Let's pray. Oh, Lord God, we do. We do thank you that you do call us together to sing your praises. You call us together to worship you, to think your thoughts, to speak your words. Lord, you are a God who loves your people, and you care for us, and you cause us to come together to be exhorted to love and good works, to fulfill our roles in the body. Lord, you are a God who is good to your people. Let us see your goodness and your mercy tonight as we consider the fourth commandment. For it is a commandment that was not given to chasten men. It was not given to hurt men. It was given to be a blessing to man. Lord, we pray that we see the blessing in it tonight. In Jesus Christ's name we pray, amen. So as we continue with the Fourth Commandment, last week I just exposited Exodus 28 through 11. And as we start our consideration of the Fourth Commandment, I wanted to spend a week just talking about the arguments against the Fourth Commandment being implicable under the New Covenant. Because so many people hold that, so many people argue that. And so I thought it was worth taking a week to consider why it still matters, why it didn't pass away, why it was not fulfilled in Christ. And to do that, I want to consider some passages. And I want to start with passages that people use to argue that this is why the Sabbath is no longer a commandment for the people of God. But before I even start talking about that, I want to first talk about the attitude that we should take when we come to the Sabbath. Because if your attitude is, how can I get away with not keeping the Sabbath? Then you'll start to look for Scripture to say, how do I get away from it? How do I make this not binding to me? Because the heart of man is to rebel against the commandments of God. And we need to recognize that's our own heart. It's really easy for us to say, this commandment is not good, that there must be a way out of it, that this is punitive. But we need to remember with the Sabbath, God is really clear. The Sabbath, or man was not made for the Sabbath, the Sabbath was made for man. The Sabbath was made to be a blessing to man, not a curse to man. And when we start with the idea of how do we get out of the Sabbath, how do we make it so that we don't need to keep the Sabbath, understand what we're arguing for. We're arguing for saying what God gave as a blessing is not a blessing but a curse. What our argument should always be is, Why wouldn't the Sabbath still be binding? Why wouldn't we still have the right to take a day off? If your boss said to you, take Monday off. I'll pay you for it. I'll take care of all your needs. You can take the day off. How many of us would go, how dare you give me a day off? Who do you think you are? But when God does the same thing, that is the reaction of man. How dare you give me a day off? How dare you say that I'm supposed to take a day off from working? We need to understand that's a serious heart problem. That's a problem that's saying God's commandments are not a blessing. God's commandments are a curse, that God didn't give them to us because he cares for and loves his people. He gave them to us as a burden, as a yoke that we're to bear. And so when we think about the Sabbath, we need to start with the idea of if we truly love God, then why wouldn't we want to spend a day focused on God? Now, because of our sin, we struggle with it. Because of our sin, we don't keep it the way we should. Because of our sin, all these other things happen. But we need to start with the attitude of, it's our sin is why we don't want to keep the Sabbath, not because God gave the Sabbath to us to harm us in any way. He promises that if we keep the Sabbath the way He commands, that He will cause us to walk on the high hills of the earth. That's the promise in Isaiah 58. He promises it will be a blessing. He promises that He gave it to us to be an aid, to be a help. He set the whole standard, the whole pattern of the world in order to be a blessing to man. And our response should not be, how can I get out of it? Our response should be, praise God that He blesses us by telling us that we don't have to work seven days, but six days you shall labor and do all your work, and on the seventh day you should rest. He promises. He starts with declaring it and making it a blessing. And we need to start not looking to see how in Scripture we can take a verse and change it and twist it and say, obviously this lets me out. It should be to say, if God has abolished it, it should be abolished. But we shouldn't desire it to be abolished. We should desire a blessing, something that God declared to be a blessing. We should desire that He continues to bless us. and to not curse us by removing what He declared to be a blessing to His people. So that needs to be the attitude that we start. If we have the attitude that we don't want to spend a day with God, we should ask ourselves, what is our state with God? What is our problem that we would not want to spend a day with the living God? That's what God commands us to do, and we should desire what He's commanding. So let's go through some of these passages. And first, I want to talk about Romans 14.5. And I'm going to mention these, and then I'm actually going to build my argument off of something else, and then come back and put these into the context of that argument. But this is one of the verses that's frequently used, Romans 14.5. One person esteems one day above another. Another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. And so the application people usually take this as, look, it's saying to keep the Sabbath or to not keep the Sabbath is up to each person. Each person has the right to make their decision. Each person, don't judge anybody for how they're keeping, whether they're keeping the day or not keeping the day. But let's look at the passage in the broader context, the broader context of verses 1 through 8. Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. For one believes he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats only vegetables. Let not him who eats despise him who does not eat. And let not him who does not eat judge him who eats. For God has received him, who are you to judge another servant? To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. One person esteems one day above another. Another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it to the Lord, and he who does not observe the day to the Lord, he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks. And he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat and gives God thanks. For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we are to live, we live to the Lord. And if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord's." And so if you look at that broader context, he's primarily talking about meat. and meat sacrifice to idols. It's what you eat, what you do with the food, whether you give thanks for it. But one of the examples that he uses is the day. One person esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike. But it doesn't say Sabbath in there. And that's really important, because it matters. Because what day is he talking about? It's not explicit. So we need to look to other passages to say, what should we read in there when he's talking about a day? What does it mean? There's clearly days that the early church gathered. So that day would be a different day than other days. And if you're supposed to not forsake the gathering of the saints, clearly there was a day that you were supposed to gather with the saints. So does that mean you're esteeming that day better than the other days? There were also, in the Jewish calendar, there were many days to hold that were different. There was the days that were established at the time of I just lost. Well, there's Esther. That would be a good example, but that's not the example that I was going to use. But Esther is a good example. There's also the one who made the oath and sacrificed his daughter. Jephthah. Right. Jephthah, there were days that were celebrated because of Jephthah's daughter. There's also the new moon feasts that were celebrated at the beginning of every month. There were also the Passover. There was the Feast of Weeks. There was the Feast of Ingathering. There's lots of different days that were in the Jewish calendar. And so is this referring to the Sabbath, or is that referring to some of those other days? I don't think from Romans we can be sure, because Romans is staying fairly silent on the matter. It's not saying this is the Sabbath. And it's a big deal for us to start to eliminate commandments of God. That's really important for us to understand that Jesus Christ in Matthew 5 says it's a very serious issue to eliminate laws. Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I did not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. I say to you, unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. It says, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law. I mean, that's what's being said here, till it's fulfilled. And there are things that are fulfilled, but we need to discuss what's fulfilled in terms of Jesus Christ comes to fulfill the law, meaning to fill it up to its fullest, to completely keep the law. But that doesn't cause the law to pass away for other people. because the laws that God has given still are binding to other people. We still can't murder just because Jesus Christ chose not to murder and chose not even to get angry in an unrighteous manner. Jesus Christ is saying, until heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle of the law shall not pass. And if you say that if you break one of the least of these commandments and tell other people to break one of the least of these commandments, you're least in the kingdom of God or the kingdom of heaven. So it's a very important matter for us to say that a commandment is done away with. And especially one of the Ten Commandments, one of the ones that are so significant that God engraved them on stone to show their permanence, that are so significant that that they were put in the Ark of the Covenant to show that Jesus Christ, who sits on the mercy seat above the Covenant, that He shows mercy for breaking these laws. If you take one of these laws away, it's a really serious matter because it's changing the sacrifice of Christ and the nature of the sacrifice of Christ. if we weren't going to be judged against those two tables of the law, if we were going to be judged against the nine commandments instead of the ten commandments, that's a pretty significant difference. And so before we cross a commandment off, we shouldn't cross a commandment off based on a verse that doesn't even mention the Sabbath. All it says is a steaming one day better than another day. So to say the law has passed away is a very big deal. And that brings us to the second passage that's usually used. It's Colossians 2. In this case, I'm going to read Colossians 2, 11 through 22. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. Buried with Him in baptism in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you being dead in your trespasses in the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made together alive with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross, having disarmed the principalities and powers, having made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. So let no one judge you in food or in drink or regarding a festival or a new moon or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substances of Christ. Let no one cheat you of your reward, taking delight in false humility and worship of angels, intruding into those things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, and not holding fast to the head from which all the body, nourished and knit together by joints and ligaments, grows with the increase that is from God. Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why as a living in the world do you subject yourself to regulations? Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle. which all concern things which perish with the using, according to the commandments and doctrines of men." So if you look at that, that was a long passage. But if you look at that passage, what Paul is writing, he's saying that there was a handwriting of ordinance written against you, meaning against the Gentiles. Colossians is written to the church in Colossae, who is a Gentile church. And he's writing to them and saying, don't let people judge you. Don't let people judge you when God has put these requirements away from you. And because they were requirements for the Jews, and they weren't requirements for the Gentiles. And so he's wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against Dutch, which was contrary to us. He's taken it out of the way. He's nailed it to the cross. And so, therefore, don't let no one judge you in food or drink regarding a festival, a new moon, or Sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substances of Christ. And then he goes on and ends with, all things which perish with the using according to the commandments and doctrines of men. This is not the question of the commandments that God has given, but the commandments that man has given. Are you keeping the commandments that man has given? And some of these are also commandments that God has given. The festivals, the new moon, the Sabbaths that are a shadow but the substances of Christ. As I said before in Hebrews 4, it is very clear. A Sabbath still remains for the people of God. And that's written after the resurrection. A Sabbath still remains for the people of God. So when he says regarding a festival or new moons or Sabbaths, to say that's the Sabbath that the writer of Hebrews says remains, well, there's multiple kinds of Sabbaths. There's the Jubilee year, which is a kind of Sabbath. There's the seventh year Sabbath, which is a kind of Sabbath. There's even where Leviticus 23, 32, that's talking about the Day of Atonement, which is a Sabbath. There's all kinds of other Sabbaths that are written into the law. And so one thing that needs to be answered is, is this talking about the weekly Sabbath? Or maybe even more importantly is, how do we decide whether this is part of the handwriting of requirements that was against us? Because there needs to be a means, right? There's the ceremonial law, there's the moral law, and there's the judicial law. When we look at the law, that's the breakdown according to the Second London Baptist Confession. That's the historical reform breakdown of the law. How do you decide if something's a moral law or a ceremonial law? And that's mostly what I want to talk about tonight. Because if it's a part of the handwriting of ordinances against us, then even though it's a blessing to God's people and we shouldn't want it to be eliminated, if it's been fulfilled by Christ, if he is the substance of it, then to keep the Sabbath when he's the substance of the Sabbath would be to deny Christ. And we don't want to do that. And so if we're supposed to be working seven days, we should work seven days and trust that will be a blessing, even though God said it wasn't a requirement against us that it was made for man. But there's a parallel passage to the Colossians 2 passage that I want to walk through in detail. Because I think it's a lot clearer in Ephesians, Ephesians 2. And that's what I want to spend the bulk of the time tonight on, talking about Ephesians 2. Because it's the one that gives us the standard by which we say that the handwriting of requirements was against us, that those are eliminated. Ephesians 2 makes it clear as to what the standard are because it's not an arbitrary thing. It's a very clear standard of this law is moral law, this law is ceremonial law. And sometimes it can be hard for us to judge a law and compare the law to the standard. But God didn't leave us without a standard to judge. He has given us, He has told us how we're to determine whether this is part of the things that were torn down. And if we still say these laws are there after Christ came, then we're denying the efficacy of the crucifixion and of the resurrection of Christ. But if we say they're not there, when they are still there, we're denying Christ, too, because Christ died because these laws are against us still. And so getting it right is important. And to say and to understand what is ceremonial and what is moral law is an important thing, because both of them, if we get it wrong, we're starting to confuse the efficacy of Christ. So let's just walk slowly through Ephesians 2, starting in verse 11. And we'll go slowly here, so I'll go ahead and take the time to turn to it. So let's start with verse 11. Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh, who are called uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision made in the flesh by hands. So if you look, that back from the beginning, God created this separation. And He's been creating a separation from the beginning of time with Seth and Cain. There's the people who reject God, the people who are in rebellion to God, and then there's the people who follow God. And he keeps making this separation. And most of this is a type. And obviously, Cain was a murderer. He was a sinful man. He was a man condemned by God. But you get it even with Jacob and Esau, where you have Jacob as the righteous man, even though he sins in many ways. Esau is the wicked man. And God keeps making the separation so that he has a picture of those who follow God and those who rebel against God. In that picture is those who are circumcised in the flesh. And remember, this is the picture. The picture is those who are circumcised in the flesh to show that their sin has been cut away, that their temptation to sin has been cut away, that their desire, their lust for sin has been cut away. There's a reason why circumcision is what it is. It's this picture that God has cut away the desire for sin. versus the uncircumcised. So Jacob would be a picture of the circumcised. Esau would be a picture of the uncircumcised. And so he's talking to the Gentiles, so he's talking to the people who are the uncircumcised. He's saying, remember that you once were Gentiles in the flesh. Meaning, in the picture of God's people versus those who are not God's people, the circumcised are God's people and the uncircumcised aren't God's people. But so in the flesh, in the picture, you were part of the people that weren't God's people. You were the uncircumcised people. But there was this other group of people that's called circumcision. But it was just made in the flesh by hands. Now, that's really important, right? Because this is a testimony that it wasn't God's working. It wasn't that they were born again. It was simply the fact that they were told to cut and to do circumcision, so they did the cut and they did the circumcision, but it wasn't circumcision of the heart, it was circumcision of the flesh. So you have two groups, but you have some people like Naaman who was a