10/12/17 - Eph 6:2-3, The Ten Commandments, Pt. 14, The 4th
Commandment, Pt. 6. Lesson # 17-109
Pastor/Teacher, Jim Rickard
Grace
Fellowship Church
The Doctrine of the Ten Commandments Related to the Church Age,
Part XIII.
Before we begin, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus
Christ, (If You have - Trusted in Him for Eternal Life), it is important to
prepare yourself to: Take-in God’s Word and/or Participate in a Communion
Service, so take a moment to name, cite, or acknowledge your sins privately,
directly to God the Father. This will assure that you are in fellowship with
God the Father & the Holy Spirit’s convicting ministry will then be able to
teach you as the Holy Spirit is the real teacher.
1 John 1:9
says— “If we confess [simply name, cite, or acknowledge to God the
Father] our sins [known sins], He is faithful and just to forgive us our
sins [known sins] and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness [all unknown & forgotten sins].”
For
those of you who have not yet accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord & Savior,
please see: The Salvation Message @
the end of this document.
2 Pet 3:9, “The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness,
but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all
to come to repentance.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~
The 4th Commandment, New Testament Usage of Sabbath:
Rev 1:10, “I was in
the Spirit on the Lord’s day, (KURIAKE, “belonging to the Lord, HEMERA, “day,” which is
a reference to the 1st day of the week), and I
heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet.”
John uses the phrase, “Lord’s day,”
without otherwise indicating which of the seven days of the week he referred
to; thus, evidently showing that when the book of Revelation was written, there
was a day known and observed by Christians generally as the “Lord’s day.” That
this was the first day of the week, which was kept in memory of the
resurrection of our Lord, is abundantly evident from the history of the Church,
as we will see below.
The root word for “Lord’s” is
KURIAKOS from KURIOS. KURIAKOS means, “belonging to the Lord.” This Adjective,
used like a noun, is used only here and in 1
Cor 11:20 in the phrase, “the Lord’s
Supper,” KURIAKOS DEIPNON. Therefore, there would be an apparent impropriety
in calling a common supper the “Lord’s Supper,” just as there would be a
similar impropriety in calling a secular day the “Lord’s day.” It should also
be noted that even to this day, the Greek word for “Sunday” is KURIAKE,
Κυριακή.
The New Testament reflects the observance of
the first day of the week, instead of the seventh day, as the time of gathering
together, teaching the Word of God, breaking bread, taking offerings, and
worshipping, because it was the day of Christ’s resurrection, cf. Mat 28:1-7; Mark 16:1-6; John 20:19-20,
which they termed, “the Lord’s Day.”
In fact, even after His
resurrection, we never find Christ meeting with His disciples on the 7th
Day. But He specially honored the 1st day by showing Himself to them
on four separate occasions, Mat 28:9-10;
Mark 16:9, 12; Luke 24:18-34; John 20:19-24. Then, on the next first day of
the week, Jesus appeared to his disciples, John
20:26-29. Interestingly, the number 4, (material things), is in view once
again.
John 20:19, “So when it was evening on that day, the first day
of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were, for
fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them,
"Peace be with you".” To have,
“peace in Christ,” means to be resting in Him.
Luke 24:30, “When He had
reclined at the table with them, He took the bread and blessed it,
and breaking it, He began giving it to them.” Notice that Jesus “broke bread” with the disciples on this day,
which meant they participated in the Communion Supper, the Lord’s Supper, as it
was later called in 1 Cor 11:20.
Next, we see that the first
Pentecost, “The Feast of Weeks,” after our Lord’s resurrection, was the birth
of the Church and Church Age. By definition, it was on a Sunday, the 1st day of
the week, Lev 23:15-16; Num 23:26; Deut
16:9-12; Acts 2:1. Interestingly, in Deuteronomy,
the Jews were to remember their freedom from slavery on this day, just as we
are to remember Christ’s sacrifice, which paid for our sins and purchased the
believer from the slave market of sin.
The tradition of Jews to gather and
worship in the synagogues on the Sabbath continued post resurrection of Christ,
Acts 15:21.
