{"id":18553,"date":"2020-09-13T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-09-13T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/genesis-007-the-sanctity-of-the-sabbath\/"},"modified":"2020-09-13T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2020-09-13T05:00:00","slug":"genesis-007-the-sanctity-of-the-sabbath","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/genesis-007-the-sanctity-of-the-sabbath\/","title":{"rendered":"Genesis 007 – The Sanctity of the Sabbath"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[12],"series_event":[511],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-18553","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-genesis","series_event-genesis","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Genesis 007 - The Sanctity of the Sabbath","sermon_date":"20200913","sermon_month":"9","sermon_year":"2020","sermon_notes":8430,"sermon_slides":8431,"sermon_mp3":8432,"sermon_id":"91320125182330","series_or_event":511,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":12,"chapter_and_verse":"2:1-3","sermon_transcript":"Genesis #7\nThe Sanctity of the Sabbath\nGenesis 2:1-3\nSeptember 13, 2020\nDr. Andy Woods\n\nLet's take our Bibles and open them to the Book of Genesis. Look at this--Genesis 2! Can you believe it? We are really moving lightspeed here, aren\u2019t we? Genesis 2:1-3. The title of our message this morning is, \u201cThe Sanctity of the Sabbath.\u201d Let me amend that. Let's call it this:\u00a0 \u201cRecovering the Sanctity of the Sabbath.\u201d\n\nIf you've been following along with us, you know exactly where we are in the Book of Genesis. We are in Genesis, the first part of the Book, chapters 1-11, which is the story of the beginning of the human race. And that section has different parts to it, but we are just in that first subsection of Creation.\n\nGenesis 1, which we emerged from last week, and also into Genesis 2:3, is essentially an overview of the six days of Creation. We\u2019ll see today God resting on the seventh day. Once we finish verse 3, the next time I'm with you we will be in Genesis 2 where it will no longer focus on the six days of Creation, but it will focus on Day Six completely. More on that as the study unfolds.\n\nBy way of review, we saw Genesis 1:1, \u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens<\/em> [plural-- important for today] and the earth<\/em>.\u201d So the totality of everything that exists came into existence with the spoken Word of God as the heavens and earth leapt into existence at God's Word.\n\nThen you move to verse 2, and you have a description of that Creation in its unfilled, unformed state. We used the example of a potter who has a lump of clay. And it's exciting to see what that talented potter is going to do with that lump of clay.\n\nIt's like a canvas. The canvas has come into existence. You put it in front of a Michelangelo, and you're just excited to see what he's going to do with that canvas. That, in essence, is what you have described there in verse 2. There isn\u2019t anything wrong<\/em> with Creation; it just hasn't been filled and formed yet.\n\nThen we go from Genesis 1:3 all the way through Genesis 2:3, where God starts to fill and to form. Day One? Light comes into existence. Day Two? Water and sky come into existence. Day Three? Land and vegetation come into existence. That's the shaping.\n\nAnd then God begins to populate. Day Four? The sun, moon, and the stars come into existence. Day Five? The sea animals and birds come into existence. Finally, we get to Day Six where land animals come into existence. And we now have the pinnacle of God's creative order\u2014humanity\u2014mankind\u2014male and female.\n\nHumanity represents the height of everything that God has made thus far that we can visibly see in Genesis 1 as man is made\u2014and woman. Notice, male and female are made together in the very image of God. No orangutan can say that. Certainly not even an angel can say that! But humans can say that.\n\nAnd God looks back on everything that He had created, and He doesn't just say, in verse 31, end of the chapter, \u201cIt's good.\u201d He says what? \u201cIt was very good.\u201d Which means that statement backs up to Genesis 1:1. Remember Genesis 1:1? \u201cIn the beginning God created<\/em>\u2026\u201d What does it say? It doesn't say the \u201cheaven.\u201d It says the \u201cheavens\u201d and the earth.\n\nThe Hebrew word for heavens there is SHAMAYIM. In Hebrew whenever you see that \u201cim\u201d ending on a noun, it's like having the letter S at the end of a noun in English; it connotes plurality. What is coming into existence with these six days is not just the earth\u2014the ERETS\u2014and the heaven, or skies, but it's the \u201cheavens,\u201d plural.\n\nThe Greeks divided up the heavens into three different parts. There's the part from the earth to the clouds. Then there is the part from the clouds to the stars. And then there's the part beyond the stars where God Himself dwells. That's the significance of 2 Corinthians 12, where the Apostle Paul was caught up<\/em> to that third heaven! By the way, any moment in time you could be caught up to that third heaven. Did you know that? It's called the Rapture of the church.\n\nSo what God has brought into existence in these six days is not just what we can see; it's the realm of the spiritual that we cannot see. And that's why it's very clear that everything was good in the heavens, the SHAMAYIM, plural. Which means that\u2026 Contrary to most models, I don't think Satan has fallen yet.\n\nWe went over this a little bit last time. It's very difficult for me to believe that Satan has fallen and deceived one third of the angels into falling with him if, in fact, everything is good in the SHAMAYIM\u2014in the heavens. I've quoted Renald Showers. You can go back to last week and review.\n\nShowers says, \u201cThese things [Genesis 1:31] prompt the conclusion that Satan's fall took place in the interval between the end of Creation and the fall of man.\u201d Clearly, Satan has fallen by the time we get to Genesis 3 because Satan comes into Eden as a talking snake or a serpent. We know that that serpent is Satan; Revelation 12:9 tells us that, as does Revelation 20:2.\n\nSo Satan, by the time you get to Genesis 3, is clearly in a fallen state, but that was not the original design of God. In fact, by the time you get beyond the six days of Creation, everything is not just \u201cgood\u201d; it's \u201cvery good,\u201d including in the SHAMAYIM\u2014the highest heaven that Satan once indwelled. Everything is functioning exactly as it is supposed to function.\n\nFrom there we moved to Genesis 2:1-3, where God now has brought everything into existence\u2014the heavens and the earth. He has shaped it and populated it exactly as He wanted. There is no flaw in it; there is no rebellion in it whatsoever.