Pursue Sabbath Keeping

Father, as we open your word, help us, Father, may your Holy Spirit do a work to make us honest about ourselves,

that we might recognize ourselves in your word, that we might recognize our fears that your word creates,

but we also, Father, might recognize the hunger that we have for what your word teaches,

the longing we have to have that be real in our hearts and in our lives.

So, Father, pour out your Holy Spirit upon us so that we might be fed by you, by your word.

And this we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Please be seated.

So, if you could go back in a time machine to talk to young George Sinclair when he was a kid,

and you were able to convince the young George Sinclair that you weren't going to tell my parents

that I really could answer honestly.

And if you were to ask the young George Sinclair,

which was your least favorite day of the week, or is there a day you hate,

I would not have had to think about it. I would have said Sunday.

In fact, if you would have asked me, what is the day you hate the most,

your second most hateful day, your third most hateful day,

I would have said Sunday, Sunday, and Sunday.

Because basically, I liked the other days of the week most of the time,

but I hated Sunday.

I grew up in a home with very strict Sabbath observance.

Church three times a day.

You go to Sunday school, then after you go to Sunday school,

you go to church, and then you go home,

and you get ready for the evening service.

Most of the time, you weren't allowed to watch television,

and I was never allowed to play with my friends.

So Sunday was unbelievably boring, and I hated it.

In fact, I only stopped hating it.

I can't remember how old I was.

I really only stopped hating it when I was old enough to get away,

to go biking somewhere.

And it wasn't so that I could observe the Sabbath,

but my parents didn't know what I was doing,

and I could have some fun.

And that was my experience of keeping the Sabbath.

I have to confess that, you know, on one hand,

that has probably cast a long shadow on my life

in terms of how I've kept the Sabbath ever since.

And so on one hand,

because we're talking about the Ten Commandments today,

if you're a guest,

we're going through the Ten Commandments.

Today is the Fourth Commandment,

and it's about Sabbath keeping.

We're going to look in a moment to Deuteronomy 5,

if you want to sort of be turning there.

But, you know, all week,

or the last two weeks,

as I've been thinking and praying about this text,

on one hand, I'm very conscious that that's,

you know, that's part of my background,

very strict observance of the Sabbath.

On the other hand,

there's the Canadian context today.

And I'm probably,

maybe not describing all of you,

so for some of you,

I'm describing other people.

But probably for most of us,

if we murdered somebody this week,

we'd probably feel guilty.

Just a guess.

Probably if we stole something this week,

we'd feel a little bit guilty.

Just a guess.

We committed adultery this week,

hopefully you feel guilty.

If you haven't kept the Sabbath in four months,

doesn't bother us in the least.

Like for the average Canadian Christian,

today, we probably don't know how to keep the Sabbath.

And if we don't keep the Sabbath at all,

or at least not even regularly how God has intended it,

that's just fine.

We don't even feel the least,

tiniest smidgen of guilt.

And that's the context within which

we have to sort of look at God's word.

And so we're going to do that.

And I have to confess that I've learned a lot this week

studying the text.

I really have.

And I realize in some ways,

I haven't kept the Sabbath as well as I should.

I don't know if I have a solution

for kids finding Sundays boring.

I don't know if I have a solution for that.

Part of it is sometimes just things are boring in life

and kids have to learn that.

But we need to learn from God's word about what it is.

Should we be trying to keep the Sabbath?

Should we be going back to how I was raised?

Should we be doing something different?

Well, we're going to look at that.

So if it's in Deuteronomy chapter 5,

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

is one of the two versions of the Ten Commandments.

It's the one that we've been using as week by week

we've been going through it.

Deuteronomy chapter 5.

Deuteronomy 5 · chapter mention

We're going to begin at the first verse.

And just a bit of a context.

I don't know how much Jonathan told you every week,

but some of you might not have been here,

so I'll just say it to you now.

There's two versions of the Ten Commandments.

There's only small differences between the two of them.

Actually, the Sabbath keeping

is the one with the most changes.

The first version in the book of Exodus

takes place shortly after they've left Egypt.

