Amen. All right, we're there in Ezekiel chapter number 20, and we've been working our way through the book of Ezekiel on Wednesday nights, taking one chapter a week and going through it, and what I'd like to do just to begin tonight is just go through and kind of show you an outline that's in this chapter, and maybe you can write that down or write it in the margins of your Bible so you can outline this chapter, and then I'll point out just some specific things.
There's a lot of repetition in this chapter, and whenever God repeats something over and over again, He's trying to make a point, so I'll give you the outline, and then we'll go through the repetitions, the things that are brought up over and over, and we'll highlight those, and what I want you to notice is there that the chapter begins, if you look at verse 1, it says this,
We actually begin a new section in the book of Ezekiel in this chapter. Chapters 20 through 23 is a section of prophecies that are going to take place at this time. We've seen through the book of Ezekiel where the elders of Israel come to inquire of the Lord through Ezekiel, and it's interesting because you see this side,
something I like about preaching just verse by verse, chapter by chapter through the Bible is that it forces you to see a side of God that people often will ignore, and it's a negative side, because here you have the elders of Israel coming to inquire of the Lord, and verse 2 says this,
Then came the word of the Lord unto me, saying, Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God. Notice what he says, Are ye come to inquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.
So they come to ask a question of God, but God says, I don't want to talk to you. I will not be inquired of by you. Now, he takes the next, you know, most of the chapter to basically explain why it is that he does not want to be inquired of by them, but notice towards the end of the chapter, in verse 31, he finishes by saying this,
For when ye offer your gifts, when ye make your sons to pass through the fire, ye polluted yourselves with all your idols, even unto this day, and shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel, as I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be inquired of by you.
And here's a good lesson for us to understand, that God is the God of the second chance, and sometimes the third chance, but he's not necessarily the God of the twentieth chance.
You know, and here we're talking to believers, we're not talking about the fact that you could lose your salvation or become a reprobate, but even we as believers, we can come to the place where God just kind of gets fed up with us.
And he says, I'm just kind of done with you, you know, I'm not going to be inquired of you, and you've done too much, there's too much history, and I'm just kind of done.
So we need to understand that God is not this God that's just going to take whatever we do. Now, he's always going to forgive us, of course, and you're never going to lose your salvation.
As New Testament believers, we understand that eternal security, but God can get to the place where he says, I will not be inquired of by you.
Now, what we see in this chapter is that God basically, Ezekiel goes through a rundown of the history of the children of Israel, and there's just these themes that come up through the different sections of the history, and I'll just point that out for you, and kind of just give you the outline quickly, just so you can have it.
In verses four through five, we have when God chose Israel. Notice what it says, it says this.
Will thou judge them, son of man? Will thou judge them? Now, here's what he's saying, he's saying, I don't want to talk to them. They came to inquire of me, I will not be inquired of by them.
But then he says, you go ahead and judge them, and cause them to know the abominations of their fathers. He said, Ezekiel, you talk to them, and you let them know the abominations. Notice what he says in verse five.
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord. Now, here's the first, where we see the first section. In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt, when I lifted up mine hand unto them, saying, I am the Lord your God.
So he says, look, the first time, or the first section in time that God wants to talk about or bring up here, he talks about the day when I chose Israel. And again, we learned another principle here, and the principle is this.
That if you are saved tonight, it's not because you sought God, but because God sought you. It's not because you were seeking the Savior. People today often want to use this terminology and say, oh, let me tell you about when I found Jesus.
You didn't find Jesus. Jesus wasn't lost. The Bible says that he came to seek and to save that which was lost. It wasn't Jesus that was lost. It was you that was lost.
And if it wasn't for God revealing himself to us, if it wasn't for us revealing himself and sending his son to us, we would be hopeless and on our way to hell.
But here he says, look, in the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and we're going to come back and talk about that in a second.
But let me show you the second section. Verses 4 and 5 talk about the day when God chose Israel. Verses 6 through 9 are referring to the time frame when God brought them out of Egypt.
