Dennis Tuuri

# Sermon Transcript

Last week, we considered the Sabbath as a creation ordinance. And we pointed out last week, I believe, just briefly touched on the fact that in the two accounts of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5, there are two separate reasons offered to the keeping of the Sabbath. And last week, we looked at Exodus 20 and showed from that passage that God’s reason for keeping the Sabbath as directed in Exodus 20 is the creation itself.

The Sabbath is seen as a rest typical of God’s rest on the seventh day. And so last week we looked at witnesses from the Old Testament and from the New Testament to the Sabbath as a creation ordinance. We did that because we wanted to understand that the Sabbath is not strictly speaking and not solely speaking a soteriological fact, a fact of salvation for individual man. Rather the Sabbath is a memorial of God’s creation. And it is an anticipation of the creation yet to be consummated with the end of all things.

And so we look at Hebrews 3 and 4 to look at the rest that we’re to enter into that is yet future. And the Sabbath rest there is spoken of for the church itself. There is a Sabbath-like keeping. There is a Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God from Hebrews 4. That’s what it clearly tells us. And that’s wrapped up in the fact that the Sabbath is a creation ordinance.

Now, I didn’t bring this out last week. But it would be interesting in that regard to look at 1 Corinthians 15 for just a minute or two before we get into today’s talk. In 1 Corinthians 15, there’s a discussion of the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the meaning of that resurrection for us. And there’s a very interesting line of argument that Paul puts forth in 1 Corinthians 15 in terms of the resurrection body that we’re to have in the resurrection.

I’d like you to turn to that portion of scripture beginning around verse 38 and 39, and we’re going to look just briefly at this and reinforce what we said last week in terms of the Sabbath as a creation ordinance and the indication of that from this passage as well. Let’s pick it up at verse 44.

“It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there is a spiritual body.”

And up to this point of the text from 35 through 44 roughly in that portion of this chapter, the reasoning that Paul is using here is that the body having been subjected to sin and death must needs to have a new body to live in the resurrection. It has to have a resurrection body. But Paul in verse 45 changes the line of his argument.

“And so it is written, the first man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man is of the earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.”

This line of argumentation that begins in verse 45 builds upon Adam’s creation itself, not upon Adam’s fall. He says Adam was made a living soul. The second Adam is a life-giving spirit. And he goes on then to contrast the earthly body with the spiritual body in the next few verses. And what Paul is saying here is that the creation itself, the first creation, apart from the fall of Adam, prefigured and looked toward a new creation, a spiritual creation.

So apart even from the fall of Adam, there was to be a glorification process for the body itself. The earthly body was to precede the spiritual body. Adam given life by God in the creation made from earth was to eventually have that body transfigured into a spiritual body and probably over the course of time. Now the only point I’m trying to make here is that this passage of scripture is extremely important because it tells us, as we said last week, that God’s creation supersedes everything else, consumes it all as it were.

Everything is under God’s creation. The Sabbath is a creation ordinance and the Sabbath remembers the physical creation and pointed toward the consummation of that creation in the spiritual resurrection bodies of the future apart from the fall. Now, we know that much of this passage and much of the scriptures tell us that the fall necessitated also a renewal or a recreation or resurrection from the dead for us in Jesus Christ.

And so, in Deuteronomy 5, we see the Ten Commandments, the fourth commandment being appended with the concept of being delivered or redeemed. And so this morning, we’re going to talk then about that redemption. We’re going to talk about the Sabbath as a redemptive ordinance. And these two themes—the Sabbath is creation, the Sabbath is redemptive—as redemption underlies all the scriptures teach about Sabbath and Sabbath-like keeping.

And so it’s important for us at the beginning of these series of talks on the Sabbath to get in place the central facts of the Sabbath teach to us: creation and redemption. And then in the future weeks, we’ll go through some detailed analysis of the passages in the New Testament that deal with Sabbath-keeping or not Sabbath-keeping. But we’ll have a base by which to understand those passages. We understand that God puts those two emphases on the Sabbath itself: a creation and a redemptive ordinance.

So this morning we’re going to talk about the redemption that is prefigured in the Sabbath. And if you have your outlines, you’ll see that we’re going to go through first the Old Testament Sabbath and then look toward the last two points of the four-point outline, the Lord’s day Sabbath signifying redemption accomplished. So, we’re going to start the old covenant first.

