The Sabbath Law—Exodus 31:12-18

0:00Hello, and good day. I'm Pastor Gillespie from St. John Evangelical Lutheran Church in school, Sherman Center, Random Lake Wisconsin. It's good to have you with us here for the congregation of prayer, a guide for daily meditation and prayer, a round God's word. It is Friday, September 4, 2026. Our Catechuses today continues in the Book of Exodus and Hebrews in parallel. Okay? And let's see Friday, so no particular announcements today. Let's begin. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, amen. I believe in God the Father, Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father, Almighty, from thence he will come to judge

1:06the living and the dead. I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Christian Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen. Let's prayer Psalm for the week. Psalm 32. Sorry about that. Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against the Lord, against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night, your hand was heavy upon me. My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found.

2:09Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me. You preserve me from trouble. You surround me with shouts of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule without understanding, which must be curred with bit or bridal or they will not come near you, or stay near you. Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord and rejoice, O righteous and shout for joy all you upright in heart. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now and will be forever. Oh, man. All right, wisdom time. How are we doing on our wisdom here? I think we did 12, right? The scoffer does not love one who corrects him nor will he go to the wise.

3:12Yes, we did that. A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of the heart, the spirit is broken. So we're going to have a set of five proverbs, 13 through 17, that are all bound by the same catchwords, heart, good, cheerful, better, etc. And so these are all going to be stating, especially 13 through 15 here, state truths about the inward state of a person as it affects his emotional and intellectual life. I wish you do all three of them. A merry heart makes a cheerful countenance, but by sorrow of heart, the spirit is broken. A heart of him who has understanding, seeks knowledge, but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness. All the days of the afflicted are evil, but he who is of a merry heart has a continual feast. All right, so a heart of him, merry heart, merry heart there. And the last, a good disposition makes one's cheerful. The heart of an intelligent godfiring person seeks knowledge. I have that verse 14. A heart that is cheerful, signifying

4:17emotional, but especially spiritual joy and account of God's grace and love, has plenty on which to feast. In contrast, you see in verse 13 there, a depressed person is crushed by the weight of his sorrow, and people who are oppressed often are inwardly embittered. Where does this all come from? Well, you know, it's being a fool, really. Pools whose hearts are alienated from wisdom, feed on foolishness. They graze like animals upon their own stupidity and the stupidity of others. You can think of Daniel chapter four with Nebuchadnezzar, remember, God inflicted him within sanity and he actually acts like a beast, a swanthropy, I think is the word, causing him to eat grass like an ox. In contrast, a cheerful heart, there are in verse 15, continues a cheerful heart, what did I say? Oh yes, enjoy as a continual feast. So, you think about in the Old Testament there's many, do you want to say, many prescribed feast days.

5:21So, to make the hearts marry, we'll put it that way, for the worshiping community of Israel, especially of course the Passover, the feast of weeks, that's Pentecost, feast of booze. Of course, God's Word is always a feast for us too, bread from heaven. As the Psalm says, you set a table before me in the presence of my enemies, you can wipe my head with oil, my cup over flows. I think also the fourth petition teaches us that, to rely upon God, day after day, to listen to him is a feast of a sort, daily bread, as we feast upon Christ, our bread of life, and the body of Christ of course gathered to receive his body and blood in the Lord's supper, forgiveness of sins, everlasting feast there as well. All right? So, obviously, you think of this in an earthly material sense. I don't think that's helpful. You want to think of this in particular, referring to, well, maybe it's helpful, but it's not always

6:26true, right? You can have a cheerful countenance, but not always be feasting. But when it comes to God's Word, it's always a rich feast for you. How about we put it that way? All right. Let's say our verse for the week. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you had formed the earth in the world, from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. That's Psalm 90 verses one through two. Now let's say it again. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations, before the mountains were brought forth, wherever you had formed the earth in the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, you are God. Psalm 90 verses one through two. Catechism, 10 commandments. First, commandment, you shall have no other gods. What does this mean? We should fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Second, commandment, you shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts lie or deceive by his name. We call upon it in every trouble. Pray, praise,

7:29and give thanks. So we're to the Sabbath day. I would say there's probably a, I don't know how you want to say it, confusion. Yeah, that's probably a good word for it about what is the reason why God gives the Sabbath. And of course, we want to hear it from, well, from God himself. So Exodus chapter 31, beginning verse 12. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, speak also to the children of Israel saying, surely my Sabbaths, you shall keep where it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore it is for it is holy to you. Everyone who pervades it shall surely be put to death. And for whoever does any work on it, sorry, does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among the people. Work shall be done on six days or four six days, but the seventh is a Sabbath rest,

8:35holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever for in six days the Lord made the heavens in the earth and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. And when he had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone written with the finger of God. Okay, so I was going to try to fix my camera there. See if I can make it a little bit brighter, but it's not behaving. It's not behaving. Oh, now it is. It's always the same, isn't it? Let's see video. Sposure. There we go. How about that? That's a little bit better. So who's Sabbath is it? Look at the possessive pronoun in verse 13.

