Believers' Sabbath

The Believer's Sabbath Day I. Believers are now under a faultless new covenant/testament which made the first one old. 1CO 11:25 c/w HEB 8:6-13. A. The old covenant is annulled and abolished by the new. HEB 7:18; 2CO 3:13; EPH 2:15. B. The season of ordained holy days, including sabbaths, died with Christ on the cross. COL 2:14-16 c/w GAL 4:9-10. 1. The sabbath law was peculiar to Israel. EXO 31:15-17. 2. The sabbath was part of the Sinaitic covenant not made with the nations. PSA 147:19-20. 3. The sabbath was part of the Sinaitic covenant not even made with the Jewish fathers. DEU 5:2-3. 4. Nine of the ten commandments of EXO 20 are found in the commandments of Christ or His apostles to be binding upon N.T. Christians. Conspicuously absent is the seventh-day sabbath command. 5. There are essentially only three special days that pertain to the N.T. Christian, none of which are inextricably tied to a lunar or solar calendar: a. the day which the church of Jesus Christ appoints as the time for assembly and worship, usually the first day of the week. ACT 20:7; 1CO 16:2. b. the day of the Lord or day of Christ. 2PE 3:10; 2TH 2:2. c. the day of one's salvation from unbelief and sin by coming to Christ. 2CO 6:1-2 c/w HEB 3:12-15. II. The sabbath under the law was a shadow or type of Christ (COL 2:17) Who is the Lord of the Sabbath (MAR 2:27-28). By examining the various attributes of the sabbaths under the law, we may see a profound picture of Christ and His work or the gospel. Sabbath spoke of: A. rest. EXO 20:9-11 c/w ISA 11:10; MAT 11:28-30; JOH 17:4. B. renewal and refreshing. EXO 23:10-12 c/w TIT 3:5; COL 3:10; ISA 28:11-12; ACT 3:19. C. knowledge of God. EXO 31:13 c/w MAT 11:27; 2CO 4:6; 1JO 5:20. D. dedication to God. EXO 31:15 c/w HEB 7:26; 10:10; 2:11. E. atonement. LEV 16:30-31 c/w 1PE 1:18-19; ROM 5:11. F. redemption and deliverance from bondage and death. DEU 5:12-15 c/w 2CO 1:10; ROM 6:20-23. G. liberty and restoration. LEV 25:8-12 c/w LUK 4:18-19; GAL 5:1; ROM 5:10. H. rejoicing. LEV 23:39-40 c/w HEB 12:2; ROM 5:11; 15:13. I. faith. LEV 25:20-21 c/w HEB 2:13; GAL 2:16; 2CO 5:7. III. Coming to Christ and learning of Him is rest. ISA 11:10 c/w MAT 11:28-30. A. Christ's burden is easy and restful to bear compared to the burdens that men impose. MAT 23:4. 1. Rather than concede the perfection of the law in Christ and come to Him for rest, the Jews looked for rest where there could be no rest: in the law. ROM 2:17 c/w GAL 3:10. 2. As such, the law blinded them (2CO 3:13-16). Under law, people are "SHUT UP unto the faith which should afterward be revealed” (GAL 3:23). They are hardened against God's rest. ISA 28:12. B. Note that Christ's rest requires toil. We "labour to enter into that rest” (HEB 4:11). 1. The "labour" in context here is believing the gospel. vs.2-3, 6. 2. Belief is the work which God has ordained for us to do that we might have rest. JOH 6:28-29. C. Men are to come to Christ AND learn of Him for rest. 1. In coming to Christ, men are to be built together into a spiritual house which is His church. 1PE 2:4-5 c/w 1TI 3:15. 2. It is the church which God has ordained for His people to fully come to know Him. EPH 4:11-12. 3. Therefore, the person who is a sabbath-breaker is not someone who works on a Saturday or a Sunday but someone who purposely avoids identification with or attendance to the house of God. He does not enter into Christ's rest as he should. IV. Believing the gospel is how we enter into rest: God's rest. HEB 3:8-4:11. A. The children of Israel refused to go through the water of Jordan to enter into God's rest. They believed not the gospel. HEB 3:18-4:2. B. From the beginning of time, God had pointed towards a rest which people could share with Him. HEB 4:3-5. C. Canaan was an anticipated rest for Israel where they would find rest from enemies and wanderings and see a reformation of their religious service. DEU 12:8-11. D. However, if earthly Canaan was all that God intended when He promised a rest to be entered into, then why did David still later speak of another day of rest? HEB 4:5-8; PSA 95:7-11. E. "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God” (HEB 4:9). F. God's people do not enter into His rest until in belief and practice they recognize the cessation of God's work. HEB 4:10. 1. They who maintain that the first creation of God was not actually finished in six days (GEN 2:2-3; EXO 20:11) have not truly believed and therefore do not enter into God's rest. 2. They who maintain that God's work in the NEW creation was not finished in the sacrifice of Christ and thus they have a responsibility to finish it for Him have not truly believed and therefore do not enter into God's rest. JOH 4:34; 6:38-39; 17:4; 19:30; HEB 1:3; 9:12 ct/w ROM 10:3-4. 3. They who stubbornly insist on continuing to do "every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes” (DEU 12:8) and have not repented and believed the gospel do not enter into His rest. a. Repentance and belief is confirmed by baptism into Christ (GAL 3:27) by joining His body, the local church. ACT 2:38-47; MAT 11:28 c/w 1PE 2:4-5. b. Through the Spirit, the church in worship comes unto the place of ultimate rest: heaven. HEB 12:22-25. c. Those who turn from sin and man's ideas to come to Christ to follow His will TODAY experience the rest that they shall know without alloy in the heavenly state for eternity. Therefore, HEB 3:12-15; 4:11. 4. They who insist on “reinventing God's wheel” do not believe the gospel and so miss God's rest. JER 6:16. 5. Those who look for perfected rest on this earth have not believed the gospel and thus do not enter into His rest. PHIL 3:20; HEB 13:14; 2PE 3:13. G. Instruction from God's rod and His word brings rest. PSA 94:12-13. 1. It teaches us to stop carrying the burden of the world upon our shoulders. MAT 6:31-34. 2. It teaches us to no longer fear death. HEB 2:14-15; 1CO 15:55. 3. It teaches us to stop worrying about what wicked men might do and wait upon the Lord. The wicked can do no more than God allows. EXO 34:24; PRO 21:1 c/w JOB 38:11; PSA 37:1, 7 c/w 2TH 1:7-8. 4. It teaches us to trust God to look after the things that are beyond us. 1PE 5:7; PHIL 4:6-7. V. The N.T. believer's sabbath day is thus every day he believes and submits to Jesus Christ. A. It begins with repentance, faith and baptism into Christ. B. It continues by every work of faith whereby his understanding and practice is brought into conformity to Christ's gospel. C. It is perfectly realized in glory.