\n\nFinally we come Day Seven which is what we\u2019re going to look at today, found in Genesis 2:1-3. Notice, if you will, Genesis chapter 2:1\u2014it's kind of a summary statement looking backward. \u201cThus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts<\/em>.\u201d Now, there's a word most people just skip right over.\n\nMost commentators\u2014it\u2019s very interesting\u2014attach almost no significance to that word at all, because to them the \u201chosts\u201d is just the luminaries\u2014the sun and the moon and the stars that God brought into existence on Day Four. And I think the word \u201chosts\u201d can refer to the sun and the moon and the stars. But what is interesting, if you do a word study on \u201chost\u201d or \u201chosts,\u201d you can see that it just doesn't refer to stars.\n\nIt can also refer to the angelic kingdom. For example, over in 1 Kings 22:19 it says, \u201cMicaiah said, \u2018Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him on His right and on His left.<\/em>\u2019 \u201d That's a statement there, later on in the Old Testament, about the angelic kingdom, the angelic realm. So, can \u201chosts\u201d refer just to stars and the sun and the moon and the planets? Yes, it can. But it also has a much broader meaning where it can refer to the angels themselves.\n\nAnd I believe that a passage like this\u2014although skipped over by a lot of people\u2014opens the door to the idea that God didn't just create what we can see in the six days of Creation. Also in that Creation week, He brought forth the angelic kingdom itself. After all, Genesis 1:1 says, \u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens\u2026\u201d Not \u201cheaven.\u201d \u201cHeavens,\u201d which would include the angelic realm, the angelic kingdom.\n\nIn fact, \u201cheavens and earth\u201d\u2014here's the fancy word for the day\u2014is a merism. A merism is a figure of speech where you're describing the outer limits of something, and by definition it would include everything in between. It's like when the Bible says that the Lord watches over me when I rise up, and the Lord watches over me when I lie down.\n\nSo I guess the Lord just watches over me when the alarm clock goes off and then when I put my head on the pillow at the end of the day\u2014moving into night? God's watching over me just then also, right? No\u2014it's a merism; it would include everything in between. When it says, in Genesis 1:1, \u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth<\/em>,\u201d that's one of the most powerful merisms that you can find in Hebrew Bible. And it\u2019s describing the totality of God's Creation\u2014including the angelic realm. That's why \u201cheavens\u201d is plural there in Genesis 1:1.\n\nIn Jeremiah 23:24 God declares, \u201c \u2018Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?<\/em>\u2019 \u201d God is omnipotent; He is everywhere at the same time. So that's a merism there describing God's omnipotence. And that is the identical merism that you have in Genesis 1:1. It means everything that's created.\n\nAnd we know that angels are created\u2014just like humans. More on that in a minute; Colossians 1:16-17 tells us that. But everything God created\u2014including the human realm\u2014including the angelic realm\u2014came into existence not at different time increments, as we\u2019re commonly taught to believe, but during the six weeks of Creation.\n\nYou see the same argument being made by Moses\u2014the same author\u2014in Exodus 20:11 where it says, \u201cFor in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth<\/em> [there\u2019s our merism], the sea and all that is in them<\/em>\u2026\u201d You take Exodus 20:11 and Genesis 1:1, put them side-by-side, and I think you have a very good case that everything<\/em> God created\u2014not just the things that we can see, but things in the invisible realm\u2014things in the spiritual realm\u2014things in the angelic realm\u2014came into existence during the six 24-hour days of Creation.\n\nNow, what I've just explained might be a shock to some folks because it's contrary to the model that you've learned. I know this to be true because I was always taught to believe that God created the angels a long time ago\u2014let's say a billion years ago. They\u2019ve been in the presence of the Lord singing His praises for a billion years. And then God finally got about to the business of creating our world, and that's what God did in Genesis 1. I don't think that's what's happening.\n\nI don't think anything<\/em> existed\u2014including the angels themselves\u2014until God began creating, shaping, and populating in six 24-hour days. Because if the angels came into existence a long time ago, then how do you explain Exodus 20:11, which clearly indicates that everything God created came into existence in the days of Creation.\n\nHow do you explain the merism of Genesis 1:1 which indicates that everything God created\u2014including the angels\u2014including the heavens\u2014came into existence during these six 24-hour days of Creation? The passage that everybody uses to say that the angels existed a long time before man is Job 38:4-7. Job, of course, is the oldest book of the Bible, and it's a section of the Bible where God gives Job a quiz.\n\nHow would you like a pop quiz\u2026from God\u2026just to show you how little you understand? Because in the Book of Job, Job and his three friends all thought they understood everything that was happening in Job's life. And God's point is, \u201cYou don't know anything. And I'll prove it to you by giving you a quiz.\u201d In that quiz, the very first question God asks relates to Creation. He says, \u201c \u2018Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?<\/em>\u2019 \u201d (Job 38:4)\n\nThen verse 7 says, \u201c \u2018When the morning stars sang together And all the sons of God shouted for joy?<\/em>\u2019 \u201d So the typical reading of this is, \u201cThe angels already existed\u2014created by God a long time ago. Then when God got into the business of creating the foundation of the earth, the angels\u2014already in existence\u2014saw what God was doing and they began to praise the Lord. Therefore\u2014case closed\u2014the angels existed long before our world.\u201d That's the model I was taught.\n\nI've moved away from it because I don't think it harmonizes with all the biblical data. Riding to my rescue here is Renald Showers, a well-known theologian. He's with the Lord now, but he was with the Friends of Israel. His book on angels is the very best book, I think, that's ever been written on the subject. And He says this, \u201cIt [Genesis 1:1; Exodus 20:11] strongly implies that the angels were created within the scope of the six days of creation of Genesis 1, not before or after those days\u2026\u201d\n\nRenald Showers continues, \u201cThus the angels were created by God on the first day of the six days of creation, but before the earth was created on that same day.