Participants:
Series Code: NP
Program Code: NP220108S
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00:15 We invite the congregation to stand once again with us
00:18 as we sing our next song. 00:29 I searched the world 00:33 But it couldn't fill me 00:38 Man's empty praise 00:40 And treasures that fade 00:42 Are never enough 00:47 Then You came along 00:51 And put me back together 00:56 And every desire 00:58 Is now satisfied 01:00 Here in Your love 01:05 Oh, there's nothing better than You 01:10 Lord, there's nothing better than You 01:15 Lord, there's nothing 01:18 Nothing is better than You 01:24 Oh, there's nothing better than You 01:29 Lord there's nothing better than You 01:33 Lord, there's nothing 01:36 Nothing is better than You 01:43 You turn mourning to dancing 01:48 You give beauty for ashes 01:52 You turn shame into glory 01:55 You're the only one who can 02:01 You turn graves into garden 02:06 You turn bones into armies 02:10 You turn seas into highways 02:14 You're the only one who can 02:18 You're the only one who can 02:25 Oh, there's nothing better than You 02:29 Lord, there's nothing better than You 02:34 Lord, there's nothing 02:37 Nothing is better than You 02:57 You call me out upon the waters 03:03 The great unknown 03:06 Where feet may fail 03:11 And there I find You in the mystery 03:16 In oceans deep 03:20 My faith will stand 03:25 And I will call upon Your name 03:32 And keep my eyes above the waves 03:37 When oceans rise 03:38 My soul will rest in Your embrace 03:43 For I am Yours 03:47 And You are mine 04:02 Your grace abounds in deepest waters 04:07 Your sovereign hand 04:10 Will be my guide 04:15 Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me 04:20 You've never failed 04:23 And You won't start now 04:29 So I will call upon Your name 04:35 And keep my eyes above the waves 04:40 When oceans rise 04:42 My soul will rest in Your embrace 04:46 For I am Yours 04:50 And You are mine 05:05 Spirit lead me where 05:07 My trust is without borders 05:10 Let me walk upon the waters 05:14 Wherever You would call me 05:19 Take me deeper than 05:21 My feet could ever wander 05:24 And my faith will be made stronger 05:27 In the presence of my Savior 05:32 And I will call upon Your name 05:38 And keep my eyes above the waves 05:43 When oceans rise 05:45 My soul will rest in Your embrace 05:49 For I am Yours 05:53 And You are mine 07:51 It's good to worship on this eighth day of January, 07:54 second Sabbath of 2022. 07:59 I'm gonna pray with you. 08:04 And then we're plunging into our teaching today. 08:08 I'm pretty excited about it. 08:11 Obscure, obscure passage. 08:15 Let's see what God does with it. 08:16 Let's pray. 08:17 Father, we've been in worship 08:20 and prayer and the Word now. 08:26 The music, the music is still ringing in our souls. 08:31 Thank you. 08:34 Hush every sound 08:37 besides Your voice right now. 08:42 Our eyes are on Jesus by faith. 08:46 Speak to us, in His name, we humbly ask. 08:50 Amen. 08:52 Amen. 08:54 So what we're about to read, for me, okay, for me, 09:00 it feels like an urgent prayer 09:04 to God for America. 09:08 But if you're my friend Gilbert, 09:10 you're gonna read this, 09:11 and you're going to feel like 09:12 it's an urgent care to God for Cameroon. 09:16 And if you're my friend Trudy, you're gonna read it, 09:20 this prayer, and you're gonna hear 09:22 an urgent prayer to God for Myanmar. 09:26 It's the genius of Scripture. 09:28 Doesn't matter what your homeland is, 09:30 doesn't matter who you are, 09:33 there's somebody waiting to make the connect. 09:37 And everybody who picks up the book 09:40 is now in that connect zone. 09:46 Like I say, makes me feel 09:48 like I'm going to read about America here. 09:52 After all, we just passed 09:54 a one-year anniversary of sorts. 09:56 We're trying to forget it. 09:59 But there's been a whole lot of soul 10:00 searching going on. 10:03 In Kazakhstan, because that's another country 10:07 going through its earnest prayer time. 10:11 Open your Bible with me 10:12 to a Psalm you've never read, probably. 10:15 It's Psalm 60. 10:17 Psalm 60. 10:20 Dietrich Bonhoeffer. 10:21 Everybody knows Dietrich Bonhoeffer. 10:23 I learned from him, 10:24 and I've been doing it ever since. 10:26 I read it in his little book, 10:27 "Letters and Papers From Prison." 10:29 So he wrote this from prison 10:30 to a good friend of his named Eberhard, 10:32 and he says in that letter, he says, 10:34 "I find great comfort in reading a psalm a day." 10:39 Well, he's a Lutheran pastor, and I said, "Listen, 10:41 if a Lutheran pastor can find great comfort, 10:43 why can't I?" 10:45 Little Adventist pastor that I am. 10:47 And so I began then and have been doing it 10:49 ever since, reading a psalm a day. 10:52 And one you get to 150, you go back to 1 the next day. 10:54 So every 150 days, 10:56 you'll come back to the same psalm. 10:58 And I've been coming back to this same psalm 11:00 time after time after time, 11:01 and there's a line in it 11:02 I'm going to show you the line right now 11:04 that has really perplexed me, 11:05 and I'm saying, "What does this line mean?" 11:08 I need you to help. 11:10 Go on the journey with me. 11:11 Open your Bible to Psalms 60, 6-0. 11:16 It's composed by David. 11:19 It's a hymn/prayer. 11:22 Simon Luke Brown, just a moment ago, 11:24 with Kenneth Logan, a beautiful prayer. 11:27 "Be Thou My Vision." 11:29 It's the hymn and a prayer. 11:30 That's what David composed, hymn/prayers. 11:32 So this is Psalm 60. 11:34 In the time of a great battle. 11:36 That adds a little bit of "Ooh, maybe we could relate to this." 11:40 So open your Bible to Psalm 60. 