righteous man, but he was a Gentile, and you have other people like Esau that was circumcised, but he's circumcised in the flesh, but he's not circumcised in the heart. But there's these two groups that God created so that there would be a picture, a picture that there's those who are right with God and a picture of those who are not right with God. And that brings us to verse 12, that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants and promise, having no hope and without God in the world. So the uncircumcised, those who physically didn't carry the picture of being part of the people of God, they were separate from the promises because the promises were made to national Israel. The promises actually were fulfilled in spiritual Israel. but the promises were made to national Israel. So at the time, because they didn't have Christ, because they didn't have a way to be brought in, because when Christ comes and He's crucified, then the nations are gathered. Before that, it's going to one people, the children of Abraham, the children of Israel. And so the Gentiles, there's this picture that has the Gentiles far off, but the Gentiles were actually far off. They weren't given the oracles of God, they weren't given the ceremonies of God, they weren't given the types, and they also weren't given the promises. So they didn't have these things, so they were far off, they were aliens, they didn't have any claim on the strength of Israel. That's what commonwealth means. It means common strength. It means united strength. So they didn't share in the strength of Israel because they didn't share in the covenants of Israel. And so, and they were strangers from the covenants of promise, meaning that they didn't even know the covenants of promise. You're talking about the church in Ephesus. The church in Ephesus probably didn't even know the Old Testament promises. They didn't know about the Old Testament laws that were written. They didn't know any of these things. They didn't even, they were so far strangers from them, they didn't even know about them necessarily. And so he's writing and saying there's these two groups that you were separated, you were far off, you had no part of the covenants, you had no part of the promises, and you were having no hope and without God in the world. Because understand also, they didn't have any testimony. It's not until Christ comes and Christ sends people out to testify who God is that they didn't even have a testimony of who the Lord God was. Now we all know that the world testifies to who God is. but they didn't have the verbal testimony. Israel was supposed to go out, but as we found out in Isaiah, Israel didn't go out. They didn't go and declare who God was. So the Gentiles, they had no hope because it was all resting on their strength. So they had no hope of the promises, they had no hope of the covenant, and they had no hope from God because they had no knowledge of who God is. They had no testimony of who God is. And so that's the situation. But now, since Christ Jesus has come, but now in Christ Jesus, you who are once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. So where there was these two groups and they're both physical pictures of a spiritual reality, there's the circumcised and the uncircumcised, when Christ comes, He now brings those two groups together because the one Christ goes to both groups. He goes to both the circumcised and the flesh. and the uncircumcised in the flesh. So where they didn't have the promises, they didn't have the covenant, the new covenant goes to the Gentiles. The new covenant is not just a covenant to Israel. The new covenant is to everyone, including the Gentiles. And so the promises are no longer just to the Jews. They're no longer just to Israel. They're to the Gentiles also. So where they had no share, they were aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel, meaning to be an alien means you have no share, no part of, no ownership in. You can be a stranger. You can be an alien. You can live in Israel and still be an alien because you don't share in their strength. But in Christ, we all share in the same strength. It's not two strengths. Christ is our rock. He's the rock for both the Jews and the Gentiles. And so we're brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace, who made both one and has broken down the middle wall of separation. So you have this picture that you have those who are circumcised in the flesh, those who are not circumcised in the flesh. Those who are uncircumcised are brought near by the blood of Christ. But He did more than that. Not only did He make them near, He became the peace. Where the Israel and the Jews were physically against the Gentiles, Christ, through His blood, has made the two one. There is one church. There is not two churches. There is not a Gentile church and an Israelite church. There is only one church. He has made them both one. And so now we come to the broken down, the middle wall of separation. God in His Word and God in His commandments, He wanted to make them two because He was doing the picture, He was doing the type. If you go back to the Old Testament and you look at the laws about the food, about how they can't eat certain shellfish and they can't eat pork and they can't eat all these other things. And you can take an animal that's killed by natural causes, and the Israelites weren't allowed to eat it, but the Gentiles could eat it. This was all to make them a separate people, a people that were distinctly different than the Gentiles around them. That's the middle wall of separation, the wall that's separating the Jews from the Gentiles. In Jesus Christ, He's broken down that middle wall of separation. God created that wall of separation so that we could tell that Israel was a holy people. But as we went through Isaiah, it became very clear, Israel was not a holy people. They were just the type of a holy people. They were just the picture. They weren't the reality. Because in reality, they were no different than Edom. They were no different than the Moabites. As we went through Isaiah, we saw this over and over again. The sins, he's talking to Judah, but he says, the sins of Moab, Judah has. The sins of Egypt, Judah has. The sins of Assyria, Judah has. The sins of Syria, Judah has. So there was this picture, there was this type