Participants: C.A. Murray
Series Code: TCDM
Program Code: TCDM000007
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00:01 Jesus said: "If you love Me, keep my commandments. "
00:05 Now people all over the world are turning back to God's 00:09 eternal moral law, claiming His promise to write them 00:12 in our hearts and our minds. Live from the DC Armory 00:16 in our nations capital, 3ABN presents 00:20 The Commandments Weekend. 00:39 Your only Son 00:42 No sin to hide 00:47 But You have sent Him, 00:51 From Your side 00:54 To walk upon this guilty sod 01:01 And to become the Lamb of God 01:08 Your gift of Love They crucified 01:15 They laughed and scorned 01:19 Him as He died 01:23 The humble King 01:26 They named a fraud 01:30 And sacrificed the Lamb of God 01:37 Lamb of God, 01:41 Sweet lamb of God 01:44 I love the Holy Lamb of God 01:52 Wash me in His precious Blood 01:59 My Jesus Christ the Lamb of God 02:09 I was so lost 02:13 I should have died 02:17 But You have brought 02:20 me to Your side 02:24 To be led by Your staff and rod 02:31 And change my name to a lamb of God 02:38 Lamb of God, 02:42 Sweet lamb of God 02:45 I love the Holy, Holy Lamb of God 02:53 Wash me in Your precious Blood 03:00 until I am a Lamb of God 03:08 Wash me in Your precious Blood 03:19 until I am a Lamb of God 03:52 Praise the Lord for the precious blood of Jesus Christ. 03:55 We are His blood bought purchase. 03:58 We are going to not have a very special treat from 04:01 pastor C. A. Murray, who's going to be bringing us 04:05 a sermon on the 4th commandment. 04:07 I say a special treat because he is a special man. 04:10 I've grown to love C. A. He came to 3ABN 04:13 with 26 years of experience as an ordained pastor 04:17 and also 12 years of production and television hosting 04:21 under his belt, so we're very blessed 04:23 to have pastor C. A. and it is my pleasure 04:26 to introduce him to you now. 04:37 Good Morning and Happy Sabbath. 04:39 Happy Sabbath. 04:40 Oh you've got to say it like you mean it. 04:42 Happy Sabbath. 04:43 Happy Sabbath. 04:44 Praise the Lord. 04:47 We've entitled our message 04:49 " A letter from a secret admirer. " 04:53 And if you want our foundation text, it is one, I think, 04:55 that you know very well. 04:57 It is Exodus 20, beginning at verse 8. 05:02 I spoke with Doug Batchelor on Thursday, he called, 05:07 since we were both preaching on the 4th commandment. 05:10 We wanted to eliminate any inadvertent redundancy. 05:16 In other words, I didn't want to say the same thing 05:18 he was saying, and he didn't want to say the same thing 05:20 that I was saying, but we found that when you're 05:22 dealing with this very special commandment, there are 05:25 some texts that just seem to overlap. 05:29 So you will hear one or two things that you may 05:32 have heard on last evening, and then you will hear 05:35 some things that I'm sure you did not hear 05:37 on last evening. 05:40 Before we speak, let us speak to our Father. 05:45 Our Father in heaven, we thank You for this 05:47 grand opportunity to speak about this most special 05:52 of gifts, this 4th commandment. 05:57 And Lord, as we seek to explain a little bit about it, 06:02 would You please give us the presence and power 06:05 of the Holy Spirit, that we may know and understand 06:10 and in understanding become more like Jesus. 06:13 We thank You dear Father, in Jesus' name. 06:16 Amen. 06:18 I want to put it on the screen, Exodus 20, beginning at verse 8, 06:26 because I want us all to read it together, it is 06:29 the 4th commandment. 06:31 I want us all to see it and recite it together. 06:34 Now, I've go to say before I recite, 06:37 I'm kind of old school, when I memorized the Bible, 06:41 I memorized the King James Version, 06:45 so I may slip and say some "thee" and "thou", 06:48 I'm preaching from the New King James 06:50 and the texts are New King James but my brain is still thinking 06:55 "King James", so if I slip and say a "thee" 06:58 when I should say a "you", or "thou" when I should 07:00 say a something else, you'll understand 07:01 I'm a little old school, and it's hard to teach 07:04 a reasonably old dog new tricks. 07:08 Let's go, let's repeat it together, it says: 07:25 In it you shall do no work: 07:30 you, nor your son, 07:31 nor your daughter, nor your male servant, 07:35 nor your female servant, nor your cattle, 07:38 nor your stranger who is within your gates. 