11:42 I'll be in the New International Version. 11:44 And let's see if we can figure it out. 11:47 You'll see the line in just a moment. 11:49 All right. Psalm 60. 11:51 And I'll put it, those of you who are watching live stream, 11:54 we're delighted that you're here. 11:55 A banner unfurled, 11:57 that's where we're plunging in right now, 11:58 and here comes Psalm 60:1. 12:00 "You have rejected us, 12:02 O God, and burst upon us. 12:07 You have been angry 12:09 now restore us!" 12:13 Here it comes. 12:15 You have shaken the land and torn it open." 12:20 I don't know what land is your homeland, 12:22 but I'm thinking of my homeland. 12:23 Torn open? Are you kidding? 12:25 This land has been torn in half, ripped in half. 12:29 Torn. 12:31 God, what are You doing? 12:34 "Shaken the land and torn it open. 12:36 Mend its fractures." 12:38 Are you serious? 12:40 Life in America now is fractured 12:41 on every level of society. 12:43 Race, fractured. 12:45 Economy, fractured. 12:47 Religion, fractured. 12:48 Politics, fractured. 12:52 Friendships, fractured. 12:54 Health, fractured. 12:58 "You've shaken the land and torn it open. 13:00 Mend its fractures for it is quaking." 13:04 It's probably true of your homeland, 13:05 wherever you're from. 13:08 Robert Alter, in his magnum opus, 13:11 his one-man Hebrew translation, 13:15 we would call it the Old Testament. 13:17 It's the Bible to him. 13:18 It's the Hebrew Bible. 13:19 In his three volumes, which I have and am blessed by, 13:22 Robert Alter renders these words this way. 13:24 Verse 1, "God, You have abandoned us, 13:27 breached us. 13:29 You were incensed restore us to life!" 13:32 Verse 2. "You made the land quake. 13:34 You cracked it. 13:36 Heal its shards, for it has toppled." 13:40 There are a lot of prognosticators out there, 13:42 talking about my own homeland, 13:44 a lot of prognosticators our there prognosticating, 13:47 and some of those whose mind I appreciate 13:51 or value for its thinking ability, 13:55 are describing where they believe 13:57 this all leads. 13:59 It's troubling. 14:01 I'm not gonna say a word about it. 14:04 Toppled? 14:07 Let's keep reading this prayer of David. 14:10 "You have shown, O God, Your people desperate times. 14:15 You have given us wine that makes us stagger." 14:18 COVID-19, can you believe this COVID... 14:20 What is it now, Omicron? 14:23 And week ago yesterday, 14:24 I'm in the ICU unit of the hospital nearby, 14:27 and I'm there with a wife and a colleague, 14:31 and we're having an anointing service 14:33 for a friend of mine 14:35 who used to be on our staff. 14:38 Children's ministry. 14:40 COVID plus pneumonia. 14:44 Ventilator breathing for him. 14:49 This pandemic infected, intoxicated land. 14:55 We all know the story. 14:58 It feels like he's talking about America, 15:01 although he's thinking about Israel long ago. 15:06 Robert Alter renders these words "You sated, 15:09 you saturated your people with harsh drink. 15:12 You made us drink poison wine." 15:15 It's what's happening to the culture now, 15:16 poison wine. 15:18 Keep reading because here we come to that line. 15:20 I want you to watch this one very carefully. 15:22 I'll put it first in the NIV on the screen here. 15:26 "But for those who fear you, 15:30 you have raised a banner 15:32 to be unfurled against the bow." 15:37 Every 150 days, I'm reading that line, 15:39 and I'm asking myself the question, 15:41 "What in the world is this unfurled banner?" 15:43 I have no idea. 15:46 And I just said, "Oh, well, I don't know. 15:48 You know, that's not important. 15:49 Just keep reading." 15:50 But finally one of those cycles, the time came, 15:53 and I said, "Wait a minute, 15:55 I got to find this out." 15:56 What is this banner? 16:00 Hey, you remember pictures from the Civil War? 16:04 You know, there weren't a whole lot of them. 16:06 They were black and white, and I forget what the word is. 16:08 Daguerreotype or something like that. 16:09 It's a crazy word for the photographs back then. 16:11 But you remember Ulysses Grant or Robert E. Lee? 16:16 They're sitting on a horse. 16:17 In the picture, of course, 16:19 they always have their hand in their coat. 16:20 You remember that? 16:21 And there's a little Ensign standing by them 16:23 with a long pole, 16:24 and at the top of the pole is a banner. 16:25 Do you know what that banner is? 16:27 It's a banner that marks the general in the army, 16:29 the general who's leading the battle. 16:32 All soldiers keep their eye on that banner 16:34 because that's where the general 16:35 is fighting now. 16:37 You, "but to those who fear you, for them, 16:39 you have raised a banner 16:41 to be unfurled against the bow." 16:45 What is this unfurled banner? 16:48 Robert Alter again, "You once gave to those 16:50 who fear You a banner for rallying..." 16:52 Ooh, see? Rallying around it. 16:54 "Because of the truth." 16:56 Let me go to the New American Standard Bible. 16:59 This is how they rendered this line, 17:00 and I think this is new New American 17:02 Standard Bible, NASB. 17:04 "You, O God, have given a banner 17:06 to those who fear You, 17:08 that it may be displayed" NIV, 17:10 "unfurled because of the truth." 17:13 So what do we know just from one little line 17:18 in a forgotten psalm? 17:20 Here's what we know. 17:21 In a time of crippling, fracturing, staggering, 17:23 national crisis, God unfurls a banner. 17:27 That's what we know. 17:28 So the question that begs itself right now is, 17:31 yo, what's this banner? 17:34 That's what I was curious about. 