Not about Legalism but Alignment | The Principles of the Sabbath and the Presence of God

I want to look at principles of Shabbat, of the Sabbath, that are very important for us to help us be motivated to apply the Sabbath to our life. Because remember, there's an anointing and a blessing that comes to us when we get into divine alignment and do what the Creator did, working six days and resting one. So to begin to understand the theological implications and the blessing that's been made available to us, let's read now the book of Exodus, chapter 31, verse 13 through 18. We're going to find two things in this reading that will help us understand the blessing and the potential that's here for us as we apply it to our lives. All right, so the Lord is speaking to Moses and he says, but as for you, speak to the sons of Israel saying, you shall surely observe my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Therefore you are to observe the Sabbath for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death. For whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. For six days work may be done, but on the seventh day, there is a Sabbath of complete rest, holy to the Lord. And whoever does any work on the Sabbath day shall surely be put to death. So the sons of Israel shall observe the Sabbath to celebrate the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the sons of Israel forever. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, but on the seventh day, he ceased from labor and was refreshed. Okay. So let's stop right there for a second. I want you to draw attention to that word refreshed. The Lord rested on the seventh day and was refreshed. Now we know that God is not like a man that he becomes weary or tired, but this is what we call in theology, anthropomorphic language. In other words, it's God speaking as though he's human.

He's speaking in such a way to identify with us. But notice here, God is saying he was refreshed. And so the blessing that the Lord wants to impart to us each week on Shabbat is to refresh us. He wants to refresh us. We need to stop. We need to stop running, running. We need to stop in order to be refreshed. And notice also in the 13th verse here that the Lord said that we would know that he's the Lord who sanctifies us. You read just now, Dustin, that you might know the Lord is saying, the Lord is speaking, that you might know that I am the Lord, get this now, who sanctifies you. So two principles here that we're deriving from this reading. Number one, that the Lord sanctifies us, that we would know that the Lord is sanctifying us when we participate in honoring him through Shabbat. And secondly, in doing so, we would be refreshed. You see, when you and I stop on Shabbat and obey him and honor him, something happens in our life. He does something in us that brings us up to the next spiritual level. Because we're not just human doings. Our work does not define us. We're human beings. And so by stopping, what happens is we give the Lord an opportunity to realign us and strengthen us and empower us. And we find ourselves ascending and growing in the strength of God's spirit. And we come to a realization that there's a divine empowerment that's taking place upon our life. And during Shabbat, when we give the day to the Lord, when we honor him as holy and sanctify him as holy in our life, what the Lord does is he shows us things in our life during this day that he wants us to grow in, things that he might want us to turn away from, new things

he might want to bring us into. So there's a sanctification process that takes place when we truly take a day a week to honor him on Shabbat. The Lord says, you're going to know that I'm at work in your life and sanctifying you. So if we want to know that God is truly in the here and in the now working in our life today, practice Shabbat and you'll gain a new grasp of this. I got to be honest, Rabbi, if you hadn't pointed that out, I would have missed it. And I think maybe a lot of us, the church is missing this because what stood out to me when I read that is you're going to be put to death if you don't celebrate Shabbat. I immediately jumped back into the habit of like feeling the law and thinking like, okay, oh my gosh, I got to do this. I got to do this. And it felt like work. But I, what I hear you telling me is the principle is actually so much better that God wants to sanctify us and refresh us. and I'm actually missing that blessing because I'm so focused, I was focused on the penalty that Israel was gonna face for not doing it. Exactly, and remember, we're not under the law anymore. God's not gonna put you to death, okay? But you're gonna miss an opportunity, a huge opportunity, and the truth is, eventually, everyone's gonna be brought into this divine alignment. And we read this in Isaiah 66, where the Lord speaks about the new heavens and the new earth, and He said, and all flesh will worship Him during Shabbat. So you have to understand that this is not something that's done away with, it's something that's relevant today, it's an opportunity to be refreshed,

to know the power of God in your life, and eventually, you're gonna get in alignment with it if you're His, because it's His plan for humanity. And let's read that again, Mark 2, 27 and 28, and notice that Jesus is saying the same thing that I'm saying, it's an opportunity for blessing. Okay, Mark 2. Mark 2, 27 says, Jesus said to them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. And verse 28, so the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. It's about creating a sanctuary in time. Yeah. When we take a day a week, and let me point out that when we speak about taking a day a week to rest, we're not talking about recreation. Okay. We're resting unto the Lord. It's a Shabbat unto the Lord. So taking a day a week to rest unto the Lord, that's what makes it holy. I'm not saying, okay, I'm not gonna work today, I'm gonna go golfing. Today's my Shabbat, and I'm gonna not work, I'm not gonna go into the office, but I'm gonna go golf, and that's not Shabbat. Really? No. Okay, so it's not about going out and just doing whatever's fun. Exactly, it's not about recreating.