Notice verse 6. In the day that I lifted up mine hand unto them, notice what he says, to bring them forth out of the land of Egypt.
So verses 4 and 5 was in the day that he lifted up his hand when he chose them, when he made himself known unto them.
In verse 6 we saw that he lifted up his hand unto them in the day that he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt.
Notice verse 10. Now we have the day when they went into the wilderness. Verse 10. Wherefore I caused them to go forth out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness.
In verse 18 we have their children in the wilderness. But I said unto their children in the wilderness, walk not in the statutes of your fathers, neither observe their judgments.
And that goes through verse 27. In verses 28 through 32 we have the section of when they came into the land. Notice verse 28.
For when I brought them into the land for which I lifted up mine hand to give unto them.
So I want you to notice, we start off with the day that God chose them, then the day when they were in Egypt, then the day when he brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness.
Now we're at the time when he brought them into the land. Now in verses 33 through verses 39 we have the time when he scattered them out of the land into captivity.
Notice verse number 33. As I live, saith the Lord God, surely with a mighty hand and with a stretched out arm and with fury poured out will I rule over you and I will bring you out from the people and will gather you out to the countries wherein ye are scattered.
So we saw the section where it was when he brought them into the land and then we see the section when he brought them out of the land through the captivity of Assyria and through the captivity of Babylon.
And then in verses 40 through 44, or you could just take it to the end of chapter 49, we have a future time when he is going to bring them back into the land.
Notice verse 40. For in mine holy mountain, in the mountain of the height of Israel, saith the Lord God, there shall all the house of Israel and all them in the land serve me.
So you see that this chapter is kind of divided into a timeline of different sections. When God chose them while they were in Egypt, then when he brought them out of Egypt into the wilderness, then when he took them from the wilderness into the land,
then when he brought them out of the land, and then when he's going to bring them future tense for Ezekiel into the land. So that's kind of how the chapter is divided and the outline there.
Now the reason I want to do that is because this chapter is very repetitive. Every time we go into a new section, we kind of just see a pattern of things that are repeated over and over.
So I want you to understand that and then I'm just going to show you, I'm going to highlight for you the things that are repeated over and over again.
And if you didn't notice, you'll notice it as we go through. But there are things that are brought up again and again in this chapter. Notice verse 5.
The first thing that's brought up is this thing of the covenant that God made with the children of Israel.
The Bible says this,
And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, In the day when I chose Israel, and lifted up mine hand unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto them in the land of Egypt,
When, notice this phrase, I lifted up mine hand. Notice verse 6.
In the day that I lifted up mine hand. Notice verse 15.
Yet also I lifted up mine hand unto them in the wilderness. Notice verse 23.
I lifted up mine hand unto them also in the wilderness. Notice verse 28.
For when I had brought them into the land, notice, for the which I lifted up mine hand to give it to them. Notice verse 42.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I shall bring you into the land of Israel, into the country for the which, notice what he says, I lifted up mine hand.
And when we see this phrase here, where he's saying over and over, I want you to notice, we saw it in every section.
When he chose them, when they were in Egypt, when he brought them into the wilderness, when he brought them into the land, when he brought them out of the land, when he brings them back into the land, he keeps saying I lifted up mine hand.
I lifted up mine hand. I lifted up mine hand. You say what does that represent? What is that a picture of?
Well it is a picture of the covenant that God made. Now let me show it to you in verse 37. Notice what he says.
And I will cause you to pass under the rod, and I will bring you into the bond of the covenant.
So he's saying look, I lifted up my hand because I made a covenant. I entered into a promise. I made an oath.
Let me show you a cross reference. Keep your place there in Ezekiel 20. Go with me to Psalm 144.
Psalm 144, if you open up your Bible just right in the center, you're more than likely following the book of Psalms.
Psalm 144, and look at verse number 8.
See, even today when we take an oath of someone or someone makes a vow, often they're asked to lift up their right hand, right?
