Participants: Dr. David Klinedinst
Series Code: DPR
Program Code: DPR000009A
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00:04 Tonight I want to begin by sharing with you an allegory.
00:09 Now an allegory is a fictional story that has a spiritual 00:14 lesson to it, and it goes like this. "It is said the truth 00:19 had an appointment in a certain town one day, and the people were eagerly 00:24 waiting for him to come, and to tell them the truth. So truth was traveling 00:29 along a hot dusty road in the middle of a summer day. And the afternoon 00:35 sun was beating down upon his back and he was sweating profusely 00:40 but in the distance he saw a nice cool pond of water.And he 00:45 thought how wonderful it would be to stop, and take a brake, and jump into those waters 00:50 and that's what he did. He took off the lovely white garments of the truth and hung them 00:55 on a near by branch. And then he jumped in the water, refreshing himself on a 01:00 hot summer day. But you know wherever the truth goes 01:05 lie follows close behind. And lie was traveling along 01:10 the same hot dusty road. It was the middle of a summer day. He too 01:15 was sweating profusely. But eventually he saw that same pond 01:20 of water in the distance and the same thought crossed his mind, "I'm going to take a 01:25 nice cool swim." But as he neared the water's edge 01:30 there he saw the truth was already swimming in the water. And he looked around 01:35 and he saw the lovely white garments of the truth hanging on that near by branch. 01:40 and so truth, or lie got a sneaky idea. 01:44 He said forget the swim, I'm just gonna steal truth's clothes. 01:48 And he did! So he quickly took off the old ragged garments of a lie, 01:52 threw them on the ground, and he started to put on the lovely white 01:56 garments of the truth. And so then he made his way 02:00 to the town just as he was. And as he neared the city gate 02:04 all the people looked out, and they began to get excited, and they said,"Look everybody! 02:08 Here comes the truth! Here comes the truth! 02:12 Until one perceptive elder looked a little closer 02:16 and he said,"Now wait a minute everyone, that's not the truth, 02:20 that's a lie with truth's clothes on." And so 02:24 it was. And the people were very disappointed. 02:28 Meanwhile back at the pond, truth had gotten out of the water. And 02:32 he noticed that his clothes were no where to be found. As he looked around 02:36 there he saw it, the old ragged garments of a lie 02:40 ,lie right there on the ground and he realized what had happened 02:44 Lie had stolen his clothes. And so now Truth had an 02:48 awesome decision to make. He could put on those old raggedy 02:52 garments of a lie. Or he could go to the town just 02:56 as he was in his present condition. And he thought to himself," Before I 03:00 wear those old ragged garments, I will simply go wearing nothing at all." 03:04 And that's what he did. And so as he traveled down the raod he neared 03:08 the city gate. And all the people looked out and they got excited! And they said, 03:12 "Look everybody! Finally! Here comes the truth! 03:16 Here comes the Truth! Why look! It's the naked Truth." 03:20 And so it was. 03:24 Now we tend to chuckle at a little story like that. But I 03:28 tell you tonight subject is much like that story because 03:32 tonight comes the Naked Truth. 03:36 Now truth is an interesting thing. Some people love the 03:40 truth and they will embrace it, but there are others who would prefer to believe 03:44 a lie. Notice what it says in Hebrews chapter 4 03:48 and verse 12 03:52 The Bible says, "For the Word of God is living, and powerful, 03:56 and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even 04:00 the division of soul and spirit." Notice 04:04 that God says His word is like a what? 04:08 Like a sharp two edged sword, and it will pierce us with the truth. 04:12 Now sometimes the truth hurts doesn't it? Whether it's in a religious 04:16 world or whether it's in the secular world. But lies and 04:20 deceptions hurt a lot more. And God loves us 04:24 too much to let us be deceived. And so therefore in His mercy 04:29 He brings us the truth to guide us along 04:33 our paths in this life. 04:34 our paths in this life. But Bible prophecy tells us about a 04:37 power that doesn't like truth. 04:41 A power that would seek to distort God's truth and lead us away 04:45 from the word of God. Bible prophecy calls it the 04:49 antichrist power. I want you to take your bibles and we're going to 04:53 review one verse before we go into Revelation tonight. I want you to go to 04:57 Daniel chapter seven and verse twenty-five. 05:01 Daniel chapter seven. And I want to read something 05:05 that we studied the last time that we were together. 05:09 Daniel chapter seven and verse twenty-five. 05:13 Now here in chapter seven, this entire chapter 05:17 describes the work of antichrist. What 05:21 activities will he seek to do on this earth? 05:22 activities will he seek to do on this earth? Now we're 05:25 going to spend two whole nights on this chapter a little later in the seminar. 05:29 But for tonight's subject, I just want us to notice what verse twenty-five 05:33 says because it will be a spring board into our topic 05:37 tonight. Daniel chapter seven verse twenty-five. 05:41 The Bible says,"And he shall speak 05:45 pompous words against" Who? "The Most High 05:49 shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall 05:50 shall persecute the saints of the Most High, and shall 05:53 intend to change times and law or the 05:57 King James version says, "He shall think to change times 06:01 and law." and we learned in its context right here in verse 06:05 twenty-five it says,"He works against the Most High." 06:09 So in other words antichrist will think to change 06:13 or to do away with God's times and God's 06:17 law. And remember we learned the other night how 06:21 the spirit of antichrist is working today to try to cover up 06:25 the principles of God's holy law- His ten commandments. 06:29 because we live in a world now that says that God's law is ancient. 06:33 That it is out dated that it is archaic 06:37 that modern man doesn't need the principles of those ten commandments. 06:41 And so now we find in this generation, that law is longer 06:45 taught in our homes. It's not taught in our school systems. 