When do we keep the Sabbath?

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to Wednesday in the Word. I'm Krisan Marotta and this is my podcast about what the Bible means and how we know. This is the third talk in a four-part series on the Sabbath. Today we'll be looking at various passages that explain when to keep the Sabbath. Because this talk was recorded before a live audience, the audio contains some background noise. Lecture notes for today's talk are on the link below this podcast. Lecture notes are the information I would give you on a handout if I were teaching you in person. You can also find those lecture notes by going directly to wednesdayintheword.com/slash Sabbath 3. Glad to have you along. Well, this is the third week in our series on the Sabbath, and I will review a little what we talked about last year, or last year, last week. It seems like last year sometimes. I want to start with a little story. When my children were little, birthdays were the highlight of the year. For us, January was birth big was the beginning of birthday fever because my children were born in February and April. And so we had kind of these long gray months after Christmas and before summer vacation, we filled them with birthdays. And we decided that for us we were going to make a big deal out of birthdays, and so we didn't do big family vacations or that kind of thing, but we did make birthdays an event. So this party became this monumental celebration. And planning began weeks in advance. And planning was half of the fun, half the anticipation. And as they got older, we would include them in the planning. So we would spend hours designing games and themes and colors, all the kinds of stuff. And we didn't spend a whole lot of money, but we did put a lot of thought and activity into it. And sometimes our kids would get so wound up with birthday fever we'd have like this nuclear meltdown, you know, before the day because it just got too exciting. But it was worth it. Now that they're grown, my children claim that their birthday parties were legendary and that the only reason they were popular in elementary school is because everybody wanted to be invited to their birthday parties. So they got invited to everybody else's birthday party. I don't think that's true, but they claim that that's that was what made them popular was these birthday parties. So the planning and the preparation was part of the anticipation of the joy so that when the party actually arrived, sometimes it was anticlimatic. Now I bring that up because what we're going to talk about today is when do we rest. And what we're going to talk about is that what we do now, Sabbath today, is an anticipation of a future event or a future rest. The Sabbath we celebrate here and now is a shadow of what's coming in the same way planning for the birthday party anticipated the actual event. It heightened the joy, it heightened the excitement, but it wasn't the real thing. And that's essentially what we're going to talk about today. So, as I said, this is the third week in our series. The first week we talked about why do we rest, and we talked about rest as a reminder of our dependence on God. We rest to remember who God is and what He's done for us. It's not about resting to be more productive or being healthy or what we need to live healthy lives. It's about remembering that God chose us, God redeemed us, and God created us. So that's why we rest, to remember our dependence on God. Then last week we looked at how do we rest, how do we practice the Sabbath? And we talked about from the Psalm that we are to cease striving and know that He is God. So that's the simple command. Stop doing the things that you do that sustain your life. That's how we defined work, whatever it is that you do that sustains your life, and instead rest knowing that He is God. We looked at a passage in Exodus and then a passage in Nehemiah to show that culture changed, work changed, and what constitute work changed, and so how the Sabbath was practiced changed, but the idea of remembering God remained the same. So remembering that we were dependent on God remained constant. And then also from last week we talked about Sabbath is an issue of the heart and that God is much more concerned with who we're trusting on the inside than what we're doing on the outside. And so we could be following the letter of the law on the outside, but that's not necessarily pleasing to God if our hearts are not in the right place. If we're not trusting Him on the inside, but instead we're trusting on in how well we're doing or performance or that kind of thing. Okay, so this week we're gonna try to answer the question when? When do we get to enjoy Sabbath? And what I'm gonna suggest to you is that what we're doing now is in anticipation of a rest that awaits us in the future. And that it's just a shadow, and what what's important is getting what the shadow, the reality that that is a shadow of. So that's what we're gonna talk about. We're gonna spend our time in Hebrews 3 and 4. So if you have your Bible, turn to Hebrews chapter 3. There's a lot in Hebrews, I'm not gonna explain. Uh I've still, it doesn't matter how many times I study Hebrews, I still can never get all my questions answered for that book. It's just but I think I understand at least what he's talking about in Sabbath in this in this section. And starting in 3.7 is where we're gonna begin, he's going to pick up the idea of how Jesus has changed the Sabbath and show that all of history is moving toward this final rest. So he's gonna talk a lot about our hope, and we're gonna try to understand on why or how Sabbath helps us prepare and plan for that hope. Okay, so we're gonna start in 3.7, and notice as I read this how many times heart and fut and the idea of the future is mentioned here. Hebrews 3.7. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, as in the rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and saw my works for forty years. Therefore I was provoked with that generation and said, They always go astray in their heart, they have not known my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. We are gonna go on, but let me stop there for a moment. There's a lot in this section where you kind of go, hmm, what's he talking about? But I hope you can see, at least on first reading, that the idea in 3.8, do not harden your hearts, as in rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness is kind of what it's revolving around. So the first question we're gonna have to answer is what's he talking about? What happened in the wilderness that he's referring to? And this passage is quoting heavily from Psalm 95, so that's the first place we're gonna go. So keep your finger in Hebrews and flip back to Psalm 95. We're gonna look at what he's quoting. Psalm 95, notice he starts with all the themes we've been talking about, about how resting is coming into God's presence, and God is the author and perfecter of all of creation. Psalm 95. Oh, come, let us sing to the Lord. Let us make a joyful noise to the rock of our salvation. Let us come into his presence with thanksgiving, let us make a joyful noise to him with songs of praise. For the Lord is a great God, a great king above all gods. In his hands are the depths of the earth, the heights of the mountains are also his, the sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land. O come, let us worship and bow down, and let us kneel before the Lord our Maker, for He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. And then here's the part Hebrews is quoting. Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of at Manasseh in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and put me to the proof, though they had seen my work. For forty years I loathed that generation and said, They are people who go astray in their heart, and they have not known my ways. Therefore I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Okay, so that gives us a further clue what's going on, because the Psalm says he's talking about the specific kind of hardening that happened at Meribah and Massa uh Massah, however you pronounce that, in the wilderness. So now, as good Bible students, we have to know what happened at Meribah and Masa. So turn back to Exodus 17. Those of you who know me know that part of my goal is also to teach you how to study the Bible whenever I'm up here talking. So I like to reveal at least the process of where this comes from. So that's why I'm having you flip all over. Okay, so turn back to Exodus 17 and let's find out what happened there. This is with Moses and the people in Israel. This is after the Red Sea, they're wandering around in the desert, and they get thirsty. So all the this is Exodus 17, one. All the congregation of the people of Israel moved out from the wilderness of sin by stages according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Raphitium, and there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, Give us water to drink. And Moses said to them, Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord? But the people thirsted there for water, and all the people grumbled against Moses, and said, Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst? So Moses cried to the Lord, What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said to Moses, Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarreling of the people of Israel. And notice this, because they tested the Lord by saying, Is the Lord among us or not? So that's the key. Moses names the place Masah and Meribah, which means test and quarrel, because they were testing, is the Lord among us or not? We have to figure out what's going on here and why got this so provoked a God's anger that he said, They were not enter my rest. So what's going on is Israel is demanding proof from God that he is their God. They want proof essentially that he chose them and that he redeemed them. And they want to know that he has their best interest in mind. So they've gone through the Red Sea, they're now out in the wilderness area, and now they're getting thirsty. Life is starting to get hard, and they say, wait a minute, why did God bring us out here? What kind of a God is he that he would do this? We want him to prove that he loves us, that he's got our best interest in mind. Now, from our perspective, we go, okay, so what's wrong with a little proof? I mean, I bet everyone in here believes in God on the basis of some