Lift up your right hand and swear that you're going to tell the truth. Lift up your right hand and swear that you're going to do these things.
And this is a picture that we see here where God is saying I lifted up mine hand unto thee, unto the seed of the house of Jacob, and made myself known unto thee.
He said I lifted up mine hand unto them to bring them forth out of the land. He said I lifted up my hand unto them into the wilderness.
He's talking about entering into a covenant. Psalm 144 is a cross reference for that. Look at verse 88.
Psalm 144 in verse 8 says this, whose mouth speaketh vanity and their right hand is a right hand of falsehood.
Here we're talking about someone who lifts up their hand but they're lying. They're not keeping their oath.
But God says I kept my oath. I made an oath. And he's renewing that over and over.
See, no matter where they're at, no matter what they've done, whether they're in Egypt, he says I made a promise to you and I'm going to keep it.
I haven't forgotten you. Whether he's bringing them out into the wilderness, he says I made a covenant with you. I'm going to keep it.
I'm not going to forget about you. Whether he's bringing them into the land, out of the land, whether he's judging them, there's this constant covenant that God made with them.
And we ought to praise the Lord that when God makes a promise, he keeps it.
And whether you're living the victorious Christian life and you're taking the land and conquering the land like Joshua,
or whether you're wandering in the wilderness like Moses rebelling against God with the children of Israel, complaining and coveting against the things of this world,
God says I lifted up my hand. I swore unto you and I'm going to keep my covenant.
So we see that theme throughout the chapter. It's brought up over and over again through the different sections of the time of the children of Israel.
But unfortunately, there's something else that's brought up time and time again in this chapter that is repeated over and over again, and that is the rebellion of God's people.
Notice verse 8.
So here we see that God says I lifted up my hand. I made promises and kept promises and made covenants.
But they rebelled against me. That's not the only time. Look at verse 13.
In Ezekiel 20 and 13, he says this.
Look at verse 16.
Look at verse 21.
Look at verse 24.
So it's an unfortunate thing that for the children of Israel throughout their history, it was just this common theme that no matter where they were, no matter how God was dealing with them, no matter what God was doing for them,
it seems like they always reverted back to just rebelling against God, to just going to idolatry, to not keeping his statutes.
And you know, as believers, it's the same thing for you and I.
Don't be the person that has the history of no matter what God does, no matter how often God renews his covenant with you, he's trying to help you and bless you.
You just keep reverting back. You just keep falling back into rebellion and sin in your life.
He says, look, you guys, I've been dealing with you for a long time now, through different sections, through different times, at different times in life, and it's all been the same thing.
It's all been rebellion. It's been me lifting up my hand, keeping my covenant. It's been you rebelling and not walking in my statutes.
Now, there's another thing that is emphasized in this chapter, and that is, and it's repeated over and over again, and that is the effort of God to protect his reputation.
It's kind of interesting. Look at verse 9. He says, but I wrought. The word wrought means to work together or to work.
He says, but I wrought, or he says, I worked. This is God. God's saying, I worked. I put effort.
He says, but I wrought for my name's sake that it should not be polluted before the heathen among whom they were in whose sight I made myself known unto them.
Here's what he's telling the children of Israel. He's saying, I made a covenant. You rebelled against that covenant.
But God says, I tried. I worked hard to help you. I worked hard to try to get you to get right, to be right. I sent my prophets. I sent men of God to try to help you.
You say, why would God put so much effort into it? He said, I wrought for my name's sake that it should not be polluted before the heathen.
Here's what he's saying. God said, I was trying to keep you from making me look bad. Look at verse 14. He says it again.
But I wrought for my name's sake that it should not be polluted before the heathen in whose sight I brought them out. Look at verse 22. Same thing.
Nevertheless, I withdrew mine hand and wrought for my name's sake that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen in whose sight I brought them forth.
He brings us up over and over again that he wants his name to not be polluted.
Go to 2 Samuel, just real quickly. Keep your place there in Ezekiel 20, 2 Samuel 12, and look at verse 14.
