Participants:
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW201608A
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00:00 IIW-2016-8 --- GOD'S REMEDY FOR STRESS #2
00:03 IIW-2016-8 --- GOD'S REMEDY FOR STRESS #2 00:09 IIW-2016-8 --- GOD'S REMEDY FOR STRESS #2 00:13 IIW-2016-8 --- GOD'S REMEDY FOR STRESS #2 00:18 IIW-2016-8 --- GOD'S REMEDY FOR STRESS #2 00:23 IIW-2016-8 --- GOD'S REMEDY FOR STRESS #2 00:27 IIW-2016-8 --- GOD'S REMEDY FOR STRESS #2 00:32 IIW-2016-8 --- GOD'S REMEDY FOR STRESS #2 00:38 IIW-2016-8 --- GOD'S REMEDY FOR STRESS #2 01:31 It has stood the test of time. 01:35 God's book, The Bible 01:38 Still relevant in today's complex world 01:44 It Is Written 01:46 Sharing messages of hope around the world! 01:59 I'd like to ask you a question. Let's say it's your wedding day. I want you to imagine that 02:05 everyone gathers together, everybody dresses really, really nice. And let's just say, for 02:11 example, that you got married and there were six bridesmaids - seven ladies all together. And 02:18 after the ceremony, after the pastor says, "What God has joined together, let no man put 02:23 asunder," all of that comes to the end, and after the wedding, you go to the reception, you 02:28 have wonderful cake, wonderful food, then it comes time to go home. And instead of taking your 02:35 bride, you take one of the bridesmaids home with you. Here's the question: How is your 02:41 new wife going to feel? She's probably not going to be your wife anymore! And how would your 02:47 new wife feel if, when she asked you, "Why did you go home with her?" And you said, "Well, I 02:55 mean, it's just one in seven. I mean, you all were there." I know this all sounds ridiculous, 03:01 but today in Christianity many are making these same arguments about a very special gift from 03:10 God to humanity. That gift was given at the beginning of time. 03:19 God reminded us of that gift, by writing it in His law. God's desire is that His law - His 03:26 desire is that we would have the law written in our hearts, because His law endures forever, 03:33 and He wants it to be in us forever. The fourth commandment, in Exodus chapter 20 verses 8 to 03:40 11, God begins the fourth commandment with what word.Remember God wrote the 03:50 word "remember." Why? Because looking down the centuries, he saw that man would forget the 03:57 Sabbath, and in particular, forget Him. You see, the instruction of God in Exodus 20 04:03 was: 04:13 The seventh day is the Sabbath. Now this may be a new idea or understanding for you. It was 04:21 new for me 20 years ago. And I'll tell you, as soon as I began to speak about the 04:27 Sabbath, for some people, flags go up. So if the flags have gone up in your mind, just bring them 04:34 down, and let's study together. What I will hear from many people is that we just need to 04:44 worship God one day in seven, it doesn't matter which one." Is that really what the Bible says? 04:53 The Bible continues on in Exodus 20: 05:11 Remember Revelation chapter 14, says this: 05:22 Exodus 20:8 through 11: 05:27 Revelation 14:7 says 05:34 Revelation chapter 14:7 is a direct quotation from Exodus chapter 20 verses 8 through 11. 05:43 The angel of Revelation 14 is pointing us back to the book of Exodus. And then, Exodus 20:8 to 05:53 11 is pointing us back to where? Genesis chapter 2. You see how the Bible works? We don't have 06:01 to go out looking around and researching and reading commentaries; the Bible makes 06:07 sense when we let the Bible interpret itself. You see, Revelation, the last book of the 06:15 Bible, points us back to Exodus, the second book of the Bible, and Exodus points us back to 06:20 Genesis, the first book of the Bible. From Genesis to Revelation, the Bible's message 06:28 is the same all the way through. Although written over 1500 years apart, Moses and John were both 06:45 on the same page. Because they were inspired by the same Holy Spirit.Both testify to the 06:51 origin of the Seventh-day Sabbath as to the Creator Himself. 07:01 Some will say to me "But Sabbath is a Jewish thing." How many Jews were there in the beginning 07:11 when God rested, blessed, and sanctified the seventh day Sabbath? None. It wasn't until 07:18 centuries later that Abraham, the father of the Jews was born Who did God create the Sabbath 07:25 for? In Mark 2:27 Jesus says, 07:32 "Man" is translated from the Greek word "Anthropos" which also means "people". It does not 07:39 reference Jews in particular. The Bible speaks of the Sabbath in other places. Isaiah 58, 07:46 says? 07:51 Everyone is the operative word. It includes all people for all time. God promises a blessing on 07:58 all who keep the Sabbath. 