07:57 Amen, and Amen. 08:01 The 4th commandment draws attention to itself 08:06 right out of the box 08:09 because of it's unique structure. 08:13 For symmetry's sake, God could have structured it. 08:18 He could have aligned it like it's predecessors. 08:24 He could have said: 08:26 "Thou shalt not forget the Sabbath. " 08:31 Then it would have been grammatically like those 08:33 that preceded it; 08:34 "Thou shalt have no other gods before me. " 08:37 "Thou shalt not make any graven images. " 08:40 "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord, thy God in vain. " 08:44 "Thou shalt not forget the Sabbath. " 08:48 But if God would have done that, 08:52 He would have run the risk 08:54 of this most precious and special commandment 08:59 being lost in the shuffle with its siblings. 09:04 And the 4th commandment I submit to you 09:07 is not at all like the first 3. 09:12 It is inherently, intrinsically, innately dissimilar 09:18 than commandments 1,2 and 3. 09:22 I believe that it is true that commandments 1,2 and 3 09:28 are strictly God focus dictums. 09:31 There's no question about that, 09:34 the first 3 commandments deal with God. 09:39 The last 6 commandments are humanity focused commandments. 09:45 They set the parameters for civilized, 09:50 sanctified society. 09:51 I want you to stick with me here. 09:54 But the 4th commandment can not really be ideologically 09:59 or theologically lumped with the first 3, 10:03 nor can it be lumped with the last 6. 10:08 The 4th commandment, to my mind, is rather 10:11 a bridge commandment, ensconcing a fusion of the focus 10:18 of the first 3 commandment and the last 6. 10:23 And as such, it belongs neither with the first 3, 10:27 nor with the last 6; 10:29 the 4th commandment stands all by itself. 10:35 As such, I see the 4th commandment, 10:40 and hold on, it's going to be a bumpy ride, 10:43 as a type of Christ. 10:45 Listen to me now, 10:48 in the 4th commandment we see Jesus. 10:54 You know, God has a way of sneaking Jesus into almost 10:57 everything, doesn't He? 10:59 And I believe that God slipped Jesus into the 10 commandments 11:03 at commandment Nr. 4. 11:06 The 4th commandment is the bridge between 11:09 the God focus of the first 3 11:12 and the human focus of the next 6. 11:17 Jesus was all God and all Man. Can you say amen? 11:23 The Bible says: "In Him dwells all the fullness" 11:25 "of the Godhead, bodily. " 11:27 So Christ was all God and all man. 11:31 He was all about God and all about man. 11:34 He was Son of God and Son of Man. 11:37 Well, the same can be said, for the 4th commandment. 11:41 The 4th commandment is all about God, 11:44 but it's also all about man. 11:47 It starts off talking about God, 11:50 but it ends up talking about man. 11:52 As such, it is a bridge commandment, a type of Christ. 11:57 Jesus was the perfect, indescribable, inexplicable 12:02 amalgamation of divinity and humanity, 12:05 and the Sabbath is just like that. 12:08 It's all about God, but it's all about man. 12:11 Can you say amen? As such, the Sabbath commandment 12:15 then, is de facto, a type of Christ. 12:19 This, the 4th commandment, looks like Jesus. 12:24 So, if there is one commandment of all the 10 12:28 in which we get a picture of who and what Jesus is, 12:33 it is the 4th commandment. 12:35 You want to see Jesus? 12:36 You look at commandment Nr. 4 and you'll get picture 12:39 of who Jesus is. 12:41 You want to know what He looks like? 12:44 You can see Him in the 4th commandment. 12:46 The 2 greatest gifts every given to this world: 12:53 1. The Son of Man. 12:56 The other: the Sabbath. 12:58 This cosmic convergence, this co-mingling, 13:02 the best of heaven and the best on Earth. 13:06 The Sabbath then, ladies and gentlemen, 13:09 is a marriage made in heaven. 13:13 It is a gift of God to His people, 13:17 and the 4th commandment is literally God coming 13:22 down from His throne, 13:24 stepping into the "Abba" mode, 13:27 running to humanity, throwing His arms around us, 13:32 and giving us the nicest, 13:35 the freshest, 13:36 the purest, 13:37 the biggest, the longest, the warmest, the sweetest 13:42 hug and kiss you've ever had. Amen! 13:46 That then, is the Sabbath. 13:50 And that's what the Sabbath is all about. 