I just want to say a few words about the sabbath today

I just want to say a few words about the sabbath today. There is a sabbath to be kept, but it is not the one that most religious folks think it is. "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ" (Col. 2:16,17). That passage settles what the new testament sabbath is NOT. As the apostle said, no man can dictate a natural, or carnal sabbath under this covenant, because it was a ceremonial law and a SHADOW that has been FULFILLED in Christ. But for further confirmation of this fact let's look at another passage by this same apostle Paul, who had the revelation from heaven about the fulfillment of the law: "But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain" (Gal. 4:9-11). There are no holy days of any kind to observe under the new covenant, but rather EVERY day is holy, because we have been given true access into the holiness of God by his Spirit (Eph. 2:18; Heb. 10:19). And that is the key to understanding the new testament sabbath. I is to be kept EVERY day. It is not a natural day of natural rest, but rather a spiritual rest to be maintained every day. Jesus spoke of this rest when he said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls" (Mat. 11:28,29).

So then what exactly is the rest that Jesus came to provide for the weary souls? Well, it's obiviously the rest for the soul when the heavy burden of sin is lifted off of it. And there is a manifestation of the Spirit of God when this experience initially takes place, which the prophet Isaiah spoke of long before it came about: "For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. To whom he said, This is the REST wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear" (Isa. 28:11,12). As the prophet said, the refreshing of the soul would bring about the rest, and it would be signified by the experience of stammering lips and/or speaking with other tongues. This saying was first fulfilled on the day of Pentecost after Jesus had ascended back to heaven, and began operating as the heavenly high priest, whose job was and is to make intercession to God for the remission of sins for those who would "come unto God by him" (Acts 2:4; Heb. 10:14-17; Heb. 7:24,25). And to be certain that this is in fact the rest that Jesus promised those who would come to him, we have Peter's confirmation of the "refreshing:" "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord" (Acts 3:19). So after receiving this new birth experience of the Spirit baptism initially, how do we keep the sabbath every day? By doing the same thing that brought us into the new birth initially. Turn away from the wrong, and seek God from our heart for the right; and pray much with those "new tongues" and stammering lips that the Spirit has provided (I Thess. 5:17; Mk. 16:17). Jude encouraged the same when he said, "But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost" (Jd. 1:20; also I Cor. 14:14). Prayer in the Spirit is also a main way to "purify [ourselves] even as he [Christ] is pure" (I Jn. 3:3). Prayer, especially in the tongues inspired by the holy Ghost, empowers us to purify our hearts from everything that is unlike God's love and peace, and to have power to stay free from sin when we are tried. As Peter said, "Cast all your care upon him; for he careth for you" (I Pet. 5:7). That is where the rest is at, in purging away sin from the heart, and keeping it out. That my friend is the true sabbath, and we cannot afford to NOT keep that sabbath. Amen.