08:04 The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, given to Adam and Eve at creation, reminded to 08:10 Moses at the Ten Commandments. But what about Jesus? There are some people who have the idea 08:15 that Jesus changed the Sabbath. But, let's see. What did Jesus do? Luke 4:16 says: 08:37 Jesus gave additional insights into the Sabbath throughout His life and even in His death. By 08:43 studying a little deeper, we see that there are two components to Sabbath Rest: We rest in a 08:50 completed creation and we rest in a completed redemption. What do I mean by that? Remember, 08:59 Exodus 20 is a part of the fourth commandment which says: 09:14 God says, "Remember the Sabbath day," and then tells us why. Why? Because God created the 09:21 earth in six days. But then later in Deuteronomy chapter 5, God says something a little 09:29 different. Deuteronomy chapter 5, also the Sabbath commandment, says this: 09:49 Now, sometimes when people read those two commandments, they say, "Oh, well, God changed the 09:54 commandment." Did God change the commandment? No. Because see, in Exodus, God called them back to 10:05 creation. But in Deuteronomy chapter 5, God calls them back to reflect upon what? Their 10:12 redemption to come out of Egypt. Throughout the Scriptures, especially in the book of 10:19 Revelation, Egypt is representative of sin. God wants us to remember the Sabbath both 10:26 because He created us, and because He redeemed us. And Jesus Himself said these words 10:34 in John 14:15 10:42 We don't keep the commandments of God to be saved; we keep the commandments of God because we 10:46 are saved. In the signs of the times given by Jesus and referring to the destruction of 10:55 Jerusalem, in Matthew 24:20, Jesus says these words, 11:08 Why is this important? Jerusalem wasn't destroyed until 70 A.D. Which was approximately 11:16 40 years after Jesus was crucified. And so here's the question. If Jesus came to this 11:21 world to change the commandments, and in particular, change the Sabbath commandment, 11:26 why would He tell His disciples to specifically pray about not fleeing on the Sabbath if He was 11:34 going to change it? 11:38 When we go to the story of Jesus' crucifixion, we find something extraordinary, that 11:45 even in His death, Jesus kept the Sabbath. Luke 23 verse 54 through Luke 24 verse 1, 11:58 speaking of the day in which Jesus was crucified, The Bible says, 12:19 The women came to anoint the body of Jesus, but he Sabbath drew near and they would not 12:23 have time to anoint His body, so they waited until the Sabbath was over. They rested on the 12:30 Sabbath according to what? The commandment. The Bible goes on to say: 12:46 But did they find Jesus in the tomb? No, because He had risen from the dead. Resurrection is 12:55 commonly called Easter. And Easter is on Sunday, which is the first day of the week. The 13:07 Bible clearly outlines the week, you have Friday, the preparation day. We call that Good Friday. 13:12 That is the day in which Jesus was crucified. Then Jesus rests in the tomb on the Sabbath day, 13:18 or what we would call modern-day Saturday. And then Sunday, the first day of the week, Jesus 13:25 resurrected. Sixth day of the week, Friday, The preparation day.Seventh day of the week, 13:32 Saturday, the Sabbath day.Sunday, the first day of the week. Now, here's now what some 13:39 people will begin to talk to me about. They'll say, "But pastor, you don't understand. Jesus 13:44 changed the worship day from Saturday to Sunday."." The word "Sunday," actually never appears 13:51 in the Bible, because they didn't use those names. They used "first day," "second day," 13:57 "third day," so on and so forth. There are eight texts in the New Testament that mention the first 14:02 day of the week, which is Sunday, and not one of them - not one of them - tells us to 14:10 worship on Sunday, in honour of the resurrection. But that doesn't mean that we ignore the 14:17 resurrection and that we are not to celebrate it. Paul has given us a beautiful picture of how we 14:25 are to celebrate and actually live out the resurrection in our own lives in Romans 6. 14:55 We do not honour the resurrection by worshipping on Sunday. We honour the 15:01 resurrection by baptism. When someone is baptized, they are placed under the water. When 15:08 they are placed under the water, they are symbolically buried with Christ in death. Then when 15:13 they are raised, they are resurrected with Him to walk in the newness of life. You see, 15:21 the Bible gives a very clear path to how we honour the resurrection. We honour the 15:28 resurrection every time someone is baptized to walk in the newness of life with Jesus. 