Please understand this. The Bible says that we are ambassadors for Christ. What that means is that we represent God and the Lord Jesus Christ upon this earth.
And God is highly interested in making sure that you don't make him look bad. Do you understand that? Do you understand that you represent God on earth?
Do you understand that you represent the Lord Jesus Christ on earth? Remember what was said to David when his gross sin was found out?
2 Samuel 12. Look at verse 14. The Bible says this.
Howbeit because by thy deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
David was told when he committed adultery with Bathsheba and he had Uriah the Hittite killed.
He said, look, you have given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme. And you know what? What we learned in Ezekiel chapter 20 is that God takes that seriously.
He cares a lot about how he's represented on this earth.
Look, in your life, you better realize that your rebellion makes God look bad.
In your life, you better realize that when you choose, no matter what you say, well, I've got the promise. I've got the oath. I've got eternal security.
He's never going to leave me nor forsake me. And all of that is true. But on this earth, God is interested in your reputation.
You ought to remember that you represent God before you go down into the path of sin.
Some of you need to just put on your computer screen or on your little type, whatever you type on for your Facebook, a little card that says, I represent the Lord.
You know, realize that you are a representation of God. He is interested in how you represent him. He put you as an ambassador on this earth.
And the truth of the matter is that most Christians are just an embarrassment to God.
And in Hebrews, he talks about the fact, he says that I would not be ashamed to be called their God.
And in my life and in your life, look, here's all I'm telling you. We better learn to live in a way.
We better learn to talk in a way, to comport ourselves in a way, to have a reputation.
We better learn to carry ourselves in a way where we don't care what people think about us, but we care very much what people think about the God that we serve and the Christ that we represent.
Because God says, he says, look, I rot. He said, I rot for my name's sake, that it should not be polluted before me.
There's something else that's emphasized in this chapter I'd like you to notice. Go back to Ezekiel chapter 20.
Look at verse 11. And have you noticed how just the same things keep coming up over and over in this chapter?
He keeps just repeating himself because he's going through different times of their history, but it's the same thing. There's no new thing under the sun.
Look at verse 11. And I gave them my statutes and showed them my judgments. Notice what he says.
He says, which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Notice verse 13.
Because the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness, they walked not in my statutes and they despised my judgments. Notice what he says.
Which if a man do, he shall even live in them. Look at verse 21.
Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against me. They walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments. To do them, notice, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
You say, what is it that God is emphasizing? And here's what he's emphasizing. He is emphasizing the fact that if you learn to keep his commandments, if you learn to follow what God has told you to do,
you will be allowed to live in those or you will live righteously in those commandments. Look, you'll never have to wake up ashamed and embarrassed of yourself if you just do what the Bible says.
He says, look, if you follow my commandments, you'll live in them. If you follow my commandments, your life will be fine.
He said, you guys keep rebelling. You guys keep not harkening. You guys keep wanting to do what you want to do.
But if you just do what I asked you to do, which a man do, he shall live in them. And look, here's what you need to understand.
Christianity, it's liberty in Christ and that's absolutely true. I can do what I want and I won't lose my salvation and that's true.
But Christianity is not liberty to do what you want. It's liberty to do what you ought. It's liberty to submit yourself to Christ and you say, yeah, but there's rules and yeah, but I can't do what the world does and yeah, but there's sins that I'd like to accomplish.
But here's what he's teaching and he's saying. Look, when you follow Christ with your life, you'll live a better life.
And look, the truth of the matter is this. If you say, yeah, being with one woman, just being with one man, not drinking, not doing drugs, not fornicating, not doing all these things that the Bible prohibits, that doesn't sound like fun.
God says your life will be better if you just submit yourself to the commandments of God. He says this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night.
He says that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein, for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous and then thou shalt have good success.
You want to live a good life? Look, you teenagers, you young people, you want to live a good successful life? Just do what the Bible says. It's hard, but it's not complicated.