17:38 So you know what? 17:39 I said, "I got to check this out." 17:41 I went on a hunt, 17:42 and I'm gonna take you on the hunt right now. 17:44 I went on a hunt for this word "banner" 17:46 and discovered it's a phrase God uses 17:49 multiple times, 17:51 only in the Old Testament. 17:54 Let's see if we can figure it out. 17:55 Let me just run some lines by you. 17:57 See if this helps, illumines our search here. 18:00 So this is Isaiah. 18:01 Most of the usage is in Isaiah. Watch this. 18:03 Isaiah 13:2-4, "Raise a banner on a bare hilltop." 18:07 Why is the banner raised on a hilltop? 18:09 It's because there, everybody can see it. 18:11 That's why it's there. It's not raised in a forest. 18:13 It's on a hilltop, where it can be seen. 18:15 "Raise a banner on a bare hilltop." 18:17 God speaking "I have commanded those I prepared for battle. 18:21 The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war." 18:25 I get it. 18:26 Wow. 18:29 Here's the next one, Isaiah 18:3. 18:30 "All you people of the world..." 18:32 Wait a minute, this is universal. 18:33 This is not just little Israel here 18:35 in the time of David. 18:36 This is world. 18:39 "All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, 18:42 when a banner is raised on the mountains." 18:44 Why is it on the mountains? So it can be seen. 18:46 "You will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, 18:49 you will hear it." 18:52 So I'm starting to feel this. Wait a minute, wait a minute. 18:55 This banner, this is not some insignificant 18:57 little throwaway line. 18:59 Something's going on here." 19:00 Anything more, Isaiah? Yep. 19:01 Isaiah 49:22, 19:03 "This is what the Sovereign Lord says: 19:05 'See, I will beckon to the nations," universal. 19:08 "I will lift up my banner to the peoples. 19:11 They will bring..." Oh, I love this. 19:13 "They will bring your sons in their arms 19:14 and carry your daughters on their hips." 19:16 So those are little kids. 19:18 And, you know, when you carry a little girl, 19:19 you can just put your hip out like this, 19:20 and that little girl can sit right there. 19:23 These are the nations of the world. 19:25 Who are these? 19:26 These are the sons and daughters 19:28 of the community of faith 19:29 being brought back by the nations of the world 19:32 to their faith community. 19:35 Something's happening. 19:37 And, of course, he's talking about the exile 19:38 and people coming back from the exile one day. 19:43 What's going on here? 19:44 What is this banner, this unfurled banner? 19:46 One more from Isaiah. 19:48 Isaiah 62:10-12. 19:49 "Pass through," God says, "Pass through the gates!" 19:52 Come on. 19:53 "Prepare the way for the people. 19:55 Raise a banner for the nations." 19:56 There it is again. 19:58 "The Lord has made proclamation to the ends of the earth." 20:01 What's this proclamation? Here it is. 20:03 "Say to Daughter Zion," Oh, we know who she is, 20:07 those friends of Jesus. 20:09 "Say to Daughter Zion, see your Savior comes. 20:12 See his reward is with him. 20:15 They will be called the Holy People, 20:17 the Redeemed of the Lord." 20:18 It's one of Isaiah's favorite phrases 20:20 "the Redeemed of the Lord." 20:22 Now listen, when we read those words, 20:24 as we just did, as followers of Christ, 20:27 for us, clearly, come on, for us, clearly, 20:31 the banner is a call to the nations 20:33 in preparation for the return of Jesus. 20:37 In fact, do you know what the last words of Jesus 20:39 in the apocalypse, 20:40 the last words of Jesus, 20:42 the red letter words of Jesus in Revelation, 20:43 here it is "Behold I come quickly, 20:46 and My reward is with Me." 20:51 Jeremiah's quoting the apocalypse. 20:54 Wrong. 20:55 The apocalypse is quoting Jeremiah, 20:59 as you're going to see in just a moment. 21:04 When Isaiah joins him and he takes a line, 21:10 Revelations 22 21:13 is quoting this line. 21:17 What is this banner unfurled? 21:19 Oh, there is one more, and it is from Jeremiah, 21:22 and I got to share this with you 21:23 because you're going to recognize this immediately. 21:25 Now God's speaking, telling Jeremiah, 21:27 "I want you to announce to the people." 21:28 "Announce and proclaim among the nations, 21:30 lift up a banner and proclaim it. 21:32 Keep nothing back." There's that banner again. 21:34 "But here's what I want you to say, Jeremiah." 21:36 "Babylon will be captured. 21:39 Her images will be put to shame 21:42 and her idols filled with terror." 21:46 Now in the very next chapter, Jeremiah cries out, 21:48 "Babylon is fallen." 21:50 And then he issues the call. 21:51 "Come out of her, my people." 21:55 Now there's nobody that's read the apocalypse 21:57 that does not recognize immediately the words 22:00 of Revelation Chapter 18. 22:02 Jeremiah's not quoting the apocalypse. 22:03 The apocalypse is quoting Jeremiah Chapter 51. 22:09 So whatever this banner is, when it's unfurled, guess what? 22:15 It's a part of the divine end game. 22:20 So whatever this banner is, hmm, what is it? 22:26 Hey, look, I want to be gentle. 22:29 I do not want to force the metaphor to make a point 22:31 of my own choosing, all right? 22:35 But here's what we know. 22:37 See if this is right. Number one, what do we know? 22:39 It is clearly unfurled by God, 22:40 this banner, to rally those who are loyal. 22:42 That's those who fear him in the great day of battle. 22:46 Okay, we know that. That's number one. 22:48 Number two, what else do we know? 22:49 Just as clearly, it is a call 22:51 that takes on heightened meaning 22:53 when the time for the Messiah's second coming 22:56 has come. 22:58 And finally, number three, we do know this. 23:00 This unfurled banner plays a part 23:02 in the apocalyptic end game. 23:05 Not just any old part. 23:07 May I put that line back up from our themed text here. 23:10 Psalm 60:4, from the New American Standard. 