13:52 The Living Bible paraphrase says: 13:56 "Observe the Sabbath as a holy day. " 14:00 "Don't just recall the Sabbath," 14:03 "react to it" 14:05 "in light of that recollection. " 14:08 The Sabbath is about doing, 14:11 keep it holy, behave holy 14:14 in celebration of the fact that God has already 14:18 made it holy. 14:20 Do you notice the Bible doesn't say: 14:21 "Make the Sabbath holy. " It says: "Keep the Sabbath holy" 14:25 because you can only keep holy what God has made holy. 14:31 It is almost as though in the Pentateuch, 14:35 the word "remembrance" is foundational to a great 14:40 experience with God. 14:42 When God was ready to do something for, 14:45 with, through, and to, and around His people, 14:50 when He desired to draw them into a special 14:53 spiritual experience, God would enjoin them to "remember" 14:59 - hold on to that word, it is a key word. 15:02 It is not a word that you should pass by lightly because you see 15:06 it over and over and over again 15:10 in the Pentateuch in particular, the first 5 books of the Bible. 15:14 Deuteronomy 16:3. 15:18 Deuteronomy 16:3. 15:23 The word of God says: "Remember the day" 15:27 "in which you were in Egypt. Remember that day. " 15:32 Later on He says: "Remember Abraham, 15:36 "Isaac and Israel. " 15:39 Later on He says: "Remember, priests," 15:41 "to put a little tassel on your robe," 15:44 "so you can remember to respect God. " 15:47 He says: "Remember what the Lord did for you" 15:51 "in Egypt. " He says: "Remember what God" 15:54 "did for you in the wilderness. " 15:56 Deuteronomy 15:15 "Remember". 15:59 Deuteronomy 16:3 Remember, Deuteronomy 16:12 Remember, 16:05 Deuteronomy 24:9 Remember, Deuteronomy 24:18 Remember, 16:12 Deuteronomy 24:22 "Remember! Remember! Remember!" 16:16 God is saying: "Don't ever forget what I've" 16:19 "done for you; remember, and when you remember, react!" 16:24 "Do something! Rejoice! Relive! Revive! Reaffirm!" 16:30 "Retell! Revitalize!" "Remember" is a coal 16:35 to spiritual resurgence. 16:37 The 4th commandment then, is the most intimate 16:41 of all the commandments. 16:42 It is the most personal of all the commandments. 16:45 It is the longest of all the commandments. 16:49 It is the most self revealing of all the commandments. 16:53 It is the "glasnost", the "perestroika" 16:56 of all the commandments. 16:57 The German theologians called it the "Deus Revelatus". 17:00 It is the un-hidden God, the explained God. 17:04 In the 4th commandment we see God as never before. 17:09 It is the clearest expression of who and what God is. 17:14 So then, this word "remember" is foundational to a great 17:20 experience with God. 17:23 Hey, you want to grow strong in Jesus? 17:28 Remember! 17:29 And whenever God is taking you to a place where you 17:33 can't see the future, remember what He did for you 17:36 in the past. 17:38 The only thing worse, I say, then nostalgia, is amnesia. 17:42 You don't ever want to forget where God has brought you from 17:47 and where He's leading to you. 17:49 I say, I say again: if you can't see your way 17:52 to the future, then remember what God has done 17:55 for you in the past. 17:58 On the 7th day, we rest. 18:00 Praise God. 18:02 We rest because we need it. 18:05 We rest in honor of a God who rested even though 18:09 He didn't need it. 18:11 We celebrate it because God set an example 18:14 for us in resting. 18:17 In Genesis, God told Adam and Eve: 18:20 "On the day that you eat from the tree," 18:23 "you will surely die. " They ate, 18:26 they continued to live, 18:28 they continued to walk, 18:30 they continued to talk, and breath, and produce children, 18:34 but something had changed. 18:37 Something was reconfigured. 18:40 Something had indeed died. 18:44 I have a Korean friend, a good friend of mine, 18:47 he's Presbyterian. 18:49 I'm trying to make him Adventist, but he's a little 18:51 resistant because he works 7 days a week. 18:57 He owns 3 dry cleaners, owns them. 19:02 He gets up every morning at 5.30. 19:06 He does not eat breakfast because he's in to work at 6.30. 19:12 He works all day, until 7.30 at night. 19:18 Then he goes home and he cooks for the family. 19:22 He has a degree, he went to cooking school. 19:25 Oh forgive me, he went to the Culinary Institute. 19:32 After he cooks for the family, he cleans up the dishes, 19:34 then he does his own books. 19:36 He also has a degree in accounting. 19:38 He does the day's receipts for all 3 dry cleaners. 19:42 Then he goes to bed. 19:46 Next morning he's up doing the same thing. 