06:49 You can't display them in government buildings, and even many times when 06:53 religious pulpous today we hear 'well that law is done away with' 06:57 and it's not important anymore. And so you see 07:01 the spirit of antichrist already at work trying to do away with 07:05 God's law. But in this verse 07:09 it also talks about God's times 07:13 and what we're going to discover is that the spirit 07:17 of antichrist has attacked a very 07:21 specific part of God's law. And it's the part that deals 07:25 with time and worship. 07:29 And so with that background information 07:33 now we can launch into Revelation chapter fourteen 07:37 that's where I want to invite you to turn. Revelation chapter fourteen 07:41 and we're going to start reading in verse six. The 07:45 Bible says," Then I saw another angel 07:49 flying in the midst of heaven. Having the everlasting 07:53 gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth 07:58 to every nation tribe, tongue, and people." 08:02 Now lets stop here for a second. How many people must this 08:06 message go to according to Revelation? Everyone. 08:10 It basically says every people group tribe, tongue, and 08:14 language. So whatever the message is, right away it's 08:18 telling us it's for everyone. It crosses geographical line. 08:22 That means it doesn't matter whether I'm American or Russian 08:26 or Chinese or Norwegan. This message is 08:30 for me! It also crosses racial lines 08:34 Does it matter whether I'm black and white or browned skin 08:38 this message is for me! In fact it crosses 08:42 denominational lines. Which means it doesn't matter if I'm Protestant 08:46 or Catholic, or Atheist, Or a Muslam, or whatever I am 08:50 God says these three messages are for every single 08:54 person that's living in the world. So that 08:58 ought to give us a clue as to how important the book of Revelation 09:02 considers it to be. So now the question is 09:06 Well what's this all important message? Lets read it 09:10 in verse seven. The Bible continues to say," 09:14 Saying with a loud voice fear God 09:18 and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgement 09:22 is come. And worship him who made the heavens 09:26 the earth, the sea, and the springs 09:30 of water." Now lets stop there for a second 09:34 The begging of this message says we should fear God and give glory to him. Why? 09:38 The hour of His judgement is 09:42 come. In other wards the angel was telling people who live on 09:46 earth in these last days. People who are distracted 09:50 People who are caught up in all sorts of things in this secular 09:54 world. People like you and me who might be neglecting 09:58 our relationship with Jesus. The angel was warning and saying," Listen 10:02 the hour of his judgement is come. Jesus 10:06 is coming soon! We are reaching a point where 10:10 God is preparing to look over the record of our lives. That He is going to come 10:14 and save his people and so it's time to turn 10:18 our eyes upon Jesus, Can you say amen? Cause really the 10:22 hour of his judgement, that phrase simply refers to the end of time when 10:26 Jesus is about to come. But then 10:30 the message goes on. And you noticed the second part 10:34 of this message. And it's a rather interesting one 10:38 the angel goes on to say,"Worship Him 10:42 who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water. 10:46 In other wards the angel is directing people back 10:50 to worshiping and honoring God as the 10:54 creator of all things 10:58 and reading Revelation right here by quoting that is pointing us 11:02 all the way back to creation on the book of Genesis. 11:06 Because if the angel was telling the world to worship and honor God as the creator 11:10 that means Revelation causes us to ask 11:14 a question. How do we honor God 11:18 as a creator? How are we suppose to remember as the creator 11:22 of heaven, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water? Can I do that 11:26 how ever I want, or has God given us a specific way that 11:30 is meant to be a blessing? And what we're going to discover 11:34 is this. That is actually a quote 11:38 from the fourth commandment of God 11:43 law. And we're going to see that in a second. But the get there let me ask 11:47 you a question. Here on earth, when we want 11:51 to honor someone or remember an event what do we 11:55 at least us Americans, what do we tend to do? 11:59 We arract memorials. For example, when the tragedy of nine 12:03 eleven happened and those twin towers came down, it was suggested 12:07 that we build a memorial on that sight and that now has been done. 12:11 And the purpose of that memorial is to honor those 12:15 who have been slain and to always remember what happened 12:19 there so that we never forget. Even if you go to 12:23 many metropolitan cities around this nation. in quite a 12:27 few of them, you will see memorials errected to honor 12:31 those who fought in the wars for our freedom. And so 12:35 this country has set aside at least one day 12:39 where those war veterans are to be honored. What day is that? Well one of them 12:43 is memorial day. And what we will discover is as we 12:47 go back to Genesis, God gave us his own memorial 12:51 day in which to honor and remember him 12:55 as the creator. And so since Revelation here in this first angel 12:59 message. Since it talks about honoring God as the creator 13:03 Revelation in a sense is pointing us to go back to Genesis 13:07 and seek to understand it. So I've got a temporarily 13:11 leave Revelation, and follow the sign that is pointing 13:15 me back to Genesis. So lets take our bibles and since 13:19 Revelation talks about honoring God as the creator lets go to Genesis 13:23 chapter two beginning in verse one. 13:27 Genesis chapter two beginning 13:31 in verse one. And we're going to use out bibles a lot tonight 13:35 just like we do everyother night 13:39 In Genesis two, this is describing the week of creation when God created 13:43 life on this earth. Now I'm just going to read the first three verses 13:47 I-I want you to try and picture this in your mind. 13:51 Genesis two verse one. The Bible 13:55 says," Thus the heavens and the earth 13:59 and all the hosts of them were finished. And on the seventh 14:03 day God ended his work which he had done 14:07 and he rested on the seventh day from all his work 14:11 which he had done 14:15 then God blessed the Sabbath day and what's that next word? Sanctified in because in it 14:19 He rested from all his work, which God had 14:23 created and made." Now let's stop there for a second 14:27 Here is says that after God creates life on tis 14:31 earth, then comes the seventh day 14:35 and when you read here in Genesis two, it uses a very 14:39 perticular word to describe that seventh day 14:43 what was the word? He blessed and sanctified it 14:47 now if you were to look up the word sanctified in the Hebrew 14:52 you know what the word sanctifies means? That's right 14:56 It means to set aside for a special purpose 15:00 or for a holy purpose. So in other wards gone from the beginning 15:04 is saying that this seventh day is suppose to be 15:08 set aside as special, holy, time. As a way 15:12 for mankind to honor God as their creator 15:16 and remember that he's the one that made life along with the 15:20 heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the springs of water. 