Now, first of all, we notice from this passage in Deuteronomy 5 dealing with the fourth commandment that commandment is predicated upon the deliverance of God’s people, Israel, from a master, from their servitude, as it were, in Egypt. And that’s plainly taught here, of course. And of course, this language that’s in Deuteronomy 5 hearkens back to the Passover itself when God passed over his special people, Israel, who had put the sign of the Passover lamb upon their doors and instead brought his destruction only upon those people, the Egyptians.

And so God’s people were delivered by God with a mighty hand. And it tells us that specifically in verse 15: “the reason to keep the Sabbath, remember that thou was to serve in the land of Egypt. The Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day.”

Therefore, you to keep the Sabbath day because you were redeemed, because you were delivered, as it were, from Egypt. Now, it is a fact that from that time forward, Israel was to keep time, and that’s what the Sabbath is, of course—is a time ordinance. From that time forward, Israel was to keep time based upon the Passover. The Passover was the first day of their year. It began the establishment of a new time as it were for the covenant people delivered from Egypt. And so it is redemption time that they enter into at the Passover and from then on all time is measured and looks back to that deliverance and redemption from Egypt that is talked about in this passage of scripture.

Now that should tell us something by the way about the characteristic of the Passover itself and about the characteristic of time. Time has involved in an aspect of judgment. Remember that Israel was delivered from Egypt. But Egypt was not delivered. Egypt was judged. Egypt saw its firstborn put to death as a culture. And so the Sabbath, if it commemorates the deliverance from Egypt, also commemorates then judgment as it were, a separating out of the sheep and the goats, the judgment of God in history.

And of course, this builds very well with what we talked about last week of the Sabbath as a creation ordinance. God rested the seventh day, evaluating his works, resting in those works, and enjoying them. We talked before about God’s rest being prefigured in the Old Testament, many verses that God sits enthroned as it were in his rest. His rest enthroned on the throne indicates judgment from him. He sits on his throne judging people.

And so the Sabbath has an aspect of judgment to it. And here again when we talk about the redemption basis of the Sabbath, we see that same theme repeated of judgment because after all, there was a judgment which occurred which produced the redemption for them out of which they were delivered from Egypt.

Secondly, we have to note from this text though that even in the old covenant the redemption that is prefigured or typified in the Sabbath rest that they’re to remember on the basis of this weekly rest that they have was a redemption of grace. It was after all nothing inherent in the works of the Israel of the covenant community that earned God’s redemption of them. Rather was the mark of the lamb slain indicating they could not accomplish the needed redemption for themselves. The lamb slain pointed to the fact that this was a gracious act of God in delivering from the Egyptians.

Additionally, apart from this, of course, there’s many passages of scripture. I’ll just read one from Deuteronomy 7, verses 7 and 8 that teach the same thing.

“The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people, but because the Lord loved you, and because you would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.”

The redemption that’s talked about in Deuteronomy 5 and here in Deuteronomy 7:7-8 is said to be a gracious redemption. It’s not because of any inherent quality in the Israelites that God redeemed them from the hand of Egypt. It was because he unconditionally set his love upon those people. It was his grace extended through that love to the people that produced their redemption.

And so the Sabbath was a mark of that redemption, a looking back to the redemption that God had accomplished for them out of Egypt. The Sabbath was a mark of grace also. And as a result of that grace and they are to extend that grace to people around them as a basis for evangelism.

The third point that we have in the outline here in Deuteronomy 5 it says because you are delivered out of the hand of Egypt therefore you give rest to your servants to your bondsmen to your man’s servant and to your maid servant there to rest also. The grace that Israel was remembering in that Sabbath day in terms of the grace of God’s redemption was then to be extended out from them to the foreigner to the stranger, to the sojourner to their servants and their household as well. And they were commanded to give those people rest. They were commanded to demonstrate grace to the people as they had been demonstrated grace by God to them.

This is pointed out in Exodus 23:9 and 12 also. And we’ll turn there briefly and look at that.

“Thou shalt not oppress a stranger, for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.”

And again in verse 12:

“Six days shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest, that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger may be refreshed.”