And this version, the Deuteronomy version,

Deuteronomy is Moses has led the people

to the edge of the promised land.

The people are about to enter the promised land.

Moses knows that he is not going into the promised land.

He will die.

He will have seen it from afar,

but he will not enter it.

He knows that.

And in some ways, the book of Deuteronomy

is a very long sermon by Moses.

And it's not only a reminding of the covenant,

it's in a sense a renewal of the covenant

between the Lord God Almighty

and the people of Israel.

It's a renewal of the covenant

before they go in to take the promised land

and to live in it.

And so Moses recites or reminds them

of what went on and of the covenant,

and that's the context.

And so off we go.

Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 1.

Deuteronomy 5:1

And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them,

Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules

that I speak in your hearing today,

and you shall learn them and be careful to do them.

And pause there for a second.

This is really important.

When we stop right here,

everybody in the world,

all of the different religions of the world

are very comfortable.

If you could put up the first point, Andrew.

I mean, there's slightly different ways to word this.

I thought of about two or three different

slight ways to word it

if you wanted to capture Hinduism or Buddhism

or certain other types of spirituality.

But religion says,

if I obey and if I achieve what the rules require,

then God will show me favor.

That's the basic religious impulse.

That if I obey and if I achieve what the rules require,

then God will show me favor.

So when Deuteronomy 5,

when Moses begins,

Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the rules

that I speak in your hearing today,

and you shall learn them and be careful to do them,

all of the religions of the world say,

Okay, good.

These are the Jewish rules or the Christian rules.

Let's sit down.

They all sit down.

Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, North Americans,

if we'll sit down,

let's look and see how good their rules are

compared to ours.

You know, because spiritual people will say,

Okay, well, I'm really interested to hear

what these rules are

because I know that if I'm spiritual,

not religious,

my rules are way better.

Like my rules are just,

you know,

treat yourself regularly,

make sure you do yoga a couple of times a week,

try not to murder anybody this week,

you know,

you deserve a latte or a nice back,

you know, whatever it is,

you know,

or, you know,

you have to make sure you send

at least one angry tweet against Trump.

Like there's just a variety of different things

that you might want to say,

you know,

but the fact of the matter is

is the entire world can sit down

at the end of verse 1 and say,

Okay, this is very interesting.

Okay,

because religion is all about keeping rules.

In fact,

you see,

for many people in North America

who would describe themselves

as being completely and utterly irreligious,

as having given up on religion,

they'd say,

basically,

that whole treadmill of keeping rules,

forget about it.

They're stupid.

You know,

the fact of the matter is,

if I just feel like getting,

you know,

drinking late into the night on Saturday,

getting up whenever I

bleep,

bleep,

bleep,

bleep,

bleep,

bleep,

bleep,

feel like it on a Sunday morning,

you know,

and wandering over,

you know,

having a latte,

having some nice pastries,

just living life on my own terms

for my own interest

to accomplish my own things

and forget about spiritual,

forget about religious,

and there's a lot of people

in Canada like that

because they basically understand

that the only option

is between religion

where there's going to be rules

to win the God's favor

and no religion

or irreligion

and there's no religion

and irreligion

and say,

just forget about it.

When you die,

that's it.

You know,

suck it up.

When you die,

that's it.

And in between,

don't bother with all these stupid rules.

Good grief,

praying five times a day

with complicated ceremonies,

forget about it.

Have a drink.

Chill out.

Watch some Netflix.

Get a life.

Because most people,

we're all prepared for verse one.

Okay?

Give me the rules, God,

and I'll figure out a way to keep them

because I want to know your favor.

And that's the basic context.

And by the way,

the constant struggle within Christianity

is because whether you're Protestant

or Catholic or Eastern Orthodox,

whether you're charismatic

or evangelical,

the constant drift

is to follow the human heart

to turn the Christian faith

into a religion.

You've got to go to confession.

You've got to say

so many Hail Marys.

You've got to go to Mass

certain days

because they're days of,

what do they call them,

solemn obligation

or something like that.