15:24 Now having read that, sometimes it raises 15:28 a question in people's minds. Because right here we see the beginnings 15:32 where God gives mankind what would be called 15:36 the seveth-day sabbath. Cause Revelation is pointing us back 15:40 there. But the sincere question that sometimes crosses our mind 15:44 is we wonder, well I've always heard that was the Jewish 15:48 sabbath and that was just for the Jews. But lets ask a honest question 15:52 here. Here in Genesis chapter two, this is the 15:56 week of creation. How many people are alive on the face of the earth? 16:00 I hope you know. Two! 16:04 What were their names? Adam and Eve. Where they Jews? 16:08 No. The Jewish nation did not exist for 16:12 hundred, and hundreds, and hundreds of years into the future 16:16 In fact here in Genesis two this is really before there 16:20 were different races, there were different colors of skin. Long 16:24 before there were different denominations. So aparently 16:28 all the way back at creation, God meant this seventh-day 16:32 sabbath to be a blessing for all man throughout all 16:36 time. You say 'well why did God consider that 16:40 to be so special, this seventh-day?' 16:44 Lets think about it for a second. God created 16:48 life. Adam and Eve, man and woman, on what day? Remember? 16:52 The sixth day, which, we would call Friday 16:56 Do you notice that very next day God created the sabbath. 17:00 The sabbath, the seventh day, would've 17:04 been Adam and Eve's very first full day with God. 17:08 You see in a sense God is saying that he is a 17:12 relational God. That he wants to know us in a very 17:16 personal and intimate way. He didn't just create Adam and Eve and say 17:20 'You know what, I gave you life so now I'm going to go off into the distant universe 17:24 somewhere. You're on your own.' That's not how the bible describes 17:28 our creator. Because God wants to know us 17:33 Because he wants to be intimate with us. Have a 17:37 personal relationship, God now creates the seventh 17:41 day sabbath. And he says to Adam and Eve and to us 17:45 every seventh-day, I want you to rest from your labors. 17:49 I mean and it actually says God is going to rest from His. And they're 17:53 going to come together in holy time and holy communion 17:57 to grow their relationship with their creator 18:01 Now think about this a second. When Adam and Eve where created 18:05 were they created all ready knowing everything 18:09 about the character of God? Yes or No? No/ 18:13 They didn't know everything about His character. That's why they were 18:17 to spend time with Him. To grow in that relation 18:21 ship. That's why God gave the sabbath. Because when you're 18:25 remembering as the creator every week it's awful 18:29 hard to forget. Can you say Amen? See that seventh-day sabbath 18:33 time was about a relationship. Being intimate with the ones that 18:37 you created. That shows how much God must indeed 18:41 love us. And what we're going to discover 18:45 is even from the beginning of time. The 18:49 devil has unleashed a ferocious attack 18:53 through the spirit of antichrist against that day. Why? 18:57 Because if it's a day set aside to honor God as the creator 19:01 the devil would like nothing more than to destroy that special time 19:05 And that's why Daniel wrote. He would think 19:09 to change God's times and God's law 19:13 And the sabbath is God's 19:17 special time found in the very heart of his law 19:21 and it has to do with worship. 19:25 In fact God considered that to be so important that He 19:29 went and included it in his ten commandment law. So let's go 19:33 there. Exodus chapter twenty. And let's go to verses 19:37 eight through eleven. Now we're going to make our way 19:41 from old testament to new testament. Because if Revelation is 19:45 directing us back and is quoting the fourth commandment that means I need 19:49 to be sure to understand why. So I have to study it. Revelation 19:53 doesn't give me the option of skipping over it as though it was unimportant. 19:57 Exodus chapter twenty. And lets read verses 20:01 eight through eleven. Exodus twenty 20:05 and verse eight. The Bible 20:09 says,"Remember the Sabbath day 20:13 to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do 20:17 all your work. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord 20:21 you God. In it you shall do no work. You, nor your son 20:25 ,nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, 20:29 nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 20:33 And then verse eleven tells us way. What''s purpose of this? What's the purpose 20:37 of setting aside the secular labor Lord? And He answers 20:41 the question. He says,"For in six days the Lord 20:45 made the heavens, the earth, the sea, 20:49 and all that is in them. And rested the seventh day 20:53 therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and 20:57 hollowed it. Now it's interesting in there 21:01 again it says that he blessed that Sabbath day, hollowed it, or made 21:05 it holy, set aside for special use. God 21:09 considered to be that important. But then if you go a little 21:13 bit closer you read in this, it's kind of interesting. He specifically says 21:18 the seventh day is the Sabbath. Which we would expect cause that's what we just read 21:22 in Genesis. God's not going o contradict His word. But 21:26 something that you note in this particular commandment is this. 21:30 The majority of all the other commandments, what phrase do they 21:34 begin with? Thou shall not. They begin kind of 21:38 negatively in a sense. But this commandment is different. 