And that's very, very important.

So I'm going to ask your help. Because I do not blame you, I blame myself for allowing this to happen. Because we're not going to be fair and say-equal about things. I don't want that. I'm the farthest thing from that. But I do want to please the Father.

Big time. In every way, shape, and form. Because we're going to be spending eternity together.

And it's on my head if I do not teach you the things of God.

Number three.

Exodus 20 in verse 8. May we turn there.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And then he continues on with about 120-something words.

Rules and regulations for the Sabbath.

But the first word he says there is, Remember the Sabbath day. This is in Exodus 20. After they had left Egypt, after being slaves for 150 to 200 years. And then he says, Remember the Sabbath day. Remember the Sabbath day. Slaves for 150 to 200 years.

They had been in Egypt for 215 years as we studied earlier.

And he said, I want you to remember the Sabbath day.

And remember is the Hebrew word zakar. Zakar. And it means to recall and never, ever, ever forget.

Because see, it had only been four generations that people had been enslaved in Egypt.

And it was passed down. And even though they were slaves, many of them had forgotten it.

But many still knew it.

And it's evidence from the Scriptures.

So let us, brethren, never, ever, ever forget. Zakar, the Sabbath day. Not forget it.

I think if we go back, next word is Exodus. Or next, what I'd like you to turn to is Exodus 16. Go back a few pages in your Bible. Here is an example of why they...

Egyptians had not taken everything from them because in Exodus 20, the Ten Commandments were given.

But we find in Exodus 16, which is months before, we find in Exodus 16 and verse 22, it says, So it was on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread, two homers of each one. And all the rulers of the congregation and came and told Moses, then he said to them, This is what the Lord has said. Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest.

It was a holy day. Because it was a Sabbath.

Sabbath is a holy day. Comes every seven days and then it shows up seven other times during the year.

They said, Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest. And the Hebrew word rest is nuah.

Nuah.

Verse 25, he said, Then Moses said, Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it on the seventh day, which is a Sabbath, there will be none. Now, it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? So obviously, they still had them because he wouldn't ask how long and keep them if they were not given until two months later. But they knew. But they had to be reminded. That's why he said, Recall! There's a car!

Remember, never, ever, ever forget.

But it's interesting here. Go back in verse 23.

Rest. The actual Hebrew word is nuah. Nuah.

Nuah. And it means complete envelopment. A complete envelopment. So he wants us to come on that Sabbath and be completely enveloped in what?

In the worship of God. In time with him. He wants you to be completely enveloped.

It's almost like saying, Well, we're going to go on a honeymoon.

And my wife is going to go over here, and I'm going to go over here.

That's not complete envelopment. Guys, it's six days. You've got to take care of all this stuff. Stuff that feeds you. Stuff that takes care of where you live. Stuff, stuff, stuff. Even fun stuff you want to have that's all about you. That's okay. Six days. But one day, if you're going to be my people, it's here. You come and you set that 24-hour period aside.

We all grow. I have. The way I keep the Sabbath today is not how I kept it. Ten or fifteen years ago.

We all grow, and we have certain understandings, and we're all at different levels. I realize that. But there are certain things that we all should be doing.

And one, we should all rest. It means don't work. Don't work. I'm a Sabbath. The seven-day Adventists have not gotten through their heads because they think, if I'm a nurse, I don't have to work. I can go work. If I'm a policeman, I'm firemen. Now they've got a list of all these... It's about anybody and everybody. That it's a crucial job, so you need to do it.

We don't do that.

And I'm not condemning them by any means. They have to live with what they do.

But we know we don't work. We rest. We worship. We come together, not forsaking assembly. As it says, some does as the day approaches.

And you spend time talking to your God.

You spend time reading about your God.

And there's various other things you can do that are of the godly nature, that are holy. Doesn't mean you set yourself in a room and say, well, I can't really talk to anybody except for God.

That's not what it's about.

When in doubt, go read the Scriptures. We're Jesus Christ. Because most of the writings that you find in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John dealt with the Sabbath or the Holy Days. Now, he lived and conducted himself. That's where I've had to grow and try to mature about the Sabbath. I needed to go to somebody a lot more spiritually mature than I was. So that was Jesus Christ. So I want you to find that. But complete envelopment. It's like an envelope. You know, you want to put a letter in an envelope, you open it up, and then you put it in there, and then you fold it over, you lick it or pull off that thing, hopefully, and you seal it. And it's completely enveloped. God wants us as His people to be completely enveloped with Him. You may listen to a sermon you've always wanted to hear somewhere. You may read an article, boy, I really need time to do this. Maybe, you know, I just want to spend an extra time of prayer. Maybe I want to go to the ocean, walk on the ocean, talk to God. Maybe I just need to meditate. You know how long it's been since so many people just set time aside and meditated? Meditated on your future, meditated on your blessings, meditated on your life. Meditated on your family.

For some of us, sometimes, we need to set time aside on the Sabbath just to go pray about our families. Or we take the extra time because it doesn't seem like we have enough time.

