Participants: Dale Leamon
Series Code: FC
Program Code: FC000004
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00:28 Hello, it's good to be with you.
00:31 We're studying God's word together 00:34 and we're going to be looking 00:36 at another one of God's commandments. 00:39 But, let me introduce myself first. 00:42 My name is Dale Leamon, 00:44 I'm a pastor from Battle Creek Michigan 00:47 and I am really looking forward to opening 00:49 God's word with you. 00:50 Let's ask for his blessing before we do that. 00:54 Father in heaven, it is such a joy 00:57 just to take Your word as it reads, 00:59 to let You be our teacher and guide, 01:02 it's such a privilege to take the whole Bible 01:06 and let it be our truth 01:09 and our source of doctrine and light. 01:12 Father, please help me today 01:14 that I may teach in Your name and with Your Spirit's power, 01:18 in Jesus name we pray. Amen. 01:24 The Ten Commandments, God never intended for them 01:28 to be scary, that wasn't His plan at all. 01:31 He was so disappointed 01:32 that the Jews misunderstood their meaning. 01:35 They were so frightened after they heard 01:36 the Ten Commandments from Mount Sinai 01:38 that they said, Moses, 01:39 we can't listen to God's voice anymore, 01:41 if we keep listening it'll kill us, 01:43 you go and talk to Him. 01:46 Well, Moses was privileged indeed 01:48 to go to the top of the mountain 01:49 and talk to God face to face. 01:51 But the Jewish nation could have enjoyed 01:55 that fellowship too, they just didn't get it. 01:57 They didn't understand that God's commandments 02:01 were meant to be promises of what 02:02 he was going to do for them, 02:04 by his own Spirit and by his own power. 02:08 They thought they had to promise Him 02:09 to keep the commandments and they even said 02:11 that "everything you say, we will do," 02:12 now please don't talk to us anymore. 02:15 God said well, I'm glad you want to do what I've said, 02:17 but he shook his head, if God shakes his head, 02:20 we can see it that way in our human sense. 02:23 And he said, oh, that they had a heart 02:27 to really keep my commandments. 02:28 But He knew they needed help, He knew we needed help, 02:31 He knew that in fact the commandments were never 02:34 intended to be something a road or a ladder to heaven, 02:41 that they're intended instead to be His promise to us, 02:45 of what He would do inside of us. 02:47 To bring us back into harmony with himself. 02:51 The Apostle Paul, one who we always 02:54 look to for theological explanations of things 02:58 has written some words to that effect, 03:00 in Romans Chapter 7. 03:02 Let's read verses 10 and 14, 03:07 first of all verse 10. 03:12 "And the commandment, which was to bring life, 03:16 I found to bring death." 03:22 What was God's purpose in that commandment, 03:25 not death, but life. 03:26 Verse 14 says, "For we know that the law is spiritual, 03:29 but I am carnal, sold under sin." 03:35 There it is, the great tragedy. 03:38 God never intended for his commandment 03:39 to be discouraging or to bring death. 03:41 It was still be looked at as a hopeful thing. 03:45 This is my covenant with you, 03:47 this is what I am going to do for you, 03:50 but the people instead chose to see it 03:52 in their humanness and God was merciful to them 03:56 as a regulation by obeying 04:01 which they hoped to gain God's favor. 04:04 Well, you know, we have God's favor 04:06 through Jesus Christ, don't we? 04:08 We already have it. 04:09 He is the ambassador for us 04:11 and he has reconciled us to God through his blood, 04:14 so we already have his favor. 04:16 We're not seeking His favor through obedience, 04:20 we're seeking obedience through his favor. 04:23 We want to be like Him 04:25 and because He already favors us, 04:26 He's also going to give us 04:28 His commandments in our hearts. 04:31 That was always God's intention 04:33 and some people did understand that from time to time, 04:35 we find great characters in the Old Testament 04:38 who even loved God's law 04:39 and didn't see it as a terrifying thing. 04:42 But most of them were frightened by Him. 04:45 You know, just by looking at the commandments 04:46 themselves we can see the gospel, that's right, 04:53 right in the middle of the commandments 04:55 is a commandments which shows us the gospel 04:58 and therefore takes away the fright of the commandments 05:02 and gives us peace. 05:04 Which commandment am I referring to? 05:06 The fourth commandment. Commandment that says, 05:09 "remember the Sabbath." Let's read that together, 05:14 you can find the fourth commandment 05:16 in Exodus, Chapter 20 05:22 verses 8 through 11. 