God says, remember you are redeemed by me. You were servants to Egypt. You are redeemed. And now show that redemptive grace that I’ve demonstrated to you to the stranger, to the foreigner within your gates.

Again, in Exodus 22:21-24, the same thing comes through.

“Thou shalt neither vex a stranger nor oppress him, for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. You shall not afflict any widow or fatherless child. If thou afflict them in any wise, and they cry out at all unto me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless.”

Israel was called in the Sabbath day to remember its redemption. They were called to remember that redemption was a redemption of grace, and they were called upon to extend that redemption of grace to the strangers, the widows and the orphans, the people that were oppressed as it were in their land as well. And so demonstrate they understood the nature of the grace they had been brought into. Yet they failed to demonstrate that grace to the widow or to the orphan.

This passage clearly teaches that they have never comprehended, they have never received the grace from God really themselves. And so God cuts them off with his sword.

Fourth though, that this rest that we talk about in Deuteronomy 5 is not simply extended from the people and then into the strange of the land in terms of evangelism, but rather that rest has an effect on the cosmos. And again, back in Deuteronomy 5, our central text, we read in verse 14 that not only is thy man’s servant and thy maid servant to rest, but also the ox, the ass, all of the cattle is to rest as well.

And so in the very fourth commandment that teaches God’s redemption by grace as a method of evangelism as the means whereby grace to be extended to the world around them, Israel was remembered that its effect was not simply in terms of the human race itself. There was a cosmic effect and that rest purchased by God by redemption. And so Israel wanted to extend that rest rather to its animals on the seventh day.

And we know of course that there was a sabbatical structure in place under the Levitical system set up in which the seventh year itself was given as a rest for the land. And then the 49th—at the end of seven Sabbaths in the 50th year—there was a general jubilee declared in which the restoration of all things was prefigured and so in this ordinance that relates the Sabbath back to redemption.

It then shows that redemption starts with God’s deliverance of his covenant people and those people as a redeemed community then extend grace out not just to other people they extend that grace out to the entire created order and now the earth itself benefits from the rest that God has accomplished through redemption. Apart from that rest, apart from that seventh year Sabbath, for instance, the land has no rest.

The land is as it were restless because man himself rejects the dominion of God. And so the rest that’s been purchased by God for his people extends out on the weekly Sabbath to the animal creation. It extends out in the seventh year Sabbath to the physical land itself. And in the year of Jubilee, there’s a general declaration that all things have been restored and redeemed and are under the power rather of redeemed man and as a result have been brought back into a position of blessing and fullness before God and that’s what that sabbatical cycle taught it all stems forth from the idea that the Sabbath is in fact a redemptive ordinance as well as a creation ordinance.

Israel when Israel celebrated Sabbath then one day a week they to remember the redemption of God they were to remember that it was a gracious redemption they were to extend that grace out to their people and they to recognize on the basis of that the whole world now under the dominion of man was restored back to a position of blessing. But the Sabbath didn’t just teach that to them. It wasn’t simply a system of remembrance of what had got it accomplished in bringing them out of Egypt. In fact, the Sabbath of course prefigured a redemption yet to be consummated, which is our second point.

First, this is indicated by the sacrificial system itself. Remember, this Sabbath redemption, this ordinance of redemption called the Sabbath remembers the slaying of the lamb, right? And the slaying of the lamb had to occur every Passover. In addition to that, there was a sacrificial system which was continued to have to be sacrificed continually to remind the people again of this idea that the redemption that they had rested in was also pointing toward a greater redemption to come in the future. And that’s real obvious to us or it should be.

And so the lamb meant that there were more lambs to come in Numbers 28:9-10 and Ezekiel 46:4. We won’t look that up right now, but those two passages of scripture, Numbers 28:9-10 and Ezekiel 46:4 indicates that on the Sabbath itself, there were two sacrifices, two daily sacrifices, not just the one. And so again, on the Sabbath day itself, there was a remembrance. There was a calling forth of God’s people by God to remember that redemption that he had accomplished in Egypt prefigured a greater redemption to come.

Sabbath itself had double the sacrifices as the other weekly days. And that prefigured the coming redemption to come. So the Sabbath produced rest, but it also produced an understanding on the part of the people that rest was not brought to completion yet, that it was yet future.