Maybe we need to be thankful for what we have, like a mother, that we may have not thanked God enough for.

So there's a lot to do in this complete envelopment, but that's what it's about. It's not like, oh, I'm prohibited to do this. Yeah, you're free to go to a football game. You're free to go shopping today. You're free to do anything you want to do.

That's your choice.

But you made a choice when you decided that this is your way of life and that God is your God. I have some baptism that's going to take place in the next week or two, and those people must decide this is their way of life.

And they're not going to turn back. And it is about God and not about themselves.

That's why we don't do altar calls. We talk to people and explain that this is a serious, serious thing that we're going to do. Right, Ampe? And we become completely enveloped in God because there's no way He can stir up His Spirit if you're not completely enveloped with Him.

Next, let's go to Exodus 23. Exodus 23.

Exodus 23. Actually, go to verse 10. It said, six years, you shall sow your land and gather in its produce, but the seventh year you shall let it rest and lie foul, that the poor of your people may eat, and what they leave, the beasts of the field may eat. And like mannae, you shall do with your vineyard and your olive groves. So, God is your God. You're olive groves. So, God had a request here that you even give your land a rest. You think it's not important when He wants the land to have a rest that His greatest creation made in His image, He doesn't want to have a rest, so that you can be energized spiritually and also physically rested.

Six days you shall do your work, and on the seventh day you shall rest. That your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your maidservant and the stranger may be refreshed.

So, He made the Sabbath not only for your maidservant, your master, even the stranger comes within your gates to rest.

To rest.

And He uses the word refreshed, as you see on your laminated sermon.

The Hebrew word is nafesh, and it means to breathe. It means to breathe. And actually it means the pause that refreshes.

You ever worked really hard and you finished a job and you stand back and look at it?

Or you finally get done, or you make a long drive from Orlando to your house and you pull in and you're...

It's an amazing thing that taking in more oxygen shows and relaxes your body. Put you really in a different state. A better state so that you're not worried about what's going on outside of this envelopment that's going on. Helps you to relax. Helps you to maybe spend time with family members in a way that you have not spent them before.

It's time set aside to be able to show.

But it's time for you to be refreshed.

And the Sabbath is the pause that refreshes God's greatest creation.

Why would we want to miss out on that?

Let's go over to Deuteronomy. As we begin to wrap this up, Deuteronomy 5.

Deuteronomy 5, as we all know, takes place 38-39 years after Exodus 20. Okay, I've said that many times here. Just wanted to refresh your memory on that. That's why it's given twice. So Exodus 20, verse 8, we're given to the people who were leaving the Egypt.

And Deuteronomy 5 is given to the people who are about to enter the Promised Land 40 years later, as all those who are 20 years and older, except for two people, have died during those 40 years. But Exodus 5, verse 12, says, observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It's interesting, he didn't tell them to recall, because they've been keeping it for 40 years in the wilderness, walking through. But he said, now to them, as they're about to walk into the Promised Land, and to keep it, he said, observe the Sabbath day. Observe.

And the actual Hebrew word is shamar.

Shamar, actually means to hedge about with thorns. To hedge about with thorns. To hedge with what? To hedge the Sabbath day with thorns. If you build a hedge, okay, around your house, it's not walls to keep you in, it's walls to keep people out. So he's saying, this is our Sabbath day. A Sabbath day that you and I are going to worship. It's a Sabbath day. I want you to build a hedge around and keep the world out.

To hedge about with thorns.

The Sabbath is so important to God for his people that he gave all these various words. He could have used the same words that, well, I told you once. No, he's telling you time and time again why we keep the Sabbath and his people and why it's special and why we are preparing the saints of God in this room today. And it is holy time.

It is holy time. When we come into this room, it's a holy place. Because he said, where two or more of my people are gathered together, I will be there. He is there in spirit.

He's observing everything. That's why it's important.

It's important how we act. It's important during this time, this holy time, this Sabbath day, the time you are here, what we say, how we act, how our children, we don't need to have children running up and down screaming here in this room, on the Sabbath.

I've even had the people out there say some of our kids were running around and almost knocked somebody down out there. That's not what we do. We cannot do that.

You have patience, but you need to... This is holy time, holy room.

Let's make sure we keep it.

How we act, what we say, but how we treat people, how people see us. Do they see us? It's solemn, very, oh, this is the Sabbath and we're just going to be so... No! They need to see a smile on their face. Hopefully you enjoy this day.

Ran into an old friend not long ago and he said, oh, he used to keep the Sabbath. Oh, I don't have to do any of that anymore.

You still keep that?

And I said, yeah, I wouldn't let anyone take it away from me.

Like Pippin, Ferraris. It's another world. The Sabbath between God and his people, it's another world.

If you keep it the way he wants you to keep it. If you become completely enveloped. If you take that pause that refreshes and you build a hedge around.

It's all about worship. Because we've been called.

How all the people in the world. You're either going to believe that or you doubt. If you don't believe this is a holy day in a holy place, you are in the wrong church.

Let's be crystal clear.