proof that they came to believe at some point in their lives, and and there's nothing wrong with that. And God delights in giving us evidence that he loves us and he is who he says he is. So why is this wrong? And I think what's going on here is what if he's already given you ample proof and you're asking for more? And that's the state Israel is in. They've already been given proof that God is a God who's chosen them and redeemed them, and they don't believe that proof, and they want more proof, and that's unbelief, and that's sin. So for this generation, they'd seen the plagues in Egypt, they'd seen the Passover, they'd seen the hand of God part the Red Sea so they could cross on dry land. They have already seen the manna being supernaturally provided from heaven. They've seen the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire leading them. So step by step in their flight from Egypt, they have seen that this is a God who is taking care of them. They have Moses going to meet him, coming back, and repeating the words. And now life is hard. And they throw all that out the window and they say, hold it. This isn't what I expected. I don't trust God anymore. He must be trying to kill me. So they are doubting that God chose them and redeemed them and loves them, and they are demanding proof when they already have proof. And that's, I think, what it means to test or try the Lord. It's to refuse to believe in the face of all that God has already done for you that He is your God. And that's sin because it's unbelief. Follow me through there? So that's what provokes God, and so he refuses them to let them enter their rest. So turn back to Hebrews. With that in mind, I'm going to read the section again and think about that situation now as we read Hebrews 3, 7 through 13. Therefore, as the Holy Spirit says, today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in rebellion on the day of testing in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test and saw my work for forty years. So today, if you hear his voice, if you've seen the evidence, if you know and have seen that he is, who he says he is, don't harden your hearts and say, I refuse to believe, I want more proof. Instead, he's going to go on to say later in the chapter, strive after the rest. But anyway, he's saying, That provoked me. So therefore I was provoked with that generation, and said, They always go astray in their hearts, and they have not known my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Take care, brothers, lest any of you lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as is called today, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. So the author of Hebrews is picking that up and saying, We have the same temptation to harden our hearts in the face of all that God has done for us, and let the deceitfulness of sin say, No, it's not good enough. He isn't who he said he is, and start demanding further proof. Hebrews is warning against that and saying, Don't harden your hearts as in the day of testing. Okay, so let's go on in Hebrews and see how he ties this into rest. So 314. For we have come to sh for we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end. As it is said, Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. For who were those who heard and yet rebelled? Was it not all those who left Egypt led by Moses? And with them, and with whom was he provoked for forty years? Was it not those who sinned whose body fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief. So the conclusion he's coming to is if you want to enter God's rest, you must believe. And those who are prevented from entering his rest were prevented because of unbelief. And the specific unbelief he was talking about there was refusing to believe that God loved you, chose you, redeemed you, refusing to believe that he is who he says he is, even though he has already more than demonstrated who he is. Okay. Now as we're going to go on in Hebrews, you're going to see that this phrase entering God's rest or entering rest comes up a lot in the next, in these two chapters, in three and four. I think it's used eleven times, and it's frequently in the phrase, enter God's rest. Now that sounds really super spiritual to us, you know, almost kind of metaphysical. But in Hebrews, it's a geographical phrase. It's a phrase of movement. So you're you're in one place and you're moving to another place. So you're moving from a place where you are not in God's rest to a place where you are. So in the Exodus passage, the movement is from the desert into the promised land. So that generation was in the wilderness and they were prevented from moving into the promised land because of unbelief. In Psalm 95, the movement is into the temple because Psalm 95 was a psalm that was used to call people to worship. So they would sing it as they were approaching the temple. And so the movement from was out of the temple to the temple as they came for their worship. And both those ideas, if you think about them, what they have in common is is the idea of your entering God's presence. For the Israelites in the Exodus, it was entering into the land where they could be his people. For the Psalm 95 audience, it was entering into