15:38 But here's another interesting point. In over 140 languages of the world, the word for the 15:44 seventh day is the word "Sabbath." Some will ask about a change in calendar. The Royal 15:56 Greenwich Observatory in Greenwich, England, wrote this: 16:21 Was the calendar changed in history? It was. We went from the Julian to the Gregorian 16:26 calendar, and here's what happened. October 1582, Thursday, October the 4th then 16:33 became Friday, October the 15th. Was there any change in the weekly cycle? There was no 16:40 change in the weekly cycle because we still went Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 16:44 Thursday, and Friday, and then Saturday, or the Sabbath. We didn't lose any days. The weekly 16:50 cycle was maintained. Friend, the Bible is quite clear. From creation to Moses, there was no 16:57 change in the Sabbath. From Moses to Jesus, there was no change in the Sabbath. And from 17:03 Jesus to the disciples and Jesus in His death, there was no change in the Sabbath. But then 17:11 in the early church there was no change, notice the apostle Paul in Acts 17:1 and 2: 17:34 Paul was preaching on Sabbaths. Acts 13:42 emphasizes 17:49 Just as it was the custom of Jesus to worship on the Sabbath day, to remember the Creator of 17:55 the heavens and the earth, so it was Paul's custom to also worship on the Sabbath day. Acts 18:01 13:44 records, on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the Word 18:07 of God. Notice these words from the apostolic constitutions: 18:31 Even the early church kept the Sabbath. The book of Revelation says, 18:43 Does it say, "Here are those that keep the nine commandments, the eight commandments"? No, it 18:50 says, "Here are they that keep the commandments." 18:57 Friends all of the commandments were inspired by God. All of those commandments were written 19:01 by God in stone. All of those commandments -Bible says that God has written in our hearts. 19:10 The Bible tells us that we'll keep the Sabbath in heaven. Notice what the Bible says in 19:15 Isaiah 66: 19:35 The Sabbath was given at creation. The Sabbath was reminded at the giving of the 19:42 Ten Commandments. Jesus kept the Sabbath. The apostles kept the Sabbath. And the Bible tells us 19:48 in Isaiah 66 that in heaven, we will keep the Sabbath as well. Jesus peering down time, knew 19:59 that His people would need a time to rest. He gave us the Sabbath not as a restriction, 20:04 but He gave us the Sabbath as something that we could look forward to. Matthew 12 says: 20:15 The son of man is also Lord of the Sabbath. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all testify that what day 20:21 is the Lord's day? The Sabbath day is the Lord's day. You see, even in the giving of the final 20:30 book of the Bible, God visits John on the Sabbath. Archelaus of Cascar in Mesopotamia wrote 20:38 these words: 20:50 The Sabbath of the creator God in Genesis is the Lord's day of Revelation. From Genesis to 20:55 Revelation, we don't need to wonder what day is God's day; the Bible is clear that the 21:02 Sabbath is God's day, because the Sabbath was given at creation. The Sabbath was given 21:08 at Sinai. The Sabbath was kept by his people throughout time. The Sabbath was kept by Jesus. 21:13 The Sabbath was honoured by the disciples. The Sabbath is a sign of God's power in our life, and 21:22 the Sabbath will be kept on the new earth. 21:28 And so as we explore these things, the question we must ask ourselves is this: If God's day 21:34 is the Sabbath, what's happening in the world? What's going on all around us?. "What about the 21:41 church I go to? Well, what about my parents, what about my grandparents?" And those are all 21:48 very important questions, and they're hard questions. But today, Jesus appeals to us and 21:55 He says, "I understand human tradition. But today, I want to call to you to move beyond human 22:03 tradition and explore what God's Word says and accept what God's Word says," because here is the 22:11 key piece. The greatest hoax of history is this: craftily, through time, the Sabbath was 22:22 slowly transitioned. And it was slowly transitioned away from God's day, the seventh-day 22:27 Sabbath, and done often in sincerity. We read in history, the early Christians, some of 22:35 them began transitioning away from worshipping on the Sabbath. And why did they reason to do 22:43 that? Because the Jews were suffering severe persecution under the Romans. And if you're 22:48 worshipping on the seventh-day Sabbath, that means you're worshipping