And we Protestants,

we know we're way,

way, way better

than those,

you know,

Roman Catholics,

you know,

but ours are,

you know,

I don't know,

you've got to go to church

a certain number of times,

you know,

you've got to be able

to know the praise songs,

you have to know

when to raise your hands,

you have to be in a congregation

that claps,

you don't clap,

you have to do this rule,

you have to do that rule,

but we turn it into,

like my parents,

in some ways,

in their church,

Sabbath keeping

was a list of rules

that had to be kept.

And if you didn't keep the rules,

like what are you,

Roman Catholic or something?

Like not a Christian?

I'm not picking,

you know,

I'm sure if I had

some Roman Catholics here,

they could say,

yeah,

you don't go to Mass,

what are you,

a Protestant?

Like it's the human heart

that's the problem.

And so we understand it.

And religion is all about

obeying,

achieving the rules,

what they require,

then God will show me favor.

So we read verse one again

and we're all set.

O hear, O Israel,

the statutes and the rules

that I speak to you

in hearing today,

and you shall learn them

and be careful to do them.

Okay?

I am oriented.

It's a religious text,

religious rules,

the Muslims,

the Buddhists,

the Hindus,

we all sit around

because the Hindus

and the Buddhists

and the Muslims

know they're going to have

better rules than these ones.

And then in verse two,

Moses throws a curveball.

He throws a knuckleball.

He throws a screwball.

He throws a ball

that nobody's expecting.

And he continues to throw

screwball after screwball

because Moses,

and he's just speaking for God,

wants to mess

with our religious mind.

How does he go in verse two?

The Lord, our God,

made a covenant with us

in Horeb.

What?

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, God.

No, no, no, God.

Moses, you got this wrong.

You're supposed to tell us

the different rules that we do,

and then if we succeed

in the rules that we do,

then you might make

a covenant with us.

You don't start with

making a covenant with us.

Like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

God, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Just stop.

Moses, stop.

Time out.

You're supposed to tell us

the different things

that we have to do

so God will show us

the favor of a covenant.

Because we need to sort of

have a bit of a say in this

so you're bitting our debt.

you don't begin by announcing

that you make a covenant with us.

You just make a covenant with us.

Now, you see,

when we read this as a religious way,

we skip this part.

This is now where it goes

blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah,

verse 7.

Yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada,

verse 7.

But God messes

with our religious heart.

He messes

with our desire

to create a system

whereby really God

sort of owes us some favors

because of our great success

at rule keeping.

But he messes with us.

In fact, if you could put this

to the next point up, Andrew,

in some ways this is the summary

of what's going on

in the whole Ten Commandments.

First, God makes a covenant.

Then he redeems us.

Then he asks us

to keep a weekly Sabbath for him

by resting and remembering.

The order is really important.

You see,

the religious inclination is

if we rest and remember

very well,

God will redeem us.

If we rest and remember

very well,

God will spend time with us.

The order is unbelievably important.

God makes a covenant with us.

We do nothing

to make the covenant.

Absolutely nothing.

We do as much

to make a covenant with God

as we have a say

in how fast the earth

spins around the sun.

Let's have a world vote

about how fast the earth

spins around the sun.

It doesn't matter.

God makes the covenant.

And then God,

as we're going to see

in a moment,

he redeems them.

They didn't redeem themselves.

Not even remotely close.

He does everything

to redeem them.

And after he's made the covenant,

after he's redeemed them

so that they can be part

of the covenant,

he asks

these different rules.

Not these different rules,

these different words

is a better word than rules.

These different words.

And

as we're going to see

in a moment,

if you look at the Ten Commandments,

eight of the commandments

involve not doing something.

Two of the commandments,

God gives us a project,

so to speak.

Something to aim for.

We'll talk about this

more in a moment.

This one,

that we're to attempt

to keep the Sabbath,

and the next one

about honoring parents.

Eight,

don't steal,

don't murder,

don't,

don't,

don't.

For two of them,

in a sense,

there's something to pursue.

But we're going to see

as we keep reading this

that first God makes a covenant,

then he redeems us,

then he asks us

to keep a weekly Sabbath

for him

by resting and remembering.

So let's go back

to verse two again.

And we'll see

that this is exactly

how it's structured.