\u201d So on Day One\u2014heavens and earth. Look at the order: heavens first; earth second. \u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth<\/em>.\u201d He brought the spiritual realm into existence\u2014including the angelic realm.\n\n\u201cIn the beginning God created the heavens and the earth<\/em>.\u201d Heavens first, earth second, angels in existence first day of Creation, and now God creates the earth on the same day. Twenty-four hours is a long day when you think about it. I mean, a lot can happen in 24 hours. And when the angels who had just been created saw the hand of God bringing the earth into existence, they erupted into praise! That's how to handle Job 38:4-7.\n\nThere is absolutely nothing here that demands that the angels existed billions of years before the earth. Showers goes on and says, \u201cThus, the angels were created by God on the first day of the six days of creation, but before the earth was created on that same day. It is interesting to note the order of Moses\u2019 statement in Genesis 1:1. He referred to the heavens first, then the earth. It would appear that early on the first day God created the heavens\u2026\u201d The SHAMAYIM, including the unfallen angelic realm.\n\nHow many angels are there, exactly? Well, the Bible says 10,000\u00d710,000; they\u2019re innumerable. They\u2019re clearly created beings. Christ brought them into existence early on in Day One, and Showers says, \u201cIt would appear that early on the first day God created the heavens. Later on that day He created the angels to inhabit the heavens. Still later on that first day He created the earth in its undeveloped, uninhabited state.\u201d\n\nSo, first the heavens come into existence, then the angels come into existence, and the earth comes into existence. \u201cAnd you\u2019re telling me that God did all that in one day?\u201d Why not? He's God, isn\u2019t He?\n\nThis model, which is different than probably what you've heard, harmonizes really well with Hebrews 1:14 which, of the angels, says this, \u201cAre they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?<\/em>\u201d Who is it that\u2019s going to inherit salvation? Isn\u2019t that you? Isn\u2019t that me?\n\nAnd isn't it interesting that that's one of the reasons God brought the angels into existence? To help us. Anybody here need help? I need help. My wife tells me, quite frequently, \u201cYou know why the woman is called the \u201chelpmate\u201d? Because men need help. I need a lot of help in my life.\n\nAnd it's interesting to me that God specifically brought the angels into existence to render service to those who will inherit salvation. So if that is their purpose, why would they exist a billion years before man even showed up? It just doesn't make sense.\n\nSo, to put the whole thing together, what I'm seeing there in Genesis 2:1 is a summary statement of everything God brought into existence, including the angels themselves, during the Creation week. And Satan is still in an unfallen state. He hasn't fallen yet, and that's the best way to explain Genesis 1:31. Now, would I start a new church over this issue? Probably not. You know, \u201cWe\u2019re the First Church of the Angels Coming into Existence During the Creation Week.\u201d It's not a matter of parting fellowship with people that view it differently. But whatever model you adopt ,try to adopt the one that answers the most questions.\n\nWe move away from Genesis 2:1 and move into the Sabbath day, verses 2-3. Notice what Genesis 2:2-3 says, \u201cBy the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.<\/em>\u201d Creation, once you move into Day Seven, is complete. God is now resting, or ceasing from activity, on Day Seven.\n\nThere is certainly a lot of work there in Days One through Six. Look at what God did. But the seventh day is different, because God ceases from His labor in Creation. So let's talk a little bit about this. For starters, \u201cWhy would God have to rest from His activity in Creation?\u201d Well, obviously, He was tired, right? Needed a day off. No\u2014that can't be true because God is omnipotent! He is all-powerful. Why, then, would God need to cease from His creative work on the seventh day? The answer is: God deliberately did it this way as a pattern for us.\n\nYou'll notice in Exodus 20:8-11 that the whole week\u2014in this case it's the Hebrew workweek\u2014but you can apply this, I think, to any week, even in the year 2020\u2014is deliberately set up based on how God patterned things in Creation. Moses would say to the children of Israel in Exodus 20:8-11, \u201c \u2018Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath<\/em> [the Hebrew there is SHABBAT] of the Lord your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.<\/em>\u2019 \u201d Now, \u201cWhy? Why do we have to do it that way, Moses? Why can't we just sort of invent our own reality?\u201d Because there is a pattern that God has established in Creation.\n\n11 \u201c \u2018For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.<\/em>\u2019 \u201d See, it's interesting. A lot of people say, \u201cYou really believe that God created the heavens and the earth so fast<\/em>?! Do you really believe He did it in six 24-hour days?\u201d And the reason they ask that question is that we've all been conditioned with evolution. Evolution is basically the idea, \u201cFrom the goo to you by way of the zoo over billions of years.\u201d We've all been taught to think this way.\n\nSo, therefore, God could not have created the heavens and the earth so quickly in six 24-hour days. We know that everything takes a long time. My question, in response, is not \u201cWhy did God do it so quickly?\u201d But, \u201cWhat took Him so long?\u201d I mean, why did He deliberately stretch out the process for six 24-hour days when He Himself is God and He could've done it with just a single spoken word. What we learn here is that God did it for our benefit as a pattern for us.\n\nThere's another passage that speaks of this. Exodus 31:15-17 says virtually the same thing. It says, \u201cFor six days work may be done<\/em> [as Moses is speaking to the children of Israel], but on the seventh day there is a sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord; whoever does any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death.<\/em>\u201d Wow! It sounds like God is pretty serious about this!\n\n16 <\/em>\u201cSo the sons of Israel shall observe the sabbath, to celebrate the sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.