Do what God tells you to do. Just submit yourself to the commandments of God and you'll never regret it.
He says that if a man do it, he said that if a man do, he shall even live in them. Over and over again, he emphasizes that in this chapter.
I want to show you one last thing that he emphasizes and I want to spend some time on this because this doesn't come up a lot.
So I want to take the opportunity when it comes up a lot because there's other things in this chapter that come up, but we've dealt with them, idolatry and all those things.
So I want to show you the last thing that's emphasizing and just give you a few thoughts on that.
But the last thing that's emphasized in this chapter, we see it again and again, is this idea of the Sabbaths. Look at verse 12.
He says this, moreover also, I gave them my Sabbaths. Now I want you to notice how it doesn't say I gave them my Sabbath singular, but he says I gave them my Sabbaths with an S at the end, plural.
Notice verse 13. But the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They walked not in my statutes and they despised my judgments, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
Notice, and my Sabbaths, they greatly polluted. Then I said I would pour out my fear upon them in the wilderness to consume them. Look at verse 16.
Because they despised my judgments and walked not in my statutes, but polluted my Sabbaths, plural. Look at verse 20.
And hallow my Sabbaths. Look at verse 21. Notwithstanding the children rebelled against me, they walked not in my statutes, neither kept my judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them.
They polluted my Sabbaths, plural. I want you to notice how he says not Sabbaths singular, but Sabbaths, plural. Look at verse 24.
Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes and had polluted my Sabbaths, plural.
Through this chapter we see him talk about his Sabbaths, plural, not Sabbaths, singular. You say what is the big deal with that?
Here's what the big deal is, is that in the Bible when we look at this concept of the Sabbath or the Sabbath days, we understand that in the Bible there are multiple Sabbaths.
It's not just the Sabbath day like the seventh day of the week, but God has many Sabbaths. Keep your place there in Ezekiel. Go with me to the book of Leviticus, Leviticus 23.
See, I have issues with these people, and I've got problems with these people who want to keep the Sabbaths.
And one of the problems is this, and I think it's a major problem, is that they don't keep all the Sabbaths.
All these people who want to criticize us and say you're anti-Christ because you hold church on Sundays and you should be having it on Sabbath.
What's interesting about those people is that they themselves don't keep the Sabbaths.
Now they may keep a Sabbath singular, but there's more than one type of Sabbath. Let me just show that to you and highlight it for you.
You're there in Leviticus 23? Look at verse 3. Notice what the Bible says.
Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest and holy convocation.
You shall do no work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings.
Now we understand as New Testament believers that the Sabbath has been repealed and taken away. We understand that.
But let's just look at this passage in the Old Testament law when they did keep the Sabbath.
Here we see in verse 3 the first type of Sabbath, and I want you to notice that it is a day.
It is the seventh day. The seventh day of the week was a Sabbath of rest.
Notice what it says. Ye shall do no work therein. That is what a Sabbath is. It is the Sabbath of the Lord.
So what is a Sabbath? A Sabbath was a day of rest. It was a day to do no work therein.
And the Sabbath fell on the seventh day. And all these people today that want us to keep the Sabbath, that's their big thing.
You've got to keep the Sabbath. You've got to have church on the seventh day, and that's Saturday and it's not Sunday.
But here's the problem with that. That the Bible does not teach, the Old Testament does not teach a Sabbath, but it teaches Sabbaths, plural.
Look at verse 4. These are the feasts of the Lord, even holy convocations which ye shall proclaim in their seasons.
And the fourteenth day of the first month. Now I want you to notice, when we read that phrase, the fourteenth day of the first month,
we don't read about a day, but we read about a date. This is a date on the calendar. The fourteenth day of the first month at even is the Lord's Passover.
You need to understand the difference between a day and a day. I know you guys get it, but let me just make the point.
When a holiday falls on a day, it's always going to fall on that day. For example, Thanksgiving always falls on a Thursday.