the temple where they could be with him. And I think as we're going to go on, you're going to see that same idea is repeated that entering God's rest is essentially entering his presence. And he's going to say, we now can do that because of Jesus Christ. So we've learned that entering God's rest is entering his presence and it's tied to belief. It's intimately tied to belief. Without it, you are not allowed to enter. Now, what he's going to go on to say is we're going to keep reading in Hebrews is that it hasn't happened yet. So he's going to make the point that Joshua led the people into the promised land, but they didn't enter God's rest. And that the readers of the Psalm were entering into the temple, but they didn't enter God's rest. It hasn't happened yet. So there is a rest yet to come. Okay, so look at Hebrews 4.1. Am I going too fast? Okay. Stay awake. I don't want you to get that kind of rest just right now. So stay awake, yeah. For the rest of the interesting. Okay, so 4-1. Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, see, it hasn't happened yet. There is a promise of entering God's rest, but it has not yet occurred. So therefore, while the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it. For good news came to us just as to them. But the message they heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who listened. For we who have believed entered that rest, as he said, As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest, although his works were finished from the foundation of the world. For he has spoken somewhere on the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works, and again in this passage he said, They shall not enter my rest. Notice how many times he's repeated that. Since therefore it remains for some to enter it, okay, it hasn't happened yet, and those who formerly received the good news failed to enter because of disobedience, again he appoints a certain day, today, saying through David so long afterward, in the words already quoted, Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. And then here's his conclusion. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For whoever has entered God's rest is also rested from his works as God did from his. And then this strange statement, therefore, let us strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fail fall by the same sort of disobedience. That seems contradictory. How do you work or how do you strive to enter rest? At least the overall point is clear. If Joshua had given them rest, God wouldn't have spoken about another day that's coming. If Moses didn't lead the people into rest when he led them out of the Red Sea, and Joshua didn't give them rest when he led them into the promised land, and then the psalmist didn't give them rest when they entered the temple, there's a rest that is still coming. It hasn't been found yet, and it's found in Jesus. And I think what he's saying is essentially is because, well, let me just back up a minute. Notice 3.14, he says, We who have come to share in Christ, and in 4.3, we who have believed. He's talking about the gospel, and then he's going to go on in 4.16 or 14, 15, and 16 to claim that it is Jesus who's going to bring us that rest. But he's making, I think, a comparison by saying the Israelites were in a wilderness. They had left the Red Sea but not yet entered the promised land. And they were subject to unbelief by being in that wilderness period. They were tempted to believe that God wasn't who he said he was. We're in a similar kind of wilderness. We're past the cross, but the second coming has not yet happened. So we're in that already not yet kind of deliverance as well. And the temptation is going to be to turn away and not believe that God who he is who he says he is. And he's exhorting them, it's still out there. Just as the Israelites were still waiting for the promised land, we're waiting for the second coming. And take care lest you fall away during that waiting period. Does this make sense? Okay. His point, I think, is going to come down to real rest is not found in the promised land, it's found in the promised one. That is Jesus, our great high priest, as he's going to go on to say. He's going, but he's making the point, Jesus did bring that rest, but like the Exodus, it's not fully here yet. So just as Moses did deliver them out of slavery in Egypt, but there was a long time until they entered the promised land, Jesus also brought rest at the cross, but it has not yet been fully realized. So what do we do in this in-between time? And his warning is be careful lest you fall away. Notice how many times he says, take care, be aware yet, encourage each other, strive to enter that rest. He's concerned that we not fall to the same temptation. Okay, so rest is entering God's presence. Rest is tied to belief, and Jesus made it possible in a way that it's never been possible before, but it's not here yet. A hope that is before us. Rest is entering God's presence. So it's moving to a place where you are with Him and ultimately we are not there yet. It is tied to belief. So the people that were barred from entering God's presence were those who continually demanded proof that God loved them or that he was who he