9:39We often think of the Sabbath as for, you know, well, we know it's given for man, but here it's called my Sabbath, my Sabbath, the Lord's. And he says that the Sabbath is a sign throughout their generations that the Lord sanctifies Israel, a sign throughout their generations that the Lord sanctifies Israel. So does it, is it still a sign for us? That would be the question. I see the comment in the chat. That is the long explanation of the commandment. Yes, it is. Yes, it is. All right, what word of God are they to connect to the Sabbath? Let's see. Verse 14. Yeah. What word of God there? That the Sabbath day is holy. There we go. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. That's back in Exodus 20. All right. So why were violators to be put to death or cut off from the people again as a sign because they were rejecting

10:44the sanctification and rest that the Lord gives? Of course, the eternal consequence of doing so is to be cut off and cast out into the darkness. You hear Jesus talk about that as we read a few weeks past. This for Israel is to is to actually do it temporally as well now so that the people know you've rejected the sanctification and rest the Lord gives. That means death. That means death. And it's still true today. You say you cut yourself off from Christ and His word and sacrament. You will die in unbelief. So I know we think it's kind of dramatic here. It's just it's just pronouncing it before before the time. Who was to keep the Sabbath as a perpetual covenant? First the children of Israel. And then verse 17, it tells us what events or what event I should say singular interprets the celebration of this Sabbath. What is it assigned to remember? God who created the heavens and the earth in six days and rested on the seventh day of Sabbath. Of course,

11:48who is our true rest or Sabbath? Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you Sabbath rest. For my burden is light. My yoke is easy. My burden is light. And he gives rest not only to the body. So I don't think we want to dismiss the bodily rest that the Sabbath provides, but of course the spirit as well. From fear of death and hell and of the devil. So hearing the sanctifying word, hearing the word of forgiveness week after week puts your your both your body and your spirit at rest. And of course then what else is indicated by the Sabbath? We'll get to not yet, but I think next week in Hebrews chapter four, which is the Sabbath chapter. There remains therefore a rest or Sabbath for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from from his works as God did from his.

12:53So the Sabbath is also a sign of the gospel, the end of the effort of the work and has been fulfilled in Christ. What else? So we see what else is connected there to the rest, the word of God. Then that's Luther's long explanation. Who is the Lord of the Sabbath? According to the gospel, the Lord of the Sabbath, the one who decides what it is and what it's for, is the Son of Man. Of course it was not given for God, it was given for man. How had the tablets of stone been inscribed? Then at the end here, we're back to the tablets with the finger of God. All right, so there's your Sabbath, right, to rest in the word of God, to be refreshed and to be kept alive, kept from death. That's the key. And of course it's Jesus Christ who has truly Lord of the Sabbath for he made the Sabbath and gave it as a gift to man at creation. So church, gathering around Christ in his word and sacrament with fellow Christians is a gift, not a burden. How many people think of it as a burden, not a gift? Okay. The Sabbath is realized

13:57as Jesus brings healing to those whose bodies suffer under the curse of sin and freeze their souls from the burden of guilt. The Sabbath day was holy because God had declared it holy, even as he declares us holy and righteous for the sake of his Son. Those who worked on the Sabbath were denying the work that God would do for man by sending his Son to die on the sixth day and rest in the tomb on the seventh day. This important fact about the centrality of the Sabbath is also seen in the way it frames the account of Israel's rebellion with the golden calf. After Israel had worked for another God and been called to repentance, the Sabbath regulations were repeated. Here next, and it will be in Exodus 35. So that Israel might be returned to the true rest found in Christ. Good. And then Hebrews chapter 3. I know we just heard Hebrews 4, but let's hear Hebrews 3. Therefore, as the Spirit says, today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in

15:00the rebellion in the day of trial and the wilderness where your father's tested me, tried me, and saw my works 40 years. Therefore, I was angry with that generation and said, they always go astray in their heart and they have not known my ways. I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest. Oh, there it is again. Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief and departing from the living God, but exhort one another daily, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin, for we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end. While it is said, today if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as in the rebellion. That's the rebellion. Chora, right? For who having heard rebelled? Indeed, it was not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses. Now with whom was he angry 40 years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell on the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