Acts 15:21, “For Moses, (The
Pentateuch: Genesis - Deuteronomy), from ancient generations has in every city
those who preach him, since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath."
Yet, there is no commanded
observance for Christians of a Saturday Sabbath after Christ’s resurrection in
the NT, and no one is termed a Sabbath-breaker. In fact, the disciples “broke
the Law” by traveling on the Sabbath post resurrection of Christ, Acts 1:12.
Because of the redemptive work of
Christ, a prescribed observance of the Jewish Sabbath is no longer required for
righteousness in God’s eyes. Thus, the importance of the Resurrection in the
Christian faith caused the day Jesus rose from the dead to be considered the “Lord’s Day,” the first day of the week.
“Analogous is the relationship of the Sabbath and the Exodus, to
the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Christian faith. As the Israelites
were created a new nation through God’s miraculous intervention, so we are made
new creatures through the power of the resurrection. Memory of this miraculous
transformation should make the Lord’s Day a holy day for us, as the Sabbath was
a holy day in OT times.” (Complete
Biblical Library Commentary).
The writings of a number of the
early “Church fathers,” in the 2nd and 3rd centuries
A.D., support the tradition of Sunday worship as the, “Lord’s Day.”
Ignatius, a companion of the
apostles, said, in so many words, “Let us
no more Sabbatize,” that is, keep the Jewish Sabbath, “but let us keep the Lord’s
day, on which our Life arose.”
Irenaeus, Bishop of Lyons, who
lived in the second century, said, “On
the Lord’s day every one of us, Christians, keeps the Sabbath; meditating in
the law, and rejoicing in the works of God.”
Dionysius, Bishop of Corinth, who
also lived in the second century, said in his letter to the Church at Rome, “Today we celebrate the Lord’s day when we
read your epistle to us.”
William
De Loss Love, wrote an article for Bibliotheca Sacra in 1880 titled, “The
Sabbath: The Change Of Observance From The Seventh To The Lord’s Day: Testimony
Of The Fathers.” In it, he discusses how the early Church fathers wrote about
meeting on Sunday, called “the Lord’s day,” rather than the Sabbath, Saturday.
Below are his concluding remarks.
“For equally strong, or stronger, reasons there is no real basis
for what Dr. Hessey calls the “ecclesiastical theory” respecting the Lord’s
day: the view that the sacred observance of the first day has no authority
except in the history of the church since the apostolic era. For we obtain New
Testament evidence that in the apostles’ time the first day was religiously
observed, and the obligations to keep holy the seventh day were cancelled.
Further, we get evidence from the fathers, beginning with those contemporary
with the last of the apostles, that they understood the apostles to authorize
the keeping of the first day sacred, and to release from keeping the seventh as
the Sabbath, and that the apostles authoritatively acted in this under
instruction from their divine Master.
And again, according to this discussion, the view of some even
American evangelical ministers, that the early Christians were disagreed on the
question of keeping the first day in, a religious manner, is entirely wrong.
Not the least evidence of such disagreement appears in the New Testament, and
positive evidence of agreement on that point appears in the patristic
writings.” (Bibliotheca Sacra, October 1880,
P. 685)
Later, by the Fourth Century A.D.,
the Lord’s Day began to erroneously acquire Sabbath characteristics when
Constantine prohibited certain kinds of work from being done on Sunday.
“Hence, there can be no reasonable doubt that the early church
recognized the change which the Lord himself had ordained because of the
beginning of a spiritual new creation through the Resurrection victory. Those
who wished to worship on Saturday were allowed to do so, apparently (judging
from Col. 2:16f), during the
transition period, so far as Jewish converts were concerned. But the basic
purpose of a weekly celebration of God's works of creation and redemption was
certainly to be carried over to the observance of the Lord’s day, as understood
by the early church and by the reformers as well." (Complete Biblical Library Hebrew-English Dictionary)
Nevertheless, there is no expressed
law to meet on the Sabbath or on the first day of the week for the Church Age.
But we do know for a fact that the first day of the week has been observed from
apostolic times, and the necessary conclusion is, that it was observed by the
apostles and their immediate disciples. And we can be assured that they would
never have done so without the permission or the authority of their Lord.