Leviticus 24:8 and 1 Chronicles 9:32 indicates the showbread was to be replaced on a weekly basis. And again, that’s because the showbread indicated the temporariness of the redemption that have been accomplished in Egypt and pointed forward to the great bread to come, as it were, that God would bring forth in the coming covenant keeper, who would produce eternal redemption for his people.

And so, the Sabbath rest based upon the redemption indicated the requirement of a redemption yet to be consummated. That redemption to be yet to be consummated also was prefigured also then prefigured a future based upon redemption and as we mentioned this weekly cycle the fact that it was a weekly cycle the fact that the weekly cycle didn’t end with or that time cycle didn’t end with the year of jubilee and then everything stops but that in another 49 or 50 years there was a double Sabbath or prolonged Sabbath as well indicated the prefiguring of the future then based upon redemption accomplished by deliverance from Egypt and pointing toward the redemption to be yet accomplished.

And so the future then is seen as based upon redemption through the weekly cycle. Additionally, the fact that the redemption indicated a future redemption that was broader and yet to be consummated required perseverance on the part of the people involved in the Sabbath rest. The weekly look, as it were, the reminder to them that they would come back once more at the end of their next week of labor to stand in the presence of God to come in convocation before him indicated the idea as I said before of judgment.

And so the weekly Sabbath based upon redemption also required perseverance on the part of the saints of the old covenant.

Let’s turn to Deuteronomy 32 for a minute. Deuteronomy 32, the song of witness. Verses 10 and 11:

“As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taking them beareth them on her wings. So the Lord alone did lead him and there was no strange god with him.”

Obvious this is talking about the redemption from Egypt. But it’s also using language of course that talks about the second idea of the Sabbath which is that of creation. Those of you who’ve read commentaries on this passage recognize that in verse 11 there’s creation talk being talked about here. The fluttering of the wings the same as the spirit of God moving over the face of the deep. The point is this is like a new creation accomplished for redemption now.

And so, Deuteronomy 32 is a song of witness to that redemption by God. But look in verse 6 and we see that the following verse reads the following:

“Do ye thus require, do ye thus requite the Lord, oh foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that have brought thee, that have bought thee rather? Hath he not made thee and established thee?”

And so in addition to the creation talk in Deuteronomy 32:11-12, in verse 6, we have redemptive talk. God has bought the people as it were. He has this new people now. And they’re being reminded in verse 6, you know, God bought you. You are now slaves to him instead of being slaves to Egypt. And therefore, there’s a call to perseverance.

And of course, this Song of Witness goes on to say that because of their sin, they would be cut off:

“Verse 15, but Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. Thou art waxed fat and grown thick. Thou art covered with fatness. Then he forsook God, which made him, and lightly esteemed, the rock of his salvation. They provoked him to jealousy, with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger. They sacrificed unto devils, not to God, to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly upon them, whom your fathers feared not.”

And so Deuteronomy 32, while affirming the redemption of the people of Israel by the deliverance of God from Egypt, affirming the new creation of the people of Israel, yet because it points to a creation that is yet future, also is a call to perseverance on the part of the covenant community, lest they find themselves not in that elect community of redeemed people.

And so in the verses we just read indicates that is in fact what happened. People fall away and we know that the nation of Israel spends 40 years in the wilderness wandering because they don’t enter the promised rest of God because of unbelief. And so the fact that the Sabbath is based upon a redemptive ordinance or is a redemptive ordinance points to this redemption aspect. It points to a future redemption aspect and because of that it points to a necessity for perseverance on the part of the elect community.

Okay, let’s move over to the New Testament now and look at the Lord’s day, the Christian Sabbath as signifying the redemption accomplished as well. Now, the Lord’s day was of course the day that the church had first met for worship, for breaking of bread and for hearing the word of God. It was the first day of the week. Why? Because of course that was the day of Jesus’s resurrection.

Now, I’m going to deal much more in depth in a later talk in terms of that transition from Old Covenant Sabbath to New Covenant Lord’s Day. But right now, we’re going to look at again at the broad understanding of what the resurrection of Jesus Christ accomplished, what the early church was in fact celebrating when they got together the first day of the week. They were of course celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. What we’re going to talk about now is that resurrection was also a redemptive resurrection.

