Participants:
Series Code: SSOS
Program Code: SSOS190012A
|
00:01 Music...
00:26 Welcome to our study 00:27 of the Sanctuary, Salvation and our Savior. 00:31 I want to begin by going to the screen here 00:34 and showing you a picture of a sculpture 00:37 that resides in St. Peter's Basilica there in Rome... 00:42 it's called the Pieta 00:43 and it was made by one of the greatest artists 00:47 during the Renaissance Period known as Michelangelo 00:52 and he created by the age of 24... remarkable genius... 00:57 and it said in the story of the sculpture 01:00 that a person was admiring the sculpture 01:04 and Michelangelo was there 01:05 and he overheard the person that was admiring this sculpture 01:10 say and attribute this work of art to another artist. 01:14 Well, as you can imagine 01:15 that did not sit well with Michelangelo 01:18 and so, he went back to the sculpture 01:22 and then, etched in the marble... in the sculpture 01:26 his own name, 01:27 I have it zoomed in here on the screen 01:30 and you can see there, it says, "Michelangelo. " 01:34 This was so bothersome to... to Michelangelo 01:38 that someone else would attribute his work of art 01:40 to another individual 01:42 that he went back and carved in the sash of the sculpture 01:48 his name 01:49 and not only did he sign it with his name, 01:52 but he says this, 01:54 and you can see it here on the screen, 01:55 "Michelangelo Buonarroti Florentine made it. " 02:00 It could not be more clearer than this, 02:02 Michelangelo wanted to make sure 02:04 that he was the creator of this statue 02:08 and for today's study, I want to look at another instance 02:14 in which an artist greater than Michelangelo 02:20 signed... not in a marble... not in a place 02:24 but in time... His signature. 02:27 We want to go to the very beginning of the Bible, 02:29 Genesis chapter 2 verses 1 through 3, 02:31 "Thus the heavens and the earth 02:33 and all the host of them were finished, 02:36 and on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done 02:40 and He rested on the seventh day 02:42 from all His work which He had done, 02:44 then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it 02:48 because in it, He rested from all His work 02:51 which God had created and made. " 02:53 Here, at the beginning of time... 02:55 the beginning of Creation, 02:57 God creates the earth in six literal, consecutive, 03:00 contiguous 24-hour periods 03:03 and after that time period, 03:06 God does three things on the seventh day. 03:09 He rests... He blesses... and He makes that day holy. 03:15 This is God's masterpiece... this is God's creative process 03:18 and afterwards, He does not sign it in a place, 03:23 He signs it in time, 03:25 the 7th day is a Sabbath... is the Sabbath of the Lord 03:30 and God infused His holiness into time. 03:34 This is His signature... 03:37 after God creates His masterpiece... 03:39 just like Michelangelo created his masterpiece, 03:42 he signed it and etched it in stone... 03:44 God did something greater than Michelangelo. 03:48 He signed it in time as a memorial of creation. 03:52 Now, here's a question, 03:54 "How many Jews were around at the creation?" 04:00 None... 04:02 You know, contrary to popular opinion, 04:04 Adam and Eve were not Jews. 04:06 They were the original human beings, 04:08 the Jewish nation... 04:09 the Israelites did not come until 1,000s of years later 04:14 with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. 04:16 Adam and Eve were not Jews and this is prior to sin 04:20 that God signs in time His signature... 04:24 so, like a holy wave every seventh day... 04:29 God's signature... God's holiness comes over us 04:33 and we can be participating in the holiness of God. 04:38 It's interesting when you look at the Hebrew 04:41 in Genesis chapter 2:2 and 3, 04:43 "On the seventh day God finished His work which He had done, 04:45 which is seven words in the Hebrew 04:48 and He rested on the seventh day from all His work 04:50 which He had done... " 04:52 seven words in the Hebrew, 04:53 "so God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it... " 04:55 seven words in the Hebrew... 