23:13 God, "You have given a banner to those who fear You, 23:16 that it may be displayed," NIV says, 23:19 "unfurled because of the truth." 23:22 So here's the question. 23:24 What truth? 23:28 I suppose that God being God, 23:34 He doesn't have to ask me. 23:35 He can have multiple banners to unfurl. 23:37 Don't you suppose He could? 23:38 I mean, He could. Why not? 23:40 But here's what I think. 23:42 Help me out now. 23:44 I'm firmly believing that one of his banners 23:48 to rally the world to his side before the Messiah returns, 23:54 comes the second time, 23:55 has everything to do with time. 23:58 I'm talking about T-I-M-E, time. 24:00 I'm not talking about the magazine. 24:02 Time, 60 seconds to a minute, 24:06 60 minutes to an hour, 24:09 24 hours to a day, 24:11 7 days to a week, 360-some... 24:16 No, no, 30 days to a "moonth." 24:21 And then 360-some odd days to a year. 24:25 I'm thinking about time. 24:27 And do you know what? 24:28 There are philosophers on this planet today 24:31 who do nothing but philosophize and think about time. 24:34 I go to the university library here 24:36 and guess what I find. 24:37 A whole shelf dealing with the philosophy 24:38 and the history of time. 24:40 Go figure. 24:41 And I found a book there written by Anthony Aveni. 24:46 Title of his book "Empires of Time." 24:48 He is the Russell B. Colgate 24:51 professor of astronomy and anthropology 24:53 at Colgate University. 24:54 Is or was. 24:56 These are his words. 24:57 You got to see this. This is something else. 24:59 Watch this. 25:00 "Any page of a wall calendar will reveal another subdivision 25:04 in the time units 25:06 Westerners have created." 25:07 So he doesn't put a picture of a wall calendar. 25:09 He describes it. You'll get it. 25:11 So any page will show you the time units 25:15 we Westerners have created. 25:16 Keep reading. 25:18 "Seven vertical divisions on the page 25:21 to the sequence of numbered blocks, 25:24 each column with its own name." 25:26 What are those seven? 25:27 Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 25:30 Thursday, Friday, Saturday, right? 25:31 Okay, but keep reading. 25:33 "The four or five horizontal bands, 25:36 called weeks, 25:38 into which we group the moon's days 25:41 to constitute a peculiar time division." 25:44 Now keep reading. 25:46 "There is no single celestial body, 25:49 such as sun or moon, 25:51 no obvious natural cycle 25:54 to which we can directly attribute 25:55 this little packet of time." 25:57 Keep reading. 25:58 "Moreover, many other cultures and traditions 26:01 also tally an interval of about 26:03 the same general duration in their calendars." 26:07 I love how he calls it this little packet of time. 26:10 That's the week. 26:11 This little packet of time. Now, come on. 26:13 There are a lot of bright people sitting 26:15 in this congregation right now. 26:16 So you're gonna help me out, please. 26:18 Do this. 26:19 The earth spins once, goes around once. 26:23 What do we call that single rotation of the earth? 26:26 Come on, what is it called? 26:27 It's called a day. Very good. 26:29 The earth spins goes around 30 days, 26:34 when it goes around the moon, and what do we call that? 26:39 A "moonth" or a month, all right? 26:41 The earth takes, what, 360-some days 26:46 to go around the sun, 26:48 and what do we call that again? 26:49 We call that a year. 26:51 Now every seven days, 26:53 what's happening with the earth? 26:54 What's happening with the moon? Come on, help me out. 26:56 Every seven days, you're scientists here. 26:58 Every seven days, 27:00 what's happening in the universe? 27:03 Every seven days? 27:05 The answer is absolutely nothing. 27:08 Nothing. 27:09 There's no movement, nothing. 27:12 You know why? 27:15 Because of this little packet of time 27:19 God invented. 27:21 That's why. 27:22 God, who created "In the beginning," 27:26 at the beginning of this earth, 27:28 its history, and the human race, 27:31 He creates this little packet of time 27:34 called "week," 27:36 and there is nothing in the universe to prove it, 27:42 except and I'll say this humbly, 27:46 but I mean it, 27:47 there is no satisfactory explanation 27:51 for the seven-day week outside of the creation story 27:55 in Genesis 1 and 2. 27:59 You can go all the way through the James White Library 28:01 till you're blue in the face. 28:03 Bring me anything you find. 28:05 You won't find anything. 28:07 The most satisfactory explanation 28:10 is in the creation account. 28:11 In fact, let's go, let's just check it out. 28:13 Here it is, Genesis, 28:14 everybody knows Genesis Chapter 1, 28:16 the beautiful, the majestic creation 28:18 of the terrestrial ball 28:20 called planet Earth and the human race, 28:23 and it ends day 6 ends this way 28:25 And "God saw all that He had made, 28:27 and it was very good. 28:29 And there was evening and there was morning" 28:31 one rotation of the planet "the sixth day." 28:35 Now the very next words are here in Genesis 2, 28:38 "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed 28:40 in all their vast array. 28:42 By the seventh day, God had finished the work 28:45 He had been doing, 28:46 so on the seventh day, 28:47 He rested from all His work. 28:49 Then God blessed the seventh day 28:51 and made it holy because on it, 28:53 He rested from all the work of creating 28:56 that He had done." 28:57 What did we just read? 29:00 God creates time all by Himself. 