We talked last week about the fact that Jesus’s resurrection ushered in a new creation. And now we’re going to talk about the fact that Jesus’s resurrection ushered in a redemption that was prefigured by the old covenant system.

First of all, the Lord’s day Sabbath signifies redemption accomplished through victory over sin, our past master. In Revelation 1:5-6, we see language that should be real clear to us. The parallels that are being drawn here Revelation 1:5-6:

“And from Jesus Christ who is the faithful witness and the first begotten of the dead and the prince of the kings of the earth. First begotten of the dead. We see here a new creation of course typified in that language. And that language permeates this first chapter where Jesus is being introduced to the recipients of the letter as it were in terms of the essential aspects of his resurrection. The first begotten of the dead, a new creation and the prince of the kings of the earth unto him that loved us. and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his father. To him be glory and dominion forever and ever.”

This language points out clearly to us that the redemption accomplished by Jesus’s blood was what the old covenant Sabbath was built upon. To the extent the old covenant Sabbath is built upon redemption from Egypt, that redemption from Egypt was accomplished by the blood of the lamb applied to the door, the washing of the people with the blood of the lamb, as it were—the blood of the old covenant and that blood then created the people that came out of Egypt to be a kingdom of priests in Exodus 19:4 and 6.

We see that language talked about. Exodus 19:4 says:

“You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians and how I bare you on eagle’s wings and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if you’ll obey my voice indeed and keep my covenants, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people. For all the earth is mine, and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak to the children of Israel.”

God’s redemption of the children of Israel that the Sabbath remembered was a redemption that created out of those children, out of that people a kingdom of priests for God. And so in Revelation when Jesus says that he was the one that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and he hath made us kings and priests unto God and to his father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. Amen. That means the Lord’s day worship service that John was participating in here was a reminder of Jesus’s resurrection. And because of that, it was built upon the redemption accomplished that through Jesus Christ’s resurrection through his death and resurrection that was prefigured in the old covenant now brought to fruition in the new covenant.

In Romans 6, we see this whole idea of slavery being worked out. Of course, verse 16:

“Know ye not that to whom you yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteousness. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin. But ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Seeing then that you were freed from sin, you became the servants of righteousness.”

Romans 6, the whole motif talked about in Romans 6. The scriptures teach there in a very clear fashion. that we have been redeemed from the power of sin. In the same way that the people of Israel were redeemed in the old covenant from the Egyptian mastery over them, so we’ve been redeemed by the new covenant redemption offered in Jesus Christ to sin itself and death of course as well.

1 Peter 1:18-19 teaches the same truth:

“For as much as you know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain conversation, received by tradition from your fathers, with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.”

Obvious language hearkening back to the Passover itself, the lamb without blemish or spot. Jesus Christ has come as that lamb, as the Passover lamb itself, and has offered his own blood, which is efficacious unto redemption. And so the Lord’s day remembers that when he remembers the resurrection of Jesus Christ, remembers the redemption that has been accomplished in that resurrection. And so in 1 Corinthians 5, we read that we are to keep the feast, not with leaven, as it were, with the unleavened bread of sincerity.

1 Corinthians 5:7-8:

“Purge out therefore the leaven that you may be a new lump as you are unleavened. For even Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore, let us keep the feast not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”

When the first church got together on the first day of the week to break bread, to keep the feast, not the annual Passover now, but the weekly Sabbath memorial of the redemption accomplished in Jesus Christ. They were commanded to keep the feast and to keep it with sincerity and with thankfulness unto God and in truth based upon the fact that Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. And so the Lord’s day is a commemoration of that redemption accomplished in Jesus Christ.

This same theme is talked about in Hebrews 10:9-2. Also of course in Hebrews 2 we read that Jesus has delivered those who are held in bondage to death. And so the redemption that Jesus has accomplished is a redemption not just from sin but from the effects of sin and death. And in Hebrews 10 that this whole truth is being talked about in Hebrews 10:19-22 and he talks in verses 19 about having boldness to enter into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus by a new and living way and so we have your temple talk hearkening back to the sacrificial system which is based of course originally upon the Passover and then the whole sacrificial system as a result of that teaching that the redemption accomplished by Passover was yet future and pointed to a future redemption and so now in Hebrews 10:19 we say that God has come now definitively in the person of Jesus Christ and redeemed his people.