There's never going to be a time when it's like, oh, Thanksgiving fell on a Tuesday this year. No, it always falls on a Thursday because it falls on a day.
But Christmas falls on a date, December 25th. Sometimes it falls on a Monday, sometimes on a Tuesday, sometimes on a Wednesday.
It falls on different days because it's on a date. And here we're told that the Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath, it always fell on the same day.
On the seventh day, what we would call Saturday. But here we're told of a feast of the Lord that fell on a date.
And here's what you need to understand. The Lord's Passover, it could have fell on any day of the week because it was assigned to a date.
Look at verse 6. And on the fifteenth day of the same month, so now we have a different day, is the Feast of Unleavened Bread.
So the Passover was on the fourteenth day of the first month. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was on the fifteenth day of the same month.
Notice what it says. It's the Feast of Unleavened Bread unto the Lord. Seven days you may eat unleavened bread.
In the first day ye shall have in holy convocation. Don't miss this. Ye shall do no servile work therein.
But ye shall offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord seven days. In the seventh day in holy convocation. Don't miss this.
Ye shall do no servile work therein. You say, why did God tell them to not do any servile work during these feast days? Here's why.
Because these days were also Sabbath days. They were days on the calendar, dates on the calendar that could have fell on any day.
But whenever they fell, they were a Sabbath day where they were to do no servile work. Look at verse 9.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, speak unto the children of Israel, say unto them,
When ye be come unto the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof,
then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest unto the priest, and ye shall wave the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted for you.
On the morrow, after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. Notice verse 15.
And ye shall count unto you from the morrow, after the Sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheep of the wave offering.
Notice he says, seven Sabbaths shall be complete, even unto the morrow of the seventh Sabbath shall ye number fifty days.
That's what in the New Testament we call the Day of Pentecost. It was fifty days after that celebration.
He says, and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord.
Look at verse 21. Talking about that Day of Pentecost, or that Feast of Weeks, as it's referred to in the chapter.
Notice verse 21.
And ye shall proclaim of the selfsame day that it may be in holy convocation unto you, ye shall do no servile work.
I want you to notice that that Day of Pentecost, or that Feast of Weeks, was a Sabbath day.
Look at verse 24.
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying in the seventh month, in the first day of the month, notice it's a date.
In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, ye shall have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing of trumpets in holy convocation, ye shall do no servile work therein.
Look at verse 27.
Also on the tenth day of this seventh month, so again we have a date, there shall be in holy atonement, it shall be in holy convocation unto you,
ye shall afflict your soul and offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, and ye shall do no work in that same day, for it is a day of atonement to make, an atonement for you before the Lord your God.
So, the Day of Atonement was a day of rest. You weren't to work, it was a Sabbath day.
Look at verse 32. Still talking about the Day of Atonement.
It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your soul in the ninth day of the month, even from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath.
Look at verse 24. We have the Feast of Booths.
Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, the fifteenth day of the seventh month shall be the Feast of Tabernacles for the seven days unto the Lord.
Notice it's connected to a day. Look at verse 39.
Also in the fifteenth day of the seventh month, talking about the same Feast of Tabernacles, when ye have gathered in the fruit of the land, ye shall keep the feast unto the Lord seven days.
On the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath.
Here's what I'm trying to explain to you. In the Bible, you had the Sabbath day, which fell on the seventh day of the week, but then you had all these other Sabbaths.
All the Feast of the Lord, the Feast of Tabernacles, the Day of Atonement, the Feast of Trumpets, the Feast of Weeks, the Feast of First Fruits, the Passover, all of those were Sabbaths as well.
So when these people come along and they're like, oh, I keep the Sabbath, you know, what I want to ask them is, oh, really, you do the Passover?
Because that's a Sabbath, too. You celebrate the Feast of Trumpets, and you celebrate the Day of Atonement, and you keep all those Sabbaths, and they'll say, oh, no, no, we just keep the seventh day.
But wait a minute. You can't keep one and not keep all of them. It's Sabbaths, not Sabbaths.
