Manna from Heaven & The Sabbath: Law vs. Grace Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. And again, it's good to have everybody here in the studio audience, and for those of you gathering with us in the television audience, we trust that you'll get your Bible, even as we do here, and while I'm making an announcement or two, you in the studio can be turning to Exodus chapter 16, so we can pick right up where we left off last week. But for those of you in the television audience, so many of you have written now over the last year or two whether we have any print material. And up until now, if I'd just simply courteously and kindly say no, because I'm just a layman, I haven't had time to ever put anything into print, but the Lord works, and He has now accomplished it through no effort of my own. Shortly after we went on the Colorado station, a lady called and asked for print material, and I again had to answer the same way. I said, we just don't have any. And she said, well, do you have the VCR tapes of your programs? Yeah, we've got that. And so she voluntarily said, well, can I take it off the VCR and put it into print? She said, I've got the computers, she said, I've got the word processors, and she said, I think we can make it work. And lo and behold, she put it into the computer. I critiqued it and hopefully corrected any errors, and now with the help of Nancy Carter here in Tulsa and the local printers, we can now offer all the lessons, starting back in Genesis 1-1, in a booklet form. Now, of course, we're just beginning, we're amateurs at this, but we trust that as we go along, we'll be making improvements, but we're going to offer these little booklets. This one is, I think, the first three lessons. We're going to offer these to anyone who will write for it for, well, I'm going to put two dollars on it. Everybody tells me to charge more, but if you can send us two dollars, that'll cover the costs of our printing and mailing, because no one takes any money out of this ministry except the accountant who does our IRS work. This gal is doing it for nothing. You all know that I do everything I do for nothing, and even the people who take care of our business and pay the bills and deposit the checks, they all do it on a voluntary basis. So we like to feel that every dollar that comes into this ministry, 99 cents of it goes for production and television time. So if you'd like a copy of this, watch for our mailing address on the screen, and you write for it, and if you possibly can, include two dollars to cover the cost of it, and we'll appreciate that. Now, I hate to take time out of our short 30 minutes, because most of our mail has only one complaint, and that is that 30 minutes isn't long enough. So we hate to use any of this for announcements, but once in a while, we have to. Now, you know, several weeks ago, we had an all-day seminar over at Tahlequah, and one of the fellows used his VCR. Now, this is not a professional production. It's just simply a personal VCR camcorder. But if you're interested, the gentleman who made it, and again, the lady in Tulsa who is helping him with the dubbing, are going to let us offer these to anyone who will write for one for a $10 contribution to the ministry. Again, no one's going to make any money on these. It's just a goodwill gesture, as well as a means of getting the Word out. Now, this is more or less an overview, all the way from Genesis 1 and through a good part of Revelation. Now, remember, this is all done in one day, so it's not in detail, but I think we fairly well covered some of the great themes in Scripture. Now, once in a while, the station people here think I should at least share some of our mail with you, and we just picked up a letter yesterday, and I'm just going to read you her closing statement, because again, this letter is so typical of what we're receiving from the television audience, as well as those who are getting the VCRs, and she simply closes her letter. She says, I can't begin to tell you what your teachings have done for me. I have grown more in the last six months than I have the entire 46 years of my life, and thank you sincerely. Now, this letter comes from a wheat farming family up in Montana, right next to the Canadian border, and so we appreciate. We don't do these things for compliment, but I'll tell you what, it sure helps to know that something is being accomplished for the Lord in what we are doing. All right, so much for that now. I've also put on the blackboard, for those of you here in eastern Oklahoma, so many people come to my class and they're exasperated to find out that we've been teaching in their area for a year, two years, or more, and they didn't know it, so sometime during the program just try to take a location that you're close to, whether it's Tahlequah or Wilburton or Tulsa or McAllister, and take note of the times and the places where we meet. All right, so much for that. Now we've got to get into the book as quickly as we can. Turn with me now to Exodus chapter 16, and you remember that last week we left off with Israel at—well, in the English it's Elim, E-L-I-M, up there in verse 27 of 15, and the Hebrew I guess is pronounced Elam, but whatever. They now have to move on. You know, I think my closing remark was, you can't just stay on the mountaintop. All the hard work is down in the valley, and even though this was almost a mountaintop experience for the children of Israel, having come out of Egypt and come to this beautiful oasis, yet now they have to move on. They're going to keep moving on down through the Sinai now, and they're in short order going to be arriving at Mount Sinai itself, and they're going to receive, of course, the law. So in chapter 16, now verse 1, they took their journey from Elam, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Zin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month. Now you want to remember they left Egypt in April, and so now