said he was when they already when he had already given them proof. So rest is entering God's presence, rest is tied to belief, and Jesus made that rest possible for a way in a way that wasn't possible before. So he is a fulfillment of Moses, if you will. In the way that Moses led them out of slavery in Egypt, Jesus has led us out of slavery to our sin, but we are not there yet, not fully and completely. It's a promise yet to be realized. There's a sense in which all of creation and all the story of our history is moving toward rest. If you think about it, we begin in the garden where there was rest. Adam and Eve were lived securely and in God's presence, and they could walk with him in the cool of the days, as it says. So they had that rest in that they were in his presence, and then of course the fall happened, and that destroyed everything. Adam rebelled in what we call the fall, sin enters the world, and that rest is destroyed, the relationship is broken, work becomes tedious, and the people were forced to leave the garden. And ever since then, we've been working to get back to that state of rest and state of being in God's presence. And so the Bible, from creation to fall to redemption, the culmination is when we will finally be back in God's presence, not marred by sin, not marred by death, but the way it was intended to be. The message for us, I think, is this is the good news. If you're a follower of Christ, you have something left to hope for and wait for. This is not as good as it gets. So there is something better coming, and there is something that we have to look forward to. And there are a lot of Christian teaching out there that talks about, you know, accept Christ and now you'll have a completely fulfilling, happy life. You know, trust Jesus and it's the last decision you ever have to make. Because after then it's smooth sailing. And it doesn't take very long to realize that doesn't pan out in the Christian life. Most of you have, I'm sure, have a life that where dreams have been broken, or there was loss, or tragedy, or something that you didn't expect that threw you for a loop that you had to deal with. And and that is because we live in a fallen world. This life is not all there is. There is sin and death and tragedy, and one day the promise is all of that will be put right. And God will free us not just from the judicial penalty of our sin, which happened at the cross, but the very presence of sin and all its consequences, which will happen in the age to come. And that is what the Bible describes as rest. At that point, we can rest. And that's what remains for us. And our lives are moving toward that. Sabbath, whatever we do now for Sabbath is a shadow of that coming reality. And it is to teach us that there is a rest that remains. So the question is, how do we get from A to Z? How do we get from here to there? And what do we do in the meantime? Well, Hebrews says lack of faith prevented God's effort, or prevented God's people from entering that rest. So faith is what allows them to enter. It is faith that is essentially our ticket, if you will. We who believe will enter into God's rest. And then in 4.11, when he says make every effort to enter that rest, I think what he's saying is make every effort to hold on to your faith, to stand firm, to cling to it no matter what happens. And it sounds strange because it's like trying to fall asleep. When you try really hard to fall asleep, it just doesn't work. It's like you can't try to fall asleep. Somehow you have to let go to fall asleep. So it seems like that kind of a paradox. But I think what he's saying is what's important here and now is faith, because that's what's going to get you into the kingdom of God. So it's more important that you have faith than that you have a happy life, for instance. It's more important than you have faith than that you have an easy life. And that starts to make sense of a lot of our experience because we look around and we say, why do all these bad things happen to us? Or why is this so hard? And I think at least part of the answer is because God's more concerned that your faith is strong and mature than that tomorrow is an easy day. And if having a hard day tomorrow is what strengthens your faith to get you to the finish line, that's worth it. That's important. To take one more step and then say, okay, so what do we do on Sunday, or what do we do on the Sabbath? What I want to suggest to you is that if we are to stop the activity that sustains our life, what we ought to do instead is the activity that sustains our faith. Because without faith you have nothing. Without faith you have no rest. So what is it that in your life most encourages your faith or your relationship with God? And that's what you ought to try to do, and that's what you ought to build into your life, is space where you deliberately, consciously kind of choose to do the things that nurture your faith. Now, let me define faith because there's a lot of it's not just belief, but it's a specific kind of faith we're talking about. So, what is saving faith? The one kind of faith you must have to be reckoned a child of God. And I would say it involves four things. Those of you who've heard me teach know that I work