19:49 On Sunday he's up at 5.30, 19:53 he does his books, 19:56 he goes to church, 19:58 sings in the choir, 20:01 cooks potluck for the church, 20:05 comes home, 20:06 cooks for the family because the family 20:09 won't eat potluck food, 20:13 does his books, 20:16 then goes to bed at about 12 or 12.30. 20:20 Monday morning, he's back on that treadmill again. 20:25 Now, he has money in the bank, he can fly back and forth 20:30 to Korea at about $1500 a pop anytime he wants. 20:34 He's got a very nice home in Westchester County, New York. 20:39 He drives a brand new car, 20:42 he has all the accoutrements, 20:45 all of the trappings, he is living the American Dream, 20:51 but he is killing himself. 20:55 He's dying, because he takes no time for Jesus. 21:01 The Bible says on the 7th day 21:05 we rest 21:07 because we need to rest. 21:10 Mark 2:27, you know it well, 21:14 Mark 2:27. The Bible says: 21:28 Now the ancient Rabbi's taught just the reverse, oddly enough. 21:32 That God made the Sabbath first, and then plugged man into it. 21:36 They taught that man was made for the Sabbath, 21:40 but Jesus said: "You got that all wrong. " 21:43 "The Sabbath was made for man," because when God 21:47 made man, He said: "What's the best thing" 21:51 "I can give him?" 21:54 "Well, I'll give him the Sabbath," 21:59 "to keep him holy" 22:02 - uhuh - 22:04 "and I'll give him a wife," 22:06 "to keep him happy. " 22:08 Amen! Hallelujah! 22:12 Amen! 22:13 Both came from Eden, before sin. 22:16 Can you say amen? 22:19 If you're married, you better say amen. 22:23 The best 2 things, - listen! - 22:26 if you've got Jesus, 22:31 the Sabbath, 22:33 and a good wife, 22:36 brother you've got the best that heaven can give. 22:42 And if you don't, well you've got Jesus and the Sabbath. 22:50 Heaven has given you its best from Eden: 22:53 marriage and the Sabbath. Can you say amen? 22:56 God saw that we would need this, and if you've got a good wife, 23:01 you've got salvation, and the Sabbath, 23:04 you are rich regardless of what your bank account says. 23:09 God saw that we would drive ourselves perpetually. 23:14 We would destroy ourselves with our own pursuits. 23:17 So along with the engine that drives us, 23:19 the drive to succeed, and the drive to excel, 23:23 and the drive to feed our families, 23:26 and the drive to have security, and the drive to be educated, 23:30 and the drive to keep up appearances, and the drive 23:33 to do what the commercials say you ought to do, 23:37 and the drive to be like everybody else. 23:40 Every 7 days, along with the accelerator, 23:43 God put a little break there, a little exit ramp off 23:46 the superhighway of life, a little chance for you 23:49 to pullover, and refresh, and repose, and repine, 23:52 and get a little relaxation to pull off and get God focused 23:57 and He called that little break 23:59 "The Sabbath"! 24:01 Praise God for the Sabbath! 24:04 Psalms 103:14, the Bible says in Psalms 103:14 24:17 David says: "Our days are as grass," 24:21 "the flower flourishes and then the flower fades. ", 24:27 and some of us, in our hot pursuit 24:29 of the almighty dollar, are fading fast. 24:34 And so, God said: "I've got to give them a break. " 24:38 The Sabbath then, is medicine, ladies and gentlemen. 24:41 The Sabbath is Medicare, it is Medicaid, 24:45 it is a prescription for successful Godly living. 24:50 Isaiah 58:13, 14. 24:54 When I was pastoring the Ephesus Church, 24:55 I had my church recite this every single week. 24:59 Isaiah 58:13,14. 25:01 Turn with me and we will read it together. It says: 25:44 God is saying: "There's a very special blessing" 25:49 "in keeping the Sabbath day that is attached" 25:53 "to no other day. " 25:55 You can't get it on Friday, you can't get Sunday, 25:58 you can't get it on Wednesday, you can only get it 26:01 on the Sabbath because only Sabbath 26:04 has the blessing in it. 26:07 James 1:17 tells us 26:11 that every good gift, and every perfect gift 26:15 comes from God. 26:17 Every good gift, every perfect gift comes from God. 26:22 God, in Eden, decided, before sin 26:26 that marriage and the Sabbath 26:29 were the best things he could do for mankind. 