this is May. Now also remember that in that area of the world, in that part of the desert, it's getting hot, and they're going to be needing water. And now again, don't just picture a few little families, or even a few hundred people, or a few thousand. Remember we've got a few million, and with all their livestock, it's going to take a tremendous amount of water just to satisfy their thirst. So anyway, we come on down to verse 3, and the children of Israel said unto them, that is, to Moses and Aaron, verse 2, "...would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt." See, they're already getting squeamish about where Moses is taking them. "...would to God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full." Isn't it amazing how short memory can be? They didn't have it that good. They were slaves, and they were under bondage, and they didn't have that much flesh to eat. I mean, it almost sounds like they dined in some steakhouse every night, doesn't it? And they didn't. But nevertheless, they're getting squeamish of where Moses is taking them, and now they're wishing that He would have left them in Egypt, if only they knew. Then verse 4, "...then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, or test them, whether they will walk in My law or not." Now we're not going to take the time, because it's already taking so much longer—almost two years—just to get this far from Genesis through Exodus, so I'm going to have to start skimming some of these intervening chapters and the things that I'm sure you're all quite aware of. But anyway, we come down now, if you will, to verse 14, and we're going to have the appearance of the manna. And I think most of you who know anything about your Bible at all, you'll remember that Israel lived on manna for 40 years. Now you know, they finally learned to cook it one way or another way and fix it various ways, like I think you gals get adept at doing, even with some leftovers. But they got to the place where they could fix manna just about any way you can think of in order to just be able to stomach that same food day in and day out. But nevertheless, God provided, and the whole idea, of course, with manna, in order to grasp a practical application for us today, is that this is the very bread of God—you remember that Jesus in John's Gospel spoke of Himself as the bread of life—I am the living bread. He's also the living water. But back here, in its instigation, manna, of course, is going to sustain the house of Israel as they have come out of Egypt and all through their 40 years of wilderness journey. Now you also remember that in this account from verse 14 through verse 22, that before the law is given now—and that won't happen until chapter 20—so before the law is given, God institutes a commandment that on the sixth day they shall gather how much manna? Well, a double portion, because He is going to institute the Sabbath even before He gives the law. Now I think this is rather interesting in that back in the chapter 1 of Genesis, where we have the recreation, as I call it, God brought everything onto the scene in six days, and then on the seventh day, what did He do? He rested. And so we have that setting up of the six days of labor and the one day of rest. Now it wasn't that God was all tired out at the end of that six days, but He was setting something up that would be for man's own good, and I think it carries on even into our own economy that God still knows what's best for us, and that is that we need one day out of the seven for rest. Now, if you'll look then in Exodus, where we are in chapter 16, as they have now been instructed to gather twice as much on the sixth day, then in verse 23 He said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said, Tomorrow—that will be the seventh day now, remember—tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which you will bake today, and seethe or cook or boil that which you will seethe, and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up, verse 24, as Moses instructed, and it did not smell, neither was there any worm therein. And Moses said, Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath unto the Lord. Six days, verse 26, you shall gather, and so forth. Now, I've already mentioned now, this is instituted, this is set up before the Ten Commandments are given, where it mandated that they should have that holy Sabbath on the seventh day. Now, there's a lot of confusion today about the Sabbath, isn't there? And I've instructed my classes over the last 20 years, don't ever call Sunday the Sabbath. Sunday is not a Sabbath. It's not the seventh day, it's the first day. Now we know that beginning back here, as God is dealing with Israel, He does set up the seventh day as the day of rest, the day of worship, and it's the holy day. And He will incorporate it, of course, into the Ten Commandments. But we always have to remember that the high point—and now turn back with me, if you will, to Acts chapter 20—the very epitome, the very high point, the very crescendo of all of God's dealing with man centers in not only His death, not only His burial, but what? His resurrection. And see, this is what sets us apart. We have become believers after His resurrection. And the message that Paul has given down there in Mount Sinai again, as I've pointed out before, just as sure as God gave the law to Moses on Mount Sinai and Moses took it down to the people of Israel, I feel that God took Saul of Tarsus from Damascus down to Mount Sinai. He spent three years down there all by Himself in a private, personal seminary experience where the Lord revealed to him the doctrines of grace. And Paul doesn't stay on Mount Sinai, but he takes it down, even as Moses did to Israel, Paul takes it down and takes it out to the Gentiles. Now, what separates all this, of course, is the resurrection. We are on resurrection ground. We're not back here on the legal ground of the Mosaic system. Now, if you've got Acts chapter 20, and I know, like I said, it's a controversy with so many people and various groups that, oh, I know one group likes to shout from the housetops that America's having all of its problems because we have forgotten to keep the Sabbath. Well, we've got problems, and a lot of it is spiritual, but it's not because we don't keep the Sabbath, because Paul never instructs us to keep the Sabbath, and instead it's the first day of the week because it was on the first day of the week that Christ rose from the dead. All right, now then in chapter 20, as Paul has now already, by virtue of several chapters of time, is out ministering amongst the Gentiles. And then you'll drop down in chapter 20 of Acts to verse 6, and we sailed away from Philippi, and I remember Philippi was up in northern Greece, and so they sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days, where we abode seven. And now look at verse 7, "...and upon the first day of the week, when the disciples..." Now, the disciples here doesn't refer to the Twelve, it refers to these believers who had become believers by virtue of Paul's preaching the message of grace up there in northern Greece, beginning with Thessalonica and Colossae and Philippi. And so they came on the first day of the week to break bread, and Paul preached unto them. Now, it's interesting that we also have the same connotation in 1 Corinthians chapter 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. And I'm touching on this because I have so many people, they'll either call or they'll ask me in class or something like that, are you sure that we're not supposed to keep the seventh-day Sabbath? Yes, I'm sure, because, you see, that was under the law. It was given even before the law, like I've said, but it was also incorporated into the law. And it's interesting that of all the Ten Commandments that Paul refers to throughout his letters, the only one he makes no mention of whatsoever is the one regarding the Sabbath. In other words, Paul will say that since the law is fulfilled with love, therefore we don't steal, therefore we don't commit adultery, therefore we do not bear false witness. And it follows naturally that we do not have idols and we do not make idols. And so Paul, in one way or another, and then in Ephesians—I almost forgot that one—in Ephesians he refers to the one considering honoring parents, where Paul makes mention that children ought to obey their parents because it's the first commandment of the promise. So Paul makes a reference to nine of the commandments, but the tenth one is glaringly absent, and that's the one concerning the Sabbath. That separates us from the legal system, you see. All right, but now in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verse 1, where again he's writing to the Gentiles there at Corinth, and he says, "...now concerning the collection, or the offering for the saints." Now you remember Paul was instructed by Peter and James back there in Acts chapter 15, and, well, yeah, I guess we're going to have to agree that you can go to the Gentiles without making legalists of them, without Judaizing them, but be sure you remember the poor here in Jerusalem. And you remember why they were poor, don't you? You remember early in Acts when they had lands and houses? If they had CDs or whatever, what'd they do with them? They sold them, and they put all their money into a common kitty, and everybody lived on it. Remember that? Acts chapter 2 and Acts chapter 3, everybody had all things common. Well, I don't care. You can have the best of investments unless you've got an awful lot of it. If you just take a certain amount and put it into a common kitty and let everybody start living on it, hey, we found out about it here in America, even with our tremendous amount of resources. Yet our entitlement programs, what are they doing to us? Hey, they're breaking us, see, because you just cannot, you cannot continue to just hand it out, hand it out, hand it out, until what? You run out. Well, that's exactly what happened to those believers at Jerusalem. They had sold everything, they'd put it into a common kitty, and they all lived. Everybody had all they needed. The Scripture says no one lacked. But what happened? They ran out. And of course, had Israel accepted the kingdom, they wouldn't have needed it. They wouldn't have had to have houses and lands. Everything would have been the utopia that everyone is still looking for. But Israel rejected the kingdom. The kingdom did not come in. And so what happened? Well, their kitty ran out, and they became destitute. But God in His sovereignty continues to watch over them by laying it upon the hearts now of the Gentile believers of Paul's gospel that they would give offerings for the poor saints at Jerusalem. All right, now here's the background, then, for 1 Corinthians 16, verse 1, now concerning the collection of the offering for the saints, those Jerusalem believers, as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye, upon the first day of the week. See that? Now, a lot of people have even told me, well, Sunday was elevated as part of a pagan background. Well, I can't help that the pagans have the name the first day of the week, maybe after the sun god or whatever the case may be. But our whole idea of the first day of the week is not necessarily the name of the day, but it was the day of the resurrection, see? And always remember that, that it was on the resurrection day, the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store, not according to 10 percent of your income, although again, that's the guideline. I don't want people to misinterpret me or misunderstand me. Beginning way back with Abraham in Genesis chapter 14, you remember when he had the spoil after defeating the kings that had overrun Sodom, and he brought Lot back? How much of the spoil did Abraham give to Melchizedek? Ten percent. And so it is a guideline. I will never say anything other than that. But what I do maintain is that when you mandate that somebody gives 10 percent or else you're putting them back under the law. And again, Paul never says that. But what does he say? Oh, when you give, give as the Lord has what? Prospered you, see? It's up to you. You're not under a mandate of law, but you are left now with your own free conscience as it's led by the Holy Spirit to give as God has prospered you, so he says, there'll be no offerings when I come. In other words, Paul, I guess, felt like I do. There's nothing I hate worse than to have to ask for money, and that's why we won't do it in this program. I just detest it. And I think Paul did, too. And so he says, have all that done before I get there, because I don't want to have to ask for money. All right, now then, one more Scripture reference with regard to this day of the week. Turn with me back to Romans, if you will, Romans chapter 14. And here again, I'm not taking anything away from our Sunday services, but on the other hand, I always have to remember what the old evangelists—I think most of you still remember old John R. Rice, and he used to almost deplore the Sunday morning worship hour. And of course, what he was deploring was the fact that it had just become a ritual. It was that one hour of the week when people thought that they were fulfilling their obligation to God. And listen, I like what Paul says here. Romans 14, verse 5, "...one man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day." Now, if you've got a translation like a King James, the word is alike, but it's in italics, isn't it? Now, those of you who've been in my class for over years and years, you know what italics mean. It's been added by the translators to clarify, but I think it's clearer if it's left out. So now read that verse as it would be without the italics. Let one man esteemeth one day above another, another esteemeth every day, period. You know what that means? Do you just become a Sunday Christian? Do you just become aware of worship and praise one day a week? What should we? All seven of them, see? Every day of the week to you and I in this age of grace who realize all that God has done on our behalf. I'm worthy of none of it. You're worthy of none of it. Then is it too much to expect that every day becomes a day of praise and worship? No, that doesn't mean we have to go to a formal service. Doesn't mean you have to have your church door open seven days a week, but it does mean that your Christian walk should just not depend on a one-day-a-week service or worship. Every day, see? And that's perfectly in accord with what Paul said. But when it comes to the formal coming together of God's people, on what day does Paul refer to? The first day, see? Now, I hope that may have helped a little bit. I had another thought I was going to share. I think this half hour is almost gone already. Never dawned on me until just the other day. How many of you haven't heard the expression, well, have you ever prayed the sinner's prayer? Could you sit down with somebody and help them pray the sinner's prayer or the publican's prayer? What was the sinner's prayer? God be merciful to me, a sinner. Now, think about it. I'm going to shock you. I'm going to shock a lot of people on television, because the book shocks me almost every day. Do you realize that after all that Christ has done, it is a finished transaction? Do you realize we don't have to ask or beg for mercy? It's already been done. Ever thought of that? We are actually amiss to say to God, be merciful to me. He's already been merciful when He died, when He suffered, and when He was victorious, and rose from the dead, and now offers salvation, not to someone who can crawl through all kinds of human suffering in order somehow to approach God. I mentioned it in one of my classes the other night. I can remember years ago hearing an elderly lady in our church talk about some poor lost individual, and she said, oh, I can still hear her. Oh, if only that poor man could pray through. Well, pray through what? What's he supposed to pray through to somehow approach God? There is nothing to pray through. It's all been done. And remember I said here a few weeks ago, where is the door to the sheepfold? It's ground level. It's not up in some unattainable place. It's not down in some deep cavern. It's not across some raging river. It's right in front of us. And so the same way, His mercy has already been accomplished. We don't have to beg for it. And the same thing, I think, comes into this area of forgiveness. Do you and I have to beg to be forgiven? No. You're already forgiven. You're in Romans, aren't you? Turn back with me to Colossians, because like I say, I'm not going to have time to go back to Exodus anyway. Colossians. Colossians, I think it's chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2, verse 13. You know, so many of these things, we just don't think of them. We still have got that mentality of what the Scripture said before the cross, and we try to bring it in after the cross. And you have to remember, and I think I shared this in the class the other night, the thought just come to my mind again. You've all heard the beautiful song, and the cross makes the what? The difference. It is a difference. It does make a difference. All right, Colossians chapter 2, down to verse 13. And you, Paul writes to us believers, being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, in other words, we're still dealing with that old Adam at that time, he hath—now what's that verb tense? Past tense. Past tense. It's done. He hath quickened or made us alive with him having past tense. What's the next word? Forgiven. Isn't that great? He has already forgiven all our sins. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Quinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Quinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer -supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time.