\u2019 17 It is a sign between Me and the sons of Israel forever<\/em>\u2026\u201d Why, Lord, are You so serious about the children of Israel resting on the Sabbath?\n\nContinuing verse 17, \u201c\u2026for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day He ceased from labor, and was refreshed<\/em>.\u201d God has put into motion a principle of life. The principle of life is this: You work six days, and you rest on the seventh day.\n\nNow, isn't it interesting that when God gives commandments and we rebel against those commandments, we think we\u2019re cheating God. \u201cGee, I'm to get even with God today. I\u2019m going to disobey one of His commandments.\u201d The fact of the matter is, those commandments exist for our own good!\n\nDeuteronomy 10:13 says, \u201cand to keep the Lord\u2019s commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good?<\/em>\u201d When God gives us rules and regulations to follow, it's not to stifle us; it\u2019s to protect us. And a lot of times they are designed to protect us from our own selves and our own tendencies. It would be like driving out this afternoon on the street and I just decide, \u201cYou know what? These stop signs and red lights are just too cumbersome to my freedom. I'm going to ignore the rules! I\u2019m going to ignore the regulations! I\u2019m going to just drive however I want\u2014whenever I want\u2014into whoever I want.\u201d And the foolishness of that, of course, is you know the end of that story. There's good to be a fatality. There\u2019s going to be an accident of some kind. You might even kill your own self in the process.\n\nAnd if we can understand that with stop signs and streetlights, certainly we can understand this with the rules of the Creator for humanity. God didn't give these rules to make our lives miserable; He gave us these rules for our protection!\n\nSo, the Sabbath principle\u2014work six days, rest on the seventh day\u2014how does that protect us? Well, let's ask an authority on the issue\u2014not Dr. Phil. But let's ask Jesus Christ Himself. There is nobody that understands the Sabbath better than Jesus. Why is that? Because Matthew 12:8 calls Him, as the Son of Man, the Lord of the Sabbath.\n\nWhy is Jesus called the Lord of the Sabbath? Contrary to what many false religions will teach you, Jesus is not a created being but; He Himself is the Creator. John 1:3, of Christ, says \u201cAll things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being<\/em>.\u201d\n\nColossians 1:16-17 says, \u201cFor by Him all things were created, both in the heavens<\/em> [that would be the angels] and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities\u2014all things have been created through Him and for Him<\/em>.\u201d As we read through the creative work of God in Genesis 1, Jesus, the eternally existent Second Member of the Trinity, was there doing the creating. He wasn't there as a consultant. He was there breathing these very things into existence. So when the Sabbath itself comes into existence, that is the handiwork of Jesus Christ. And so there is no One better to interpret the Sabbath for us than this Man, Jesus Christ.\n\nAnd here's what the architect of the Sabbath said in Mark 2:27, \u201cJesus said to them, \u2018The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath<\/em>.\u2019 \u201d \u00a0The Sabbath was made for man. The Sabbath was given as a blessing to man.\n\nAnd it's interesting. As you get into the New Testament you see Christ getting into scuffles or arguments\u2014or theological tangles so to speak\u2014disputes\u2014debates with the Pharisees. Nine times out of 10, what's the issue in those disputes? It\u2019s the Sabbath. And it usually relates to Christ coming up and healing someone on the Sabbath, feeding His disciples on the Sabbath.\n\nThe Pharisees come along and say, \u201cYou're breaking our rules. You're breaking our traditions.\u201d And Christ's point is, \u201cYou Pharisees\u2014you religious leaders\u2014don't even know what the Sabbath is about. I know because I'm the one that brought the Sabbath into existence. The Sabbath's original intent was to be a blessing<\/em> to man, and you have turned it into the enslavement<\/em> of man.\n\nThat's why it is ridiculous that you pull your ox out of the ditch on the Sabbath, and yet you get upset at Me because I heal a man, who is an image bearer of God, on the Sabbath. You have lost sight of the original intent of the Sabbath.\u201d\n\nLet me taste something, Beloved. That is exactly what legalism will do! Legalism will get you so caught up in following this maze of extra biblical regulations<\/em> that what starts to happen is the tail starts to wag the dog. And this is what happened with Jesus in the first century as He was dealing with these Pharisees. They were so focused on the rules and the regulations which probably started off well-intentioned\u2014everything we know of those vast rules that the Pharisees had passed. But they had lost sight of what the Sabbath is about.\n\n\u201cOf course I can feed My disciples on the Sabbath. Of course I can heal a man on the Sabbath because I'm the architect of the Sabbath. I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. I am the Creator of the Sabbath.\u201d In Mark 2:27 Christ says, \u201c \u2018The Sabbath was made for man<\/em>\u2026\u2019 \u201d\n\nThere is a general principle that the Creator has established for everyone<\/em>, I believe. Because what we\u2019re reading here\u2014 not in Exodus but in Genesis\u2014is pre-Israel. Israel doesn't even exist yet as a nation. The calling of Abraham doesn't even occur until Genesis 12. We\u2019re still here in Genesis 2:1-3.\n\nIn fact, as fast as we\u2019re moving, we may not even get over to Genesis 12\u2014prior to the Rapture, anyway. But sign up for my Bible class in heaven and I'll try to fill in the gaps. Of course, then you\u2019re going to have Christ teaching you, so you won't need me to teach you. But the fact of the matter is, Israel doesn't exist yet. This is something that God established for the benefit of the world, for the benefit of humanity.\n\nThere's a tremendous balance in the Bible. Ever since I've been studying the Bible, this is something about the Bible that I've always been impressed by; it\u2019s a Book of tremendous balance. First of all, it does not advocate sloth or laziness. Certainly, the Bible can't do that, because Proverbs 10:4 says, \u201cLazy hands make a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth<\/em>.\u201d\n\nPaul the apostle said in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, \u201cFor even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either<\/em>.