And it's really important

because our religious sensibility

wants to make

verses two to six,

yada, yada, yada, yada, yada, yada,

yada, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

We need to listen.

The Lord our God

made a covenant

with us in Horeb.

Not with our fathers

did the Lord

make this covenant,

but with us

who are all of us

here alive today.

That's a very simple thing.

Basically,

when God makes a covenant,

the implication is

that it's going to be

multiple generations

until either he brings

in a new covenant

or the end comes.

For us,

the covenant,

the covenant with Israel

still has a bearing

and importance

up until Jesus comes again.

But for us,

both Jews and Gentiles

who are in here

in the congregation

together as Christians,

the church

is this,

the new covenant

of his blood

instituted when Jesus

dies on the cross.

That's the covenant.

There will be no other covenant

until Jesus returns.

And it's understood

by this covenant.

God's showing us

that covenants

are understood

to be intergenerational,

multiple generational,

especially within

your own children,

but also to extend

beyond your own children.

Verse 4,

it continues,

the Lord God,

the Lord spoke with you

face to face

at the mountain.

In other words,

it was a personal communication.

They don't see his face,

but this is face to face

as a poetic way of saying

he's right in your face.

He's right up close to you

when he's speaking to you.

The Lord spoke with you

face to face

at the mountain

out of the midst

of the fire

while I stood

between the Lord

and you at that time

to declare to you

the word of the Lord,

once again emphasizing

that God spoke.

For you were afraid

because of the fire

and you did not go up

into the mountain.

And God said,

now here he's introducing himself.

This is the second little bit

of what I've said up here.

I am the Lord your God

who brought you

out of the land of Egypt,

out of the house of slavery.

He hasn't told them

a single rule.

He hasn't told them

a single thing to do.

God made the covenant.

You didn't do anything

to make the covenant.

God chose to make

a covenant with you.

And you couldn't redeem yourself

from slavery.

God.

The Lord God.

And Lord here,

remember every time

you see the word Lord

in the Old Testament,

that's the covenant

personal name for God.

The relational name for God.

Okay?

When my kids,

at a certain time,

all of my kids

had a time

where they wanted

to start calling me George.

And I told each one of them

that there's six billion people

in the world

who can call me George.

there's only nine kids,

only nine people

who can call me Dad.

And Lord is like Dad.

We're invited to call him Dad.

I mean, it's Lord.

He's big.

It's reminding us

of how big he is,

but it's the personal name.

And he says,

verse six,

I am the Lord your God

who brought you up

out of the land of slavery,

out of the land of Egypt,

out of the house of slavery.

And you're going to notice

that when we go to the commandment

about the Sabbath day,

he's going to remind

the people

about the fact

that he brought them

out of slavery,

that it's a very,

very,

very important idea.

So we see here,

first God makes a covenant,

then he redeems us,

then he asks us

to keep a weekly Sabbath

for him

by resting

and remembering.

Now,

some of us might say,

okay,

well,

George,

here's the problem

with this.

I wasn't a slave

in Egypt.

Last I checked,

in fact,

I mean,

I think there's a few people

here who've been in Egypt.

Most of us

have never been to Egypt.

So,

you know,

maybe other than Paul,

there's nobody else here

who's gone to Egypt,

so how could God

have redeemed us

from it?

Like,

how does this apply

to us as Christians?

How does this apply

to us at all?

Well,

two very,

very important things.

We're going to look at

two other scripture passages.

Here's the first thing

to keep in mind.

It's a New Testament teaching,

a Jesus teaching.

Next point,

Andrew.

Until we are

redeemed by Jesus Christ,

every human being

is a slave

in denial.

By the way,

that's why he had to go

through the denial

to the promised land.

Sorry,

I took a slip

in a really bad joke.

Denial,

denial,

never mind.

Okay.

I shouldn't try jokes

in English

or when they have to be

translated into Portuguese.

But until,

this is very,

very,

very,

very,

very,

very,

very stark news.

Actually,

if you want to just turn

to John chapter 8

John 8 · chapter mention

in your Bibles,

turn to John chapter 8.

John 8 · chapter mention

Some of you,

probably your minds

instantly went to that.