It's about being restored and refreshed in the presence of the Lord. In fact, Israel was commanded in the Torah to not even leave their house on Shabbat. They were to stay in their home. And so you go to Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods today, and they build a fence around the Orthodox Jewish neighborhood saying that you can't travel outside of this boundary line because if you travel outside of the boundary line, you'll be breaking Shabbat. The point is you're not to be running everywhere. You're supposed to be resting unto the Lord. And so it's important to realize that by taking this day, being at home or close to home, not running around in your car, because what happens when you run around in the car? You're stressed on the road. So you want to limit your traveling on Shabbat. You don't want to be driving here and driving there. As much as possible, you want to limit travel. But I can drive, right? Like if I need to drive for something on that day, or do I need to not, no matter what, I don't drive? Well, let me tell you what Orthodox Jews do and then speak directly to your question. So Orthodox Jews, they will buy homes in areas that they can walk to synagogue on Shabbat because they don't want to break the commandment.

They don't want to go far from their home. They take it that seriously. They take it that seriously. So first of all, I just want to let people know how Orthodox Jews perceive it. For me, I think it's important that I am not driving in my car in such a way that would cause me stress. We have a park 10 minutes from our home. So Cynthia sometimes on Shabbat will drive to the park. So again, I'm not about legalism. I'm helping people understand the principle. So my recommendation is don't drive if you can avoid it to places that are going to just be stressful for you. Don't go shopping on Shabbat. Don't go to the grocery store on Shabbat. Everything that you could do to preserve it as a time of no stress is going to help you to receive the anointing that God wants to give you. We know in Yeshua that we have rest in him. Yeah. Come unto me all you that are weary and heavy laden, Jesus said, right, and I will give you rest. And so many Christians think, well, I don't need Shabbat anymore because my rest is in Jesus. And that's true 100%. But the one doesn't disqualify the other. Both are true.

We enter into rest in Jesus and then we enhance that rest by taking a day a week to truly celebrate the creation principle. I like what Jeremiah said. Let's read it because we can forsake God's principles and the law we're gonna suffer for. What did the prophet say? He said, for my people have committed two evils. They've forsaken me the fountain of living waters to hew for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. That can hold no water. So we said, okay, we don't need God's principles. We don't need the Torah anymore. We don't need all that. And in essence, what we've done is replace it with running all over the place, like a chick with our heads cut off, thinking we're gonna get satisfied with the things of the world. And the Lord said, you forsaken me, the God that revealed in Genesis two that he created the world. and six days and rested on the seventh. We've forsaken him for fountains that hold no water. There's no water in running around seven days a week. Wow, amen. Look at what Isaiah said in Isaiah chapter 30, verse 15 that kind of speaks to this principle. Sure, Isaiah 30, 15 says,

for thus the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel has said, in repentance and rest, you will be saved. In quietness and trust is your strength. But you were not willing. You weren't willing. God says, I want you to return to me in quietness and in rest. The power of our salvation, beloved, is made known in quietness and rest. Again, Psalm 46, cease striving, cease striving and know that I'm God. And so at the end of the day, this is an opportunity for spiritual blessing, but some of you are asking the question, well, how exactly do I practice it? And how can I do it when I've got so much work to do? So many of us are very, very busy. We're working five days a week. And we look at the weekend as a time to catch up on laundry, catch up on paying bills and all these other things. We're living in a difficult time. It's much more stressful today than it was, you know, 50 or a hundred years ago in many ways. And specifically as it relates to having to be busy all the time to keep up with the progression of the speed at which life moves. Well, I feel like I can't take a day off. I mean, if I work five days, I mean, Saturday and Sunday is not enough.

It feels like you can't get it all done. Right. So to speak to that, let's first of all remember that when Israel stopped working on the seventh day of the week, remember God supernaturally preserved that man on the sixth day so they could eat it on the seventh. So the same thing is true with us. If we will honor God in this and take a day a week to rest unto him, he will supernaturally bless the other six days of the week. So we'll get more done and have more prosperity by honoring him and taking a day of rest unto him than we would have had had we worked seven because we think we can't afford to stop. We have too much work to do. And you really don't have that blessing if you're working, if you're trying to go, you actually miss that blessing that he's trying to give you otherwise. Exactly. So what does it mean? Number one, it means we have to prepare to take a day of rest. In other words, if you're used to doing your laundry both days during the weekend, you have to work a little harder and discipline yourself to get the work that you would have done on Shabbat

to get that done earlier in the week. For example, in Judaism, they'll pre-cook their meals so they don't have to cook on Shabbat. So number one, we have to do some planning so that we can have a day a week when we rest. You might have to get up a little earlier during the six days of the week, maybe stay up an hour or so later, but you have to prepare to celebrate it. And it does take discipline. Unfortunately, much of the church has thrown off discipline. We don't hear much teaching on discipline in the church today. We're free, we just do whatever we want. But it's not always beneficial. No, it's a greasy grace and a sloppy agape. No, Paul said, discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness. So we discipline our lifestyle to be able to have a day a week under the Lord. And as a result, we are blessed for it. It's not that we have to do this. It's that what we're missing by not doing it. Exactly. I mean, there's a call of God upon everyone that's created in His image to walk in the divine design that He's given us. But it's not like God's gonna put a sledgehammer on you if you don't do it. But I think it will grieve Him if we resist His wisdom.

And eventually we're gonna be brought into divine alignment. We're not under the law. And so it's not like that. But again, it's like we have to understand this is God's divine pattern for humanity. There's a blessing by getting into alignment with Him. Eventually He's gonna bring the whole world into alignment with it. So why wait till then to be blessed? You see, God promises a blessing if you'll practice Shabbat. Let's read as we close today, Dustin, Isaiah chapter 58, verse 13 and 14. Sure, Isaiah 58, verses 13 through 14 says, "'If because of the Sabbath you turn your foot "'from doing your own pleasure on my holy day "'and call the Sabbath a delight, "'the holy day of the Lord honorable, "'and honor it, desisting from your own ways, "'from seeking your own pleasure "'and speaking your own word, "'then you will take delight in the Lord, "'and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth, "'and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, "'your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.'" I love this. Listen, my favorite part of this verse is the Lord says, I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. Let's look at the scripture together again. The Lord says, if because of the Sabbath,

what does this mean? This means because we're committed to receive. God's Word and applying it to our life and we recognize that the Sabbath is a creation principle and so we want to honor him as the God that created everything so we're gonna honor the Sabbath and so the Lord says if because of the Sabbath because you want to honor me in this you turn your foot now get this from doing your own pleasure mm-hmm on my holy day so we're making a conscious decision when I celebrate Shabbat there's a lot of things that I'd like to do that I'm saying no to yeah why because I want to honor the Lord in a special way on Shabbat so Lord says if you do this and call the Sabbath a delight even though it's hard it's hard to celebrate Shabbat because we're used to being busy it's very difficult to stay close to home to not be addicted to your social media because you don't want to be on social media during Shabbat you don't want to be on social media you don't want to be engaged in the things of the world remember you're being refreshed unto the Lord and that's hard for us to break away from that because we're addicted to the technology so we're making a conscious decision to resist it to turn away from it to say no to it and the Lord says when you do this in order to honor me and you call this the Shabbat the Sabbath holy and a delight in other words even though it's hard for us yeah we're still saying Lord this is a blessing and I am blessed to be able to participate in it now with social media for what if for me that brings me I feel like I'm getting rest from it why is that possibly harmful for me even if because like for me it's all I disengage I'm less stressed I'm you know it's entertaining me why why does that why is that why are you saying that's harmful what depends like if you're looking at your emails that's stressful don't do it if you're watching YouTube's that are not honoring to the Lord anything that you watch you have to filter it through is this honoring to you Lord and I do that every day of the week but especially on Shabbat I make sure that I'm not gonna be receiving any content that's gonna excite me unnecessarily cause stress yeah it's not about legalism but you have to be

honest with yourself and you have to not compromise and you have to not make excuses because once you open up the door a little bit in making an excuse then it's not long before the doors open all the way and sometimes he's scrolling you're scrolling on social media you don't know what you're gonna encounter yeah you have no idea what's good algorithm is deciding it might upset you you might exit that rest rabbi I want to before we end and you conclude us today I want to make sure that a lot of people are asking this question is Shabbat Saturday or Sunday and like okay if Shabbat is Saturday I go to church on Sunday I don't even have time to do a true Shabbat how do we fit Shabbat into our lives so first of all Shabbat the Sabbath has never been changed from Saturday to Sunday that happened in the 300s under Constantine who wanted to make Christianity the state religion and he became anti-jewish and he wanted to disconnect himself and his people from everything that was Jewish and so he said from now on we're not going to celebrate Shabbat on the Jewish day and it's not just a Jewish day it's God's day he said we're gonna do it on the day of the Sun so they used to worship the Sun during Constantine's time the physical Sun so they said we're gonna from now on make Shabbat during the venerable day of the Sun that's why it's called Sunday after the Sun so he switched Shabbat from Saturday to Sunday however Sunday is the day that the church early church met because it's the day the issue was raised from the dead and so it's the first day of the week so the truth is is Shabbat has always been from Friday at sunset to Saturday at sunset because in creation we find that each day began actually in the evening but the practice of Shabbat will be part of the millennial kingdom and the age to come it's very important for us to hear this the practice of Shabbat honoring the Lord as the God of creation will be evident even in the world to come when there's a new heavens and a new earth the Bible says all flesh will worship the Lord during Shabbat so this is a creation principle it acknowledges the fact that God is the creator of heaven and of earth I want to encourage people at the most basic level to take a day a week if you're if you can do it on Sunday but can't do it on

Saturday do it on Sunday eventually the time's gonna come where we're all gonna do it on the last day of the week we're gonna do it from you know from you read that earlier yeah yeah but but right now I again I'm not wanting to put people under legalism I'm wanting you to open up to understand that the pattern of the creator is to take a day a week and honor him on that day so that we can be blessed and refreshed in the book of Numbers chapter 6 The Lord gave instructions to Moses and Aaron to speak this blessing over his people. And the Lord said, when you speak these words over my people, I will place my name on them and bless them. Let us receive the impartation of the Lord's blessings. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift you up by his countenance and the Lord give you, beloved one, his peace. God bless you and shalom.