\u201d There is no document that teaches productivity, and industry, and hard work more than the Bible! But at the same time, we can get ourselves into a mindset where we work ourselves right into the grave.\n\nThus you have the Sabbath being articulated that, \u201cYes, the Bible promotes industry and creativity and hard work. But here's what it does not promote; it does not promote workaholism, where work becomes a god in a sense.\u201d We work seven days, and the next week comes. And we work seven days, and the next day comes. And we work seven days\u2014because we\u2019re trying to get ahead. The Bible doesn't promote that either! There's tremendous balance.\n\nThe fact of the matter is you were designed by God for rest. We were not designed to work, and work, and work, and work with no rest whatsoever. In fact, over in Mark 6:31 Jesus said this to His disciples, \u201c \u2018Come away by yourselves to a secluded place and rest a while<\/em>.\u2019 \u201d I would say that the Lord is saying that to some of us in this room\u2014or anybody listening. \u201cYou're too active. You need to come apart to a solitary place and rest for a while.\u201d\n\nOne of my favorite commentators put it this way, \u201cIf we don't come apart, we will fall apart.\u201d For the simple reason that we were never designed by God for workaholism. The Sabbath principle, if it teaches anything, teaches that.\n\nProbably about 20 years ago I was sitting in a seminary class in California, and I had a professor who said something that completely revolutionized my whole life. He said this to the class, \u201cLook, people who work seven days a week actually accomplish less than the people who work six days a week and rest on the seventh.\u201d Why is that? Because people that work seven days a week are living outside of their design. They\u2019re living outside of the Sabbath principle.\n\nBut people who work six days and rest on the seventh typically accomplish more in a week because they\u2019re more rested; they\u2019re more energized. I heard that as a young person, and my whole life at that time was completely the opposite. I was going five\u2014almost six\u2014different ways, thinking I was doing the Lord\u2019s work.\n\nI remember after the class sort of confronting this professor and saying, \u201cWell, you know what? If you look at my work schedule, if you look at my ministry schedule, if you look at my schooling schedule, I can't take a day off! And he said this in response, \u201cWell, who do you trust? Do you trust God? Or do you trust your schedule?\u201d End of story.\n\nBecause I was organizing my life based on what seemed right in my own eyes. No wonder I was tired. No wonder I was burning out. No wonder I was frustrated. No wonder I was thin-skinned and over-reactionary. I was living outside of the design that God has given us where we work six days and rest on the seventh. That's the Sabbath principle. That's why this principle is designed by God as a blessing to man.\n\nNow we all know that the day of the week changed in the New Testament. For 1500 years the nation of Israel, as they were given the Law at Mount Sinai, followed the Sabbath principle. They worked six days and they rested on the seventh day.\n\nWe don't have time to read it all, but jot down Exodus 16:21-30 where the Sabbath principle for the Jews related to manna on the ground. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to have manna on the ground on the Sabbath, because you\u2019re not supposed to be out collecting it on the Sabbath! By the way, don't hoard the manna because you're supposed to be depending on God day by day. But you can collect for the next day\u2014only if it's one day before the Sabbath.\u201d\n\nSo, for 1500 years the Jews honored the Sabbath. In fact, when you go to Israel\u2026 I say \u201cwhen\u201d not \u201cif,\u201d because you're going there anyway in the Millennial Kingdom. So you might as well go over today and get the lay of the land.\n\nWhen you go to the land of Israel today, they have in the Israeli hotels what is called the Shabbat elevator. You walk into this elevator and every single button on the elevator has been pushed, and you think to yourself, \u201cObviously one of those kids got in here and played a prank.\u201d Like the pranks you used to pull when you we're that age\u2014so don't act too \u201cholier than thou\u201d as I'm saying this.\n\nYou think, \u201cSome kid got in here, pulled a prank, and touched every single button on the elevator,\u201d when the fact of the matter is that the elevator is designed that way for the Shabbat. It\u2019s called a Shabbat elevator. Why? Because you're not supposed to work<\/em> that particular day. You\u2019re not supposed to push the buttons. And on that particular day there is functioning this Shabbat elevator.\n\nDoes God take the Sabbath seriously? Let me tell you something: He took it very seriously for the Jews. We learn, later on in biblical history, that the Jews went into Babylonian captivity for how many years? 70 years. Not 69 years. Not 72 years. Exactly 70! Where does that number come from? You'll find it in 2 Chronicles 36:20-21 which says, \u201cHe carried into exile to Babylon the remnant, who escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and his successors until the kingdom of Persia came to power. 21 The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed<\/em>\u2026\u201d (NIV)\n\nYou see, the Jews didn't just have a weekly Sabbath. They were supposed to allow the land to rest every seventh year. They were not supposed to harvest crops. Humans get a rest; the land gets a rest. And they just decided to ignore it! \u201cOh, we\u2019re going to live our lives the way we want!\u201d And they violated 70 Sabbath years.\n\nThere were 70 years that the land was supposed to rest, and they didn't allow it. And God says, \u201cI'm a pretty good scorekeeper.\u201d So on the eve of the Babylonian captivity, as He is speaking through Jeremiah in 2 Chronicles 36:20-21, \u201cEvery year you did not allow the land to have a rest is a year you will be out of the land in Babylon. Then once the land has its rest\u2014which you didn't let it have\u2014you\u2019ll come back into the land of Israel.\u201d See, the whole 70 year captivity is based on the Sabbath principle.\n\nOf course, the nation of Israel flees into the wilderness in the second half of the Tribulation period after the Antichrist desecrates the temple. Jesus says this, \u201cBut pray that your flight will not be in the winter, or on a Sabbath<\/em>.\u201d Because the Jews are not supposed to move on a Sabbath; they\u2019re not supposed to be active on a Sabbath. So if you flee on the Sabbath, you'll be violating the Sabbath principle.