John chapter 8,

John 8:34

verse 34.

Keep your finger

in Deuteronomy

because we're going

to go back.

But if you go back

to John chapter 8,

John 8:34

verse 34,

we see Jesus speaking.

And actually,

we'll begin at verse 31.

John 8,

31.

So Jesus said to the Jews,

that's the religious leaders

of the Jewish people

who had believed him,

if you abide in my word,

you are truly my disciples

and you will know the truth

and the truth

will set you free.

It's a very famous quote.

You will know the truth

and the truth

will set you free.

They answered him,

we are the offspring

of Abraham

and have never been

enslaved to anyone.

How is it that you say

you will become free?

Jesus answered them,

truly, truly,

if you have the old

King James Version,

I love it,

verily, verily,

I say to you,

everyone who practices sin

is a slave to sin.

And then it goes on,

the slave does not remain

in the house forever,

the son remains forever,

so if the son sets you free,

you will be free indeed.

Truly, truly,

I say to you,

everyone who practices sin

is a slave to sin.

I'm not going to spend

a long time

trying to prove this.

We're going to talk about it

a little bit,

a fair amount actually,

in the fall

when we start our series

in Galatians

because in the book

of Galatians,

the image of slavery

as a way to understand

being separate from God

is one of the primary ideas

to understand sin

is slavery.

But this,

I'm going to just point out,

this is a very,

very stark thing.

I'm not making any comment.

I don't know what

Justin Trudeau's

eternal destiny is.

I don't know if he's

a Christian or not.

I'm not,

I'm just,

but, you know,

apparently he isn't.

It doesn't matter

if you're Bill Gates.

It doesn't matter

if you're one of Rick's

friends on the street.

It doesn't matter

if you're Justin Trudeau.

It doesn't matter

if you're a person

living in a shelter.

Apart from Jesus,

you are a slave to sin.

You are a slave.

If you were here today,

you haven't given

your life to Jesus,

the Bible just insulted you.

It only insulted you,

by the way,

if it's not true.

If it's true,

it was the first true thing

you have heard

about your situation

potentially in a long time.

If it's not true,

it's an insult.

If it's true,

it's hope.

It's hope.

And so, you see,

on one hand,

this is the beginning

of trying to understand

this Ten Commandments.

On one hand,

okay,

I wasn't a slave in Egypt,

but if every human being

apart from Christ

is a slave,

and a slave in denial,

because Bill Gates

does not understand

himself as a slave,

Justin Trudeau

does not understand

himself as a slave,

and people in Ottawa

and in Angola,

apart from Christ,

do not think of themselves

as a slave.

But if we understand

that Jesus has redeemed us

out of slavery

into freedom,

then that's a very,

very easy jump

from the Sabbath

commandment

that we're going

to read in a second.

Here's the second thing.

If you could put up

the next point,

Andrew.

The Exodus

recorded in the book

of Exodus

points to the true

and greater Exodus

accomplished by Jesus,

Messiah.

Remember,

the way the Old Testament

is,

looking at it

from your point of view.

This is written

before the cross.

We are reading

this

after the cross.

And from Genesis 3

all the way

to Malachi 4,

time and time again,

the scripture

is giving us

riddles

and hints

and types

and promises

that will only be

fulfilled in the cross.

after the cross,

when we read

books like Deuteronomy,

we can look back

and understand

in many ways

how this was

preparing people

to understand

the cross.

If you turn

in your Bible

to Luke 9,

Luke 9:31

verse 31,

Luke 9,

Luke 9:31

verse 31,

we'll see this teaching

comes from Jesus.

It's going to be hard

because almost

all English versions

translate the word,

don't translate

the word literally,

but they translate

it metaphorically.

But if you read,

we'll begin

in verse 28,

Luke 9,

28.

Now,

so what's happened

here in the flow

of the book

is that Jesus

just before this

has revealed

to his disciples

for the first time

that he's going

to die on the cross.

In fact,

not only has he revealed

that he's going

to die on the cross,

he's revealed

that his death

on the cross

is the whole purpose

of him coming.

