5 An Advance On Eternity

A MAN FOR ALL TIME––THE INCOMPARABLE CHRIST By Mark Finley of It Is Written Television (www.iiw.org) Sermon 5 Outline “An Advance on Eternity” INTRODUCTION On that Christmas Eve, Allied & German casualties were high. As Joe thought of Christmas at home, he heard strains of that unmistakable tune, “Silent night, holy night.” It was in German, but the familiar Christmas carol gladdened his heart. His American colleagues joined the singing, and for one night, they embraced, laughed and sang; they were brothers. They shared a common humanity and the fighting stopped. “God hath made the world and all things therein...and hath made of one blood all nations of men to dwell on all the face of the earth.” (Acts 17: 24-26) The essence of humanity’s dignity is a common creation. Creation: provides true self-worth, a moral imperative, a sense of hope, a reminder of being loved and guided, has an eternal destiny, and looks to God for answers Evolution: dehumanizing, gives no moral ethic, looks within for strength, and sees death as the end for all people who are the only the product of blind chance. I. Creation and the Sabbath. Because our world needs the message of creation, God gave us the Sabbath. In the mid1800’s when evolution was taking the intellectual world by storm, God gave this message of hope: “And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the everlasting Gospel...saying with a loud voice, ‘Fear God and give glory to Him...and worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of water.’” (Revelation 14:6, 7) God’s last day message calls us back to worship Him as the Creator. God as our Creator is the basis for all worship; without it and there is no basis for worship. John states succinctly: “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for Thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Revelation 4:11)

Sabbath calls us back to our roots––our link with our heavenly family of origin. Four-year-old Schia’s parents at first denied her determined request to be alone with her new baby brother. Finally, they relented. They overheard Schia gently ask “Baby, tell me what God feels like. I am starting to forget.” We all forget––that is why God says “remember.” Sabbath is our call to a relationship! II. A not-so-subtle deception. Through the theory of evolution, Satan tries to destroy the uniqueness of our creation. “By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. For He spoke and it was done; He commanded and it stood fast.” (Psalms 33:6, 9) “By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the Word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3) We believe that God was not indebted to preexisting matter and that the days were six, literal, 24-hour days, after which God rested on the seventh. The linguistic structure links the adjective “yom” to a 24-hour period only. If this interpretation weren’t true, what significance would the seventh-day Sabbath have? “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy...for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.” (Exodus 20:8, 11) The Sabbath is not merely good advice, it is a command from God. It is a holy day, not a holiday, and an acknowledgment of our devotion, allegiance and total loyalty. III. The Sabbath and salvation. Sabbath, the symbol of rest, shows us that we can rest in Christ for our salvation. It symbolizes righteousness by faith, not legalism, and calls us to trust Him, not ourselves. “There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His.” (Hebrews 4:9, 10) Sabbath rest means to cease trying to create salvation on the basis of our own effort. It is not a symbol of legalism, but a reminder to rest in Him and depend on His righteousness. Sabbath rest is a symbol of a faith experience in Jesus. We turn from our work to rest in Jesus. We do not need to stressfully work out our own salvation.

-When Jesus breathed, “It is finished,” he rested on the Sabbath, symbolizing a completed work. -When God rested after creation, it symbolized a finished work. -When we rest on the Sabbath, it declares that we rest in Christ’s completed work on the Cross. “Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them.” (Ezekiel 20:12) Sabbath reminds us of where we develop character––in relationship with the Father and Son. We need quality time with the God who sanctifies us and helps to keep us growing. Sabbath has continued in the weekly cycle from the beginning, and will continue forever. “‘And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,’ says the Lord.” (Isaiah 66:23) IV. Sabbath represents a forever relationship with God. At the age of 90, golf pro Harvey Penick wrote down lessons he had learned from golf. A publisher found the work fascinating, and offered him $90,000 in advance. At first Penick misunderstood and thought that he was being asked to pay that amount to get it published. He was delighted to learn instead that the company would pay him even before it was printed. The Sabbath is our “advance” on eternity. It calls us to eternal things––to experience the heavenly rest, experience heaven today, and enter into a relationship with the Creator. “Come unto Me, all you that are burdened and heavy laden, and I will gave you rest.” (Matthew 11:26, 28)