16:09All right, well, actually that ties him pretty well, doesn't it? Maybe better than anticipated. So who is speaking when the preacher quotes the psalm there? Psalm 95 says there, therefore as the Holy Spirit says, but I thought it was David. Well, the psalm is God's living word to us. What day is today? Was it say there? It says, while it is called today, lest any of you be hardened. Well, today is the day, every day actually. Third commandment, Sabbath day. We despise preaching in his word, but hold its sacred and gladly here and learn it every day. His word is preached and heard. So what happened in the rebellion in the day of trial? So I think that's Exodus 17, not Korah, that's the different rebellion. This is the Masa and Meribah, right? Where they quarreled with God, asking whether the Lord was among them. And according to Hebrews, how long did the father's test God 40 years? And what did they see all the while? Despite their testing of God, they saw his works of

17:15mercy every day. What was the root of their going astray, according to the preacher here? Again, they would not trust that the Lord was among them. In other words, unbelief. What did God swear in his wrath? And the word translated here is, rast, names of place, his own resting place, the promised lamb foreshadowed, that that generation would not enter his rast, the land of promise, much like those who refused to rest in the word, were separated out or would die. What is an evil heart of unbelief, then? Third commandment, the heart that departs from the living God by refusing his word. How are we to guard one another against it? By exhorting one another day late while it is called today? Why is sin called deceitful? It is called deceitful here because, of course, it lies, leads the heart away from the truth of God's word. How have we become partakers of Christ and through holy baptism when we share in Christ and all that he is? And what must be holds steadfast to the end

18:18then is word, confidence that Christ had faith in him alone. Paul tells us about these corpses in the wilderness, by the way, in 1 Corinthians 10, he says, they were all baptized into Moses and into the cloud, and yet God was not pleased with most of them. Again, they could not enter in because of unbelief. They did not hold to God's word of promise. There is only one way in, there's only one confident word, and that is the word of Christ. Or as we heard on Wednesday night, he is not only the one that opens the door. He is the door. So how does faith come so that our hearts are not hardened by hearing the word of Christ through which the spirit opens hearts? This is why I've said to people, you know, I know you may not feel like attending church. You may not feel identified or whatnot. That's not the point. The point is that you are present to hear, and he will unstop your ears. He will make loose in the soil of your heart so that that word becomes implanted and finds its way home.

19:25The key is to not exclude oneself from the word of God. This is why, if it helps, I think especially with children, but with others, think of the Sabbath as a command because it is. Why does God command you to be present in the sacred assembly on each Sabbath day, each Sunday? So that you hear the word and you are saved. It only becomes a burden to you when you refuse it. Otherwise, it becomes a joy to you. Gladly here in Learn It, right? Okay. I don't know why this is so complicated. We just like to make it complicated. Saying, well, we can be a Christian without going to church. Well, that's a refusal and a denial of God's word. That is an act of unbelief, and it leads you into not only sin, but ultimately to death. So we can be honest about that, right? Faith is built on the word of God, never on what we see. Israel and the wilderness saw the works of the Lord for 40 years. The sea parted the bread from heaven, the water from the rock, and still asked whether the Lord was

20:27among them for the icon not make a heart believe. That is the rebellion, not a failure of sight, but a hardened heart that will not take God at his word. And the Holy Spirit names its end. They could not enter in because of unbelief. The same spirit speaks that's home to us still, and the day he names is today, this day, while his voice is heard in the preaching of the gospel. Sin is deceitful. It hardens no one all at once, but a little at a time as the word is neglected until the living God seems absent, and the heart departs from him. So the Lord has not left us to keep ourselves. He has made us partakers of Christ and Holy Baptism. He has set us in a congregation. We're brethren exhort one another daily, and he has promised that the God who began his good work in us will preserve it to the end. The rest the wilderness generation forfeited is Christ himself. We enter it by faith and faith comes by hearing. Therefore we do not harden our hearts,

21:27but come where his voice sounds. To the rocks split open for us, to the word that gives what it commands, to the altar where the living God is truly among us, and there we are kept in the faith until the end. Lovely. All right, let's sing our hymn with the Lord begin your task. We're on stand number three, I believe. With your Savior at your side, foes need not alarm you. It is from this is God's fight, and no hill can harm you. All your trust and hope be foes in the mighty master.

22:29Go ahead, wisdom truly holds out to step disaster. If your task be the speakon with the Savior, I'm laughing safely that your hearts will run toward the promised passing, but will follow everywhere while you hear us wander. You had blessed the joy, bell share in the hatchet's condor. The stormy skies have set free to us, be sure you come and head. May your will be done by us, but till life is ended.