\n\nNow it's interesting. When we get to the New Testament, Jesus rose from the dead on which day of the week? The first day. John 20:1 says, \u201cNow on the first day of the week<\/em>\u2026\u201d It goes on and it describes Mary and her encounter with the resurrected Christ.\n\nJohn 20:19 is very clear, \u201c\u2026on that day, the first day of the week\u2026\u201d Now, here is something very interesting. In John 20:26 it says, \u201cAfter eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, \u2018Peace be with you<\/em>.\u2019 \u201d\n\nExactly eight days later, Christ walked through a wall in His resurrected body, and He ministered to His disciples. They were in the Upper Room again, eight days later.\n\nThomas Constable says this, \u201cJohn located this post-resurrection appearance on the eighth day after (seven days later) Easter Sunday, namely, the following Sunday. His \u201ceight days\u201d (Gr. hemeras okto<\/em>) evidently included both Sundays. Perhaps he identified the day because, by the time John wrote, Sunday had become the day of worship for Christians, when they commemorated Jesus\u2019 resurrection. They worshiped Him on Easter Sunday, then again the following Sunday, and then on succeeding Sundays from then on (cf. Acts 20:7). However, Sunday worship has its roots in tradition rather than commandment.\u201d\n\nSo what happens to these believing disciples? Now they are no longer working six days and resting on the last day of the week, the Shabbat. They change the Shabbat\u2014or the Sabbath\u2014from the last day of the week, which they had been practicing for 1500 years, and this remnant moves it to the first day of the week\u2014Sunday.\n\nPeople are always asking, \u201cHow do you know the resurrection happened ?\u201d Let me tell you something, these are Jews; these people are stuck in their ways! For 1500 years it had been like that, and they shifted the day of the Sabbath on the calendar from the last day to the first day because something historical happened: Jesus bodily rose from the dead. And ever since that point in time, Christians have met on the first day of the week.\n\nIn other words, our Shabbat, our Sabbath, is on the first day of the week. Acts 20:17, \u201cOn the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight.<\/em>\u201d You guys should be thanking the Lord that Paul is not your pastor and that your pastor preaches such short sermons.\n\nBut you'll notice that the Sabbath for the Church Age for the Christian is on the first day of the week. Go over to 1 Corinthians 16:2. It says, \u201cNow concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.<\/em>\u201d\n\nChristianity started meeting on the first day of the week; that is the Christian Sabbath. That is proof of the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. The United States of America, contrary to what all of the politically correct theorists are telling you today, was founded on a Christian basis.\n\nThere used to be something in the United States of America called Sunday Closing Laws. Some of you may remember those. Businesses were shut down. Gas stations were shut down. Because it was assumed that everybody would be in church, worshiping the Lord on the first day of the week, as was the case for 2000 years of church history and Christian history.\n\nIn fact, this concept of the Sabbath is found in your own United States Constitution. Did you know that? Have you been reading your Constitution lately? How are you going to know if everybody's stealing things away from you unless you know what the document says? Read it! It's going to take you 11 pages to read it. Compare that to Obamacare, which is what? 3000 pages?\n\nOur founders set up our Republic in 11 pages, including the Bill of Rights. And this is what it says in Article 1, Section 7, Paragraph 2 of the United States Constitution. It says, \u201cIf any bill should not be returned by the President within ten days (Sundays excepted) after it shall have been presented to him, the same shall be a law in like manner as if he had signed it.\u201d\n\nIn other words, if the legislative arm of government passes a piece of legislation, and it goes to the President's desk, the President can do one of three things. He can veto it, he can sign it into law, or he can do nothing.\n\nIf he does nothing, that piece of legislation takes on the force of law after ten days. \u201cBy the way, in that ten day count we\u2019re not going to include what? Sunday. Because that's the Lord's day.\u201d And it's assumed that the President of United States, the leader of our Christian Republic, obviously would be in church and not be working on Sunday. This is the foundation of the United States.\n\nThere are a lot of people today running around saying, \u201cThe United States Constitution has nothing to do with God! Nothing to do with Christianity!\u201d Well, where did they get this little idea from? I mean, it looks to me like our founding fathers were reading the exact biblical passages that we are looking at this morning.\n\nSo what has the United States of America done with all of this? They\u2019ve said, \u201cWe\u2019re too smart for all of this!\u201d And any business would say, \u201cIf I kept my doors closed on Sunday, it would be commercial suicide. Let's keep the businesses open! Let's keep the malls open! Let's keep industry open! Let's keep commerce open!\u201d\n\nAnd what has happened to the United States of America? More heart attacks. More blood pressure. More cardiovascular problems than you can shake a stick at because were living outside of how God designed us. God said, \u201cWork six days and rest on the seventh day.\u201d And if you don't do that, you're living outside of your design. Your god\u2014little G\u2014has now become workaholism because you think you can get ahead. In reality, you're hurting yourself; you're killing yourself in the process.\n\nToday we have people running around, graffitiing statues based on the United States of America, our founding fathers\u2014Abraham Lincoln.\u201d Let's tear down the statues! Let's graffiti over them!\u201d In fact, the city Council locally just passed an ordinance that says, \u201cWe\u2019re going to tear down every street in our area that happens to have the word \u201cplantation\u201d in it, because that reminds us of slavery. And any street that reminds us of a Confederate General? We\u2019re going to tear that down as well!\u201d\n\nThis is not just happening locally; it's happening all over the country. This is called the \u201ccancel culture\u201d movement. And everybody involved in the cancel culture movement thinks they're so smart! They think they're trying something new. And I'm here to tell you that the cancel culture movement is absolutely nothing new! They tried this already; it\u2019s called the French Revolution.