29:02 He creates the planetary rotations 29:05 as markers for human time. 29:07 The hour, the day, the month, the year 29:09 He creates all of time, 29:11 but the only marker 29:13 that He creates for the seven-day week 29:17 is the seventh day. 29:20 That's it. 29:23 He would one day call it Shabbat. 29:27 It's from the Hebrew word Shabbat, 29:28 which means "rest." 29:29 He would call it Sabbath. 29:32 The seventh day. 29:35 The Creator who needs no rest, by the way. 29:37 Can you believe that? 'Cause He's not tired. 29:39 The Creator who needs no rest creates a day 29:43 as a capstone at the end of the week. 29:45 You know why? 29:47 Because this is gonna be a very special day 29:48 between the Creator 29:50 and His created-in-His-own-image 29:52 creatures called humans on this planet. 29:56 Every single seventh day 30:00 at the end of every single week comes, 30:05 as a relational invitation from this God of the universe, 30:11 say, "Hey, today, today is just you and me. 30:17 Clear the decks. 30:19 It's the seventh day, Shabbat." 30:24 Why would He do that? 30:27 Because "The Maker of all things 30:28 loves and wants me." 30:30 That's why. Remember that line? 30:31 We come back to it now. 30:32 "The Maker of all things loves and wants me." 30:35 He really is a relational being. 30:37 He hungers for a relationship. 30:38 And by the way, He has created you 30:40 to hunger for a relationship. 30:42 And He's created the church 30:43 to know that there are people hungry 30:45 for a relationship who are not finding it. 30:46 They are lonely, they are sitting in our midst, 30:48 but they are all alone. 30:49 They ought not to be alone for long. 30:51 The church is a community to reach out 30:54 because we're created for a relationship. 30:57 God said, "I made you that way. 30:59 You're gonna want Me on the seventh day, 31:01 and I want you." 31:03 Every single seventh day 31:06 of every week. 31:11 Not at the beginning of the week, 31:14 not in the middle of the week, 31:16 not near the end of the week, no, no, no, no. 31:20 Every single week is capstoned 31:25 on the seventh day with God. 31:30 Why? 31:31 Because the Maker of all things loves and wants me. 31:35 And that's why, that's why, my friends, 31:37 when the Creator of the universe 31:38 and the earth comes down to earth, 31:39 come on, we've just been spending a whole month 31:41 celebrating it and the Word was made flesh 31:44 and dwelt among us and we beheld His glory, 31:46 the glories of the only begotten of the Father, 31:48 full of grace and truth, 31:49 the Word by whom all things came into existence. 31:52 He's made flesh. 31:53 When Christ comes to earth and becomes Jesus, 31:55 that's why He was so big on the seventh-day Sabbath. 31:59 He's huge on it. 32:01 The Sabbath was not made for the Jews, 32:03 it was made for the human race. 32:05 Watch this. 32:06 Oh, you know these words. 32:08 Mark 2:27, "Then Jesus said to them, 32:10 'The Sabbath was made for man, 32:14 not man for the Sabbath.'" 32:16 I have a translation that reads this way, 32:18 "The Sabbath was made for people, 32:20 not people for the Sabbath." 32:22 Jesus goes on, "So the Son of Man is Lord 32:26 even of the Sabbath." 32:31 Why? 32:32 Because "The Maker of all things 32:35 loves and wants me." 32:37 Loves and wants you. 32:41 And has created as the capstone of every single week 32:43 of your life 32:45 the seventh day to come to be you and me 32:49 together now. 32:52 Wow! 32:53 It's beautiful. 32:58 He's longing for a relationship. 33:01 Abraham Joshua Heschel, 33:03 the great Jewish scholar and mystic, 33:08 he wrote an essay, 100 pages long, 33:10 and he titled the essay "The Sabbath." 33:13 And I read it years ago, but I ordered it on amazon.com 33:17 last week and read it through. 33:18 You can read it through just like that. 33:20 He makes a point, I want you to get this. 33:22 So this is Abraham Joshua Heschel. 33:26 "The Sabbath is not for the sake of the weekdays, 33:30 the weekdays are for the sake of the Sabbath." 33:34 I like that. 33:35 "It is not an interlude, but the climax of living." 33:39 Now sometimes we treat the last day of the week as 33:41 "This is where I catch my breath, 33:42 this is where I get my life back together 33:44 because, man, I got to go in another, 33:46 I got another week ahead of me." 33:47 No, no, it's not an interlude. 33:49 It is the climax. 33:50 The week climaxes here. 33:52 Then it week goes down and starts all over again 33:54 coming back. 33:55 That's Heschel. Keep reading. 33:58 Oh, I love this. 33:59 "The seventh day is like a palace in time 34:03 with a kingdom for all..." 34:05 You ever been in a palace? 34:08 Every country has its palaces, except America. 34:13 But you go in a palace, it's a beautiful place. 34:16 Heschel says, "Hey, wait a minute, 34:17 you know what the Sabbath is? 34:19 The Sabbath is like a palace in time 34:20 with a kingdom for all." 34:21 Universal. 34:23 He's a Jew, but he's not saying it's just for Jews. 34:25 He's saying, "No, it's for everybody." 34:27 And he got it right. 34:28 Jesus made that point 2,000 years ago. 34:31 It was made for humankind. 34:32 "It's why I made it," Jesus says. 34:37 "The seventh day is like a palace in time 34:38 with a kingdom for all," keep reading, 34:40 "in which the human is at home with the divine, 34:44 a dimension in which man aspires 34:46 to approach the likeness of the divine." 34:48 Now keep reading. 34:49 "The love of the Sabbath" 34:51 he says we ought to love the day. 34:54 "The love of the Sabbath 34:56 is the love of man and woman for what 34:59 they and God have in common." 