this in almost every talk, so bear with me if you've heard this before. But saving faith is the trust that God will one day free me completely from all of sin, all its effects and consequences, and it is a gift from God. So that involves four things. First, wanting to be freed from my sin. So that's an essential component of saving faith. It's not just that I'm sick of the consequences that come from my sin. It's that I've learned to grieve over my sin, to hate the sin, and want to be free of it. So, you know, when you catch a child with their hand in the cookie jar and they know they're about to get punished and they say, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. That's not really genuine repentance. They just don't want the consequences of getting caught. Okay, that's not what we're talking about. That's what theologians will call attrition as opposed to contrition. Contrition is, I am, I grieve over that and I wish it never happened. So it's beyond the consequences to a recognition that this was wrong and I want to be free of it. The first thing is a genuine desire for holiness or for righteousness, wanting to be free from my sin. The second component of saving faith is knowing that left to myself, I am not going to get there. I am incapable of freeing myself. And if God doesn't free me, it's not gonna happen. So I can't muster up holiness, I can't strive hard enough to overcome the sin in my life. There's no, you know, kind of divine spark that if I just reach down deep enough, I will find and then I can overcome my sin. It's wanting to be free from my sin and knowing I can't do that myself. And again, it's got to be more than, you know, if I gave you a theological quiz, you could all probably check off the right answers. It's got to be more than that kind of knowledge to this is how I see myself, the working principle of my life, who I am. So not just how I'd vote in a theological debate, but something that radically changes my view of myself. The first component is wanting to be free from my sin. The second component is knowing I cannot do that myself. The third is recognizing that God is not obligated to free me. So there is nothing about me that requires him to save me. There's no divine spark that he said, Oh, well, Krasan deserves to be saved. I don't deserve to be saved. There's nothing about me. I have done nothing to earn this, I've done nothing to require God to save me, and I have no presumption on him. So I want to be free from my sin. I know I can't do it alone. I know that God is not required to save me, or I am unworthy of this gift from God, and then finally, it's a trust that because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, God will in fact save me from my sin. That's saving faith. As opposed to, we might talk about ordinary faith that gets us through the day, that kind of thing. But saving faith, what I must have is I know I'm sinful, I want to be free from it, I know God is not required to save me, but I trust that because of Jesus Christ, he will in fact save me. And it's a gift. The question is, what nurtures that kind of faith in you? We know from elsewhere in the Bible that suffering is one tool that matures our faith. You know, you can read the book of 1 Peter and you'll come to that one over and over again. And I think what what Hebrews would suggest and some of the other passages is that Sabbath is another tool that can nurture our faith. So stopping the activity we do that kind of frantically sustains our lives and forcing ourselves to stop and recognize that it is God who has created me, chose me, and redeemed me is a tangible way to live out that faith, to express it. And I think for many of us that's why it's hard. It's hard to rest because it's hard to have faith. You know, because the world claims everything's on your shoulders, uh, you have to climb the corporate ladder, you have to be all you can be, you have to go for the gusto, you know, you have to do every opportunity that comes your way, wring every drop of life out of life, and if you don't, you've missed out, and you know, you're fail your kids because they won't get into the best schools, and you know, it goes on from there. But the gospel says all that effort is futile apart from the grace of God. And what you have, whether it's big or small education or lack of education or opportunities or wealth or riches or whatever opportunities is all part of his gift to you because he knows what's best for you, and he's in the business of providing it. And what's best is what nurtures your faith, what makes you ultimately someone who turns to him in trust and faith, and that's what he wants for you, and you can trust him for it. And I suspect, you know, this sounds really good when you're here in a church in a classroom, and then you're gonna walk out those doors and go into the corporate world or downtown Charlottesville or whatever, and this is gonna seem like a fairy tale, you know, or like some kind of lofty spiritual idea that has no bearing on life. And I think it seems like how could I possibly stop and how could I possibly take time off? And I think that's exactly part of the reason God gives us the Sabbath is because when we walk out those doors, we'll