What problems do you see with these people who keep the Sabbath? Well, the first problem I see is that they don't keep all the Sabbaths.
They're so strict about keeping the seventh day, but then there's all these other Sabbaths that are explained in Scripture, and they don't keep those.
They don't care about those. They don't make a big deal about those.
But let me give you a second problem I have with these people that want to keep the Sabbath.
Look at Acts chapter number 20 in the New Testament, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Acts chapter 20.
Not only are they hypocrites that do not keep all of the Sabbaths, but my other problem with these people who want to keep the Sabbath is that they ignore the New Testament example to go to church on the first day of the week.
See, here's what's interesting, is that in the New Testament, we're actually told that the first century church, the New Testament believers, they went to church upon the first day of the week, which on our calendar that would be Sunday.
Acts chapter 20, look at verse 7.
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, that would be their donuts, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow.
Notice he preached unto them and continued his speech until midnight.
Notice they got together, they broke bread, and he preached unto them, and when did they do it? On the first day of the week.
Go to 1 Corinthians chapter 16, you're there in Acts, go to Romans, 1 Corinthians 16, look at verse 2.
1 Corinthians 16 and verse 2 says this,
Upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gathering when I come.
So Paul tells them, I want you to take the offering on the first day of the week. Why?
Because that's when church was, on the first day of the week, which was Sunday.
So these people will say, oh you're an anti-Christ religion because you go to church on Sunday.
Well look, then so was Paul. Then so were the apostles.
Because they all met together on the first day of the week.
And these people, they'll ignore the New Testament example.
And here's what's interesting about these people who want to attack us for having church on Sunday.
You go to Colossians chapter 2, but let me say this, here's what I've learned about these people who want to go to church on the Sabbath day,
is that they don't really care about going to church on Saturday.
See, they try to tell you like, oh you're supposed to go to church on Saturday.
But it's not really about going to church on Saturday, what they really care is about not going to church on Sunday.
Because here's what's interesting, they'll go to church on Monday, they'll go to church on Tuesday, they'll go to church on Wednesday.
These Seventh-day Adventists, they'll have their big Bible prophecy conferences where they're teaching all their pre-trib doctrine,
and they'll have a week-long conference Monday through Saturday, just not Sunday.
See, it's not really about going to church on the Sabbath day, it's about going to church on any day except Sunday.
Which is the one, you know, I'm all for going to church every day.
Well, is there anything wrong with going to church on Wednesday? No.
Let's go to church any day. Let's go to church every day.
But they're like, no, no, no, we're not Sunday, we'll go Thursday, we'll go Friday, we'll go Saturday, but not Sunday.
And what's interesting is that in the Bible, you have these believers who went to church on the first of the week.
But here's my third problem with these people that want to keep the Sabbath.
They don't even understand the Sabbaths, that there's multiple of them.
Is that they'll often judge people on this day of the Sabbath, which is exactly what the Bible tells us and instructs us not to judge people about.
Go to Colossians 2, look at verse 16. Notice what it says.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of a new moon, or of the Sabbath day.
If there's one thing that you want to point at, and it's not one thing, there's a whole list in this verse, and there's other verses that are similar.
But if there's one thing that you could point at and say, hey, God actually tells you not to judge people about this subject.
He says the one thing you shouldn't judge people about is the Sabbath days.
He said don't judge people about those things. Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or drink, or in respect of an holy day, or of a new moon, or of a Sabbath day.
But what do these people do? They want to just go around and criticize you. Oh, you guys have church on Sunday, that's wrong.
Hey, God said not to judge people on that. And you don't have to turn there, but let me read this for you.
Romans 14, verse 5 says this, one man esteemeth one day above another, another man esteemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
He that regardeth the day, regardeth unto the Lord, and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he does not regard it.
He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth thanks, and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks.
He says look, don't judge people about what holiday they want to keep, or what holiday they don't want to keep.
He says if they esteem one day above another, great. And if they don't, that's fine too.