21:42 What word does it begin with? 21:46 Remember. Now think about it. 21:50 Isn't it interesting, that the very commandment 21:54 that begins with the word remember 21:58 is the one that most of the world has 22:02 forgotten. Maybe thst's why Revelation 22:06 is specifically pointing us back to that time. 22:10 See because God knows if there is any generation in history 22:14 that needs sabbath rest. If there's any generation that needs 22:18 to set aside secular labors so that they can connect in their relationship with 22:22 God. If there's any generation in history that is so 22:26 distracted. So caught up in this world that they're neglecting their 22:30 spiritual life, God knows that those final generations 22:34 are probably going to need the sabbath more that anyone. Because it gives them 22:38 time to grow in their relationship with Jesus 22:42 Christ. See the Sabbath points me to Jesus 22:46 But here is something that really caught my 22:50 attention because it is hard to overlook. I want you to 22:54 compare with we just read in the fourth commandment. To what we just read in 22:58 Revelation fourteen seven. And I want to see if you can find any 23:02 similarities here, and I'm going to put it on the screen. In Revelation 23:06 seven. This first angel that has a message that is to go to all the world 23:10 he said this, "Fear God, give glory to 23:14 Him, for the hour of his judgement is come." Now notice the second part 23:18 Worship Him who made heaven, the earth, 23:22 the sea, and the springs of water." Do you know that 23:26 is a direct quotes from the fourth commandment. 23:30 It's a strong illusion there is no doubt about it. 23:34 That Revelation is pointing the final generations back 23:38 to re-discovering the fourth commandment. Because notice Exodus twenty 23:42 eleven. For in six days the Lord made the heavens, 23:46 the earth, the sea, and all that is in them. 23:50 I wonder, did God say remember 23:54 because he know that people 23:58 would forget. See the sabbath 24:02 is in the heart of God's law. It's special 24:06 and holy time, and it's about worship. 24:10 And all three of thoughs are mentioned there. 24:14 in Revelation fourteen, seven. Would it be 24:18 easier for me to just skip over and act like it's not there? It might be 24:22 but if God put it there, that means there must be a blessing 24:26 in store. Who doesn't need rest in this crazy 24:30 chaotic world? Can you say amen? 24:34 And have that time set aside. Where I can connect with Jesus Christ 24:38 That is meant to be a blessing that God gave man 24:42 from the beginning of time. As you move on 24:47 even Ezekiel talks about this in Ezekiel twenty verse 24:51 nineteen. The Bible says,"Hallow 24:55 My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me 24:59 and you, that you may know that I am the Lord your 25:03 God." Now notice He said it's going to be a special sign. 25:07 See when I honor the Sabbath in my life 25:11 That's a sign that says," I acknowledge 25:15 God as the creator of the universe. 25:19 I acknowledge that He is the supreme authority 25:23 in my life as God's special sign according to Ezekiel. 25:27 Now to help us understand the relational aspect of the Sabbath because 25:31 what happens is. We kind of get caught up in the idea of well 25:35 don't do this, don't do that. and we can make it look so legalistic 25:39 The point of the Sabbath is 25:43 carving out that special time on the seventh day. Where I'm 25:47 putting aside my secular labors. You know my errands, my grocery shopping 25:51 etc. for what purpose? So I can show God I'm 25:55 serious and I deserve to go to heaven? NO! The pursose 25:59 of setting it aside is so that now I have this 26:03 special holy time where I can connect with the one who 26:07 created me. Where I can purposely and specifically 26:11 worship him and grow my spiritual life. 26:15 Because the only we can be saved is to have a personal relationship 26:19 with Jesus Christ. The Sabbath is an avenue that helps 26:23 us to grow in that relationship and to get to know him 26:27 better! Can you say amen? Now I want to illustrate this 26:31 using earthly relationships. Now it's not a perfect illustration but I think we 26:35 get the points. Ladies I want to use you as an example 26:39 Ladies how would you feel if your husband, or let's say your boyfriend 26:43 came to you and said," You know what, I love you so 26:47 much. I value our relationship 26:51 that I'm going to set aside this day every week. I'm going to put everything 26:55 else aside and honey, I'm just going to send it with you. 26:59 Whatever you want to do." Ladies how would that make you feel? 27:03 Awesome! Wonderful! Because you know what it would be saying? It would be 27:07 saying that man values the relationship. Now I use that example 27:11 once in a seminar and when I asked the question, Ladies how would that make 27:15 you feel? Or what would you do? One lady blurted out," I drop 27:19 dead and faint." and I felt bad because her husband 27:23 was siting right beside her when she said it and 27:27 I meant it to be a retoricle question you know? And I thought Oh 27:31 dear I might have to do some marital counseling after this. But see here's the point 27:35 God has done the same thing for us. 27:39 Because He values his 27:43 personal relationship with you and Me 27:47 He says," I am giving you the gift of the Seventh day Sabbath. Not as a burden, 27:51 but as a time for you grow to know me better 27:55 because I want to know you and I want you to know 27:59 me." and you know how easy it is to get caught up 28:03 in this world. Running like chickens with our heads cut off. You know 28:07 seven days a week. twenty four a day God say I'm giving you 28:11 permission to rest. I'm giving you the sabbath time 28:15 6so you can know Me. 28:19 I'm going to use me and my wife for an example. Suppose I said that to my wife," Honey I'm 28:23 going to set aside this special day just for you." And so on that 28:27 day we go out to a nice restaurant, or we, maybe we walk 28:31 along the lake side, have a romantic day together on this 28:35 day that I say honey I'm going to set it aside just for you. How do 28:39 you think it would go over if on that day, 28:43 that while we were sitting eating or walking in the park or whatever we were doing 28:47 that I just started reading the paper. Checking the scores of the besketball 28:51 games on my iphone. Reading my books. You know 28:56 and doing all sorts of other things except paying attention to her. How well do you 29:00 think that would go over with my wife? You're not very 29:04 imfatic. How well do you think that would go over? Not good in fact 29:08 you're in here aren't you? How well would that go with you? Not 29:12 well at all. Because what would it be saying? I 29:16 would be saying these other things are more important 29:20 to me than my relationship with you. 29:24 God gives us His Sabbath as a relation 29:28 blessing. Infact to put it in 29:32 perspective try to understand well, why would the Devul 29:36 through the spirit of antichrist, why would he want to do away this that 29:40 special time? Well let me ask you a question. 