Paul emphasized that the law was a
yoke of bondage from which the Christian had been set free, Gal 3:2, 3; 5:1. Paul made no
distinction between moral and ceremonial law. It was all part of that old
covenant which was done away in Christ, 2
Cor 3:14. It was “nailed to the cross,” Col 2:14.
Today, many Christians continue to
set aside Sunday as a day of worship and rest, while some, like the Seventh-Day
Adventists, practice a more literal seventh-day Sabbath. In spite of their
differences, both practices hold that the present observance of a “Sabbath
rest” is also a look to the future when Christ will usher believers into an
eternal Sabbath.
While some of the Church fathers
and Constantine took it a bit too far in thinking the 7th day
Sabbath given to Israel, was now being replaced by a 1st day Sabbath
for the Church. Nonetheless, we see that the Church is not commanded nor
expected to keep a Sabbath day, but is instead to be continually resting in the
Lord for salvation and in living the unique spiritual life for the Church Age.
And as was the tradition of the apostolic and early Church, we too should set
aside at least one day a week, the Lord’s Day, to focus our worship, learning
of Bible Doctrine, breaking of bread, giving, etc., on the Lord Jesus Christ,
in commemoration and celebration of His death, burial, resurrection, and
ascension being seated at the right hand of God the Father, based on our position
and union in Him, made possible through the Baptism of the Holy Spirit.
Next, we will discuss how the
Church is to enter into His rest and when the Sabbath will be reinstated.
Although the Church was not given
the ordinance to observe the Sabbath, we are commanded to enter into God’s
Sabbath rest, meaning to rest in the promises of God and our union with Christ,
cf. Heb 3:11-19; 4:1-11.
The one who experiences God’s rest
is the one who “ceases from his own works, as God did from His.” That means we
do not “work” for our salvation, as it is based on the faith alone in the
completed work of Jesus Christ upon the Cross. This is the first of two “rests”
or Sabbaths for the believer of the Church Age.
Two Sabbath Rests for the Church
Age believer.
1. The first of these Sabbath
Rests, as mentioned above, is eternal salvation for the individual believer
that culminates in our eternal life in heaven. This is the, “Eternal Sabbath.”
Based on your faith in Christ as your Savior here on earth, upon your death or
Rapture of the Church, you will be in heaven with God for all of eternity with,
“no more sorrows or pain,” Rev 21:4.
This rest becomes the possession of each believer at the moment of salvation, Mat 11:28, “Come to Me, all who are weary
and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”
2. The second Sabbath Rest is the
believer’s, “Temporal Sabbath.” It pertains to the believer’s life on earth. It
refers to the faith-rest life, spoken of in Heb 3:11, and the moment-by-moment Sabbath of Heb 4:1-7.
Since individual OT believers were
only rarely and for special functions indwelt by the Holy Spirit, the
faith-rest life was their basis for spirituality, Heb 11. They were to rest on the promises of God, claiming them,
along with Bible doctrine and Divine principles as given in the scripture.
In the Church Age, every believer is
indwelt by God the Holy Spirit from the moment of salvation, and the filling of
the Holy Spirit is the basis for spirituality in this dispensation, Eph 5:18; 1 John 1:9. In the Jewish
Age, the Holy Spirit was not yet given (universally) because Jesus Christ was
not yet glorified, John 7:39.
Therefore, in the Church Age, the believer, through the power and the filling
of God the Holy Spirit, is to learn and apply God’s Word to his life’s
situations, as he trusts and relies upon God in all situations and
circumstance. This is your moment-by-moment rest.
This rest is a state in which the believer has a Relaxed
Mental Attitude no matter what the situation may look like. It is a complete
trust in the character and nature of God working for you.
Illustrations of this moment-by-moment Sabbath, or
faith-rest.
1. Abraham, Rom 4:17 ‑21.
2. Moses at the
Red Sea, Ex
14:10 ‑14.
3. The bones of
Joseph, Heb
11:22 .
4. Caleb and the
giants, Num 13; 14, cf. Josh 14:6 ‑14, 15:14; Judges 1:20 .