05:24 This is the longest of all of the ten 05:28 and that ought to give us some thoughts, shouldn't it? 05:33 All right, let's read, Exodus 20:8-11. 05:36 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 05:40 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 05:44 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. 05:47 In it you shall do no work, 05:48 you, nor your son, nor your daughter, 05:51 nor your male servant, nor your female servant, 05:54 nor your cattle, nor your stranger 05:56 who is within your gates. 05:57 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the Earth, 06:01 the sea, and all that is in them, 06:04 and rested the seventh day. 06:06 Therefore the Lord blessed 06:08 the Sabbath day and hallowed it." 06:14 Well, some people find 06:15 that to be the most difficult of all the commandments, 06:18 that one is the one they just can't comprehend, 06:21 how can that be important. 06:22 After all, aren't all days the same. 06:24 Well, it says right here that one day is special, 06:27 God made that day holy it says, he hallowed it. 06:30 And of course many find it objectionable 06:34 to have to change their habits 06:35 that they've gained in precious 06:37 Christian fellowship over many decades. 06:40 And to be different from family members 06:44 and so forth we fully understand that. 06:46 And yet instead of thinking 06:49 about all the objections to this commandment, 06:51 let's look at it in a different way, 06:53 let's look at it as we have been looking 06:56 at the others in these studies as a promise. 07:02 In fact, the promissory aspects 07:05 are almost right here on the surface 07:08 in this commandment because in this commandment we see, 07:12 first of all, an invitation to look at creation. 07:16 The Sabbath is about creation, 07:17 it's about celebrating a creation 07:20 which is already finished. 07:23 Wow, that's right, 07:26 he did finished it, didn't he? 07:27 On the sixth day, He looked 07:28 and He saw everything He'd made 07:30 and He said it's very good. 07:33 He made Adam and Eve and then He rested. 07:39 And so the Sabbath becomes 07:41 a celebration of the work already done. 07:48 You know, Jesus himself 07:49 who rested that Sabbath day because in the New Testament, 07:54 John the first Chapter, Colossians the first Chapter, 07:56 Hebrews the first Chapter they all tell us 07:58 that Jesus was the immediate agent of creation, 08:01 He was the one who formed 08:02 Adam out of the dust of the ground. 08:04 And so it was Jesus who rested that day 08:06 and it is Jesus who completed the creation 08:11 and then rested on the Sabbath. 08:15 And don't you see what that says about the gospel. 08:18 We're to be new creatures 08:21 and if He's already created everything 08:23 and made it so perfect 08:24 that he could stop and rest once, 08:27 he can do it again, can't he? 08:29 It gives us so much faith, 08:32 not that we're saved by works, 08:33 but by rest in his creative power, 08:38 what a magnificent lesson we learn from the Sabbath. 08:42 No wonder Mark 2:27 tells us 08:48 that the Sabbath, let's read it here. 08:50 "The Sabbath was made for man," 08:53 don't you love that? 08:55 He made it for us as an object of our study 08:58 so that we could discern his character 09:03 and the way of salvation through it. 09:05 Now, we see another lesson in the Sabbath promise 09:09 or Sabbath commandment, 09:10 here we see God's intention to give us rest 09:16 and relaxation, not strife and stress and fear. 09:21 For many, the Christian life is not restful, 09:25 it's--it's a terrible, terrible battle 09:27 and I would be the first to admit, 09:28 there are battles in our Christian life. 09:30 But there is also rest. 09:32 The battle is of course with self 09:34 and the strife is of course in surrender of self. 09:38 But oh, what glorious rest there is in letting go 09:44 and giving into God 09:47 and then we find peace of mind 09:49 and even peace in our physical bodies 09:51 as our stress level goes down 09:53 and our whole body relaxes and we feel so much better. 09:57 The Sabbath reveals that aspect of God's character, 10:02 that he wants to invite us into rest. 10:04 A very physical rest from our labors on the seventh day 10:07 but a spiritual rest everyday. 10:12 Thirdly, we are to remember every week 10:16 that human endeavor cannot add anything to God's work. 10:20 You see, the first thing God did with Adam and Eve 10:24 after creating them was to give them 10:30 a day of rest, spiritual lesson? 10:35 You can't help me with creation, 10:37 I already did it, it's done, it's perfect, 10:39 it's as good as it's gonna get, 10:41 you can't add anything to it, it's all finished. 