on the same day as 22:51 the Jews. In fact, Christianity early on was considered a sect of Judaism. The Romans could 22:58 easily identify the Jews because they went to synagogue on the Sabbath. But the Christians also 23:03 went to the churches, to the synagogues, on Sabbath. And so under persecution, early 23:08 Christians began to worship on different days. And they did it in sincerity. But Jesus in the 23:16 Jerusalem factor is looking for more than just sincerity. He is looking for a people who are 23:26 looking up to heaven where He ministers on our behalf in the sanctuary. In the sanctuary they 23:31 see the One who loves them. They see the holy law of God in the ark located in the most holy 23:38 place of the sanctuary. And while the world has forgotten the Sabbath and forgotten the 23:44 Creator of the Sabbath and the Creator of humankind, moral decay is on the rise, society 23:51 has become more fractured and the love of many is growing cold. Today, Jesus stretches out 23:58 his hand and says it doesn't have to be that way. The solution to the problem is found 24:06 in the Jerusalem factor, as written in Hebrews 8:1-2, 24:25 And out of their love for this High Priest Jesus, they desire to be obedient to Him. God's 24:34 moral standard has never changed. The Sabbath isn't about working for our salvation, it's 24:42 about resting from our work, because we are saved. The Jerusalem Factor is this, Jesus 24:50 is in his Holy temple in heaven, we don't need to look to literal Jerusalem, but to the heavenly 24:57 Jerusalem. Jesus has gone to prepare a place for you in that Holy City. And by inviting Him 25:05 in your heart today, you can by faith, with the power of the Holy Spirit, you will be enabled 25:14 to live a life full of joy even now. Despite the challenges you may be going through today, 25:21 despite the upheaval of the world around you, you can have a calm assurance and a peace that 25:27 passes all understanding. Today, I invite you to experience the freedom and love 25:35 of God's law and to rest in the salvation that Jesus freely offers. Heavenly father we are 25:45 so grateful that you care for us so much that you've given us your law, that you have given us 25:53 your Sabbath, that you've given us Jesus. Today, dear Lord, I pray that you would accept us as 26:01 we draw near to you that we might enjoy your full presence and experience your full joy and 26:11 rest fully in you. We pray this in Jesus name, Amen. 26:28 The amazing blessing of God's Sabbath day. This may have been a new topic for you today maybe 26:34 you have a lot of questions, maybe you're feeling like you just don't quite understand. I 26:40 would like to give three offers to you today to help you in your understanding of not only the 26:45 Sabbath but what a deeper relationship with Jesus looks like. The first of those offers, 26:51 which is absolutely free, is the book "A bridge across time". In that book you'll be able to 26:57 answer questions about God's law, about God's Sabbath and about a more abundant 27:03 relationship with Jesus. The second I'd like to give to you for absolutely free is the 27:09 "Discover Bible Guides". The "Discover Bible Guides" will help you on your journey with 27:15 Jesus. There are several guides that speak about God's law, about God's Sabbath as well as 27:20 an abundance of other topics. And lastly I would like to offer you the full DVD set of the 27:28 "Jerusalem Factor" for any size donation. We will be able to review through all 8 of the 27:36 episodes and see how God in the Jerusalem Factor invites us to look to heaven to find our 27:43 answers. Here is the information that you need to receive today's offers. 28:50 Dear friend, God loves you so much that in eternity past he set aside an entire day - 24 28:57 hours - that you can spend in complete devotion with him, that you can rest completely in his 29:05 salvation for you. I hope you find that rest in Jesus. Maybe you have questions and you're 29:13 looking to further your relationship with Jesus Christ - I invite you to go to our 29:17 website www.ItIsWrittenCanada.ca and there you'll find resources to develop your spiritual 29:23 library. You can also like us on Facebook, you can also follow us on Twitter if you'd like to keep 29:30 up with me as I travel across this great nation and around the world - you can follow me 29:35 @Pastor Holland on Twitter. Dear friend I hope you have found joy in Jesus. I pray that you would 29:43 join us again next week. Until then remember, It Is Written man shall not live by bread 29:50 alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. |
Revised 2016-11-29