\n\nDid you know that as the American Revolution was happening\u2014roughly the same period of time\u2014not exactly\u2014give or take a few decades. But generally the same period of time, there was something else happening across the pond in Europe called the French Revolution. If you want to understand where the cancel culture movement is taking the United States, study the French Revolution. It's all there.\n\nWhat was the French Revolution? It was designed to create a world without God in it at all. One author sums it up this way, \u201cThe seven-day week was replaced with a week of ten days, with the results that Sunday as a day of rest and Christian worship was eliminated. The French calendar was also changed to reflect the new and Christian spirit of the revolution. The convention voted on October 5, 1793 to abolish the Christian calendar and replace it with a Republican calendar. The founding of the Republic on September 22, 1792 was the beginning of a new era and a new year one.\u201d Forget Jesus and how He marked the calendar. We\u2019ll just pretend that the calendar starts September 22, 1792.\n\n\u201cInstead of the birth of Jesus being the focal point of history, the founding day of the new French Republic would define how time would be kept.\u201d\n\nAnother writer says, \u201cWhen it comes to the liberty of conscience, religious liberty and civil liberty, it is interesting to note the vast difference between the American Revolution and the French Revolution. In their revolution, the French cracked down on the church\u2026\u201d Does that sound familiar?\u201d\u2026 confiscated its properties, desecrated the altar at Notre Dame by placing atop of it a naked woman, the symbol of reason.\u201d\n\nIsn\u2019t that what they're doing with all of these statues? Topple them! Tear them down! Replace it with something else.\n\n\u201cThey did away with on anno Domini, \u201cin the year of our Lord,\u201d and made 1792 their year one, the first of the republic, a republic without God, and soon a republic that was subject to chaos and anarchy and finally tyranny.\u201d You don't have to have a PhD in history to know where the cancel culture movement is headed. It's all been tried before.\n\nLet me tell you, in the French Revolution the blood flowed through the streets. That's where this cancel culture movement will take the United States by wanting us to erase every vestige of our past\u2014good or bad.\n\nOne of the things they started to tamper with is this seven-day week. \u201cForget<\/em> this idea that we can work six days and rest on the seventh! We\u2019re going to work ten days!\u201d And how that work for them? Read some of the works of Rabbi Lapin who talks about this. Every negative indicator went up when they went this direction. Heart attacks\u2014up! Divorce\u2014up! Spousal abuse\u2014up! Bodily problems\u2014up! Meltdown of the family\u2014accelerated!\n\nThere was nothing good that came out of it. Why? Because they got a whole culture to live outside of their design. And when you start living outside of your design, the human body will break down. Emotions will break down. Psychologically we break down. Why? It goes back to what Christ said in Mark 2:27 where He clearly indicated that the Sabbath was made for man. You are not designed to work and work and work and work and then move into the next week\u2014and work and work and work and work and move into the next week\u2014and work and work and work and work without having at least a day of solitude.\n\nAs I was looking at this passage, asking the Lord what to say this morning, this is what kept coming to my mind: the sacredness of the Sabbath has been lost. You remember that great movie, don't you, Chariots of Fire<\/em>? They don't make movies like that anymore, have you noticed? Where Eric Liddell turned down a potential opportunity to win an Olympic medal for his country because the race took place on the Sabbath.\n\nHow many Eric Liddell's do we have today? The Sabbath is not respected. The Sabbath is largely marginalized. We see this every Sunday, don't we? Maybe not so much this Sunday, but many Sundays that softball field behind me is jam-packed. You drive by and you see a handful of people at church. You're living in a country and in a culture that has decided to cast aside God's way of doing things. And we\u2019re paying a terrible price for it.\n\nI am very pro sports. I played basketball. I played it seventh grade through college. I learned lessons through sports that I could never learn any other way. But I was never put\u2014in all of that activity\u2014in a position where I had to choose between sports and church. And yet, because of how we have organized American society, those are choices now that people have to make routinely.\n\nI have a pastor friend in Connecticut, and he tells a story about his son when he was very young. He signed him up\u2014I think it was for soccer\u2014and the son was so excited about playing soccer. They got to the front of the registration line, and the father learned that part of playing soccer would be missing a lot of church because the activities are on Sunday. My pastor friend turned to his son\u2014just a child, a little boy\u2014and said, \u201cI'm sorry son. We can't participate.\u201d And he watched the head of that youngster just drop to the ground because that youngster was so excited about playing soccer.\n\nFast forward to the year 2020. Do you know what happened to that son who is now an adult? He is a full-time missionary. Why? Because he learned something from his father; he learned the sanctity of the Sabbath. His father took a stand\u2014a stand against something happening in the culture. Consequently, he's got the spiritual heritage and the spiritual lineage.\n\nI don't know what everybody\u2019s schedule is in here\u2014and I don't want to know. It's a matter of privacy between you and the Lord. But at some point in the insanity of our culture, we have to ask ourself the basic question, \u201cAre we appreciating\u2014are we recognizing\u2014the sanctity and the principle of the Sabbath?\u201d\n\n\u201cWell, Pastor, you don't understand. I work on Sundays!\u201d Well, guess what? So do I. I'm not up here for free. I get paid to be good; the rest of you are good for nothing, as the saying goes. But this is actually a job. So I get the idea of employment and all kinds of things interfering with Sunday!\n\nDo you know when my Sabbath is? It\u2019s Monday. If you call me on Monday, you're going get my answering machine. I\u2019ll tell you that much! Because that's the time I need for rejuvenation.\n\nIf Monday\u2014after the ordeals of Sunday\u2014becomes a workday, my longevity as the pastor of this church will be dramatically curtailed. In fact, my life itself will be curtailed because I'm living outside of the design that God has made for me. And He's made it for you.