Grace Bible Church
Pastor-Teacher
Robert R. McLaughlin
Sunday,January 7, 2018
1. You shall have no other gods before Me.
2. You shall make no idols.
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.
In its original setting in the Word of God, the Sabbath is the 7th day of the week or Saturday.
The Sabbath was to remind the Jews of the principle of grace. It reminded them that you could do nothing for salvation, you can do nothing for spirituality, you can do nothing to gain the approbation and the blessing of God.
Point 1 introduction, Freedom demands rest and rest demands freedom.
The Sabbath was a thinking day when you didn't work physically but sat around somewhere, rested, and thought.
And there are two kinds of sabbath: The temporal sabbath is the faith-rest technique of the believer in Heb 3:11, and the moment-by-moment Sabbath of Heb 4:1‑7.
a. That's the temporal sabbath or rest, Heb 3:7-13. b. Then next the moment by moment sabbath, Heb 4:1-7.
And so this moment by moment sabbath was the basis of spirituality in the Old Testament dispensations; i.e., believing, claiming, and resting on verses, principles, and doctrines.
a. That's the temporal sabbath or rest, Heb 3:7-13. b. Then next the moment by moment sabbath, Heb 4:1-7.
In 6 days God took the earth, which was a mess from the rulership of Satan and He restored and converted it into a wonderful place to live.
In 6 days He provided everything that man would need on the earth to survive and live in happiness! Food, perfect climate, a garden, He even provided a Bible class with the greatest Bible teacher of all time...the Lord God.
Rested - Qal imperfect of shabath ie. Sabbath means to rest.
No, Gen 2:2 says...that He ended or finished His work. This is what we call "sabbath" or the "rest of grace". Everything that man would ever need was provided by God. So...He rested.
Perfect environment was provided and nothing could be added to it!
Now from Gen 2:2 to Exo 16:23, no reference is made to the sabbath. So you go at least from Gen 2:2 to Exo 16 which is approximately 1441 B.C.
Now, the sabbath finally became know to Israel as the day of rest. They would work for 6 days...Sunday through Friday. Then, on the 7th day, Saturday, man would rest.
As Paul said in Rom 11:6 "But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace."
So...the sabbath was a day in Israel when man would rest to remember and commemorate the grace of God.
There is nothing like stopping the routine and having a day when things completely stop. So that you can be reminded of grace. "Rest" is a memorial to the grace of God.
Now, just like God provided for Adam in perfect environment, God has provided for you in eternity past everything you will ever need.
And the sabbath always had this connotation! It was a "thinking day" not a working day! A day the grace of God was to be commemorated.
Point 2. Salvation Rest, Mat 11:28.
Eternal life is not characterized by resting, but by tranquility and blessing.
Point 3. Supergrace Rest.
The land of Canaan is a type of the supergrace life, and in the context of Heb 3:11, supergrace is manifest by faith‑rest; For example, the maximum use of faith-rest with doctrine and the maximum application of doctrine from the heart or the right lobe of the soul.
Heb 3:11 as I swore in my wrath, 'they shall not enter my rest.' "
Heb 4:1‑3 (in Heb 4:3 the elliptical oath is repeated) says that this rest was provided for the Jews in eternity past, yet their disobedience of unbelief will keep them out of it.
There is a temporal sabbath i.e., mentioned in Heb 3:11 and this is for all believers. This is the sabbath for the mature believer.
1. For instance, if you had saddled a horse on Friday, you could not remove the saddle if the horse was still saddled on the sabbath. On Saturday you couldn't saddle or unsaddle a horse.
2. On Saturday you couldn't cook anything.
3. If you have mud on your robe you were not allowed to clean it off.
4. You couldn't stop anyone from bleeding on the sabbath, you had to wait for Sunday.
The commandment said to remember grace." The commandment was a ritual. It had to do with what you think.
Heb 3:7-10, Notice the phrase in verse 10...they have not known my ways.
The modern tendency of apostasy today stresses the works and production of the believer. just like the Jews distorted the ritual sabbath, most Christians distort the real one.
The main problem is the believers ignorance of doctrine.
However, when God gets down to indicting you He doesn't mention your failure to do this or that but He indicts you for your stupidity and ignorance concerning His plan.
Ignorance of doctrine means a breakdown of the spiritual sabbath in your life which is in reality....faith-rest.
This rest is a state in which the believer has a relaxed mental attitude no matter what the situation may look like.
A heart of unbelief is a heart without rest.
No faith-rest is to say God is a liar.