26:33 And we, ladies and gentlemen, sadly, 26:36 are trying to destroy them both. 26:41 The Bible says: "One Lord. " 26:43 "One Faith. One Baptism. " 26:47 May I add: "One God. " 26:50 "One Wife. " 26:53 "One Day. " 26:56 Amen! 26:59 Look at this, 27:01 Paul said the commandments 27:04 are holy, just and good. 27:10 So then, I can rightly interpret that the Sabbath, 27:15 since it's a commandment, is holy, just 27:19 and praise God, the Sabbath is good. 27:25 It's Sabbath 27:28 and I feel good. 27:36 Think about it. 27:39 One day a week. 27:41 You get up, no work. 27:47 Amen! 27:50 No cares, no bills, 27:54 I mean, they're still there, but you don't have to pay them. 27:58 No job, no school, no tests, 28:03 no shopping, no malls, 28:06 no time/clock. 28:10 You get dressed, you go to church, 28:13 you sing, you pray, 28:17 you praise God, you worship, 28:20 you fall under the anointing of God, 28:24 you hear a good sermon. Amen 28:32 Fellowship with believers who think 28:35 and act, and pray, and praise like you do, 28:39 the choir sings, 28:42 the soloists solo, 28:47 Bible reading, 28:49 prayer, worship, 28:51 fellowship 28:54 potluck, 28:59 and sometimes, on those real good Sabbaths, 29:04 during the deaconeer and the coinaneer, 29:08 you sit back and fold your arms around yourself and you say: 29:13 "You know what?" 29:15 "This thing is good. " 29:22 And it is good! 29:25 Because everything that God made is good. 29:28 The truth is, that everything that is true about 29:31 the other 9 commandments, ladies and gentlemen, 29:34 is true about the Sabbath. 29:36 If the other 9 commandments are eternal, Sabbath is eternal. 29:42 If the other 9 commandments are good for society, 29:46 Sabbath is good for society. 29:49 If the other 9 commandments are ordained of God, 29:53 Sabbath is ordained of God. 29:56 If the other 9 commandments are good for everybody today, 30:00 Sabbath is good for everybody today. 30:03 Think what it would be like 30:07 if every man, and every woman, 30:11 and every boy and every girl closed up their shops, 30:18 shut down their businesses, 30:21 gathered together 30:23 to worship God every single Sabbath. 30:28 What a wonderful world it would be 30:31 if everybody praised God on the Sabbath day. 30:34 And ladies and gentlemen, here's the news flash, 30:38 that's how it's going to be in heaven. 30:41 Isaiah 66:22, 23. 30:45 Got to refer to that one. Isaiah 66:22, 23. 30:50 The Bible says in Isaiah 66:22, 23: 31:26 In other words, ladies and gentlemen, 31:28 in the New Earth, throughout all eternity, 31:32 we're going to keep Sabbath. 31:34 Now, Now, Now you will forgive me 31:37 because that leads down the quarters of a particular 31:41 theological causeway, which might cause 31:44 a bit of dyspepsia in the minds and hearts 31:46 of those who don't understand the centrality of 31:49 the Sabbath issue. 31:57 God started it all with Sabbath, 32:02 in Genesis, at creation. 32:05 Amen! 32:08 And when God selected a people to carry His message 32:12 to the world, He gave them Sabbath. 32:17 Amen! 32:20 In the ages to come, throughout all eternity, 32:25 God says: "We will keep Sabbath" 32:31 So forgive me, "Yo tengo un pregunta" 32:36 I got a question: why not now? 32:43 I mean, we started with Sabbath, we'll always have Sabbath, 32:48 so why not Sabbath now? 32:50 Isn't this practice for eternity? 32:54 So we need to start practicing keeping Sabbath now. 32:58 There's always been Sabbath, there will always be Sabbath, 33:02 so why would God experiment with another day now? 33:06 Kind of makes you want to go: 33:08 "Hmmm. " 33:12 And if He had changed it, 33:14 why keep it a secret? 33:16 I mean, Jesus didn't say anything about it. 33:19 God didn't say anything about it. 33:20 The Holy spirit didn't say anything about it, 33:22 so where did change come from? 33:26 Jesus said: "I came to make known the will" 33:28 "of my Father. " 33:30 Hebrews 1:1,2. 33:33 You know, the Bible says 33:34 in Hebrews 1:1,2 that: 33:51 So Jesus came to speak only the words given to Him 33:55 by God. He didn't come to change anything, He didn't 33:58 come to alter anything, He didn't come to rearrange 34:01 things, He came to do the will of His Father. 34:07 John 14:8,9. 34:10 There's this little dialogue between Christ 34:12 and the disciples. 34:13 They say: "Show us the Father and it suffices us. " 34:18 We want to see God. 34:19 Jesus says: 34:40 Christ is saying: "See Me, see the Father. " 34:43 "Know Me, know the Father. Hear Me, Hear the Father. " 34:47 "I want you to know, that when you watch Me," 34:51 "you are seeing God. " This is what Jesus is saying. 34:55 "I have come to do the will of Him who sent Me. " 35:13 Not once, not twice... 59. 35:18 Let's look at some dates. 