What was pointed to by the old covenant Sabbath is now looked back on by the new covenant Sabbath, the Lord’s day and the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He has now given us boldness to enter into the holy of holies by the blood of Jesus. And in Hebrews 10, we’ve talked about this before, you have the whole idea that we have a new sanctuary, new high priest, new Passover lamb as it were, who’s accomplished redemption once for all.

And on the basis of that in verse 25 then we read not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is but exhorting one another in so much the more as you see the day approaching. On the basis of the fact that Jesus has accomplished redemption that the sacrificial system looked toward, Hebrews 10:25 says therefore let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together and if you were here a year ago when I talked about this verse you remember that word assembling there is *epiclesia*—it’s a super synagogue—is what occurs when we assemble together and so in Hebrews 10 you have the two lines from the old covenant weekly observance of the synagogue system and the old covenant system of Sabbaths and time sequences of the sacrificial system.

Both those things being taught being accomplished in Jesus Christ and his redemption. And so on the basis of that we meet weekly in our synagogue in our super synagogue that Jesus has given to us and also in the temple of our Lord. And that of course incidentally was the basis for continues to be the basis for those churches that have been historic that have seen two elements of the service. We’ve talked about this before, but the two elements of the service being the synaxis and the eucharist.

Synaxis coming forth from the synagogue system—that portion of the service that is primarily centered upon the word of God and the Eucharist being the other half of the service that is centered around the elements themselves. Those two systems come down to the church based upon this whole system of redemption prefigured in the weekly Sabbaths, the yearly Sabbaths, and the sacrificial system of the old covenant brought to completion in Jesus Christ.

And so we stand now as recipients of those. And so we meet each Lord’s day then commemorating Jesus and his resurrection and the redemption accomplished once for all the basis of that and so the Lord’s day Sabbath signifies redemption and the new covenant accomplished through victory over sin our past master.

Of course that is also clearly taught as the redemption that is by grace as it was in the old covenant in those there are parallel outlines we’re now repeating the statements we made in the old covenant and applying them into the new covenant church Ephesians 1:7 talking starting verse 6:

“To the praise the glory of his grace wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved in whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace.”

Clearly and very dramatically spelled out throughout the epistles is the idea that our redemption is based upon the grace extended to us Jesus Christ and so our Sabbath day Lord’s day remembering Jesus’s resurrection and remembers his redemption, remembers that it is based upon the grace of God.

And as the basis of that, of course, we then extend that grace that we’ve received from God outward as well. And what does James tell us? He tells us that pure religion, undefiled, is to take care of orphans, take care of widows, those same people that were singled out in the old covenant for special attention by the people of God. We’ve talked before, we went through a teaching on the stranger and on the widow and on the orphan that we were strangers, strangers from the covenants of promise.

And God says, “Now we’ve been brought near Here we’ve been redeemed not out of Egypt, out of sin and death, brought into the covenants of promise. We were strangers. We received that grace by God. We remember that grace of forgiveness in on Sunday, the Lord’s day. And we look forward then to extending that grace both on Sunday and into the week to those around us who are strangers, widows, and orphans.

Not just to those, of course, those groups are singled out to point out to us those people that were helpless. And of course, the scriptures teach that unregenerate man is totally helpless apart from the preaching of the gospel to him and apart from him coming to redemptive grace in Jesus Christ. And so the redemption that we remember based upon Christ’s resurrection on Sunday is a gracious redemption and it’s a redemption that we’re then to teach out and to reach out and extend that grace to the people around us as well into the covenant community.

The redemption we remember on the Sabbath day then is the basis for evangelism flowing out into the communities around us as well.

It is I think a proper thing that here in this church, we have a communion meal that leads up to the communion service itself between our two services, our synaxis and our Eucharist, if you will. We didn’t know those terms when we started doing that, but that’s really what we’ve done in this church. And in between that, you have the rejoicing supper that leads up to the communion with the Lord. And uh James B. Jordan has pointed out, I think, quite correctly, that rejoicing feast we have is the New Testament equivalent of what the Old Testament looked forward to the times of rejoicing under the New Covenant when they were to bring in people and extend the grace of God through a banqueting with the people of God on that day.