And everything

that happens

in the book of Luke

after just a few

verses before this

is Jesus

preparing in

different ways

his disciples

to understand

what it means

that he's come

to die upon the cross

for them

to save them.

And so here,

that's the context

of the transfiguration.

And this is the story,

one of Luke's

account of the transfiguration.

Now about eight days,

verse 28,

after these sayings

about revealing

that he's going

to die on the cross,

he took with him

Peter and John

and James

and went up

on the mountain

to pray.

And as he was praying,

the appearance

of his face

was altered

and his clothing

became dazzling white

and behold,

two men

were talking with him,

Moses and Elijah.

This is really interesting.

Moses,

who preaches

Deuteronomy

and is the one

who's there

in the book of Exodus

that God uses

to reveal

this covenant

with Israel

that they are

to enter into

and to remind them

of the covenant,

to remind them

that they were

delivered from slavery

and learning how to live

as whole and free

human beings

in light of the covenant.

This Moses

and Elijah

who's taken

right up into heaven,

representing the prophets,

they're speaking

to Jesus.

verse 30 again,

and behold,

two men

were talking with him,

Moses and Elijah,

who appeared

in glory

and spoke

of his,

and the word

departure

is literally

exodus.

They spoke

of his exodus,

which he was

about to accomplish

at Jerusalem.

So isn't it

interesting,

Moses

talks to Jesus.

Moses,

who was used

by God

to bring the people

of Israel

out of the house

of slavery,

out of the house

of bondage,

out of Egypt

by crossing

the Red Sea.

Jesus has just

revealed that he

came to die

and now

they describe

his death

upon the cross

and what it

accomplishes

and his resurrection

as an exodus.

that you,

ordinary human beings

like you and me

can benefit from.

And so

the exodus

recorded

in the book

of Exodus

points to the true

and greater

exodus

accomplished

by Jesus Messiah,

which we can benefit

from and follow.

And so

when we read

that

verse 6,

I am the Lord

your God

who brought you

out of the house

of bondage,

out of the house

of slavery,

we can instantly

think one moment

we can completely

and utterly

get behind this

because Jesus

accomplished

the true

and greater

exodus

because he

defeated

sin itself.

He defeated

death itself.

Sin which

causes death,

he's defeated

sin,

he's defeated

death,

he's defeated

the devil,

he's defeated

all hostile

spiritual powers,

he has defeated

all of these

things.

It is the true,

that is the true

great,

the true defeat

of slavery

because we

can't stop

sinning,

we cannot

stop ourselves

from dying,

we are slaves

to sin,

we are slaves

to death

and some of us

are even slaves

to hostile

demonic

spiritual powers

and we cannot

free ourselves

and Jesus'

exodus,

his death

upon the cross

and his resurrection

is the true

defeat of

slavery which

we can share

in by faith.

We can remember

this commandment

brothers and

sisters.

This is ours.

It is not

just for

Moses and the

people who are

there,

this is ours.

A far

greater

exodus,

a far

greater

defeat

and triumph

over slavery,

the promise

of a far

greater

freedom

and wholeness

that can begin

on this side

of the grave

and with the

coming of Jesus

where when we

see him face

to face

and we will

see him face

to face

and we will

be changed

because we

will be like

him

and our

wholeness

and our

freedom

in Christ

is a

destiny

that cannot

be taken

from us.