29:44 What is the easiest way to destroy a relationship between 29:48 two people? Now you know 29:52 sometimes people would say just throw another woman into the picture. 29:56 Well that's not the easiest way. That certainly wouldn't help 30:00 but it's not the easiest way. The simplest way is simply 30:04 take away the time they spend together. 30:08 They don't have to get into a big argument. They don't have to necessarily 30:12 commit adultry and find someone else. if you take away 30:16 the time they spend together, that relationship will 30:20 eventually ditierriorate.That is exactly 30:24 what the devil has done with the blessings of the seventh day Sabbath 30:28 in the beginning. That's why he attacks it because if it means special time 30:32 to grow on our relationship with Jesus, the devil hates that and so 30:36 he wants to take away that time we have with the creator. 30:40 That's why Daniel said,"He will 30:44 think to change God's times and God's law 30:48 The Sabbath is in the heart of God's law 30:52 It deals with holy time 30:56 And it's about worship. All three are mentioned 31:00 in the message of the first angel in Revelation fourteen seven. 31:04 It's quoting the Sabbath commandment. Because God wants 31:08 to find final generations to rediscover that 31:12 blessing. Now so far to be fair. 31:16 We've preety much looked up old testiment texts. 31:20 Sometimes we have the understanding well wasn't the Sabbath done away with? 31:24 in the New Testimate? So lets go into the New Testimate and get a 31:28 claerer understanding of this. And you may wonder well what do we have to study this for? 31:32 Is this something paster Dave made up? Think about it. If 31:36 Revelation fourteen seven quotes the fourth commandment. Quotes 31:40 it! That means Revelation wants me to understand it. 31:44 And if Revelation fourteen twelve describes God 31:48 people at the end of time as keeping His commandments, isn't the Sabbath 31:52 part of that? It doesn't just eight or just nine 31:56 or just pick out the ones we like. It means God's end time people 32:01 will love him enough to honor His commandments. Not as a way to get 32:04 saved. But because they're already saved and they're 32:08 thankful for what Jesus has done for them. So 32:12 now let's go into the new testament because who is the best example 32:17 we can look at? What do you think? Jesus. Let's go to 32:21 Luke chapter four and verse sixteen. 32:25 Luke chapter four verse sixteen and let's just look at the 32:29 example of Jesus here. Now a few years ago 32:33 I don't remember how many years ago. They had this fad going on where you 32:37 you know you wore bracelets or something that said WWJD. Remember what that 32:41 stood for? Yeah what would Jesus do? Now granted that 32:45 was a fad, but it's a pretty good principal don't you think? It's an eternal 32:49 principal. So let's look at Jesus example. Did he consider 32:53 the Sabbath important? Luke chapter four 32:57 and let's read verse sixteen. 33:01 The Bible says,"So he 33:05 came to Nazareth, Where He had been brought up. 33:09 And as his," What's that word? ," custom was, 33:13 He went into the synagoue on the Sabbath day and stood 33:17 up to read." Now let's put a little pause there. 33:21 Notice it said that Jesus custom was, now that 33:25 word custom, what does that mean? Yeah 33:29 is a custom something you do every once in a while? 33:33 That means that's your regular habit. you do it one a regular basis. 33:37 For example. I'm going to guess that probably you have 33:41 a custom that you do every morning. What is something that you do 33:45 on a regular basis every single morning? Just yell it out 33:49 Eat breakfast or brush your teeth right? At least I hop e 33:53 so. Your co-workers would greatly appreciate that. You don't do it 33:57 every once in a while. You do it regularly, daily. 34:01 So the scriptures described Jesus that He had to come 34:02 So the scriptures described Jesus that He had the custom 34:05 of honoring the Sabbath day. That He 34:09 used it as an opportunity to be worshiping in the synagogue 34:13 as an example to us. And actually is you keep reading in verse eighteen 34:17 He used Sabbath as an opportunity to 34:21 proclaim the gospel and that He was the Messiah 34:25 the Son of God. So see Jesus gave that 34:29 as an example. Not because He was a Jew. Because we already 34:34 read in Genesis that the Sabbath was given to all man kind 34:38 long before there was ever a Jew on the face of the earth. It's 34:42 a blessing to all. So the next question is 34:46 did Jesus say anything else about the Sabbath? Now I 34:50 don't have this text in the screen but we're doing really good on time tonight. 34:54 I don't kow if that's because I'm talking to fast? Or what? Or if the Holy Spirit is just opening the door 34:58 so I'm going to add a text. How any people give me permission to add a text? 35:02 Alright, I want you to go to Matthew twenty-four 35:06 verse twenty. Jesus says," 35:10 And pray that your flight may not be in the 35:14 winter." Why do you think Jesus said I hope it's not in the winter? 35:18 Well if you're running away from Jerusalem because your city is being destroyed. 35:22 Winter is going to be a pretty hard time to survive. But then He goes on 35:26 to say,"Pray that your flight may not be in winter 35:30 or when? On the Sabbath day. 35:34 Because obviously you're not going to be remembering God as your creator 35:38 when you're running for your life. 35:42 And so here Jesus is looking 35:46 fourty years into the future because he was crucified around 3100 A.D. 35:50 He is looking fourty years into the future expecting 35:54 that His people are still honoring the blessings of the Sabbath. 35:58 If He intended for that to be obsolete after the cross He would never have made 36:02 such a statement. You say, well pastor Dave that 36:06 makes a lot of sense but then if the Sabbath is meant for all men 36:10 for all time, shouldn't we find records of it? In the 36:14 early New testament church? And the answer is you're absolutely right. 