God says that's something that I've given you the liberty to just decide on, but these people are like, oh, you guys are wrong.
You need to have church on Saturday. Let me give you just one last thing. Go to Hebrews chapter 4.
Hebrews chapter 4, and look at verse number 3. You say what's wrong with these people that want to keep the Sabbath?
Well, number one is that they don't keep all the Sabbaths. I've never known of a seventh day in Venice that is on Passover taking a lamb and killing it,
you know, and doing all the things that the Bible tells them to do, and then resting on that day.
I've never known of one that keeps the Day of Tabernacles, all these things. There's more than one Sabbath.
So they don't keep their own rules. They ignore the New Testament president to have church on the first day of the week.
And here's what's interesting. You know, you tell these people, they're like, oh, you're supposed to go to church on the Sabbath day.
I hand them my Bible, and I'm like, show me. Show me a verse in the Bible where it says to go to church on the Sabbath day.
And then they want to show you all these verses where they went to the temple on the Sabbath day.
Well, newsflash, do you see a temple? You know, they want to show you all these verses where they went down to the temple,
yeah, for the Passover, where they went down to the temple to do all these things.
And it's like, look, we're in the New Testament. The temple is your body. We're not under the Levitical law anymore.
We're not under the Mosaic law anymore. We don't follow those things anymore.
And they're like, oh, you got to go to church on Sunday. You can't find a verse in the Bible that says you go to church on Saturday.
But I can show you verses where they went to church on the first day of the week.
So they ignore the New Testament example. They judge others about the Sabbath.
But then here's the worst thing is that they fail to realize what the Sabbath even represented.
Hebrews chapter 4, look at verse 3. Notice what it says. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 3.
For we which have believed, for we which have believed, I love this, do enter into rest.
As he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the works were finished from the foundation of the world,
for he speaketh in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise.
So this is God in the New Testament. He's going to talk to us about the seventh day, you know, what it was about.
He said he speaketh of the seventh day on this wise. And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.
And in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest, seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein,
and they to whom it was first preached enter not in because of unbelief.
So he says, look, if you believe, you enter into his rest. If you don't enter into the rest, it's because of unbelief.
Again, he limited a certain day, saying to David, today, after so long a time as it is said,
today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, for if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day.
There remaineth therefore the rest of the people of God, for he that has entered into his rest, he also hath seized from his own works as God did from his.
Let us labor therefore to enter into the rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.
See, the example of the Sabbath, God set up the Sabbath as an example where he labored for six days, and then he seized from his labor and entered into rest on the seventh day.
You say, what is that picture? It pictures salvation. It pictures the fact that today you've got all sorts of people and religions who are just trying to work hard to get to heaven.
They're hoping that they're doing enough, they're praying enough, they're living a sanctified life enough, they're repenting enough, they're confessing, they're hoping.
And then we go and we preach the gospel to them, and we teach them it's a gift, it's not of works, and then they go from laboring and they enter into rest with Jesus Christ.
That's what the picture is. Look, it all pictures Christ. Why do we not partake of the Passover? Because Christ is our Passover.
Why do we not partake of the Sabbath day? Because Christ is our Sabbath.
When you entered into Christ, you entered into his rest, and these people, they're like, no, no, no, we've got to keep the Sabbath day. They want to bring you.
They fail to realize the whole point. Oh, but you're supposed to keep the Sabbath. I do keep the Sabbath. When I got saved, I entered into his rest.
I entered in through belief. But it's interesting because in this chapter in Ezekiel, it's highlighted over. He says, Sabbaths, Sabbaths, Sabbaths, Sabbaths.
Why? Because there's more than one Sabbath. It's not just a day. There's multiple dates that are Sabbaths.
So look, if you're going to keep the Sabbath, then don't be a hypocrite. Keep all of them. Why can't keep all of them? Then don't keep any of them.
Then just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and enter into rest.
That's about it, and I'm going to pray.
Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for your word. Thank you for these passages.