face that temptation. And he's saying, build a pattern into your life where you stop and remember. Do whatever it is that encourages your faith at some point as a regular kind of lifestyle. So Sabbath is not only a reminder of who God is and what he's done for us, but what he will do for us. So it's it looks back to the past in that he chose us, created us, and redeemed us, but it looks to the future as well in that he will one day free us completely from sin. That there are promises left to be solved or left to be fulfilled. And if you think about it, I think that makes sense of why God's people are often pictured as a bride waiting for her bridegroom. There is a promise yet to be fulfilled. And part of that promise is that we will be in the presence of God, imagine that, free from sin. The picture of Jesus as the husband or the bridegroom eagerly preparing a house for his bride to live in, waiting for her, so that when you get to Revelation, you get this image of the new city, the new heavens, and the new earth is the picture of that rest is coming. This is Revelation 22, 2 through 4. What I like about this is we've talked about rest as entering God's rest, and usually think of a traveler as traveling and then they reach their destination. But the Bible kind of twists that in that our destination is going to come to us. Jesus is going to bring it. So Revelation 21, 2, and I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Notice, entering into the presence of God, the rest we are talking about. And 21:4, He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. So all the consequences of sin will be done away with, and there will be life as it was meant to have lived. We always think of we're going to go into that rest, but the twist in revelation is the rest is going to come to us, brought to us by Jesus. Okay. So we've seen that Sabbath is an issue of the heart. It's what who you're trusting on the inside is more important than what you're doing on the outside, and it's tied to faith. Who are you trusting? And Sabbath is moving from a place of ultimately to rest that is brought by Jesus. In the meantime, what do we do? We've talked about cease striving and know that He is God, I think both corporately and individually. Have something in your life that encourages your faith. Now, my personal view at this point is that it doesn't have to be 24 consecutive hours. In ten years, I reserve the right to change my mind. I may have come to a different conclusion, but right now I don't think it has to be 24 consecutive hours, nor must it be only on Sunday, but it ought to be a regular pattern. Having said that, we have this great freedom in Christ, I think we ought to look back at Hebrews and take note of how many times he says, take care lest, or be warned that. And realize that if he's warning us over and over that the heart is a deceitful thing, that it's very easy to slip into unbelief. It's very easy to kind of build my life and live it in such a way that I cease trusting him. I suspect for a lot of us, if we don't make Sabbath a 24-hour period, we won't do it at all. The stories of the people grumbling in the wilderness ought to teach us how easily we deceive ourselves. I can't imagine living in a place where bread rained down from heaven and going, gee, I don't know if that comes from God. To us it seems crazy. And yet, what did they do? Bread rained down from heaven, and they said, I don't know. I don't know about this God. And I think we have to take that seriously, that we have the same kind of heart, that God can bless us in multiple ways, and then we go, hmm, no, I did that, you know, or I earned that, or something. Take care because we easily forget. Now, some of you know that my husband and I both work primarily from home. So we share an office, and a lot of people think we're crazy because his desk is about as far from me as Kathy is right now, and we we spend almost all day together like that. And people go, really? And you're still married? Interesting. I could never do that, they think. But I think part of the reason that we have a good relationship now is because we spend so much time together. I mean, even if we're both doing our work or on the phone with our clients or whatever, we we are at least spending time together. And if you think about it, of your relationships, what's easier to maintain? Your friendships where you see the your a friend only once a year, or the friend you see every day? You know, do you have a stronger relationship with, say, a college friend that you get a Christmas card from, or you talk maybe on the phone once a year, or the one that you see every day at the office, or the one that you see every week at church. And I think that kind of analogy helps us see it's the same with God. If we only spend Christmas and Easter with Him, we're not going to have a very good relationship. And that He doesn't need it, but we need that regular, repeated contact to maintain our faith. So it's much easier to have a stronger trust in God if you build into your life time that you spend with him, whether it's through prayer or Bible study or song or meeting with other Christians where you hold each other accountable or you talk about life and what