that they were separate, and they were separate because they ate different, they dressed different, they did these rituals that were different. But even though they were circumcised in the flesh to create this difference, they weren't circumcised in the heart, so there ended up being no difference. There was a difference in form, but not a difference in substance. But in Christ, there might be differences in forms, but we become the same in substance, because everybody who has a circumcised heart is of one body, whether they're Jew or whether they're Gentile. And so since he has made the two one, that thing that was separating the Jews from the Gentile, that has to be torn down. Otherwise, the church is divided into two pieces. The church is divided into the Jewish church, and the church is divided into the Gentile church. Jesus Christ came to make his body one body and to take people from every tribe, tongue, and nation. And if he kept that middle wall of separation up, what he would effectively be doing is dividing his body into two. And so he has to tear down that middle wall of separation. So having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace. So there's laws that were created to create that separation, to create that division, to create the circumcised and the uncircumcised. The Israelites had to be circumcised. The Gentiles didn't have to be circumcised. And there's a whole list of those. But that creates enmity. this tension, this contrast, because you're either a Jew or a Gentile. And as you go through the New Testament, you hear Jew-Gentiles. As you go through the Old Testament, you hear Jews-Gentiles, or Israel and Gentiles. And all that was done to create a separation. But Christ, when he comes, he has to end that separation, because there is only one body of Christ. There is only one church. And so what is the law of commandments contained in ordinances? so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace." So what has to be that middle wall of separation? That middle wall of separation that separates the Gentiles from the Jews has to be those laws that very specifically separate the Gentiles from the Jews. So the Passover, is the Passover fulfilled in Christ? Well, yes, because who was supposed to go to the Passover? Naaman didn't need to go to the Passover. He wasn't a Jew. It was Israelites that had to go to the Passover. The food laws. Do the food laws pass away? Yes, the food laws pass away. What were the food laws about? You're a Gentile. You're a Jew. The Jews couldn't eat things. The Gentiles could eat them. It was about creating a separation. So the food laws go away. Thou shalt not murder go away. No, the punishment was the same regardless of who you were. If you murdered, the law applied equally to both Jews and to Gentiles. So it's not part of the middle wall of separation. It's part of the laws that Jesus Christ said, not a jot or a tittle will pass from the law. And so we have a standard to measure whether the law continues or not. And that's really important, because we need to know what things are fulfilled and what things that we shouldn't follow. So when we don't have a Day of Atonement in the church every year, why don't we have a Day of Atonement? Because the Day of Atonement was for Israel. And because it was just for Israel, it was to atone for the sins of Israel. And it was a picture of what Christ did, but it was a picture of what Christ did because it created a separation. But Jesus Christ is going to bring people into His Kingdom from every tribe, tongue and nation. He's not maintaining the separation. So the Day of Atonement doesn't make any sense in the New Covenant. The Feast of Ingathering was a picture of the people coming in at the end of time. But that was also the only... who was to go up to Jerusalem for the Feast of Ingathering? Only the Jews. Only those who were circumcised. The uncircumcised were not allowed to go. So does that continue in the New Covenant? No, it doesn't. There's a yardstick that God has given us to understand what laws go away and what laws continue. Any law that was about dividing the Israel and the Jews from the Gentiles, those laws go away. Those are the handwritings of ordinances against us. Because, and we know this again, because it's to create in Himself one new man from the two. And so He has to remove the things that create the division. That's what He removes, is the things that create the division between the Israelites and the Jews. And thus He made peace. So when Jesus Christ was crucified, when He died on the cross, He fulfilled those things that separated. So before it was a shadow, it was a picture, right? It's said in Colossians, it was a shadow, but Christ is a substance. He's fulfilled those things to show that the separation isn't just some some picture. It's not some process. It's not some right. The separation is those who believe in Christ and those who don't believe in Christ. That's the real separation. So you don't need all these other laws that create a picture of separation because there's one body. The one body is those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 16. and that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, therefore putting to death the enmity." So this is even recognized the language that Paul is using, putting to death the enmity. He's not saying this is a small thing. He's saying this needs to be destroyed, this needs to be wiped out, that Jesus Christ, that this is what the cross did. So when you look at this and you think about the messianic Jewish movement that is arising and is growing strength in America, understand what they're doing. They're denying the cross of Christ. Because the cross of Christ, because he died through the cross, putting to death the enmity, and they're putting the enmity back in. They're saying the Jews are different than the Gentiles. Dispensationalism tends to do the same thing. There's a lot of dispensational seminaries that will bring in rabbis who do not know Jesus Christ to explain what's going to happen to Israel. Because they look and they say, Israel's so much more important. The Jews are so much more important than the Gentiles. But Jesus Christ died to eliminate that separation between the Jews and the Gentiles. If you look at the New Testament, you look at this passage in Ephesians, you