04:58 the number seven is evident there 05:00 even in the... the nuances of the Hebrew language. 05:03 Seven... seven... seven... 05:06 there's another part of the way that the literary 05:09 structure of the creation story goes, 05:11 you have the first day which is mentioned once... 05:13 you have the second day, mentioned once... 05:15 third day... fourth day... fifth day... sixth day... 05:18 and then you come to the seventh day 05:20 and it says, "The seventh day... 05:22 the seventh day... 05:24 the seventh day. " 05:25 Now, in the Hebrew language, 05:28 when they wanted to emphasize something... 05:30 when they wanted to say that something was important, 05:32 they would repeat it, 05:34 but here God repeats the seventh day 05:37 not just two times but repeats it three times. 05:42 The seventh day... the seventh day... 05:45 the seventh day, 05:46 in other words, this does not diminish the seventh day, 05:49 but places it on a higher platform 05:52 than any of the other days, 05:54 the other days... just mentioned once... 05:56 but the seventh day is mentioned three times. 05:58 The seventh day... 06:00 the seventh day 06:01 the seventh day, 06:03 this is before any Jew... 06:04 this is before the Ceremonial Law of Moses... 06:05 this is before all of these things in Edenic perfection, 06:09 God sets apart the seventh day and makes it holy. 06:13 Now, what does this have to do with the sanctuary? 06:18 Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 12 says, 06:21 "Also, I gave them my Sabbaths, as a sign between us, 06:25 so that they would know 06:27 that I the LORD made them holy. " 06:30 Listen to the significance of this. 06:34 The Bible tells us 06:35 that the Sabbath is not only a memorial of creation, 06:40 but it's also a memorial of redemption and salvation. 06:44 In other words, when we keep the Sabbath, 06:47 we not only memorialize the reality 06:50 that God created the earth in six literal, contiguous, 06:54 consecutive days and rested on the Sabbath, 06:57 and we should do the same, 06:58 but the seventh-day Sabbath also shows us 07:01 how God takes us... and recreates in us the image of God 07:06 and makes us holy and we rest in that assurance. 07:11 In other words, the salvation experience... 07:15 the sanctuary experience 07:18 is also the Sabbath experience. 07:21 You see, in the sanctuary, 07:24 as we noted in our Series and presentations, 07:27 the sanctuary is how God wants to bring us back 07:30 but the Bible tells us in the book of Hebrews, 07:34 that without holiness, no one will see the Lord. 07:37 In other words, the criteria and the condition 07:41 for being able to go back to that face-to-face encounter 07:44 with God just like Adam and Eve is holiness. 07:48 The condition for seeing God is holiness. 07:52 Now, that makes me feel overwhelmed... 07:55 that makes me feel anxious 07:58 because I look at myself and I see anything but holiness 08:01 but when you look in the sanctuary, 08:03 the condition for having that restoration is holiness. 08:07 The condition to a restoration and a relationship with God 08:12 is to be holy 08:14 and that fills many people with anxiety. 08:18 That fills many people with this feeling of inadequacy. 08:24 Have you ever wondered to yourself, 08:26 "So, how am I ever going to make it? 08:27 I'm anything but holy. " 08:29 And so, the Christian experience for some... for many... 08:32 can be one of anxiety and unrest 08:37 but the sanctuary salvation is also connected with the Sabbath 08:44 in terms of our existential experience. 08:48 In other words, the experience of salvation... 08:52 the experience of restoration... 08:55 the experience of the sanctuary... 08:59 the experience where God brings us back 09:01 is not one of unrest... 09:04 it's not one of anxiety... 09:07 quite the contrary... 09:09 it is one of rest. 09:12 It is resting in the reality 09:15 that we can't make ourselves holy, 09:19 rather, it is God who makes us holy. 09:24 Isn't that beautiful? 09:25 Isn't it beautiful that on the seventh day, 09:28 you not only memorialize the fact that God made a day holy, 09:32 but you memorialize the present reality 09:37 that it is God who makes us holy. 09:40 We can't make ourselves holy 09:41 and on the seventh day, 09:43 we rest in the assurance... 