10:45 And I love that because that is such 10:47 a beautiful gospel lesson. 10:48 Doesn't it teach me that I cannot do anything 10:51 about changing my thoughts, changing my feelings, 10:53 changing my attitudes, changing my character, 10:55 that's gonna have to be His creation, 10:57 I can't add to it, He will do it, 11:01 He has done it in Christ Jesus. 11:04 And so in the Sabbath we see the lesson 11:09 that we need to rest in his promise 11:11 instead of trying to do it ourselves. 11:14 The Sabbath is also a weekly reminder 11:18 that all of the ten Commandments 11:21 are really promises. 11:23 Because we can see that he who made 11:28 everything perfect can make everything perfect again. 11:35 And so all the commandments are meant 11:37 to be seen as glorious 11:41 promises of his grace. 11:45 And finally in the Sabbath, 11:48 the Old Testament experience looking forward to the time 11:52 when the promise will be fulfilled 11:54 that Christ would actually 11:57 create the human race over again. 12:04 The tragedy of the fall of Adam and Eve, 12:11 I believe was foreseen by God 12:15 and I believe the reason He gave that Sabbath to man, 12:19 doesn't say He gave to the angels 12:20 or to the people of other planets, 12:22 He says He gave it to man. 12:23 Maybe that-- maybe 12:24 he also gave it to the other people I don't know, 12:27 but He gave it to man, 12:28 knowing for well that man would fall, 12:31 knowing that in our sinful state 12:32 we would desperately need a promise. 12:36 And in every Sabbath day, 12:38 we find a promise of the perfect rest 12:43 that that we will enjoy with Him in the Earth 12:46 made new and the glorious, glorious promise of our hearts 12:50 being at rest through our Redeemer. 12:54 Did Jesus intend when he came to this Earth 12:58 to erase the commandments? 13:02 Many have suggested that it was his purpose 13:05 at least to do away with the Sabbath 13:09 and yet in Jesus own life and experience, 13:11 we find a tremendous reference for the Sabbath 13:14 but he kept it quite differently 13:15 from the Scribes and Pharisees, didn't he? 13:18 Well, Jesus own testimony 13:20 in Matthew Chapter 5 and verse 17 is very clear. 13:27 "Do not think that I came to destroy 13:30 the law or the Prophets. 13:32 I did not come to destroy but to fulfill." 13:37 And so Jesus must have fulfilled the Sabbath. 13:42 It must be in fact a promise 13:45 which we can find already ratified 13:48 in the life of Christ. 13:52 Specifically, we should expect to find 13:55 in Christ rest from our old sinful life. 14:01 We should expect to find in him 14:03 rest from the struggle with our current natures. 14:07 I truly love the Sabbath day, 14:09 my own testimony is that on the Sabbath Day 14:11 there is a special blessing, people who have not tried it, 14:15 not experienced it, probably 14:17 wouldn't be able to anticipate it, 14:20 but there is a tremendous leaving 14:23 behind of everything of this world, 14:27 it is just a time of peace, 14:29 you're still in the same place, 14:31 you live in the same house, 14:32 you still live among the same people. 14:35 But when you take seriously Jesus invitation 14:39 to lay aside earthly things, it is just precious. 14:44 How deep is the rest that comes into your soul 14:50 and that rest definitely says everything 14:53 about the gospel and about grace, 14:56 as it says you have been created 15:01 in Christ as a new creature. 15:04 In fact that's exactly what is explicitly promised, 15:08 isn't it, in the New Testament? 15:10 And the Apostle Paul again tells us 15:13 that this is already been done for us through Christ. 15:17 I like you to see this wonderful passage, 15:21 Ephesians Chapter 2, 15:24 we're gonna read verse 10, speaking of Jesus. 15:30 "For we are His workmanship, 15:35 created in Christ Jesus for good works, 15:40 which God prepared beforehand 15:41 that we should walk in them." 15:44 Okay, we've been created, 15:46 where were we created? 15:48 We've been created in Christ Jesus. 15:51 Well, that's an odd theological concept, isn't it? 15:54 How can you be created inside of somebody else? 15:57 Well, I don't claim to fully understand it, 16:00 but the words of the Bible indicate 16:02 that when Jesus lived on this Earth, 16:05 he took all of our flesh upon himself. 