look at Colossians, you look at Galatians, you look at Romans 2, you look at Philippians, You look at 1 Corinthians, where it talks about divisions. I mean, so much throughout the New Testament talks about this very issue, because this is so shocking to the Jews, that where they thought they were the special people, they were the chosen people, that Jesus Christ would come, and by dying on the cross, he would destroy the wall, he would tear it down, so they are no longer a separate people. In the church, in false teaching in the church, this is one of the heresies that the church keeps going back to in saying that there is a division. They're trying to rebuild this wall that Jesus Christ died on the cross to tear down. And so we should recognize the seriousness of this. The Messianic Jews are saying it's better to be a Jew than to be a Christian. Christ said, I came so that all can follow me, whether you're a Jew or a Gentile. Because the true Jew, as it says in Romans 2, the true Jew is not one who is circumcised in the flesh, but one who is circumcised in the heart. And so Jesus Christ took those shadows and He made them substance. And when we go back to the shadows, we're denying the cross of Christ where Jesus Christ on the cross made them substance. He made the two one. He eliminated the enmity. And when we go back and we try to recreate the enmity, this is very contrary to the gospel and very contrary to the teaching of the New Testament. And again, not just in one place or two places, but that's what Romans 14 is talking about the days. That's where Colossians 2 is talking about the days. That's where Ephesians 2 is talking about these laws, these things that created separation. So verse 17, and he came and preached peace to you who were far off and to those who were near. And think about it. When we create that separation, what we do is we start saying we shouldn't preach the gospel to those who are far off, and we should only preach it near. Or sometimes the other way, where people say, well, at the end of time, all of Israel will come in, so why witness to Israel now? The answer is, the wall's been torn down. They aren't separate people. They're all lost unless they believe in Jesus Christ, because there is one body. And the promise is that there is only one body. And so, He has come. He has died on the cross. The middle wall of separation has been destroyed. So therefore, we should go and preach the Gospel to Jew, to Gentile. It doesn't matter because they all need to believe because there's only one body. There's no longer two bodies. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. And so, He's where there were two, where there were different rites, where there were different things that if you were an Israelite, you had a responsibility to spend three weeks in Jerusalem a year. Those things go away. You had to make all these days, one day a month. But notice about the Sabbath. In the Sabbath, there's a reason why I use the Exodus 20 passage, because there's a Deuteronomy 5 passage, too. But the Exodus 20 passage points back to what? It points back to creation as to why you keep the Sabbath. So is that part of the middle wall of separation, the Sabbath? It can't be, right? Because it was given to all creation. So it was given equally to the Jews as to the Gentiles. So the Sabbath is not what's creating enmity. It's not a different law for one group than the other group. It's the same law for both. So therefore, was it done away with on the cross? No, it was not done away with on the cross, because it wasn't something about separating the Jews from the Gentiles. The Gentiles always had the responsibility to keep it. The Sabbath existed before the Mosaic law. It wasn't established at the Mosaic law. They were already receiving double portion on the day before the Sabbath, before the Mosaic law was given. It was never about separating the Jews from the Gentiles, so therefore the Sabbath is not done away with in Christ. For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. Now therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God." And so, We need to recognize the significance of the fact that that middle wall of separation has been torn down, that God has made us so that we're not strangers, we're not second-class citizens, we're not foreigners. We're equal citizens with the Jews. We're equal citizens with the Gentiles, if you're a Jew. We're equal citizens because we're fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. There is only one body. And there is not partiality in the law saying, you people do this in the body and you people do this in the body. It's the same for all who are members of the body. There's one law. Verse 20, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. There's one house of God. There is one temple where the Shekinah glory is. There's one temple where the Holy Spirit abides, and that is the Church. There aren't two. And if you keep those laws that separate the Jews from the Gentiles, you create two. If you say that the Sabbath applies to the Jews, but it doesn't apply to the Gentiles, you keep two. There is only one house. There is only one spiritual temple that God is building. So with that background, if we go back to Colossians 2, and we see or not with that background, but with that, what I would say is a more explicit passage. If we go back and said, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. He triumphed over the Jews, over the Pharisees, over the Sadducees, all the ones who were saying, look how special we are. He made a public spectacle of them. And so, therefore, let no one judge you in food or drink regarding a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substances of Christ." The basic shadow of things to come is that it separated the Jews from the Gentiles. That was ended with Christ, because Christ has made it one body. Or if you go back to Romans, in the Romans 14 passage, where it says, one person esteems one day above another, another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. We should not extend that to the Sabbath, except in this sense. and I'll probably talk about this another week, but the Sabbath was on a different day for the Jews than it was for the Gentiles. Because you have all these people that are going and keeping the Sabbath, the Jewish Sabbath, and then