09:46 we don't work... 09:47 it's a reminder that we don't work our ways to heaven, 09:50 some people say, "Oh, the Sabbath... 09:52 that's legalism. " 09:53 Quite the contrary, God is telling us to rest... 09:55 not to work... 09:57 and so, on the seventh day, 09:59 we experience the rest that comes in the assurance 10:03 that God makes us holy. 10:07 Even as God took a day and infused His holiness into it, 10:12 God takes us... re-creates the image of God... 10:15 and in the Sabbath experience... is rest. 10:20 We can rest in the assurance 10:21 that it is God who makes us holy. 10:25 So, when we talk about the Sabbath, 10:28 we're talking about the experience the person has 10:32 as they're coming into the Courtyard... 10:34 The experience the person has 10:37 as they come into the Holy Place... 10:39 the experience the person has 10:41 as they come into the Most Holy Place 10:43 is not one of anxiety... 10:46 it is one of rest 10:48 and I want to tell you, 10:50 in my Christian experience, 10:52 I need to be continually reminded of this reality. 10:56 Have you ever been given a gift that is so profound 11:01 and so undeserved that you feel like... 11:04 "Look, I need to do something to earn this. " 11:06 You've been given a gift, you're like, 11:08 "Oh, I need to give at least some sort of contribution... 11:10 here take this... " and the person's like, 11:11 "No, no, no, it's a gift. " 11:13 In other words, if you have to pay for something, 11:15 it's no longer a gift 11:16 and here, we've been given the awesome gift of salvation 11:20 and it's not of works, it is a gift... 11:23 eternal life is a gift... 11:24 and we're given this gift 11:26 and the natural human response is, 11:28 "This is so undeserved, I want to do something... 11:32 I want to... I want to try to earn my way... 11:34 I want to make some sort of contribution 11:37 so I can feel that I earn and deserve this... " 11:39 and God says, "No! 11:41 you don't earn it... you don't work for it... 11:43 you rest in that assurance... " 11:45 and we need this reminder not just annually... 11:49 not just monthly... we need this weekly. 11:54 Every seven days, we experience the Sabbath rest 12:00 not only physically but we find rest for our souls. 12:06 When we experience the Sabbath, 12:08 it is the reality that I can't work my way to heaven, 12:13 Praise God... I can't earn my salvation... 12:15 and it is rest... 12:17 it's a reminder that it is God who makes us holy. 12:21 Ezekiel 20:12, what a wonderful text, 12:23 "Also, I gave them My Sabbaths as a sign between us 12:26 so that they would know that I the Lord made them holy. " 12:29 The Sabbath is a wonderful sign... a symbol... 12:32 an experience of how God brings us back... 12:35 the experience of salvation through the sanctuary... 12:39 through Jesus Christ is not one of anxiety... 12:43 it is one of rest. 12:45 So, the sanctuary and the Sabbath are linked together 12:49 because the sanctuary shows us how God will bring us back 12:53 and the Sabbath shows us our experience 12:58 of how we can rest in the assurance 13:01 that even though we look at ourselves 13:05 and we don't see any holiness 13:07 and I want to tell you, I get discouraged 13:09 when I look at my own human frailty 13:12 but we need to keep our eyes on Jesus... 13:14 the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, 13:17 and every seventh day, we remind ourselves 13:20 that we can't make ourselves holy... 13:23 it is God Who makes us holy. 13:26 Even as God took a day and made it holy, 13:30 God will make us holy 13:33 because of His righteousness and His character, 13:36 that is imparted to each one of us. 13:38 We're going to take a short break... 13:40 don't go anywhere 13:41 because when we come back, 13:43 we'll look at the reality of the Sabbath 13:45 through Genesis... through the Ten Commandments 13:48 all the way to heaven. 13:50 Stay with us as we continue our study 13:53 of the sanctuary, salvation and our Savior. |
Revised 2019-10-29