36:18 Let's go to the book of Acts because what we discover 36:22 is the Sabbath is all over the book of acts. 36:26 We just tend not to see it. Let's turn to the book of Acts. We're just 36:30 going to look a few things up here. You want to go to Acts 36:34 chapter thirteen, and I want to read a few verses together. What book 36:38 are we going to? And What chapter? Thirteen. 36:42 Acts chapter thirteen and verse fourteen. 36:46 This is describing Paul and 36:50 Barnabas in the city of Antiach. The Bible says," 36:54 But when 36:58 they departed from Perga, they came to Antiach 37:02 in Pasidia. And went into the synagogue," on what day? 37:06 "Sabbath day an sat down to read. And after 37:10 the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent 37:14 to them saying,"Men and brotheren, if you have any word 37:18 of exoration for rhe people say on." Now you know 37:22 that's using old english there. But when they say listen if you have any word of exoration 37:26 say on what are they really saying? You want me to put it in 37:30 modern vernacular? They're saying preach it brother. You know Paul 37:34 and Barnabas are using the Sabbath. Keeping it 37:38 holy as the commandment said, as they saw their Savior do 37:42 as they're using it as an opportunity to teach people 37:46 about Jesus. I mean think about that. They're resting 37:50 physically in the Sabbath from secular labors, and using it to teach people 37:54 how to put their faith in Jesus. How to 37:58 rest in Him spiritually. And they don't just do this 38:02 with Jews. I want you to notice. Let's go to verse fourty-two 38:06 We're going to skip ahead here in the chapter, and we're still in antiach, but notice when it says 38:10 in verse fourty-two. The bible says," 38:14 So when the Jews went out of the synagogue," who came next? 38:18 The Gentiles begged that these words might be preached 38:22 to them the next Sabbath. Now when the congregation had broke 38:26 up, many of the Jews and devout prosilites, That means 38:30 the converts, followed Paul and Barnabas. Who's speaking 38:34 to them. perswaded them to continue in the grace of God. 38:38 And then verse fourty-four says. On the next Sabbath 38:42 almost the whole city came together to 38:46 hear the Word of God. 38:51 You say now why is thatt signifigant? Notice. They're not just 38:55 doing this when they're in a Jewish town or city. Because it says 38:59 now the Gentiles came next. So regardless of whether they were 39:03 in a jewish city, a Gentile city, a Pagan city it didn't make any difference. 39:07 Here are new testament christians honoring the Sabbath 39:11 living in the grace of God, preaching about 39:15 Jesus. And the thing I love about verse fourty-four 39:19 it says on the next Sabbath how much of the city came together? The whole city 39:23 Now that would excite me. Can you say amen? Boy what would it be like if the whole 39:27 city of Nixa came together to hear the Word of God. 39:31 Or Springfield, or St. Louis where I live. That would be an absolute 39:35 miracle and I believe some day the holy spirit is going to do that. 39:39 Can you say amen? Now here this is just one example 39:43 We don't have time to go to all the references about Sabbath in the book at Acts. 39:47 But we are going to cover two or three. Since you're already there 39:51 it wont take you long to turn to chapter eighteen. Let's go to chapter 39:55 eighteen and verse four. Acts 39:59 chapter eighteen and verse four. It's actually only 40:03 one sentence long. The Bible says, and this is describing Paul 40:07 in the city of Corinth. By the way was Corinth a Jewish city? 40:11 No. This was about as pagan of city as you can get. 40:15 Even when they raised up the christian churches in Corinth how many letters did Paul right? 40:19 to Corinth? Two. Because we have two books in the new testament 40:23 called what? First and second Corinthians. Now are they short 40:27 books or long book? They're long books cause the Corinthian church 40:31 had some serious problems. So Paul is working 40:35 in a pagan city and even when they became christians you know it still took 40:39 some time for them to let go of the old, and embrace the new. 40:43 but notice what Paul write. Acts eighteen four. 40:47 It says,"And he reasoned in the synagogue," When? 40:51 "Every Sabbath." Perswading who? 40:55 "Both Jews and Greeks." I mean Paul is bold. 40:59 He's doing this in a pagan city. And the new testament says he's 41:03 spent eighteen months in corith. And Acts tell us every 41:07 Sabbath He was honoring that day, worshiping the creator, 41:11 using it as a chance to teach people about Jesus. See whe 41:15 He physically rested of the Sabbath, he was teaching peole 41:19 how to rest their faith Jesus as their savior. 41:23 In fact since we're already there, let's go to Acts 41:27 sixteen thirteen. Because even when they didn't have a building to go 41:31 to. I want you to notice what happens. Acts sixteen thirteen. Just 41:35 go a couple chapters back. And this is going to describe 41:39 Paul and Silas when they were in 41:43 Phillipi. Acts sixteen thirteen 41:47 It says," And on," what day? 41:51 Sabbath day," We went out of the city to the river side where 41:55 prayer was customarily made. And we sat down and spoke 41:59 to the women who met there. So even in Phillipi 42:03 When aparetly maybe they didn't have a big group there, they didn't have a building to go to 42:07 even on Sabbath. No synagogue there aparently. 42:11 They went out to the river side. Used that holy time for 42:15 prayer and communion with they're creator and with Jesus 42:19 Christ, their savior. So you find it all 42:23 throughout the book of Acts. If I'm really willing to look at it 42:27 with an open and a surrendered heart. 42:31 But there is another verse in the Bible and I'd like to take you to 42:35 it. Now this one I got printed out on the screen. It's in Hebrews 42:40 chapter four. This is sometimes a miss understood verse. But it's 42:44 very important. In Hebrews four four 42:48 Paul wrote this. The bible says," 42:52 For He has spoken in a certain place 42:56 of what? "The Seventh day in this way. And 43:00 God rested on the seventh day from all His works." 