all of a sudden the first day of the week becomes the Gentile Sabbath. And you can imagine somebody who's 80 years old, like Simeon, although he had died, but Simeon who greets the Messiah, and he sees him as a baby. But his whole life up to that point, or Anna, who was the widow who was there, had been in the temple for 70 years, I think, who their whole life that they had faithfully obeyed the law of God, and they had faithfully kept the Jewish Sabbath, and Christ comes along and wipes out that middle wall of separation, and they still say, we're going to worship God the way we were worshiping God before. Paul's writing and saying, don't judge them for that. The person who's the Jew who went up to Passover every year, and they truly went up to Passover to worship God, and so they want to keep going up to Passover, don't judge them for that. They're doing it with a desire to worship God. When we see Paul, and Paul wants to be in Jerusalem for Pentecost, as Gentiles, we're not supposed to judge Paul and say, Paul, how can you do this? How can you think? Don't you know that was a shadow, that the substance has come? That's what Paul's talking about here. It even applies to him, because he takes a Nazarite vow. Are Gentiles supposed to take Nazarite vows? No. It's a thing for Israel. Nazarite vows pass away with Christ. in terms of being fulfilled in the substance. But there's this transition that happens from the old Jewish system of worship that was established by God, was a blessing to Israel from God, and there's this disappearing, this diminishing of it as the church arises. And Paul's saying, don't judge people for that. But there's a big difference once the temple's torn down. There's a huge difference once the temple's torn down. Because what do you have to do to take a Nazarite vow? You have to go burn hair in the temple. Once the temple's torn down, can you take a Nazarite vow anymore? Passover, what do you have to do in the Passover? You have to take your lamb up and you have to have it sacrificed. What do you do at Pentecost? You have to take your firstborn calf up and have it sacrificed. What do you do at the Feast of Ingathering? All these things were centered around the temple. So when we think of Paul writing in Colossians, or think of it not so much in Ephesians, but in Colossians and Romans, what we should think of this as is Paul's talking about how do you transfer, how do you shift from the old covenant to the new covenant. And God gave 40 years for that shift to happen. And Paul's saying, don't judge people, because they can really be doing it unto the Lord. They can be going up to celebrate the Passover unto the Lord. They're doing it to worship God, and don't sit there and judge them. When Paul said, I want to be in Jerusalem for Pentecost, we shouldn't sit there and judge and say, hey, Paul, you wrote this. Don't you know that the substance had come? No, we're not to judge him any more than we're to judge others. But now that the temple's gone, you can't keep the shadow. You have to twist the law. You have to make it a different thing because the temple or the tabernacle is what was required in order to keep those laws in a lot of cases. And so the Messianic Jews who say that we're going to keep the Passover or the Feast of Weeks or the Feast of Ingathering, they're not because they twisted it because God at this point has ended that. So now it is valid to say to somebody who says, oh, I need to keep Passover, is to go to them and say, you're not in Jerusalem. Don't deceive yourself. You're not keeping the Passover. It was explicit. If you think that's still there, you have to go to the temple in Jerusalem. Have you gone to the temple in Jerusalem? Otherwise, you're just deceiving yourself. You're not keeping the Passover. So now the shadow has truly passed away because they can't do the shadow anymore. So when we think about the passage from Romans and the passage from Colossians, that's what we should think, that this was a transition time for the church. And the church has now transitioned. So now it is valid to say, why weren't you at church on Sunday? And if somebody says, well, I decided that I was going to have Friday be my Sabbath. How dare you say that one person esteems one day and one person esteems another. Go back to the command in Exodus. The command in Exodus was never individual. It was to fathers, to their children, it was to householders, it was to the head of state to say, keep the Sabbath. And so it was never individual, and it's not individual now. And so we do have the right to say, you need to keep Sunday. If for no other reason than all the authorities say, it is the first day of the week, it is Sunday. So with that explanation, I want to read through one other passage, which is Isaiah 56. And Isaiah 56 is one of the strongest passages, I think, that demands the keeping of the Sabbath. because it talks about the middle wall of separation, but it talks about it in a different way. It talks about it in the sense that those who were not keeping the Sabbath will now start to keep the Sabbath. Not that the Sabbath goes away, but the sign of the coming of Christ is that other people will start to keep the Sabbath. Strangers will start to keep the Sabbath. The eunuchs will start to keep the Sabbath. The foreigners will start to keep the Sabbath. So Isaiah 56, 1 through 7. Thus says the Lord, keep justice and do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed." Now, recognize when Isaiah is writing this, the law had been given, all of the testimony, right? Isaiah says, I will start to speak in parables. From now on, the only revelation that you get is the prophets, which are hard to understand. The clear revelation of the Pentateuch has already been given. And he's saying salvation is about to come and his righteousness is to be revealed. That's not the giving of the law. That's the coming of Christ. That's when God's righteousness is revealed. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. That is the revelation of the righteousness of God. For my salvation is about to come. That is the coming of Christ. That's when the salvation of God comes to the earth is with Christ. So understand the order. Thus says the Lord, for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness is to be revealed. And so then he starts to talk about what it will look like after Christ comes, because this is a prophecy that Christ will come. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbath. That's the first thing that Isaiah writes, that God says, is that what will happen when His righteousness has been revealed, when His salvation comes, is that the Son of Man will keep from defiling the Sabbath and keeps His hand from doing evil. He even puts the Sabbath before turning from sin. He says this is the sign that the righteousness has come, is that the Sabbath starts to be kept. Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, the Lord has utterly separated me from His people." You understand when Paul's writing in Ephesians 2, he's explaining Isaiah 56. Isaiah 56 says, don't let any foreigner say, why am I not of the nation of Israel? Why am I a far off? Why am I not of the commonwealth? Why am I not sharing of the promises? And Isaiah said, don't let them say that. And Paul explains why they can't say it in Ephesians 2. Nor let the eunuch say, here I am, a dry tree. For thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths. and choose what pleases me and hold fast to my covenant." Again, he says, this is the sign that the eunuchs, because they were damaged, they were far off, they weren't allowed to come into the temple. Now, under the new covenant, that handwriting of ordinance wasn't just against the Gentiles, it was also against those who were injured in certain ways and those who were a dry tree. And God says, now they'll keep the Sabbaths. For thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose what pleases me and hold fast my covenant, even to them will I give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters. He says, just like it says in Ephesians 2 that he's building one house, he says, look, the stranger will come into the house, the foreigner. Also, the eunuchs will come into that house where the temple, the picture, the physical building, they couldn't go in. In the spiritual house, the eunuch can go in, the foreigner can go in. And I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants. Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath. This is the theme of Isaiah 56 is that the sign that the Gospel has gone to the stranger, that the Gospel has gone to the foreigner, that the Gospel has gone to the eunuch, the sign that it's gone forth because the righteousness of God was revealed is these people start to keep the Sabbath. So to say the Sabbath is gone after the revelation of the salvation of God, after God's righteousness to be revealed, to say that the Sabbath is gone is the opposite of what Isaiah 56 is saying. and hold fast my covenant, even them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. Right? All nations, the stranger, the foreigner, the eunuch, the Israelite, all of them will start to keep the Sabbath. When the righteousness of God is revealed, when His salvation comes, it's not that the Sabbath is abolished. It's that the Sabbath is actually established. It's when the people of God, those who truly believe in God, those who have been separated to the Lord, that's the sign that they're separated to the Lord. They keep the Sabbath. So that was a long explanation for why the Romans 14 passage shouldn't be treated that way and the Colossians 2 passage. But as we think about it, let's make sure we realize how serious it is to disregard one of the laws of God, especially one of the Ten Commandments, and especially a commandment that God says, instead of the Sabbath being abolished, it will blossom. Instead of people going, I don't want to do it, the people who are far off will all of a sudden want to keep God's Sabbath. because they will know the Lord and they will recognize. Like I said at the beginning, it's a heart problem why people don't want to keep the Sabbath. They don't want to keep the Sabbath because God said it was good for them and they say, how dare you do this to me. I do not want to hear what you have to say. It's a rejection of God being good. When you see Christ, when you know Christ, when Christ has circumcised your heart, your attitude no longer is God is out to get me. The difference between somebody who's a believer, somebody who's circumcised in the heart, and somebody who's uncircumcised in the heart, the person who's uncircumcised in the heart, they look at God and say, he is a judge trying to catch me. So they look at the Sabbath and say, this is just one of the ways God's trying to catch me. But those who are saved, they look at God and say, he is my father. He's not out to get me. He's not out to try to catch me in sinning. Yes, He will chastise me for sin. Yes, He will deal with my sin because He loves me, but it's because He loves me. And so then you look, so the view of the Sabbath changes from this being a handwriting against me, something that God's using just so He can cast me into hell, and it becomes this is a blessing from my Father, who I know loves me. The difference between those two is faith. So by faith is why we should desire to keep the Sabbath. Let me close in prayer. Lord God, we do thank you that you are a God who has revealed yourself to us. You are a God who has changed our heart towards your commandments. For we know, as it says in Matthew 7, that those who are cast in hell will be cast in hell for lawlessness. But let us desire your law. Let us not be a lawless people who reject it. and said, let us see your law as a blessing giving to a redeemed people so we know what is good for us. We know in the way that we should go so we can say with David that it's a light unto our path, that it's a guide to us, that it shows us where the good things are. It shows us what you would have for us because you are a God who cares for his people. Lord, we thank you for the Sabbath. We thank you that you give us a day of rest. We thank you that you give us a day where we can put aside the cares of this world And we can remember that ultimately our citizenship is not here, but it is hidden with you. It's hidden with Christ. Lord, we do pray that you bless us by teaching us how to better keep the Sabbath. You bless us by giving us the wisdom to find more joy in the Sabbath. Lord, we thank you that you are a God who gives rest to your people. Let us rejoice in that rest. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.