35:02 Oh, and this is good. 35:04 "Our keeping the Sabbath day is a paraphrase 35:08 of His sanctification of the seventh day." 35:11 Now that's complicated. 35:12 You're looking at that and you're saying, 35:13 "What is that sentence saying?" 35:15 So let's keep it on the big screen 35:16 and this screen as well. 35:18 I want you to just look at that sentence for a minute. 35:19 "Our keeping the Sabbath day is a paraphrase 35:23 of God's sanctification 35:26 of the seventh day." 35:29 In other words, the way I keep the Sabbath 35:33 is to be a paraphrase 35:35 of the way God sanctifies the Sabbath. 35:37 And the word "sanctifies" is really hard to understand 35:41 for us third millennials, 35:42 and so I say let's use the word "holy-izes." 35:46 God holy-izes the seventh day Sabbath. 35:51 You say, "How does God holy-ize something?" 35:53 I'll remind you. 35:54 Come on, you remember the story. 35:56 You remember Moses and the burning bush? 35:57 All right? So he's looking over there. 35:59 That bush is so beautiful. 36:00 It is so tender. It is so soft and green. 36:02 Maybe it's even flowering. 36:04 He cannot understand it 36:05 because it is engulfed in flames, 36:07 and so he says, "Sheep, you stay here. 36:08 I got to check this thing out," 36:10 and he's gonna poke it with his staff 36:12 when there's a thundering voice that says, 36:13 "Yo, on your face, boy. 36:15 Take your shoes off, you are on holy ground." 36:20 Hey, wait a minute. Come on, help me out here. 36:23 What made that ground holy? 36:26 What made that bush holy? 36:28 What made that bush holy? Help me out. 36:30 What made that bush holy? 36:32 God was in it. 36:34 God was in it. 36:35 That's why it's holy. 36:37 What makes the Sabbath holy? 36:38 Help me out now. 36:40 What makes the Sabbath holy? 36:41 God is in it. 36:43 Not in Sunday, not in Monday, not in Tuesday, 36:47 not in Wednesday, not in Thursday, 36:50 not in Friday, in Sabbath. 36:53 Shabbat. 36:55 I have immersed myself, 36:58 and what Heschel is telling us... 37:00 Is that line still on the screen? 37:01 Good. 37:03 What Heschel is telling us is, 37:04 as God has immersed Himself 37:05 in the seventh day Sabbath, 37:07 we ought to immerse ourselves 37:09 into that same day with Him. 37:12 "Immerse yourself, Dwight. 37:14 Your mind's 1,000 miles away. 37:16 You're not focused on Me. 37:17 You're not thinking about Me. 37:19 You're not even sensing I'm near you. 37:21 This is My day, and I was hoping you 37:25 and I together could bond. 37:29 Immerse yourself with Me." 37:34 Wow. 37:40 He's present in it. 37:44 "Our keeping the Sabbath day is a paraphrase of His sanc... 37:47 His holy-izing, 37:49 His own holy-izing of the seventh day." 37:52 But here's the question. Come on, help me out now. 37:53 But do I, do you, do we 37:57 make it evident to those who know us 37:59 that we seek to join God 38:01 in His holy-izing of the Sabbath day 38:03 by the way we conduct ourselves in those 24 hours? 38:05 Do we? 38:07 Huh? 38:08 Do we immerse ourselves 38:10 as if we were in the very presence 38:11 of God Himself? 38:13 Do we? 38:15 Is the Creator, 38:18 who went to all the trouble 38:19 of creating this little packet of time, 38:21 seven days long, 38:23 just so that He might existentially 38:25 that means right up and inside of us 38:27 join you and me in blessed interaction? 38:30 Is my Creator the focus 38:33 of my heart and mind on this day 38:36 he personally crafted in order to spend with me 38:38 or am I just another universe away? 38:44 Yeah, you're right, Lord have mercy. 38:52 If the Sabbath... 38:53 Now listen to me carefully. 38:55 If the Sabbath is Christ's unfurled banner 39:01 and I believe it is a banner unfurled. 39:05 If the Sabbath is Christ's unfurled banner to call back, 39:09 call the world back to Him as Creator and Savior, 39:11 then listen, how I spend the seventh day 39:15 is a moral and ethical issue 39:17 of significant magnitude 39:21 and great importance. 39:25 I can't just blow this off and say, 39:27 "Well, that's just your particular style. 39:28 That's just how you like to do it, 39:30 but I do it my way." 39:32 I can't do that. 39:33 I can't. Why? 39:34 Because I have immersed myself in that day. 39:37 How you respond to me on that day tells me 39:41 what you think about me. 39:44 It is a moral issue. 39:47 It is an ethical issue. 39:49 You can't laugh it away. 39:51 You can't say, "Well, comme ci, comme a." 39:55 Doesn't matter. 39:57 No. 39:59 How does the fourth commandment read? 40:00 "Please remember the Sabbath day, 40:02 to keep it holy. 40:04 For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, 40:06 the sea, and all that is in them, 40:10 and rested on the seventh day." 40:15 Oh, but I forget, I'm sorry. 40:19 I forget that I'm preaching now. 40:22 I've been hired by this community 40:24 to do this to them. 40:26 I'm preaching now to a faith community that says, 40:28 "Hey, boy, you don't understand. 40:32 I already know all this." 40:35 And, of course, you're right. 40:36 I look into your faces. You do. 40:39 You know it very well. 40:41 Oh, yes, don't you tell me about this community of faith. 40:44 No question in their minds which day is God's Sabbath. 40:48 Like the other nine commandments, 40:49 this community believes 40:50 that keeping the fourth commandment 40:52 is no different than keeping the other nine. 40:53 You keep all 10 because God spoke all 10, 40:55 and then with His own finger, 40:57 wrote it into granite, 40:58 never to be erased again. 41:00 "Yeah, oh, this is the community of faith. 