And I hope the day comes in this church when we will start asking people from the community around to come and join us in our feast together on Sunday and help them to understand that we understand grace has been extended to us. We want to extend that grace out to them through the preaching of God’s word and through also the sharing of the gifts that God has given us in terms of a bounty of produce and the meal that we celebrate every Sunday.

It is true that as in the old covenant that if we fail to extend that grace to others, then we’ve not understood the basis of our redemption, which is grace. If we think that somebody isn’t good enough to invite to our supper, if somebody isn’t good enough to preach the gospel to, then we deny what the faith is all about, we deny the fact that we’ve been adopted into the household of God graciously and on the basis of Christ’s resurrection and his gracious redemption.

So, as in the old covenant, God said he’d kill us with the sword. In the new covenant, it’s true as well that we’ll go from blessing to cursing if we fail to extend about that grace and so indicate our lack of comprehension of the grace given to us in Jesus Christ.

And fourth, as in the old covenant, the effect of that redemption was to be seen as affecting the entire cosmos. So it is in the new creation as well.

Revelation 5:8-13:

“And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and 20 elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof. For thou was slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nations, and hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth.”

You see the obvious analogous language there to the redemption from Egypt, of course, and the fact that the redemption from Egypt caused Miriam and Moses to sing a new song to God. So our redemption upon based upon Jesus Christ which that prefigured gives us a new song as well. And in this song we acknowledge the fact that God has redeemed us to make us a nation of kingdoms and of kings and priests.

“But it goes on from there to say and I beheld and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the lamb that was slain. to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I saying blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that siteth upon the throne and unto the lamb forever and ever.”

The church, the redeemed community of God begins the echoing back to God of the praise of the redemption that’s been accomplished through Jesus Christ. But that beginning of that praise of redemption extends out then eventually in verse 13 to the entire created order. All creatures, all the created order then sings forth the praises of God because it also sees its proper place being reconciled back now through the redemption offered in Jesus Christ.

And so as we in the old covenant, the Sabbath look forward to the effect of the Sabbath in the cosmos. So the new covenant Sabbath does as well. Having said that, there is still yet a future element to the Sabbath as well. We still have the weekly Lord’s day and that points us to the future. In the same way that the Lord’s day or the Sabbath in the old covenant prefigured a redemption yet to be consummated and the Lord’s day in the new covenant also prefigures a redemption yet to be consummated.

Now this fact is indicated first by our bodies and we read in 1 Corinthians 15 earlier. What we’ll do is go back there just a second to a couple of verses. 1 Corinthians 15:26:

“The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.”

And then again in verse 54:

“So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory. Oh death, Where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory?”

These passages, as we talked about earlier, prefiguring and coming development of the spiritual bodies were to have in Jesus Christ and now accomplished through his redemption, indicates that is yet to be consummated. We still have bodies that die in the flesh. Jesus has eaten up death definitively, but there’s a progressive working out and a consummation of that victory over death that is yet future.

And so as the old covenant Sabbath looked back in that redemption, saw a coming redemption. Our Lord’s day Sabbath now looks back in the redemption offered by Jesus Christ and yet looks forward to the consummation of the redemption that he has accomplished once for all. They look forward to a redemption yet to be accomplished. We recognize that Jesus has accomplished that redemption, but that redemptive work has a future consummation action to it, and that is taught by our very bodies themselves.

That coming redemption, as it were, the working out of that redemption is also prefigured then a future based upon redemption in Romans 8:22-23:

“For we know the whole creation groanth and travaleth in pain together unto now. The creation itself now groans and travails. And what for? Verse 23. Not only they, but we ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the spirit, even we ourselves grown within ourselves waiting for the adoption to wit the redemption of our body a future aspect to it.”

The redemptive feast then the redemptive rejoicing that we take place in on Sunday prefigures a future based upon that redemption. And the scriptures teach us here as they taught us in the old covenant that redemption is to has effect in the cosmos as we read in Revelation 5. But that it is yet future in terms of its consummation, the creation itself groans. And when we finally come to full redemptive rest in Jesus Christ, the creation that participates in that rest participates in its proper place in relationship to God as well.

In Isaiah 65:20, the same thing is taught:

“There shall be no more than an infant of days, nor an old man that have not filled his days. For the child shall die in 100 years old, but the sinner being 100 years old shall be accursed.”