16:10 Bible says in the Old Testament, 16:11 "the iniquity of us all was laid on Him." 16:17 And we know, Christians have always 16:19 said that happened at the cross, 16:20 but I believe it happened all along, 16:24 that he was in fact somehow the new Adam. 16:27 Doesn't the Bible say that, 16:28 that somehow he had taken into himself the entire race, 16:32 just as Adam had the entire race 16:35 potentially within himself 16:37 and so Jesus had all of us in him. 16:40 Paul talks about this in several passages, 16:43 Second Corinthians where he suggests 16:45 that when one died, all died, 16:47 Romans 6 when he talks about 16:48 we are all crucified with Christ. 16:51 So we get this idea that we've all been somehow 16:54 contained in Christ and as Christ was overcoming 16:59 and battling with Satan 17:01 and gained the victory over temptation, 17:03 that he was doing it not only for us, 17:07 but he was somehow taking us 17:10 through the victory within his own life. 17:15 Can you comprehend that at all? 17:17 That's a challenging thought, 17:18 but again, read this verse. 17:20 "For we are His workmanship, 17:22 created in Christ Jesus for good works." 17:27 So as He was developing His character, 17:30 actually He was just reflecting 17:31 the character of the heavenly Father, 17:33 but He was-- was making 17:36 that character in flesh for us. 17:38 And as He was making that character in flesh for us, 17:41 He was making it for us and in us very much so. 17:45 So our salvation, folks, it's already so real, 17:47 it's already so real and so complete. 17:50 If you don't feel all at this moment, 17:52 it's only for a lack of faith 17:54 because it is so complete in Christ. 17:57 And this Sabbath rest then is a tremendous 18:02 time of claiming the grace of Christ. 18:06 It's a tremendous time of just saying, 18:08 yes, I am a new creature. 18:10 Yes, I am crucified with Christ. 18:12 Yes, I have new life 18:15 because Jesus has won the victory for me. 18:20 Well, let's just review this for a minute, 18:23 how the Sabbath becomes a promise 18:27 even of salvation and of redemption, 18:30 how the Sabbath not only looks back to the old creation 18:33 but it also looked-- looks back now 18:37 to the new creation in Christ. 18:41 Review the story in your minds, 18:44 we just said from the New Testament it's clear, 18:49 Jesus was the active agent in the creation. 18:52 So we see Jesus coming to this Earth and saying, 18:55 "let there be light." 18:56 We see Him forming the continents 18:58 and separating them from the waters. 19:00 We see Him putting the firmament, 19:02 we see Him calling for the light from the sun, 19:04 and the moon, and the stars. 19:07 We see him bringing fields of flowers to life. 19:14 He even did that before the sun and moon, didn't He? 19:17 I can just hear Him, can't you? 19:19 Let there be a meadow and there it is. 19:25 Just that easy, no sweat. 19:27 Let there be a pine covered mountain 19:33 and there it is, no sweat, just as easy as can be. 19:37 He speaks and it is. 19:39 Let there be a sky filled with birds 19:46 and then He names of all the birds, 19:48 let there be birds that have long feathers 19:50 and birds that have short feathers 19:51 and birds of many colors and birds of one color 19:54 and birds with long beaks and short beaks 19:56 and big feet and small feet 19:58 and He makes all these creatures 20:00 by his word, no sweat at all. 20:04 Finally, on the sixth day, 20:07 after He's made the other mammals, 20:10 land creatures, He takes some clay, 20:13 some soft clay from perhaps the side of a stream 20:20 and He shapes someone in His own image. 20:25 He makes them to look just like himself 20:31 and the image is so real, so perfect, so beautiful, 20:36 so flawless that it seems like it should be alive, 20:39 but it's not yet until Jesus bends down 20:44 and puts His lips to the man's nostrils, 20:50 the Bible says, and breathes into him the breath of life. 20:54 The man's eyes begin to blink and he looks up 20:58 and the first thing he sees is the face of his maker. 21:05 Well, after naming all the animals, 21:07 He makes a mate for him and the two of them, 21:10 Adam and Eve are perfect 21:14 and Jesus has not yet dropped a single drop of sweat 21:20 because it was all so easy for him 21:22 in his creative power. 21:26 So it wasn't that he rested because he was tired, 21:28 the Bible finally says, the reason 21:29 he rested was because he was done, 21:32 it was finished, and that was Friday afternoon 21:37 and the evening he quit all of his work 21:39 and he spends the Sabbath day showing 21:42 Adam and Eve all the beauties and joys of His creation. 21:47 Well, it wasn't nearly that easy 21:48 when Jesus came to create the world 21:50 and create humanity the second time. 21:53 Now humanity had fallen so low 21:57 we were barely still even recognize as God's image. 