Friday Sermon2015.07.10

Mark 2:23-2823 Now it happened that He went through the grain fields on the Sabbath; and as they went His disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees said to Him,

"Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath?" 25 But He said to them,

"Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry, he and those with him: 26 how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him?" 27 And He said to them,

"The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath."

Matthew 12:1-81At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him,

"Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" 3 But He said to them,

“Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4 how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5

Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7

But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.

8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

SABBATH SABBATH & CREATION

Sabbath & CreationExodus 31:12-17 12 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"

Sabbath & CreationGenesis 2:1-3 1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended 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.

Genesis 3:7-9 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. 8 And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. 9 Then the LORD God called to Adam and said to him, "Where are you?"

SABBATH SABBATH & REDEMPTION

Sabbath & RedemptionDeuteronomy 5:12-15 12 'Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

SABBATH SABBATH: FOR WHOM?

Sabbath: For whom?Exodus 16:23-30 23 Then he said to them, "This is what the LORD has said: 'Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD.

Exodus 20:8-11 8 "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God

Exodus 35:1-3 1 Then Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together, and said to them, "These are the words which the LORD has commanded you to do: 2 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to the LORD.

Deuteronomy 5:12-15 12 'Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

Sabbath: For whom?Exodus 31:12-17 12 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you. 14 You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"

SABBATH SABBATH: FOR WHAT?

Sabbath: For what? (Psalm 92)A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath day. 1 It is good to give thanks to the LORD, and to sing praises to Your name, O Most High; 2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, and Your faithfulness every night, 3 on an instrument of ten strings, on the lute, and on the harp, with harmonious sound. 4 For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands. 5 O LORD, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep. 6 A senseless man does not know, nor does a fool understand this. 7 When the wicked spring up like grass, and when all the workers of iniquity flourish, It is that they may be destroyed forever. 8 But You, LORD, are on high forevermore. 9 For behold, Your enemies, O LORD, for behold, Your enemies shall perish; All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered. 10 But my horn You have exalted like a wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil. 11 My eye also has seen my desire on my enemies; My ears hear my desire on the wicked who rise up against me. 12 The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. 13 Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14 They shall still bear fruit in old age; they shall be fresh and flourishing, 15 to declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

SABBATH SABBATH YEAR?

Sabbath Year?Leviticus 25:1-71 And the LORD spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, 2 "Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: 'When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the LORD. 3 Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard, and gather its fruit; 4 but in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest for the land, a Sabbath to the LORD. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. 5 What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. 6 And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you: for you, your male and female servants, your hired man, and the stranger who dwells with you,

Sabbath Year?Leviticus 25:8-12 8 'And you shall count seven Sabbaths of years for yourself, seven times seven years; and the time of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty-nine years. 9 Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. 10 And you shall consecrate the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; and each of you shall return to his possession, and each of you shall return to his family. 11 That fiftieth year shall be a Jubilee to you; in it you shall neither sow nor reap what grows of its own accord, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine. 12 For it is the Jubilee; it shall be holy to you; you shall eat its produce from the field.

SABBATH DISOBEYING SABBATH

Disobeying Sabbath2 Chronicles 3615 And the LORD God of their fathers sent warnings to them by His messengers, rising up early and sending them, because He had compassion on His people and on His dwelling place. 16 But they mocked the messengers of God, despised His words, and scoffed at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD arose against His people, till there was no remedy. 17 Therefore He brought against them the king of the Chaldeans, who killed their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion on young man or virgin, on the aged or the weak; He gave them all into his hand. 18 And all the articles from the house of God, great and small, the treasures of the house of the LORD, and the treasures of the king and of his leaders, all these he took to Babylon. 19 Then they burned the house of God, broke down the wall of Jerusalem, burned all its palaces with fire, and destroyed all its precious possessions. 20 And those who escaped from the sword he carried away to Babylon, where they became servants to him and his sons until the rule of the kingdom of Persia, 21 to fulfil the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her Sabbaths. As long as she lay desolate she kept Sabbath, to fulfil seventy years.

SABBATH SUMMARY OF SABBATH IN OT

Old Testament

Sabbath in the OT1. The Sabbath rest was about God and His people setting apart time (one day per week; one

year per 7 years) for personal and undistracted fellowship. 2. The Sabbath rest was given by God to His people so that they will remember that the

purpose of the creation is for God to have fellowship with His people without any distraction (e.g. works): ‘To have date with His bride’.

3. The Sabbath rest was given by God to His people so that they will remember that the purpose of redemption is also for God to have fellowship with His people without any hindrance (e.g. enemies): ‘To be with the Bridegroom’.

4. Therefore, the creation and redemption have the same goal: ‘Sabbath’ fellowship!5. The Sabbath rest is also a part of the faith journey because it requires His people to trust in

God for provision on the day and the year of Sabbath rest (and of Jubilee).6. The Sabbath rest is also an opportunity for His people to show their love for the neighbours

by giving them rest (e.g. servants) and looking after God’s creation (e.g. land and animals), just as God has given them rest and has taken care of them. This is a testing of the second commandment.

7. There was a dire consequence for not keeping the Sabbath, which is God’s judgement upon His people, forcefully bringing in the Sabbath rest.

SABBATH SABBATH IN NT

Matthew 12:9-149 Now when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue. 10 And behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?" that they might accuse Him. 11 Then He said to them, "What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? 12 Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." 13 Then He said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." And he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. 14 Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him, how they might destroy Him.

Colossians 2:16-17 16 So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.

Matthew 12:1-81At that time Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. And His disciples were hungry, and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 2 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to Him, "Look, Your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath!" 3 But He said to them, 1) “Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: 4

how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 5

2) Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? 6 Yet I say to you that in this place there is One greater than the temple. 7

3) But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.

4) 8 For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

5) The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

SABBATH SUMMARY OF SABBATH IN NT

New Testament

Sabbath in the NT1. Jesus Christ is the true focus and objective (substance) of Sabbath, in that He both

embodies and encompasses the creation and redemption. The Son of God has always been the Bridegroom of God’s people in creation and redemption.

2. Jesus relentlessly healed people on Sabbath, even though He was continually despised by the religious authorities.

3. Jesus was not testifying that the Sabbath was being done away with, but rather that God’s desire for Sabbath needs to be properly understood. God’s desire is to fellowship with His people and partner with them so that He may accomplish what He prophesied in the Word.

4. What would the world look like now, if Israelites would have obediently kept the Sabbath day and year? Would not the promise of Exodus 19:5-6 been fulfilled?

5 'Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. 6 And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.'

These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.

SABBATH TIMES & SEASONS

Times & Seasons1. This year is the year of Sabbath in Jewish and Biblical calendar. And the next year is the

year of Jubilee, beginning on the day of the Feast of Trumpet (the first day of the Biblical calendar year) on 13 September 2015 (Sunday).

2. And we are seeing and witnessing increasing moral crisis (increasing in wickedness, especially sexual immorality), economical crisis, political crisis, military crisis (wars and rumours of war), natural disasters and religious crisis (including compromising Christianity). These are all signs of the beginning of the Tribulation and of end-time.

3. If we put these two together, a time and a season that God is allowing us to observe is like ‘calm before the storm’. Symbolically, Sabbath period may be a window of opportunity for the church and the saints to plumb line with the Word of God and with God Himself.

4. It may be that God is telling us symbolically through the notion of Sabbath that it is a time for us to prepare for the coming days, just like Jesus prepared His disciples (and His church) for the coming persecution by the Jews (religion) and Roman Empire (world).

5. And the consequence of not taking heed of the lesson of Sabbath is the judgement of God upon His own people.

1 Peter 4:17 17 For it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?