Here we talk as I mentioned last Sunday and as Reverend Shelton mentioned in his lectures this last week of the fact that God’s new creation, God’s new redemption order ushered into the redemption of Jesus Christ will continue to manifest itself even when people are dying and working as these verses talk about.

The redemption that we celebrate then on Sunday looks forward to the outworking of that redemption in time and then finally in the consummation order itself with creation also coming to a full realization of its proper relationship to God having been reconciled through the blood of Jesus Christ as then the same thing is true of the old covenant that the old covenant looked forward to a coming consummation that redemption the new covenant looks forward to a consummation of what has been accomplished once for all in Jesus Christ the final application of that for us is that it also requires perseverance by us.

I think it’s interesting that in Hebrews 3, verse 15, which we talked a little bit about last week, that talks about the coming final rest to be accomplished at the consummation of all things. Hebrews 3 as we said last week reminding us to persevere in the faith reminding us to continue to have good works as it were from which we can rest when all is said and done. In verse 15 it says:

“While it is said today if you will hear his voice harden not your hearts as in the provocation.”

Quoting here from the Psalms the hardening of hearts of course was primarily a reference to Pharaoh’s heart was hardened and as a result the first redemptive week as it were saw the judgment of God upon Pharaoh and the deliverance of his covenant people from Pharaoh’s hand having done that though the redeemed people the people that go forth having been redeemed by God turn back themselves to become pharaohs in the wilderness. They harden their hearts until they enter not into the promised rest.

And Hebrews tells us the same thing ourselves. That because the redemption rest we celebrate on the Lord’s day Sunday is yet to be consummated. We have a call by God every Sunday to persevere in the faith. We come back for judgment every Sunday when we sit at the Lord’s table and we evaluate our past week. We sit enthroned as judges. The scriptures teach us the church sits enthroned with God evaluating ourselves in the created order as well.

And we look back and judge ourselves on the basis of this past week. And the scriptures have a strong admonition here which I have no desire to get rid of. A strong admonition to persevere in the faith and not to go back to a position of being unredeemed people of being Pharaoh instead of Israel. Today it says if you hear his voice, harden not your hearts. Continue to persevere this week and the weeks to come.

Every week we’ll be meeting again for the Lord’s day. A reminder to us to persevere in the faith as well.

The Sabbath is a redemption ordinance. Because it is a redemption ordinance. It is a time of joy. The things that we have talked about this morning should indicate to us that as we said when we began this series, we want to understand the Sabbath in terms of joy. It is a joy because it is a new creation.

It is a joy also because it involves redemption and a redemption accomplished by Jesus Christ which was prefigured in the old covenant. Yet the Sabbath was a time of rejoicing and of feasting in the old covenant. How much more so now when we look back in the reality that they looked forward to see accomplished? And how much more also we understand the basis of that redemption working its way through the entire created order and one day that created order will follow us and singing praises to God echoing back the praises to God of the redemptive power of Jesus Christ.

Now I think it’s interesting that this day is a memorial to some people and it is also a prefiguring to other people who are outside of this church and outside of the church of Jesus Christ. Some people look back on this day as the memorial of the death not of Jesus but of Elvis. And they look back, it was interesting to me to watch nightlife the other night and see what people said about Elvis and their relationship to this memorial observation.

They said that in Elvis Presley, their life had found meaning. Now these people are serious folks. They had found meaning in Elvis Presley. They had found community. Lots of lonely people out there, but they had found a community in celebrating Elvis’s death yearly and in many cases daily. Some people down there, they have a community now of friends based upon the death of Elvis Presley. They were one of a flock now is how they described that community they’ve been ushered into with their adoring of Elvis.

And one of them also said that you had to realize that when people saw Elvis, everybody realized there was a little bit of Elvis and us and there was a little bit of us and Elvis. So that’s if you understand the messianic implications of that, that it’s a sad state of affairs for those people who see this Sunday as memorial not of Jesus Christ and redemption accomplished but of communion with a man who died at the age of 42 alone, drunk, drugged in a motel room.

Terrible death. That’s the man they had communion with this morning. And that is the emptiness of their lives. We need to reach out to those people. We need to let them know…