God might be doing. All of that can be things that nurture your faith, and it can be a kind of Sabbath. And I think the warnings of have this in your life is because we easily slip away. Now, I know I'm talking about this as if we can lose our faith, I will just tell you I am a Calvinist and I believe faith is a gift, and if God gives it to you, you will he will perfect it through the end. So I'm I'm not claiming from an eternal perspective that God will give you faith and then you can lose it. I don't believe that. But in the same way, God says hunger and thirst for righteousness or work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God the who is at work within you, he does call us to be responsible. And part of the gift is then wanting to spend time with him. The analogy I like to use is my son wants to make movies, and he's gonna graduate from film school in two weeks, and that's his heart's desire is to make movies. And if I could magically tell him, Brendan, you will succeed. You will make a movie that will change the world. If that's his heart's desire, and I guarantee he's gonna get there, it ought to inspire him to work harder because now he knows he's gonna succeed. And it's the same kind of way with faith. If he he says, Oh great, I'm gonna make a movie, so I'm just gonna go sit in a hammock and and sleep all day because my goal is assured, then that wasn't really his goal. But if we have been given faith so that we long for holiness and we want to be freed from our sin, and now God says, and you will get there, that ought to encourage us to live our lives because we're guaranteed of success. You see, it's not a perfect analogy, but it's the best I can come up with. Sabbath ought to be filled with whatever activities foster your relationship with God. And that may be different for me than it is for you. And it like the planning for the birthday party anticipated the birthday to come, the Sabbath we do now should anticipate the rest that is promised. And it ought to that ought to be exciting. I mean, if if I told you you get to spend one day a week with the person you love most in the world, so hopefully for most of you that's your spouse, and if I said you get to have a date night every week with that person, wouldn't you love to do that? I was like, oh great, I have to make time for that, I would love that. Essentially, that's what Sabbath is. It's a gift, it's God saying, spend time with me. And this is what will nurture your faith that will get you to the thing that your heart most desires being with him, being free from sin. That's kind of the icing on the cake. That Sabbath now is just a foretaste of the feast to come, which I think is a phrase from one of the Lutheran liturgies. That what we do now is just a foretaste of the feast that is coming. So the promise of the gospel is one day Jesus will take you by the hand and lead you into the Father's presence, clean, perfect, undefiled, unblemished. And can you imagine that? The person you always wanted to be, standing there with your Savior by your side, and what gets you there is faith, trusting that God will in fact save you because of the blood of Jesus Christ, and you can take a break now as an example of that trust. So Hebrews concludes with, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. We can draw near to God with confidence because of what Jesus has done for us, knowing that the end of our faith will be met, the promise will be kept, and we will be the people we are meant to be. So Sabbath is not a fundamentally about a list of do's and don'ts and what you should do and when you should do it and when you shouldn't do it. It's about having a heart that's looking toward the hope to come, the promise, and the rest to come. And then doing what it is that encourages that relationship. I I hear by the noise in the hallway, we must be over time. So let me just close this in prayer. And if you want to stay and talk, you can. But I'll let those of you go that need to go. Father, we thank you just that you're a God that doesn't leave us in our sin, and that we can come to you knowing that we are not the people we should be, and trust you to make us who we are or who we should be because of the blood of Jesus Christ. And I pray that you would be working these issues into our lives and into our hearts so that we are people who want to spend time with you, who want to stop and remember who you are and can live our lives knowing, not just in theological terms, that you're in control, but in the way we actually live our lives. In Jesus' name. Amen. Thank you for listening to Wednesday in the Word, the podcast that explains not only what a passage means, but also shows you how to figure it out. You can hear all the episodes in this series on my website at wednesdayintheword.com. There is no card, no spam, and no ad. It's all free to help you improve your own skills and understanding the culture. If you've been blessed by this podcast, please subscribe to the podcast or leave a thought of writing a review wherever you listen. And most importantly, tell a friend what you learned and where you learned it. Thank you for joining me today. I'm Krisan Marotta, and I'll see you next week at Wednesday in the Word.