So finally, let's go to Mark. Mark 2. Mark 2. New Testament, Peter's account says something here. Mark 2 and verse 27.

As he was chastised for plucking grains of wheat, barley, whatever it was at the time. The Pharisees were all over him. Why do you do what is not lawful in the Sabbath? They were interpreting their own way that these men were out there harvesting.

He gave them a classic example of the days of Abi-Ather. That they didn't really have an answer for. But one of the most beautiful verses in the Bible is Mark 2 and verse 27. I read from the New King James. And he said to them, The Sabbath was made for man.

It's actually in the Greek, it's anthropos, mankind, human being. It doesn't say the Sabbath was made for Jews. Sabbath made for Israelites. The Sabbath, because you go all the way back, he takes you all the way back here. To when it was originally created, there weren't any Jews. Ab and Eve weren't Jews. There weren't Israelites. Noah, shock, not a Jew.

But he said, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

There's no A there. There's a definite article, the Sabbath. It's one Sabbath, not a Sabbath. Well, we keep the Sabbath, we just do it a day different. We do it a day before, we do it a day after, it's not A. It's the Sabbath. It's what God created. So therefore, the, not a son of man, the, only one, only one son of man, only one Sabbath.

That's all in this verse. Therefore, the son of the son of man is also Lord of the, definite article, the, not A, the Sabbath, crystal clear. Not many people could argue that fact. And so, those were the main words that I want you to know, but there was another scripture that I have on your laminated pieces. I'd like you to go back to Hebrews, because this scripture, if you want to do some research on it, you can. Because, for many people who want to do away with the Sabbath, they've, you can kind of put, twist this word and wait a minute, Paul didn't come out and say, you should keep the Sabbath.

He didn't say things like that. Well, he basically didn't have to, because they were keeping the Sabbath. Okay? But, when the O. King James was written in 1610, was put together and it was written, and they took it and translated it from the latest Bible that they had. After the Gutenberg, then you had various, I won't go into all those, because it goes from this one to this one.

But, there was a Bible written called the Stevens Text. Stevens Text, also called the Byzantine Bible. It was in Greek, and it was written in 1550, and it was translated from manuscripts. And so, of course, the King James, when it was written, was translated also from those manuscripts, but they went back, because so much work, especially in the New Testament. The Greek was very thorough in the Stevens Text.

So, they would pull a lot of the text from the Stevens Text. And they basically didn't have any problem, except you have to understand, when they were putting the Bible together for the O. King James, Sunday was the day. Sunday was the day that the King kept. It's what most of the people kept. There were some Sabbatarians, but they were few and far between. And they had an issue here, because the original Stevens Text in the Greek wasn't written like they really needed it written.

And they knew they really couldn't just change a lot of things. Because in the original, and I'll read it here, because this is the New King James, it says, there in Hebrews 4, verse 9, there remains therefore a rest for the people of God. Pretty ambiguous. There remains a rest. What kind of rest? The actual word was Sabatismos, the only time it was actually used in the entire New Testament.

Sabatismos. Okay, it's got something to do with the Sabbath. But the Sabatismos actually describes the Sabbath as picturing what? The millennium. It pictures a time when the entire world will have rest. When Christ is here and will rule for a thousand years. Pretty simple. But when they translated it, they wanted to put, therefore, because how do they do that? Because the original translation is exactly what I have written on your thing.

That was from the 1550 Stephen's text. There remains Sabbath keeping for the people of God. Pretty clear that we should be keeping the Sabbath. Now, if you actually go to Bible Hub or one of these and check all the new translations of the Bible, you'll see that many of them translate it just like this. They remain Sabbath keeping for the people of God. They actually put it down because there's not an issue.

They don't worry about changing because they said, well, we keep the Sabbath, we just keep it on Sunday. So they don't mind putting it down. So all they had to really...that could pose them a problem was to change the word and put rest instead of Sabbath-tismu to change it. So I hope I have given you things to think about today. I hope you will take this and use it as a bookmark in your Bible because it will be a reminder. It will be a reminder of this is why we do it.

Also, with your Bible, you can teach anyone, whether he's a Hebrewist or the scholar in Hebrew. You can go there and they will not dispute this because they can't. It is what it is. It is the Sabbath. It is your Sabbath. The Sabbath, he said, was made for man. It's made for you and made for me. We can either enjoy it or you can dread it. It's totally up to you. The Sabbath is a gift from God.

Brethren, please use it. Don't ever abuse it. And most of all, don't ever lose it because it is something of God's. He did. He set it apart. He sanctified it and made it holy. Pippin' for ours loves the water.

To him, it's like being in another world. I pray we feel this way, brethren, about the Sabbath. Because it is like another world. For you see, it's a part of God's world. Not this world, but God's world. And it pictures a time that we will all be together, the entire world, as Scripture tell us, will celebrate the Sabbath together. From one end of the earth to the other.

And that's what this day pictures, when a time. And that's why it's so important you will be there as a leader, the kings and priests, as it says, to teach the world about this wonderful thing called your Sabbath.