Sabbath or Sunday Worship Part 11B Series

Religion and the Sabbath or Sunday Worship Part 11B: The Trinity

Matthew 16:25-27 English Standard Version (ESV)

“For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” “Again, what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” “For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.” Have you seen the third person in those verses?

As long as we submit to Our Lord Almighty, it pulls us toward God’s goal to keep up under His wings, but we should be careful not to lose our faith and turn our back on Him. We received the same promises given to those people in the wilderness, but they did not go well for them because they did not receive the promises with faith. If we believe and have strong faith, we will experience that resting state.

Remember that God said, Exasperated, I vowed, “They’ll never get where they’re going, never be able to sit down and rest.” God made that vow, even though he’d finished His part before the foundation of the world. Somewhere it’s written, “God rested the seventh day, having completed his work,” but in this other text, he says, “They’ll never be able to sit down and rest.” So this promise has not yet been fulfilled.

Those earlier ones never did get to the place of rest because they were disobedient. God keeps renewing the promise and setting the date as today, just as he did in David’s psalm, centuries later than the original invitation: Today, please listen, don’t turn a deaf ear . . . And so this is still a live promise. It wasn’t canceled at the time of Joshua; otherwise, God wouldn’t keep renewing the appointment for “today.” The promise of “arrival” and “rest” is still there for God’s people. God himself is at rest. And at the journey’s end, we’ll indeed rest with God.

So let’s keep at it and eventually arrive at the place of rest, not drop out through some disobedience. God means what he says. What he says goes. His powerful Word is sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel, cutting through everything, whether doubt or defense, laying us open to listen and obey. Nothing and no one can resist God’s Word. We can’t get away from it—no matter what. Now that we know what we have—Jesus, this great High Priest with ready access to God—let’s not let it slip through our fingers. We don’t have a priest who is unaware of our reality. Through weakness and testing, he experienced it all—all but sin. So let’s wait patiently for him and get what he is ready to give. Take the mercy, and accept the help.

God is all in all.

Reference: Hebrews 4:1-3a-14-16 MSG