turn back

to

Deuteronomy

once again

read verse

six

this

Deuteronomy

five

verse six

I am the

Lord your

God

who brought

you out

of the

land

of Egypt

out of

the house

of slavery

now

jump down

to the

actual

commandment

or the

word

about

Sabbath

observance

verse 12

observe

the

Sabbath

day

to keep

it

holy

as

the

Lord

your

God

commanded

you

six

days

you

shall

labor

and

do

all

your

work

but

the

seventh

day

is

a

Sabbath

to

the

Lord

your

God

on

it

you

shall

not

do

any

work

you

or

your

son

or

your

daughter

or

your

male

servant

or

your

female

servant

or

your

ox

or

donkey

or

any

of

your

livestock

or

the

sojourner

who

is

within

your

gates

that

your

male

and

servant

and

your

female

servant

may

rest

as

well

as

you

you

shall

remember

that

you

were

a

slave

in

the

land

of

Egypt

and

the

Lord

your

God

brought

you

out

from

there

with

a

mighty

hand

and

an

outstretched

arm

therefore

the

Lord

your

God

commanded

you

to

keep

the

Sabbath

day

so

here's

a couple

of

things

about

this

if

you

could

put

up

the

next

point

even

after

I

become

Christ's

own

forever

I

can

be

lured

into

living

like

a

slave

even

after

I

become

Christ's

own

forever

I

can

be

lured

into

living

like

a

slave

it's

really

funny

so

this

morning

I'm

making

my

coffee

and

making

my

peanut

butter

and

jam

stuff

that

I'm

going

to

have

with

my

coffee

and

I'm

honest

with

you

I've

been

working

on

this

all

week

and

what

am

I

doing

as

I'm

making

my

coffee

and

buttering

my

rolls

and

putting

peanut

butter

and

jam

on

them

am

I

thinking

God

is

so

good

he's

delivered

me

from

slavery

he's

redeemed

me

my

destiny

forever

no

I

was

unbelievably

anxious

about

what

was

going

to

happen

next

Sunday

I

had

been

lured

into

living

like

a

slave

I

was

going

to

come

here

and

tell

you

all

the

things

you're

supposed

to

do

but

existentially

I

was

being

lured

into

living

like

a

slave

to

anxiety

see

that's

what

sanctification

is all

about

and

that's

one

of

the

reasons

why

the

Sabbath

is

an

important

tool

in

sanctification

because

the fact

of the

matter

is

is that

our

minds

naturally

move

to

different

things

that

call

our

attention

to

serve

them

whether

it's

anxiety

whether

it's

to

try to

get

a

particular

degree

whether

it's

about

trying

to

make

more

money

whether

it's

about

satisfying

our

husband

or

our

wife

whether

our

mind

keeps

moving

to

wounds

things

that

people

did

to

hurt

our

minds

keep

going

to

particular

images

our

minds

keep

going

to

our

pride

our

minds

keep

going

to

all

sorts

of

things

and

even

though

we are

Christ's

owned

forever

it is

really

easy

for us

to be

lured

into

slavery

which

is

why

God

in

his

kindness

says

you know

what

George

you know

what

I'd

like

you

to

do

remember

George

I made

the

covenant

that's

what goes

on when

Jesus

is doing

the

last

supper

he's

telling

everybody

I'm

making

a

covenant

we

didn't

all

agree

to

make

the

covenant

I'm

making

a

new

covenant

that

will

go

on

forever

and

I'm

going

to

die

on

the

cross

for

you

and

I'm

going

to

make

sure

that

every

single

thing

that

you

do

that's

ever

wrong

I'm

going

to

pay

for

it

and

your

inability

George

to live

a holy

life

so

that

you know

you have

perfect

fellowship

hands

and

open

arms

that

you

cease

and

put

your

arms

out

to

me

and

I'll

catch

you

and

I'll

take

you

because

it's

not

George

about

how

long

your

arm

it's

about

how

long

my

arm

it's

not

about

how

strong

your

grip

is

it's

about

how

my

grip

is

I

will

never

let

you

go

and

George

once

a

week

I

want

you

to

reenact

that

see

the

word

sabbath

means

cease

stop

you

see

in

some

ways

if

we

start

to

learn

to

practice

the

sabbath

we're

remembering

our

conversion

because

our

conversion

in a

sense

comes

for

those

of

us

who've

had

an

adult

conversion

or

an

older

conversion

our

conversion

comes

when

we

in a

sense

we've

been

running

from

Jesus

our

back

is

to

the

cross

and

the

time

comes

that

we

no

longer

are

walking

away

from

him

we're

no

longer

running

away

from

him

that

we

stop

and

we

turn

and

we

lay

down

our

sword

and

we

lay

down

our

shield

and

we

lay

down

our

porcupine

outfit

which

is

all

prickly

to

try

to

keep

everybody

especially

Jesus

away

and

we

lay

it