22:01 Now we had fallen so low that in order 22:03 to reach clear down to our depths 22:05 Jesus had to take on the terrible 22:10 weaknesses of flesh that was easily hungry, 22:15 easily tired, easily weak, easily sick, 22:19 easily exhausted and He took that on, 22:23 He became just like us. 22:26 Bible says, He was tempted in all points as we are. 22:29 When He was remaking the human race, 22:31 He came as a impoverished person 22:36 and He was born amongst the smells of goats and sheep, 22:44 and He walked barefoot so often 22:48 and He got dirty and He sweat 22:51 and He learned to be a carpenter. 22:53 And He suffered ridicule from his brothers 22:55 who thought that he was such a goody, goody 22:59 and even His parents didn't always understand Him 23:04 and He struggled. It wasn't like Eden anymore, 23:09 where it was all flowers, the perfume of blossoms, 23:12 and the beautiful songs of birds no, no, no, 23:16 this was hot days, 23:18 this was cuts to his feet and knees, 23:21 this was the pain of seeing loved ones die, 23:29 this was recreating the human race 23:33 from the mess it had fallen into. 23:35 Recreating childhood' by being a perfect child, 23:39 recreating teenager-hood by being a perfect teenager, 23:43 recreating young man-hood by being a perfect young man 23:46 in a world filled with sin 23:47 and every temptation was thrown at Him. 23:50 You can believe He had far more temptations 23:52 than any of us will ever have, 23:53 because Satan knew who he was 23:56 and singled Him out for every allurement, 24:00 but Jesus was recreating the human race 24:05 and He would not be deterred. 24:07 And so Jesus goes all the way to the last, doesn't He? 24:14 Faithful to the end. 24:16 He tells His disciples, you know, 24:18 I've got to be abused by the Scribes 24:23 and the Pharisees, is they're going to kill me. 24:27 His disciples could hardly believe what they heard, 24:29 they didn't want to believe, they refused to believe it. 24:32 But Jesus went on, 24:33 He set His face like a front, He went to Jerusalem 24:36 when He knew the political climate there. 24:38 And He took a place right there in public 24:41 and gave His last sermons, and He faced the cross. 24:46 Well, this time as He's rebuilding 24:48 the human race, He's building a race 24:50 which will stand firm, 24:51 He's building a race which will be faithful to the end, 24:53 He's building a race which cannot be deterred 24:55 by any inducement to reject God's will. 24:59 And so He Himself must follow through 25:01 and He goes through He goes all the extra miles. 25:06 And He takes the crown of thorns on his head, 25:12 and he takes the flogging on his back, 25:16 and he takes the purple robe, 25:20 and finally he takes the cross on his shoulders, 25:23 he's bleeding, miserable back, 25:28 and he stumbles and falls under it, so we can see. 25:33 He takes upon himself the sins of the whole human race 25:38 and He takes them down to hell on the cross. 25:46 And His suffering is like no man suffering 25:50 because he bares the separation from His father 25:53 that the sin of the entire race has caused. 25:57 And then-- oh, folks, 26:01 I love this part, then He cries out, 26:05 "it is finished," and you know what, 26:10 that was Friday afternoon, all Christians know that. 26:15 And the next day was the Sabbath 26:16 and that was the day he rested from his work 26:19 of recreating the human race 26:21 and the day after that was Sunday morning 26:23 when he got up again and started his work again 26:26 of sharing his victory with all of us. 26:30 We are new creatures in Christ Jesus 26:36 and the Sabbath day, this great commandment 26:39 which is also such a wonderful promise. 26:43 The Sabbath day is our celebration, 26:46 both of the first perfect creation 26:49 and of the second perfect creation. 26:53 When we rest with Jesus and we say by face, 26:56 I can't add anything to what you've done, 26:59 you have done it just right, I can only trust you, 27:05 I can only put my confidence in you, 27:08 you've already made me a new heart, 27:10 you've already made me a new mind, 27:12 you've already given me the victory over temptation. 27:14 You've already kept all the commandments 27:16 and now you're ready to put that obedience in my life. 27:22 On those precious Sabbath hours, 27:24 we rejoice in our Savior, 27:28 we rejoice, and we claim the faith 27:31 and we grow in faith 27:33 as we hang on to Jesus ever more tightly 27:36 in that precious 24 hours with him. 27:40 Jesus has kept the promise of the fourth commandment. 27:44 He has given us rest from our old natures. 27:49 He has given us salvation. 27:51 We have a new heart in Him. 27:53 Let's claim that by faith, 27:55 let's celebrate with Him the new creation. |
Revised 2014-12-17