We are the beneficiaries of many
wonderful blessings from God. Yet, many of you do not even know a thing about
those blessings. The Sabbath or rest that God has for you is completely
neglected by many because of ignorance.
The modern tendency of apostasy
stresses the works and production of the believer. Just as the Jews distorted
the ritual Sabbath, most Christians distort the real one. The main problem is
ignorance of Bible doctrine. People feel guilty and condemned and think they
are not doing enough for God. Or, they think they have not because of not
witnessing daily, or not praying, etc. You see, many have been brain washed by
men behind the pulpit who have not studied the Word in depth, but simply emphasize
that you should be hustling around the church working, usually for them.
However, when God gets down to indicting you, He does not mention your failure
to do this or that, but He indicts you for your ignorance concerning His plan
for your life. The main problem in your life is no Bible doctrine in the soul.
Ignorance of Bible doctrine means a breakdown of the spiritual Sabbath in your
life, which is in reality a breakdown of faith-rest in your life.
Heb 3:12, “Take care, brethren, lest there should be in any one of
you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.” What is an evil heart? It is what vs. 12, calls a heart of unbelief in falling away from the living
God. A heart of unbelief is a heart without rest. No faith-rest is to say God
is a liar. One of the greatest problems the Christian faces is fear. Fear,
worry, anxiety always takes away your rest, when that occurs, there will be no
Sabbath for you, and there should be. Heb
4:9 says, “There remains therefore a
Sabbath rest for the people of God.” That is, an identification with the
eternal rest of God. Fear takes away your rest. In fact, the only time we are
told to fear is if we do not have rest.
Heb 3:13, “But encourage one another day after day, as long as it
is still called ‘today,’ lest anyone of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of
sin.” Worry is also a sin, Rom 14:23, and the cure for worry is
the promises of God.
Heb 3:18, “And to whom did He swear that they should not enter His
rest, but to those who were disobedient?” Unbelief
is a manifestation of negative volition towards Bible doctrine and this equals
no Sabbath or no faith-rest. Faith is a technique that demands spiritual food,
it must be constantly fed.
Heb 3:19, “And so we see that they were not able to enter because
of unbelief.” It is not personal sins, lack of
ability, or lack of talent that takes away our rest, it is unbelief. Lack of
rest in a believer’s life usually causes them to blame others for their misery.
Heb 4:1, “Therefore, let us fear lest, while a promise remains of
entering His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.” Refusing to enter into His rest will not stop God from being
glorified, but it will sure rob us of what He desires to give us! The Lord is
constantly pouring out His grace on His people while His people are constantly
pouring out complaints.
Heb 4:2, “For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as
they also; but the word they heard did not profit the, because it was not
united by faith in those who heard.” Please
notice that the prerequisite for entering into rest is being filled with the
spirit for the believer, and mixing faith with what you hear. 1 John 1:9 is only the beginning of
entering into rest, but it is not enough! We need the daily intake of Bible
doctrine. If you have failed the sabbatical test of entering into His rest, the
only way to victory is to sit and learn under Eph 5:18 and Heb 4:2.
The only work for the believer to do is to labor to enter into His rest.
Somewhere in eternity past, many thousands of years ago, God solved all your
problems, and then He rested. Whether your problems come from God or from
Satan, or from the law of volitional responsibility, they have all been given a
solution.
Heb 4:5-6, “They shall not enter My rest. Therefore,
since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly had good news
preached to them failed to enter because of disobedience.” Notice in vs. 6, that rest was preached, but they
did not believe it. Now rest is a promise, and the promise is only as good as
the character of the One who promises. Rest depends upon the faithfulness of
God, and not the faithfulness of man. Many think that the Lord is faithful to
them because they are faithful to Him. However that is totally false.
Heb 4:7, “He again fixes a certain day, “Today,” saying through
David after so long a time just as has been said before, “Today if you hear His
voice, Do not harden your hearts.” Again we
see rest offered to David. The Lord’s invitation for rest has always been
available to every believer, but, His rest consists of specific instructions
and directions and must be accompanied with the perception, metabolization, and
application of Bible doctrine. Faith is not blind; it is the greatest vision in
the world. Faith-rest requires understanding. This is especially true in
understanding the finished work of Christ, the doctrine of the Baptism of the
Spirit, and the doctrine of Eternal Security.