35:20 The gospel of Mark, 35:25 scholarship believes, was the first of the gospels written. 35:28 The gospel of Mark was written somewhere around 55 AD, 35:37 The gospel of Mark was followed by the writing 35:39 of Matthew and Luke, 35:41 somewhere around 65 AD 35:49 And old John didn't start writing his gospel 35:52 until 96 AD... 36:02 and yet, neither Matthew, Mark, Luke or John 36:06 say anything about the change of the day, 36:10 because it's not there. 36:13 Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey! 36:15 Did you hear? 36:18 She dragged her husband down to the divorce lawyer 36:22 after 25 years of marriage. 36:26 They'd been married for 25 years and she went to the lawyer 36:30 and said: "I want a divorce. " 36:34 Well the lawyer said: "You've been married for 25 years," 36:38 "why do you want a divorce now?" 36:42 She said: "Because in 25 years" 36:45 "this man has only told me he loves me 1 time. " 36:51 "1 time in 25 years, and I just can't take it. " 36:55 "I want a divorce!" 36:58 And so the lawyer said: "Well buddy," 37:02 "what is your problem? What is the matter with you?" 37:07 "Don't you know you've got to do better than that?" 37:11 "What is your excuse?" 37:14 He said: 37:16 "I told her" 37:19 "I loved her" 37:21 "when I married her. " 37:24 "I told her on the day of our wedding that I loved her. " 37:31 "Now she's a bright girl," 37:34 "I told her I loved her forever. " 37:38 "I figured she'd understand" 37:41 "that if I changed my mind" 37:44 "I'd let her known. " 37:49 Now that doesn't work so well 37:54 with men or women 37:58 because we are capricious and fickle. 38:02 We change. Jeremiah 17:9 says: 38:07 "The heart of man is deceitful and desperately wicked. " 38:10 "Who can know it?" Love today, hate tomorrow. 38:14 James says: "Out of the same mouth comes" 38:16 "blessings and cursings. " 38:19 We change all the time, so we've learned 38:22 that you can't trust man, but you can trust God. 38:29 So God prefers that same line of reasoning 38:35 in the book of Hebrews. 38:36 Hebrews 4:8,9, God is using that same line of reasoning. 39:01 God is saying through Paul: He told you in Genesis 39:06 He loved you. He told you in Exodus 39:09 He loved you. Isaiah, told you He loved you. 39:12 Jeremiah told you of God's love. 39:15 2,500 years ago, He told you of His love. 39:19 Paul is saying then, if God had selected, elected, 39:23 or projected another day, He would have told somebody. 39:28 Amos 3:7 says: 39:41 You take a day, you bless it, 39:44 you rest on it, you sanctify it, you hallow it, you wrap it 39:47 in a bow and you give it to mankind as the perfect gift 39:51 and then you change it and not tell anybody? 39:55 I don't think so! And neither does Paul. 39:59 Paul's thesis is: "There remainest therefore a rest. " 40:04 and many commentators translate that rest 40:06 as a keeping of the Sabbath for the children of God. 40:10 Got to go faster because the clock's against me. 40:14 Exodus 20:12 says it is a sign forever, 40:18 between God and His people. God is saying: 40:22 "I told you I loved you at creation. " 40:26 Amen? 40:27 "I told you at creation I'll love you forever. " 40:30 "I showed you I loved you in Eden, when I knelt down" 40:33 "and formed you with my own 2 hands, listen to Me now. " 40:37 "I showed you I loved you when I knelt down and breathed" 40:40 "into your nostrils the breath of life," 40:43 "and you became a living soul. I made you functional," 40:46 "and volitional, so that you could love me by choice. " 40:49 "I showed you I loved you when I breathed into you," 40:51 "and made you look and act like Me. I showed you" 40:54 "I loved you when I pulled a rib from your side," 40:57 "and put you to sleep, and I created" 40:59 "the most beautiful thing that man has ever seen," 41:02 "and I named her "woman". And when you woke up I said:" 41:05 "She's yours". 