43:04 Ok right here Paul is quoting from Genesis. That comes from 43:08 Genesis chapter two. And so Paul brings up this seventh 43:12 day, the seventh day Sabbath. Them as he continues to right 43:16 at the end of the passage. Notice what he writes in verse nine and 43:20 ten. The Bible goes on to say," 43:24 There remains therefore a," What? "A rest for the 43:28 people of God." And by the way in the Greek it actually says 43:32 Sabbath rest. For he who has entered 43:36 His rest," That's meaning God's rest. "Has himself also 43:40 ceased from His works as God did from His." 43:44 You say well what's that saying? Paul is 43:48 comparing the physical rest of the Sabbath 43:52 with spiritually resting in Jesus. He's not 43:56 saying the Sabbath isn't important. That would contradict the rest of scripture. 44:00 What Paul is telling me, is when I physically 44:04 rest from my secular labors on Sabbath 44:08 that is a sign that says I spiritually 44:12 rest my faith in Jesus. It's a symbol 44:16 that I have stopped trying to earn salvation by my 44:20 works. I"m resting my faith in the completed 44:24 work of Jesus on the cross 44:28 resting on the Sabbath ponts me to the cross. 44:32 It points me to the spiritual rest in Jesus which makes the Sabbath 44:36 one of the most important symbols of grace that you fond 44:40 in the new testament. Tha'ts why the devil hates it. 44:44 Let me ask you a question. If I were to 44:48 say to you. WHo created the heavens and the earth? 44:52 What would the traditional answer be? 44:56 Meaning who? God the Father most would say. 45:00 Do you realize that the Bible teaches Jesus Chist 45:04 is as much the creator of this earth. Notice what it syas 45:08 in Collossians one fifteen. Now the print there is a little bit small. 45:12 But Paul wrote,"For by Him," He's speaking of Jesus, " 45:16 For by Him all this were created that are in 45:20 heaven and that are on the earth. All things were created 45:24 through Him and for Him. Now catch that. 45:28 All things were created through who? Jesus Christ. 45:32 So that, and actually the whole God head was involved in creation when you 45:36 think about it, you know God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Genesis talks 45:40 about. So really if the Sabbath is a memorial 45:44 of creation. That means the Sabbath is pointing 45:48 to Jesus as my creator. And when I rest of the Sabbath 45:52 it's pointing me to Jesus as my Savior. 45:56 So see thus far. The Bible teaches us at least four 46:01 things about that special time. One the sabbath is 46:04 about spending time with Jesus. It's about developing 46:09 the personal relationship him, and it's about honoring 46:13 Him as creator and resting in Him as our 46:17 savior. Can you say amen? Is it any wonder 46:21 that the devil would like to obliterate that day, that 46:25 special time? Remember. That's why Daniel said 46:29 he shall think to change God's 46:33 times and God's Law. The Sabbath 46:37 is in the heart of God's law. It's about holy time 46:41 And it's about worship. All 46:45 three are mentioned in the book of Revelation. 46:49 In fact as you study this through. Cause Revelation basically forces to study 46:53 this. We can't over look it. When I study it and I see that 46:57 there are over a hundred verses in the bible about the seventh day Sabbath 47:01 And then I see there's not one verse that says that Sabbath 47:05 was changed. To Sunday or any other day 47:09 Then it makes me ask a question. And it's probably a question that has 47:13 gone through all over out minds at some point. You may be asking right now 47:17 Well I mean I can see what the bible says. Pastor it's 47:21 I mean, It's so clear. How could I miss this? 47:25 And you may be wondering 47:29 if the Bible mentions the Sabbath over and over 47:33 How did we get to a point where the seventh-day Sabbath has 47:37 been totally lost sight of? That's 47:41 what we're going to talk about tomorrow night in part two. 47:45 In fact tomorrow we're going to go through history an find out 47:49 how in the world did we lose sight of the Sabbath. How in the world did 47:53 it quote "Get changed?'' And to be fair. Because you got to be fair 47:57 When youre studying something. We've looked up all the Sabbath text. So if we want to be 48:01 fair, and do an honest Bible study, what do we have to do? 48:05 We're going to look up all the texts the mention the first day of the week 48:09 tomorrow night. Because we got to be fair and honest. Where I'm going to look up 48:13 every text in the new testament that mentions the first day of the weel. 48:17 So if there is ever a change in the first day of the week we should find it in one of 48:21 those texts. Now incase you're thinking well we'll be here all night if we're going to look up 48:25 all of them. No there's only eight texts in the new testaments that mentions the first 48:29 day of the week. We're going to look them all up. But because I know you're 48:33 curious I wont leave you hanging. I will give you a five minute summary 48:37 of hoe the Sabbath was lost sight of. Then we'll go into more 48:41 detail tomorrow night. Here's basically how it 48:45 happened throughout history. I'm going to spring board from something Paul 48:49 wrote. In second Thessalonians two, three 48:53 Paul made this statement. He said, 48:57 "Let no one deceive you by and means; 49:01 for that Day," now he's speaking of the second coming. "For that day 49:05 will not come unless," What happens first? 49:09 "The falling away comes frist. And the man of sin 49:13 is revealed the son of perdition." See Paul knew 49:17 that after the death of the appostiles, he knew that false teaching 49:21 would come into the church. Because even while they were alive they had to battle against it 49:25 didn't they? That's why you have these appistles in the new testament 49:29 many of them are battling against false teaching. And so Paul said before 49:34 Jesus comes back to this earth, the church is going to fall 49:38 away from truth. And one night we're going to see how that 49:42 happened, little by little through the middle ages. And unfortunately 49:46 that's what happened with the Sabbath. Christianity 49:50 started to fall away from the pure word of 49:54 God. And it basically happened like this. 49:58 In those early first centuries. And remeber this is the short version of it. 50:02 In the early first century who was it that dominated 50:06 the earth what world power? Rome did 50:10 did Rome like the Jewish nation? They did not they hated Jews 50:14 The problem was, they view Christianity as 50:18 as a sect of Judaism because on of the things they in common 50:23 was the seventh day sabbath so they're persecuting christian now 50:27 