41:01 They're good people. They know that, mm-hmm. 41:04 Oh, and they'll be quick to tell me, 41:05 "Oh, nobody keeps the commandments to be saved." 41:07 I don't keep the fourth commandment 41:09 to be saved, no, no, no, no. 41:10 This community has it right. 41:11 It knows that all Ten Commandments 41:13 are kept not because I want to be saved, 41:16 but because I'm already saved by Jesus Christ, 41:19 the Creator and Savior of the world, 41:20 the Lord Jesus Himself. 41:21 I have a relationship with Him, and I keep all 10. 41:24 Don't you come and tell me 41:25 you can keep nine of them and have that relationship, 41:26 but you can't do the fourth commandment 41:28 because that's legalism 41:29 when you do the fourth commandment. 41:31 You are dead wrong. 41:33 It's no more legalism for the fourth commandment 41:34 than it is for one, two, three, 41:36 five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. 41:44 Oh, excuse me. 41:46 Pardon me, I forgot to whom I'm speaking. 41:50 This community has the day down pat. 41:55 But what deeply concerns me... 42:02 is that I fear... 42:06 that this great community... 42:10 that knows the day... 42:13 has forgotten all about the way of the Sabbath. 42:25 Remember the Sabbath day, we got that part. 42:28 To keep it holy, huh, that's what we struggle with. 42:34 I went into a home not long ago, 42:38 uninvited, unanticipated, certainly unexpected. 42:43 It was on a Sabbath. 42:48 I was just dropping by something for the family, 42:51 and wanted to say hi. 42:54 Wonderful family. 42:56 The place was full. 42:57 I mean, it was full. 42:59 People everywhere laughing, 43:01 joy in the air, young and not so young, 43:04 everybody in that beautiful space, 43:10 but the music that was blaring... 43:16 And the television that was blinking, 43:22 and the live-streaming that was being live-streamed... 43:31 Somebody forgot 43:36 to remember the Sabbath day, 43:39 to keep it holy. 43:44 Or perhaps, 43:47 for many of us, 43:50 it doesn't matter anymore. 43:59 Just killing time. 44:02 Sacred, holy-ized, 44:05 filled with God Almighty Himself time. 44:08 I'm just killing it every single Sabbath. 44:20 You can't kill the Sabbath, 44:25 but you can kill your heart. 44:35 Have we come to that, 44:38 where it doesn't matter anymore in our dormitories, 44:42 in our classrooms, 44:45 in our homes, 44:48 in our circle of friends, 44:49 in our circle of fellowship? 44:56 I want to tell you something, 44:57 and I'm embarrassed to tell you this. 45:00 I blush realizing 45:05 I have sat 45:07 in many a Sabbath afternoon conversation 45:12 where the topic of conversing 45:15 had nothing to do with God, 45:19 nothing to do with Jesus, 45:22 nothing to do with spiritual life. 45:25 Nothing! 45:27 We were a thousand, 45:28 million miles away that Sabbath afternoon, 45:32 and I was there. 45:34 The preacher, the pastor, 45:37 talking it up 45:39 like everybody else in that space. 45:42 And I apologize to you right now. 45:46 This isn't just about you. 45:49 This is about us. 45:54 Killing time. 45:57 Just killing time. 46:02 Could it be 46:04 that like the rest of evangelical Christianity, 46:07 where, for them, 46:09 the day of rest has become one hours 46:11 or maybe two hours on a Sunday morning, 46:13 and then bring on the football games 46:15 all Sunday afternoon into the evening? 46:18 Have we become like that ourselves? 46:23 Have we? 46:25 Waiting for sundown. 46:29 But not even waiting. 46:35 Or could it be, you and I, we just need a primer? 46:39 We just need a reminder, a refresher on what exactly, 46:43 what existentially, the Sabbath really does mean. 46:48 Maybe we need the journey 46:50 we are embarking on together right now 46:53 together. 46:57 Don't you go absenting yourself? 46:59 "Well, I have other plans." 47:03 This is not going to be a scolding series. 47:06 I've already identified my own failure. 47:11 But if the banner is unfurled 47:15 near the end of time, 47:19 maybe this does matter for you and me. 47:30 Over the holidays... 47:34 Karen and I watched "Chariots of Fire." 47:37 Remember that old, old, old, whatever. 47:40 Yeah. 47:42 But I remind you the story. 47:43 It's the story of Eric Liddell, the young Scot, 47:47 who became world famous 47:49 as a sprinter at the 1924 Paris Olympics. 47:52 Oh, my, what a story. 47:54 A friend of mine gave me the book, 47:55 called "For the Glory," 47:57 and, oh, it's just an incredible story. 48:00 He not only gained fame... I'll just remind you. 48:02 He not only gained fame for his record-breaking speed, 48:05 but he also gained global notoriety 48:08 when one day at the Olympics he said, "Wait a minute. 48:11 I didn't know that was on Sunday. 48:13 I will not run that race. It's on the Sabbath." 48:16 And he calls it the Sabbath. 48:17 He's wrong, but he called it the Sabbath. 48:21 He said, "I will not run on that day. 48:23 No." 48:24 He met with the Olympic Committee 48:26 and the Prince of Wales 48:27 because he's a United Kingdom boy. 48:28 The Prince of Wales is there, 48:30 and they're putting a little bit of pressure 48:31 on this young man. 48:32 "Come on, boy. 48:34 You can't tell me, son, that just one little tiny race 48:35 and your God's going to be upset with you on this? 48:37 Give it up, please. 48:39 For the motherland, do this." 48:43 And he was adamant, "I will not." 48:47 And while he was wrong about the day, 48:49 which is the Bible Sabbath, 48:51 I must tell you that I admired him, 48:53 and still do, for his conscientious spirit 48:57 in doing his best to keep the Sabbath holy, 48:59 as if it were on Sunday. 