Heb 4:9-11, “There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people
of God.” This rest is not only a provision
for self, but also for those who are around you as well. “For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his
works, as God did from His. Therefore let us be diligent to enter that rest, so
that no one will fall, through following the same example of disobedience.”
Vs. 10, tells us
that “His rest,” KATAPAUSIS AUTOS,
was not a cessation of all His activity. He ceased His creation, but He
continued to sustain it and take an active part and interest in it, as is seen
in His relationship with Adam and Eve, Gen
3:8ff. God created the human race and placed it upon earth so He could
maintain a unique relationship with those whom He had created in His own image.
God’s rest certainly included the maintenance of His fellowship with mankind,
as He later provided atonement for the sins of the world through His son Jesus
Christ.
In vs. 11, the Greek word for “diligent” is SPOUDAZO and it means, “to
study, to make an effort, or to be diligent in study.” It is the same word
found in 2 Tim 2:15, “Be diligent to
present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed,
handling accurately the word of truth.” Refusal of entering into His rest
results in double mindedness, instability, and confusion. Entering into His
rest is important; it is how to persevere in life,
Heb 4:12, “For the word of God is …” The temporal Sabbath or moment-by-moment Sabbath means that you
depend on God day by day, and rest entirely upon what God has provided. The
moment by moment Sabbath is Bible doctrine in the soul.
Therefore, in both Eternal and
Temporal Sabbaths, Jesus is our Sabbath rest which is not just one day, but
every day, and for all of eternity.
Our final point is that the Sabbath
is to be restored in the tribulation, Mat
24:20-21, and fully re-established in the Millennial kingdom, Deut 30:8; Ezek 45:17; 46:1, 3-4, 12,
and continue into the eternal state, Isa
66:22-23.
Isa 66:22-23, “For just as
the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me,"
declares the LORD, "So your offspring and your name will endure. 23And
it shall be from new moon to new moon and from sabbath to sabbath, All mankind
will come to bow down before Me," says the LORD.”
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
~ ~ ~ ~
A PERSONAL NOTE FOR YOU
John 6:47 says: “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who
believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life.”
Notice again what John
6:47 says, “he who believes in Me [Jesus Christ] has everlasting life.” It doesn’t say, “will have;” it says,
“has.” Therefore, the very moment you believe Jesus Christ’s promise of
everlasting life, you have it, and it can never be lost or taken away from you [John 10:28-29]. Furthermore, the gift
of everlasting life [also called eternal life in Scripture] is available to
every human being; there are absolutely no exceptions.
John 3:14-18
says: “And as Moses lifted up the
serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in
Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be
saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is
condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten
Son of God.”
Eph 2:8-9, “For
by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift
of God: 9 Not of
works, lest any man should boast.”
If
you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I am here to tell
you that Jesus loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His life for you.
God the Father also loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His only Son
for you by sending Him to the Cross. At the Cross Jesus died in your place.
Taking upon Himself all of your sins and all of my sins. He was judged for our
sins and paid the price for our sins. Therefore, our sins will never be held
against us.
Right
where you are, you now have the opportunity to make the greatest decision in
your life. To accept the free gift of salvation and eternal life by truly
believing that Jesus Christ died for your sins and was raised on the third day
as the proof of the promise of eternal life. So right now, you can pause and
reflect on what Christ has done for you and say to the Father:
"Yes Father, I believe that
Your Son, Jesus Christ,
died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins."
If
you have done that, I Welcome You to the Eternal Family of God !!!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher: James H. Rickard
23 Messenger Street, Unit 3
Plainville, MA 02762
Pastor/Teacher: James H. Rickard
23 Messenger Street, Unit 3
Plainville, MA 02762
Copyright © 2001 - 2017.
Property of: James H Rickard Bible Ministries
All Rights Reserved.
Property of: James H Rickard Bible Ministries
All Rights Reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment