Introduction:
Isaiah 58 is a chapter that is difficult for many to understand. But there is no need for the difficulty. Without question, this chapter was particularly addressed to the Jews during the time of their Babylonian captivity. In it God gave his people some much needed instruction about worship. But, if we limit the text and its interpretation to the Jews, it is meaningless to anyone today. So, that certainly is not the full scope of the chapter. It is written to us also (Rom. 15:4). In those fourteen verses the Lord God gives us crystal clear instructions about worship today. Indeed, the promises made in verses 8-14 cannot be fully applicable to anyone other than the saints of God in this gospel age who "worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh" (Phil. 3:3).
Verses 1-4 show us the sin and folly of empty religious rituals and ceremonies without faith in Christ, the abomination of a mere form of godliness without the power of it.
Verses 5-7 show us that the essence of worship is heart and spirit, mercy and grace, kindness and love. These are the marks of true religion and pure, the evidences of genuine humility and faith.
Verses 8-12 display the blessedness of faith in Christ and obedience to the gospel.
In our text tonight, verses 13 and 14, the prophet of God, with the inspired vision of prophecy, looks beyond the carnal, Jewish sabbath and sees in it a picture of Christ, who is the true Sabbath, and the blessed rest of faith in him.
NOTE: This becomes obvious when we observe that Isaiahs exhortation - "Call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord," should read, "Call the sabbath a delight the Holy One of the Lord!"
The title of my message tonight is "Call the Sabbath a Delight." I want to talk to you very plainly about true, biblical sabbath observance.
Proposition: Christ our sabbath, the holy One of the Lord!
When a person turns from his way, from his sin, from the pleasure of his depraved heart, and from this world to the Lord Jesus Christ, finding rest in him, he finds that Christ, in whom he rests, is a delight, a luxury, and that faith in him is an honor. Indeed, all who trust Christ, delight themselves in him, triumph over all their foes in him, and shall at last obtain the full heritage of the heavenly Canaan, called here "the heritage of Jacob." "For the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it."
I. First, we need to understand that - THE SABBATH WHICH GOD REQUIRED THE JEWS TO KEEP WAS ONLY A TEMPORARY, TYPICAL ORDINANCE WHICH REPRESENTED CHRIST AND OUR REDEMPTION BY HIM.
When the Lord God instituted sabbath keeping to the Jews in the legal dispensation, he gave two reasons for it. The sabbath was to be kept...
A. As a symbol of Gods rest (Ex. 20:8-11).It represented the completion of Gods creation and the satisfaction of God in his work. Though Gods work of creation has been marred by the sin and fall of our race, the sabbath day portrayed a blessed day of glorious rest called "the times of restitution of all things" (Acts 3:21; Col. 1:20; Eph. 1:10), when all things shall be restored to God.
B. The sabbath day was also a constant reminder of Israels redemption out of Egypt. Hence, a picture of our redemption by Christ - Deuteronomy 5:15.
In other words, the sabbath day, like all other aspects of the Mosaic law, was a picture prophecy of our perfect redemption by Christ. As the Jews rested on the seventh day of the week from all their works, so believers find perfect rest and peace in the Lord Jesus Christ.
II. That brings me to my second point - We do not observe a literal, legal sabbath day because Christ is our Sabbath, and we rest in him!
The sabbath day is frequently mentioned in the four gospels and the Book of Acts, during that transitional period in which the church of God passed from the Old Testament era into the New. However, it is always mentioned in connection with the Jews and Jewish worship in the temple, or in their synagogues. But it is mentioned only two times in all the Epistles - Romans through Revelation.
Colossians 2:16-17 - Here the apostle Paul forbids the observance of legal sabbath days in any form. He does so on the basis of the fact that in Christ Gods elect are entirely free from the law.
Hebrews 4:3-4, 9-11 - Here the Apostle shows us that all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ keep the sabbath in a spiritual way. That is to say, they and they only truly keep the sabbath by faith in him.
III. Thirdly, THE LORD JESUS CHRIST, OUR MEDIATOR, HAS ENTERED INTO HIS REST, AND HIS REST IS GLORIOUS, BECAUSE HE HAS FINISHED HIS WORK.
Our Saviors rest in heaven is his glory - (Margin - "His rest shall be glory!") As God rested on the seventh day because his work of creation was finished, so the God-man our Mediator has entered into his rest in heaven because he has made all things new for his people, having finished his work of redemption.
Behold our exalted Savior! Do you see him seated upon his throne in heaven? There he sits in undisturbed and undisturbable sovereign serenity! His rest is his glory (John 17:2; Phil. 2:9-11).
Christ, as our Divinely appointed Representative, has fulfilled all the legal sabbath requirements for us, even as he did all the other requirements of the law. Now, in heaven, he is keeping an everlasting sabbath rest (Isa. 53:10-12). And his rest, which is his glory, tells us that...
A. Christ has finished his work!There is no more work to be done. Christ did it all! And when all the work was done for us, our blessed Savior entered into his rest.
IV. Fourthly, I want to show you from the Scriptures that ALL WHO BELIEVE ON THE LORD JESUS CHRIST KEEP THE SABBATH BY FAITH, BECAUSE WE HAVE ENTERED INTO HIS REST.
We do not yet keep the sabbath perfectly, because we do not yet trust our Savior as we should. We do not yet trust him perfectly. But we do keep the sabbath truly and sincerely by faith. Our sabbath observance is not a carnal, literal thing. We do not keep a sabbath day. God forbids that, as I have already shown you (Col. 2:16-17). We keep the sabbath spiritually by faith.
Remember, the sabbath day was ordained by God in the ceremonial worship of the Jews in the Old Testament as a symbol of Gods rest after creation and as a reminder of the Jews redemption out of Egypt. The essence of sabbath observation was self-denial and consecration to God. Anything personally profitable or pleasurable was expressly forbidden (Isa. 56:2; 58:13; Ezek. 20:12, 21). Sabbath observance was, in its essence, an unconditional, all-encompassing, self-denial. It was a renunciation of self and a dedication of ones self to God.
That is exactly the way we observe the sabbath spiritually by faith in Christ, not one day in seven, but all the days of our lives. The believers life is a perpetual keeping of the sabbath!
A. The Lord Jesus Christ gives rest to every sinner who comes to him in faith.Perhaps you are laboring and heavy-laden, under the load of sin and guilt, and you long for rest. In your inmost soul you are struggling hard with sin, longing to find peace with God. If so, will you hear what the Lord Jesus says?
B. But our sabbath of faith involves more than a ceasing from our works and the remembrance of our redemption by Christ. It also involves, in its very essence, the consecration of our lives to our dear Savior!
We keep the sabbath of faith and find rest unto our souls, when we willfully, deliberately, wholeheartedly surrender to Christ as our Lord. If you would keep the sabbath, truly keep the sabbath, it will take considerably more than going to church on Sunday and reserving one day a week for religious exercises!
1. We keep the sabbath spiritually by...I can tell you both from experience and from the Word of God, there is only one way for a sinner to enter into the rest I have been talking about - You have got to keep the sabbath! And the only way you can keep the sabbath is by faith in Christ.
V. Lastly, lets look at Hebrews 4:9-11 - IF WE PERSEVERE IN THE FAITH, WE SHALL KEEP THE SABBATH PERFECTLY IN HEAVEN FOR ALL ETERNITY.
Notice what the Apostle says in these three verses. Here is the ultimate, consummate fulfillment of the legal, Jewish sabbath.
A. There is a rest, a sabbath to be obtained (v. 9).B. Some have already entered into that eternal rest, that everlasting sabbath (v. 10)
We will enter therein if we continue in the faith (Phil. 3:7-14).
Application: The penalty for not keeping the sabbath is still death, eternal death! John 3:36*