41:07 "I showed you I loved you when the first full day" 41:09 "that mankind ever lived on planet Earth was the Sabbath. " 41:12 "I showed you I loved you when I called Abraham. " 41:14 "I showed you I loved you when that ram got caught" 41:17 "in the thicket. " "I showed you My love in Egypt" 41:20 "when that basket full of tar held little baby Moses" 41:22 "and it just happened to be found by the queen," 41:25 "and the queen's daughter. " "I showed you I loved you" 41:27 "at the Red Sea. I showed you My love at the desert of Sinai. " 41:30 "I showed you My love at the walls of Jericho. " 41:33 "I showed my love at a city called Ai, at a place" 41:35 "called Gath. I showed you My love at Ebenezer. " 41:38 "I showed you My through Balaam and Balak. " 41:40 "I showed you my love at Ebion-gezer. " 41:42 "I showed you my love at Mikmash, and Hebron," 41:45 "and Carchemish, and Bethpeor. " 41:46 "I showed you My love when you selected kings" 41:49 "that didn't even follow Me. I showed you My love" 41:51 "against the Philistines and the Phoenicians," 41:53 "and the Amorites, and the Amalekites. " 41:55 "I showed you my love against them, more by sending Hittites" 41:58 "Sancherib, Ezarhadnen, Benhadad. " 42:01 "I showed you My love when the Seleucid kings tried to turn" 42:04 "your temple into a disco. I showed you my love" 42:06 "when you sent your own children through the fire under Manasseh" 42:09 "I showed you My love when you left Me and ran after Baal," 42:12 "and Ashtoroth, and Tammuz, and Dagon, and Ishtar. " 42:14 "I showed you My love when you knelt down to 1,000 gods" 42:17 "who you thought were Me, but they really were not Me. " 42:20 "I showed you My love when Saul consulted" 42:22 "with a witch instead of coming to Me. " 42:24 "I showed you my love when you selected kings" 42:25 "that had no business being on the throne of Israel. " 42:27 "They couldn't even control their own lives," 42:29 "let alone My people. " 42:30 "Ahab, and Jezebel, and Athalia, and Joash, and Jacob," 42:34 "And Zedekiah, and Hoshea. Godless kings who had" 42:37 "no business running My people. I showed you my love through" 42:40 "Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar, the Medes, and the Persians," 42:44 "and I showed you My love through the prophets. " 42:46 "And I showed you My love when you had John the Baptist" 42:49 "killed and I showed you My love when at birth, you tried to" 42:52 "destroy My son, Jesus, and you betrayed Him. " 42:54 "I showed you My love and you stripped Him. " 42:56 "I showed you My love and you beat Him," 42:58 "and you lacerated Him, and you tore His flesh" 43:00 "from His back with a whip, and you nailed Him to a cross," 43:03 "and you pushed a crown of thorns on His head. " 43:05 "And I showed you My love because Christ knew" 43:07 "what was coming, and even though He knew it," 43:08 "He said: "I have loved you with an everlasting love. " 43:11 "I showed you my love when you pushed a roman spear" 43:14 "into His side. I showed you my love" 43:16 "when He hung His head and died, rested on the Sabbath" 43:19 "and rose the first day. That's the kind of God" 43:22 "I am, I can't help myself. " "I've always loved you. " 43:26 "I love you now. I always will love you. " 43:28 "He that loveth not, knoweth not God," 43:31 "for God is love. " 43:32 "And if I ever change my mind, I'll let you know!" 43:40 Because God does not change! 43:43 Can not change! Will not change! 43:46 Therefore, ye sons of Jacob some 7,000 years ago 43:50 in Eden, God said He loved you 43:52 and He gave you the Sabbath before you sinned. 43:56 Then 2,000 years ago, at Calvary, 43:59 He reminded you of His love. 44:02 And He says today, 2,000 years later, 44:05 "If I ever change my mind, I'll let you know. " 44:10 Thank God He does not change, and the Sabbath is just 44:13 as important as it ever was, because that's the kind of God 44:17 we serve, and Mr. Clock is against me, but I want to run 44:20 through some things. Let's go through it real quick. 44:23 The 10 commandments of consideration. 44:35 No other day, that makes it important 44:42 God put a special blessing on the Sabbath. 44:44 There's no other day that can be called the Sabbath 44:47 because that day is already taken by the Sabbath. 44:49 The Sabbath is the Sabbath and only the Sabbath 44:51 can be the Sabbath, no other day can be the Sabbath 44:54 because the Sabbath is the Sabbath! 44:56 Next commandment: 45:03 Only day! Couldn't do anything else, 45:06 it's the only day. 45:16 There's a special title to the Sabbath. 45:24 When God sanctifies something, He sets it apart 45:26 for Holy use. 45:31 Didn't say Friday, didn't say Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, 45:33 Wednesday, Thursday - only said Sabbath! 45:35 Only keep Sabbath because God commanded us to keep 45:38 the Sabbath. 45:45 It's the crowning, it's the cherry of top of the sundae. 45:48 It commemorates creation. 45:55 Even in death, Christ kept the Sabbath. 