49:04 Wrong day. 49:07 Right way. 49:11 But how will heaven judge it? 49:13 Hmm? 49:16 Wrong day, right way for him? 49:21 Or right way, wrong way for you? 49:30 Huh? 49:35 For the next few Sabbaths, you and me, 49:38 let's go with Jesus and let's see 49:40 if we can figure this out together. 49:42 It'll be a joyful experience. 49:45 Because I must be very candid with you. 49:49 I mean, who wants to be killing time 49:53 at the end of time? 49:56 Not me. 49:58 Not you. 50:01 Let's pray. 50:03 Oh, God, not us, please, 50:06 killing time 50:08 at the end of time. 50:10 No. 50:11 We choose to follow the Lord of the Sabbath. 50:15 And on His day, in His way, 50:19 teach us how. 50:21 We pray in His name. 50:24 Amen. 50:26 Amen. 50:27 Your Connect Card is sitting right there. 50:29 Just text the word "Banner1" for this new series "Banner1" 50:34 to 269-281-2345. 50:36 You want to go to the Internet, there it is. 50:39 There's some next steps. 50:40 I want to send you some material, okay? 50:43 Hold on. Box number one. 50:44 Even as God immerse Himself into the seventh-day Sabbath, 50:47 I want to learn how to immerse myself 50:50 into the Sabbath with Him. 50:51 Me too. I'm putting a check mark there. 50:53 Are you putting a check mark there? 50:55 I'm sure you are. 50:56 Box number two. 50:57 I accept Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath, 51:00 and choose to follow Him. 51:03 How many want to follow Jesus as Lord of the Sabbath? 51:05 Just let me see your hands. 51:07 I would think it's pretty much this entire congregation 51:09 and all those watching on livestream. 51:12 Why wouldn't I want to follow the Lord of the Sabbath? 51:15 Of course. 51:17 He who is Lord of salvation is Lord of the Sabbath. 51:20 He who is Lord of the Sabbath became Lord of salvation. 51:23 On Calvary, He cries out, "It is finished." 51:25 At the end of creation, He says, "It's very good." 51:28 Same Jesus. 51:31 Same Lord of the Sabbath, and I want to follow Him. 51:35 I want to follow Him by the way I immerse myself in that day. 51:39 Come on. 51:41 We can do it. 51:43 With His help and by His grace we can do it. 51:49 There's a world that desperately needs 51:50 to see this banner unfurled 51:52 at this critical moment in human history. 51:55 There's one more box here. 51:56 Send me some reading material on the Sabbath, 51:58 I want to know more. 52:01 Now if you have enough reading material at home, 52:03 don't put a check mark there. 52:05 Just read the stuff you already have. 52:08 A lot of us have books sitting there 52:10 that have not been read in a long time. 52:14 But if you're encountering this, 52:15 you're watching it on livestream somewhere, 52:17 you're sitting here as a guest, 52:18 you said, "Man, Dwight, I never knew about this. 52:21 Send me some material. I'd like to pray about it. 52:24 I'd like to think about it." 52:25 You put a check mark there and electronically 52:27 I'll make sure you get that material. 52:30 You'll be blessed. 52:31 You'll be very blessed. 52:35 His day, His way. 52:40 Let all the people say amen. 52:54 I invite you guys to stand with us for this last song. 53:09 Be still my soul 53:11 The Lord is on thy side 53:16 Bear patiently 53:18 The cross of grief or pain 53:22 Leave to thy God 53:25 To order and provide 53:30 In every change 53:32 He faithful will remain 53:36 Be still my soul 53:39 Thy best thy heavenly friend 53:44 Through thorny ways 53:46 Leads to a joyful end 53:51 Be still my soul 53:53 Thy God doth undertake 53:58 To guide the future 54:01 As He has the past 54:05 Thy hope thy confidence 54:08 Let nothing shake 54:12 All now mysterious shall be bright at last 54:19 Be still my soul 54:21 The waves and wind still know 54:26 His voice who ruled them 54:29 While He dwelt below 54:33 In You I rest 54:36 In You I found my hope 54:40 In You I trust 54:43 You never let me go 54:47 I place my life 54:50 Within Your hands alone 54:56 Be still my soul 55:14 Be still my soul 55:17 The hour is hastening on 55:21 When we shall be forever with the Lord 55:27 When disappointment 55:30 Grief and fear are gone 55:34 Sorrow forgot 55:37 Love's purest joys restored 55:41 Be still my soul 55:44 When change and tears are past 55:48 All safe and blessed 55:51 We shall meet at last 55:55 In You I rest 55:58 In You I found my hope 56:02 In You I trust 56:05 You never let me go 56:08 I place my life 56:12 Within Your hands alone 56:17 Be still my soul 56:22 In You I rest 56:25 In You I found my hope 56:29 In You I trust 56:32 You never let me go 56:35 I place my life 56:39 Within Your hands alone 56:44 Be still my soul 56:51 Be still my soul 57:07 Think of the last time someone said, 57:09 "I'm praying for you." 57:11 Didn't it give you a sense of peace 57:13 and reassurance that somebody cares for me? 57:15 I know how I feel when I get an e-mail 57:17 from one of our viewers saying, "Yo, Dwight. 57:18 I've been praying for you lately." 57:20 There's nothing like knowing someone is praying for you. 57:22 So I want to offer you an opportunity to partner 57:25 let me, let us partner with you in prayer. 57:27 If you have a special prayer request 57:29 or a praise of thanksgiving you'd like to share with us, 57:31 I'm inviting you to contact one of our friendly chaplains. 57:35 It's simple to do. 57:36 You can call our toll-free number 877 57:38 the two words "HIS WILL," 877-HIS-WILL. 57:42 That friendly voice that answers, 57:43 you tell him, you tell her what your prayer need is, 57:46 we'll join with you in that petition. 57:49 May the God who answers prayer journey with you 57:51 these next few days 57:52 until we're right back here together again next time. |
Revised 2022-01-27