\n\nJust a couple of thoughts here by way of conclusion. You'll notice it keeps saying, \u201cGod rested.\u201d Creation, folks, is complete. God is not creating today\u2014unless He performs some kind of miracle.\n\nCreation is past. That's why, as you go through these Creation days, after every day it says, \u201cAnd there was evening and there was morning...\u201d\n\n\u201cAnd there was evening and there was morning\u2026\u201d It says that six times. But did you notice that it didn't say that at the end of Genesis 2:3? It didn't say it all. Why leave that out? It's left out because it's designed by the Holy Spirit to communicate that the Sabbath is different. it's the day where God Himself, as a pattern for us, ceased from His creative activity.\n\nGod is not creating today. You say, \u201cWell, what about when a man and a woman have a child?\u201d Well, that's related to the mechanics that God put into humanity on the day of Creation, allowing reproduction. But God is not in the business of creating today.\n\n\u201cWell, then, what exactly is God doing?\u201d I\u2019ll tell you what He's doing: He\u2019s sustaining. He's keeping in motion that which He created in Genesis chapter 1.\n\nColossians 1:17 says, of Christ, \u201cHe is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.\u201d God put the planets and stars into existence on Day Four, and now He's in the business of sustaining what He created to prevent those planets from colliding with each other.\n\nAnd I'll tell you one other thing that God is doing today. He may not be creating. I\u2019ll tell you what He is doing, though: He's redeeming. In John 5:17 Jesus says, \u201c \u2018My Father is working until now, and I Myself am working<\/em>.\u2019 \u201d Not creating\u2014but sustaining and redeeming.\n\nGod has entered into His rest. It doesn't say \u201cevening and morning\u201d there, but it's still an ordinary 24 hour day. There is our normal formula of YOM (day) with a number. I don't need the additional clause \u201cevening and morning\u201d to argue that the seventh day has been fulfilled, because I have this formula. As we\u2019ve talked about, YOM plus a number is always a 24 hour day.\n\nWe\u2019ve finished Genesis 2:3. We\u2019re now at the end of the Creation week. And now we\u2019ll be moving into Genesis 2:4 the next time I'm with you. We\u2019re no longer looking at the six days of Creation and God resting on the seventh, but we\u2019ll be looking at the sixth day of Creation.\n\nYou read through Genesis 1:24-31 and you say, \u201cGosh! I\u2019d like to learn more about this.\u201d God says, \u201cI'm glad you asked. So now I\u2019m going to focus on Day Six, the height of My creative work, the pinnacle of Creation, man as an image bearer of God, placed in a garden.\u201d\n\nWhat was that garden like? And why would God even put a tree of knowledge in that garden? We\u2019ll see all of that the next time I'm with you.\n\nIn closing, it's important understand that God has entered into His rest from Creation. Would you like to enter into the rest of God? Jesus said, \u201c \u2018Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.\u2019<\/em> \u201d\n\nSo many people spend their lives striving and straining, and yet Christ wants us to come to Him and rest in Him\u2014and Him alone\u2014for salvation. God may not be creating today, but He is certainly redeeming. He paid a horrific price 2000 years ago on a cruel Roman wooden cross, and through His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension, He has paved the way by which man and woman\u2014humanity in our fallenness\u2014can have a relationship with the God Who made us.\n\nAnd He asks us not to fix ourselves through religion. The world of religion will tell you to fix yourself to get right with God; that's not Christianity. The story of the Bible is not man climbing up to God; it's God reaching down to man through the Person of Jesus Christ. And He asks us to rest in what Jesus has done. That's the great work that God is doing today, as men and women are responding to that offer of salvation, entering into the rest that only Jesus can provide which comes by faith alone in Christ alone\u2014period.\n\nIf anybody here within the sound of my voice\u2014even people listening online\u2014have never done that, God just requires one condition to receive this free gift, which is faith alone in Christ alone. \u201cFaith\u201d is another way of saying \u201ctrust.\u201d You\u2019re trusting and relying no longer in yourself but in what Christ did for you.\n\nBecoming a Christian is not a 12 step process. It\u2019s a one-step process where we\u2019re convicted of this. And no doubt people who are listening are under that conviction, because the Holy Spirit has come into the world to, \u201c \u2018convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment; 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in Me\u2019<\/em>\u2026\u201d (John 16:8-9)\n\nIf you haven't believed in Jesus Christ, then the Spirit of God is convicting you. Our exhortation here at Sugar Land Bible Church is to respond to that convicting ministry to the best you know how in the quietness of your own heart and mind. It's not a matter of walking an aisle, filling out a decision card, giving money. It's a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where the Spirit convicts you of your need to do this, and you respond in your heart, even without raising a hand.\n\nIt's a matter privacy between you and the Lord where you respond in the quietness of your heart to what Jesus has done, and in a nanosecond you enter into the rest of God. So, our exhortation is for people to do that. If anybody here needs more explanation on it, I'm available after the service. Shall we pray?\n\nClosing Prayer<\/strong>\n\n\u201cFather, we are grateful for these verses. Forgive us for losing the sacred nature of these verses and just kind of molding in with culture where we have lost sight of the fact that You've given us a blueprint here. You\u2019ve given us instructions. We've allowed commercialism, busyness, workaholism, wanting to get ahead, entertainment\u2014almost anything\u2014to interfere with it. And we ask for Your forgiveness.\n\nWe know that we\u2019re paying a terrible price in our culture because we've discarded Your Word. I just pray that we would restore the sanctity of the Sabbath and how that looks. Convict us as individuals in our own personal lives as we seek to walk this out this week. We\u2019ll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name.\u201d And God's people said? \u201cAmen.\u201d","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t