23:30Jesus in your name be gone, the thought is in tavern, grant that it may well be done to your praise for heaven. It is a week of feast and commemorations. Not goodness. We got another one today. Today is the commemoration of Moses. Moses was born in Egypt several generations after Joseph brought his father Jacob and his brothers there to escape a famine in the land of Canaan. The descendants of Jacob had been enslaved by the Egyptians who were ordered to kill all their male children. When Moses was born, his mother put him in a basket and set it afloat in the Nile River. He was found by Pharaoh's daughter and raised as her son, Exodus 2. At age 40, Moses killed an Egyptian taskmaster and fled to the land of Midian, where he worked as a shepherd for 40 years.

24:33Then the Lord called him to return to Egypt and tell Pharaoh, let my people go that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness. There's that feasting. Exodus 5. Eventually, Pharaoh gave in, and after the Israelites celebrated the first Passover, Moses led them out. At the red sea, the Egyptian army was destroyed, and the Israelites passed to safety on dry land, Exodus 12 through 15. Then at Mount Sinai, they were given the law and erected the tabernacle, Exodus 19 through 40. We've been reading that. But because of disobedience, they had to wander in the wilderness for 40 years, as we just heard as well from Hebrews. Moses himself was not allowed to enter the Promised Land, though God allowed him to view it, Deuteronomy 34. In the New Testament, Moses is referred to as logiver and prophet. The first five books of the Bible are attributed to him. Let us pray. We're God Heavenly Father, through the prophet Moses. You began the prophetic pattern of teaching your people the true faith and demonstrating through miracles your presence in creation to heal

25:33it of its brokenness. Grant that your church may see in your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the final end times prophet, whose teaching and miracles continue in your church through the healing medicine of the gospel and the sacraments. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen. We pray, Almighty, and everlasting God, give us an increase of faith, hope, and charity, that we may obtain what you have promised, make us love what you have commanded. Through Jesus Christ, your son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with you in the Holy Spirit, one God now and forever. Amen. With Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are the only true and living God, forgive us our sins against the first commandment, strengthen us by your grace to fear love and trust in you above all things, and your holy name we pray. Amen. Blessed Lord, we are not to misuse your holy name by cursing, swearing, using satanic arts, lying, or deceiving others, forgive us our sins against the second commandment. Teach us by your word and spirit to call upon you in every trouble, to pray, praise, and give thanks to you at all times. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, our man. We

26:34pray this day for the preaching of the Holy Cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ, for it spread throughout the whole world, for the persecuted and for the sick and dying. Pray for the households of our church this week with Dale and Pam, Dick and Jean, Julie, Angie, Jack and Patty and Dennis. Pray for those ill-receiving treatment or recovering, especially Patty, Joe, Jim, Sheila, Goss, Vicki, Karen, Debbie, Dan, Dick and Norm, our homebound Sophie, Ruth, Joan, Paul, and Pauline, and our mission of the month, Lutheran Bible translators, especially the family of Danny and Becca Deloge. We pray in the intercession for Logan who's expecting for all women, desiring children, for Joanne and for Bob. For all this, let us pray to the Lord, Lord have mercy. Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, by kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into

27:34temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, O man. I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, through your Son, that you have kept me this night from all harm and danger, and I pray that you would keep me this day also from sin and every evil that all my doings and life may please you. For into your hands, I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things, let your holy angel be with me, let the evil foe may have no power over me. O man, let us bless the Lord. Thanks be to God, the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. O man, so our congregation of prayer for today on this rather gloomy outside Friday September 4th, 2026. I hope, yeah, you don't mind. I look a little bit gloomy too, don't I? I mean, I could switch my colors to be a little bit cooler like that.

28:34No, no, maybe I should leave it there. I tend to not like those cool colors. I like the more muted colors here. All right. In any case, it comes to you every day. At about 9 a.m. Gather tomorrow morning, but now that it's the beginning of an academic year, I think usually we're going to be looking at Sunday, two readings for Sunday to bring in those themes. Sunday being of the 10 lepers, and so we'll be hearing themes of both healing and thankfulness. All right. So it's hard to be thankful in the midst of despair and difficulty, right? So we're going to hear about that. All right. God be with you all. Keep you safe, secure, confident, and in Christ, who gives you Sabbath rest as you rest each day in his word, and especially that word of forgiveness. God be with you. Be forgiven.

29:36We welcome you to join us for divine service on Sundays and Wednesdays. We offer Bible class and Catechesis for youth and any interested adults. If this podcast is a benefit to you, please consider supporting the work of our congregation by going to sjrl.org, sjrl.org, and clicking the donate link. Join us to receive the Lord's Word and His gifts.