Christianity was illegal in Rome some Christian tough you know 50:31 we need to differentiate ourselves from the Jewish nation 50:35 as they kinda got to think about and though you know what about 50:40 Sunday Jesus resurrected on a Sunday what if we simply 50:44 started making that the holly day and we would be different from the Jews plus 50:48 we are trying all these pagans to Christ and the pagans 50:52 worship sun god and guess what day they do that 50:56 that why it is called Sunday and they though you know if we 51:01 Sunday the holy day then pagans won't really have to change anything 51:04 except instead of worshiping the sun god they could worship 51:08 the Son of God and so over the 51:12 centuries this didn't happen in a day, over the centuries 51:17 little by little more emphasis was placed on Sunday 51:21 less emphasis was placed on the true Seventh Day 51:25 Sabbath of the Bible what eventual gave momentum to it 51:29 was this ever hear of a guy named Constantine 51:33 he was an Roman emperor Constantine in 313 51:37 covered to Christianity so called 51:41 and Christianity went from an illegal religion 51:45 to being accepted and when that happen 51:49 shortly there after Constantien issue one of the 51:53 first sunday law there he said this 52:05 Now when the emperor said that how many people 52:09 Do supposed listen well the majority if want to keep your life 52:13 and so it started to spread even more as centuries 52:17 went by eventual a religious system came out of Rome kown as 52:21 Papal Rome and then what eventual happen when church 52:25 state united Papal Rome include it in the catechism 52:29 now I'm reading this to be negative on any particular on faith group 52:33 I don't believe that God is honored when we do that this simply to show the facts of 52:37 history and it happen in the convert's catechism 52:41 you ever grew up Catholic you when to catechism it says this 52:57 and that happen in the council of laodicea 53:01 336 AD and see what happen 53:05 issince had the power of church and state for thousand 53:09 years and really read there bibles because it was forbidden 53:13 it was spread all though the world 53:17 then I realized that really Sunday 53:21 simply comes from man's law beign placed above God's Law 53:25 Man's authority above God's 53:30 authority and I have to ask myself what do 53:34 I consider to the most authority is the word of 53:38 of God or is it tradition of men 53:42 that is serious for question us to ask when we study any teaching 53:46 in the Bible so here what I'm going to evite you do 53:50 believe me I recognize that if you are hearing this for the first time at first 53:55 it can be a little describing my wife experienced this a number of 53:59 years ago when she first learned about the Sabbath and her first question was 54:03 it's so clear in the Bible how did I miss this 54:07 I mean your welcome to ask her afterwards if you like so she decided you know what 54:11 I'm not preacher word for it, I'm going home and I'm studying 54:15 the Bible and she did hers is what I want to invite you to do 54:19 don't take my word for it don't ever take my word it I you 54:23 go home and I want you to study these verse's in the Bible in fact 54:27 I want to give fun assignment even though it is serious subject can I you fun 54:31 assignment Yes or no here is fun assignment I what to go 54:35 all you have to do is find one verse entire bible 54:39 that the sabbath is not important and it was change to Sunday from 54:43 Genesis to Revelation one verse that says the Sabbath was changed 54:47 to Sunday that is all you have to do in fact you may want to get some friend to help you 54:51 maybe some family members just you know kinda make a little game even thought it a 54:55 serious thing but as you do I'm just let you know from experience 54:59 I guarantee you, you are going to be told one of five things I'm just already go 55:03 ahead and tell what it is. Number one 55:07 :someone is going says the Sabbath is just for the Jews but already 55:11 in Genesis got God gave from the beginning of time Number 55:15 two: someone well the well law done away with it was nailed to the cross 55:19 and we already learned that it was Moses law of ceremonies 55:23 you know sacrificing lambs and goats Number three: well you can keep any day 55:27 as the Sabbath, well I would agree with except one thing 55:31 God said the seventh day is the Sabbath and He didn't give me the right 55:35 to change his word. Four: We keep Sunday in honor of the 55:39 resurrection well that is nice idea, but the bible doesn't us to do that. 55:43 that what easter for, or Number five: Don't go back those meetings 55:47 I mean I have had that people who in the 55:51 word of God but do you know what test 55:55 is for us when come to something in the word God that 55:59 goes against what I previously though sometimes 56:03 it is hard for me to surrender to the word of God and I'm tempted 56:07 Lord that's not convenient for me Lord that's different from I 56:11 what I to hear and I don't hear anymore 56:15 see we should always no matter the subject is help me to fully 56:19 surrender to your word or someone may say to you Oh don't 56:23 go back to those meeting he doesn't preach what is popular will I confess 56:27 I don't preach what is popular, I made a comment 56:31 ever since I became a minister that I would only preach what the word God 56:35 said if that makes me popular fine, if doesn't 56:39 I can live with because the one I want to be popular is Jesus 56:43 not man and so really folks 56:47 here is the issue her is the question for us to ask in our life 56:52 do I value may relationship with Jesus would I like to 56:56 experience the gift of that Sabbath 57:00 man might say don't worry about it but Jesus says 57:03 If you love me, keep 57:07 My commandments see I have two choices 57:11 I can say thank you Lord thank that you love me 57:15 so much give me special time to know you I accept you gift 57:19 help me to find a blessing it 57:23 and surrender my heart to you or I can say 57:27 Lord it's too different Lord I'm 57:32 too busy it's just too inconvenient 57:36 and I can turn my face the other way 57:40 my prayer which is the hard part for all of us my prayer 57:44 is when it comes to the word of God that we always pray even when 57:48 it is tough Lord I need your Help, Lord 57:52 you show Your truth and whatever that my be 57:56 help me surrender with all my heart my soul 58:00 and with all my might |
Revised 2018-05-30