45:58 Luke 4:16; it was His custom to keep 46:01 the Sabbath while He was alive, He kept it up 46:03 even through death, rose on the first day of the week. 46:12 As I've said before, Luke 4:16. 46:27 About 100 years after Christ, we get an epistle of Barnabas. 46:32 Pseudepigrapha, from Egypt, from Alexandria, 46:34 not part of the Bible, where they talk about 46:37 keeping the first day, or rather, keeping the 8th day. 46:40 They kept 8 days, but there's only 7 days. 46:43 God made 7 days at creation. 46:44 You can't add to it, you can't subtract form it, 46:46 always has been, always will be 7 days, and those days 46:51 are ordained by God. 46:54 Let's look at the commandments of nowhere. 47:03 So the Sabbath is the Sabbath. Sabbath will always be 47:07 the Sabbath because God made it. 47:19 So it still carries a sanctity of God. 47:26 When God blesses you, you're blessed. 47:29 Nobody can take your blessing away. God put a blessing 47:32 on the Sabbath, nothing you can do with it, 47:34 it's just plain blessed. Amen? Amen! 47:55 He said: "This is the day. " 47:57 He never took it back, it's still the day, 48:00 can we praise the Lord? 48:07 He said: "Come together. " Doug talked about this 48:09 last night, don't stay home in your house, you've got to 48:12 come together and be with God, because there's a special 48:15 blessing in unity - amen? 48:18 God promised a special blessing on the Sabbath day. 48:24 I'm down to 1.5 minutes, so I've got to go through this. 48:27 Ever get a letter from a secret admirer? 48:34 I got one when I was pastoring. Yeah 48:39 You get a letter from a secret admirer, sent it 48:41 with cologne and perfume. 48:43 The person says: "I've been watching you. " 48:45 "I've been studying you. " 48:47 "I know all about you. I know what you like. " 48:50 "I know what you eat. I know where you live," 48:53 "and I think I'll be just perfect for you. " 48:58 "I've watched you, and I really care about you. " 49:01 "In fact, I think I love you. " 49:04 And they give you a name, but they just give you this name, 49:09 they never identify themselves, 49:13 they never close the deal. 49:18 You've just got this love letter 49:20 from somebody out there 49:22 who's watching your every move and says they know 49:25 they're perfect for you. But what can you do with that? 49:30 Nothing. 49:31 'Cos all you have is a name. 49:34 They haven't closed the deal. 49:36 Well without the 4th commandment 49:41 the 10 commandments are a letter 49:45 from a secret admirer. 49:47 You've got all this wonderful stuff. 49:50 There's somebody out there who loves you. 49:53 Cares about you, been watching you, 49:57 knows all about you, but they don't close the deal. 50:01 They never make the date. 50:04 In commandment Nr. 4 God introduces Himself 50:10 and makes the date, without Him, without Nr. 4, 50:15 we wouldn't even know who wrote the 10 commandments. 50:20 A letter from a secret admirer. 50:24 Shall we pray. Father God. 50:25 We thank you for your word, a lamp unto our feet, 50:28 a light unto our path. Give us an understanding 50:31 of these 10 commandments. Help us to live out 50:34 this 4th one, this most special of commandments. 50:37 We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen. 50:55 There are days when I feel 51:02 the best of me 51:06 is ready to begin 51:10 Then they're days when I feel 51:17 I'm letting go and soaring 51:22 on the wind. 51:25 I've learned in laughter 51:29 or in pain how to survive 51:38 I get on my knees, 51:44 I get on my knees 51:50 There I am before the love 51:54 that changes me 52:01 I don't know how 52:03 but there's power 52:06 when I'm on my knees 52:21 I can be in a crowd 52:27 or by myself 52:29 or almost anywhere 52:34 When I feel that there's a need 52:41 to talk with God, 52:44 He is Emmanuel 52:49 When I close my eyes, 52:52 no darkness there 52:56 There's only light 53:01 I get on my knees, 53:08 I get on my knees 53:14 There I am before the love 53:19 that changes me 53:26 I don't know how but there's power 53:31 in the blue skies, 53:36 in the midnight hour 53:39 I don't know how 53:43 but there's power, 53:47 there is power 53:51 there's power, power 53:57 wonder working power 54:01 in the blood, Oh thank you Lord, 54:06 of the Lamb 54:09 Oh, there is power 54:14 power 54:16 wonder working power 54:20 in the precious blood 54:25 of the Lamb 54:34 I don't know how, but there's power 54:40 when I'm on my knees |
Revised 2014-12-17