Sabbath of the Seventh Year

Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every weekday morning you and I, we get together, we have a little bit of coffee. Or tea. Or tea. We get into God's Word and we... Grow in God's word together. Grow in our love for the Lord together. Did you know growing in your knowledge of the of the word without growing in your love for the Lord?
Kind of pointless, huh? Yeah. We don't just want big heads. We want understanding hearts. Yeah. Yeah. Hey, why don't we have some coffee? We'll get into God's word. You don't want to get your microphone. Okay, so we're at Leviticus chapter 25. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus 25. Nathan and I were talking. I left my Bible at the church yesterday and so I'm having to borrow my boy's Bible. Leviticus.
There we go. Really close to being done. Well, then what are we gonna do next? We'll have to see. We better finish it up by Anti-resolution. Yeah. Yep. Anti-resolution day. Maybe maybe you could tell people what anti-resolution day is. Where you do the opposite of resolution and eat a bunch of junk food. Yeah. So instead of us doing, uh, resolutions on January 1st, we have anti-resolution day. And so each kid gets to choose one thing for each meal. Normally we're eating like ding dongs and chocolate milk and top ramen for breakfast. Someone picked, someone picked like gummy bears for breakfast.
Okay. Well, uh, Leviticus chapter 25, and we'll be at verse one through 10. Yes. Okay, so Leviticus 25 verses 1 through 10. Do you want to read verses? Well, what do you want to do? Sorry, it's only 8. Get one through eight. You want to read that or you want me to? Or do you want to split it somehow? Split it. Split it? You get one, I get two, you get three, you get, I get four. How about you get one through four and I get five through eight? That'd be simple. Okay. All right, go ahead. Oh, let's pray. We didn't pray. Father, we need your Holy Spirit to understand this word. So we pray that you would please help us as we read it, that it would penetrate our hearts and lighten our minds in Jesus's name. Amen.
And the Lord spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which I give you, then the land shall keep a Sabbath to the Lord. Six years you shall sow your field, and six years you shall prune your vineyard. and gather its fruit. But in the seventh year there shall be a Sabbath of solemn rest, the land a Sabbath to the Lord. You shall neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard. What grows of its own accord of your harvest you shall not reap, nor gather the grapes of your untended vine, for it is a year of rest for the land. And the Sabbath produce of the land shall be food for you, for you, your male and female servants, your hired men, and the stranger who dwells with you. for your livestock and the beasts that are in your land. All its produce shall be for food."
Well, we got three questions to ask. What are they? A. What's this?
B. What's the best verse to summarize this? Good. And C. What do we call it to do? Good. So you should switch those about like B best for us to summarize, you should do C calling and B best for us to summarize. Hmm. Well, that's okay. We'll do A first. So what is this about? What do you think? Give me a one sentence summary. The seventh year, don't eat, don't sleep, y'all. Okay. Right. So yeah, so the seventh year is a Sabbath year. Right. So, and what's getting rest? The land. The land. Whose land is it? Yeah, it's the Lord's land, right?
And he's giving it to them, right? But six years, they're allowed to work, they're allowed to sow, they're allowed to reap, they're allowed to cultivate. But the seventh year, don't harvest, let it fall, right? Let it go ahead. And but whatever comes up, they're allowed to have that, right? They're allowed to go glean. But they're to remember that's the Lord who brings them. It's the Lord who brings them their... Oh, so they can't, like, store up food.
Exactly, right? What do you think that this was meant to teach them? That this is the Lord's land, not theirs. Okay. What do you think it's meant to teach them about God? Hmm, like that they don't own the land that God gave them the land, so they'll be thankful. Okay, yeah. So it's meant to teach them that God is generous and that he's the Redeemer, that he's the one who gave them the land, that he's the one who cares for them. Yeah, there's a whole lot there that I think it's teaching them about God. You want to know something interesting? What? How many times do you think that they kept this? A long time. Never. They never kept it? Nope.
This is the reason why God says that he's going to one of the reasons why he says he's going to send them into exile into Babylon. And they're going to be there for 40 years, because if you took one year. And there's a Sabbath. And you're going to say, OK. for that entire time that you're going to be gone. You had this land for that many years, but for the number of years that you did not keep my Sabbath year, you're going to be in exile. And so they should have kept it at least 40 times. Yep. Big fat goose egg.
Why don't you think they would have kept this? I forget. I was reading a book that said like, um, There's something about, like, how man is diseased with, uh, war and disobedience. OK, so you think man is diseased with war and disobedience? I think that's an accurate statement of total depravity. It's easy for us to rely on ourselves, isn't it? I'm smart enough. I can work hard enough. I can I can do this. And then when that sixth year comes and, you know, the next year, you're not going to be able to work the fields. Well, what if God doesn't provide? What if he doesn't give us food? What if my family starves?
This would've been really, really hard for them to keep. It's no less hard. I bet we would do the same thing if we were in the other place. Yeah, exactly. We're not any better than them, are we? No, no, no. So that's why we don't want to look down our noses at them, because we know that we struggle with that same type of disobedience and distrust.
So what do you think is the best verse to summarize this? If you only get to underline one verse, what do you think it would be? Six. That's what I was going to underline too. Yeah. I was going to underline six or I was going to underline three and four. And then you're gonna add a three, four, five. Oh, don't do that. Don't do that. Three, four, or six. Three and four or six. That's what I would do. That's not my Bible. That's Daniel's Bible. So I don't want to underline him. I'll let him underline. Well, okay.
What do you think this calls you to do in your life? Does that mean every seventh year we don't have to give you school? You don't have to work anymore? No, I think it's to praise God. and if possible go to church because well it's the Lord's day and it's the Lord's lambs so like try to keeping the Lord's day. So you see this pattern of one in seven huh?
Yeah so yeah that's true I wouldn't necessarily tie it with church but But the point is supposed to be that even at church, we're taught to be thankful, to rest in the Lord, to trust that he's the one who provides for the sparrows and he's the one who closed the fields with all their beauty.
And so he's going to take care of us also. So I think those things are true. I think the big thing here is right. What I think I'm called to do following from this is hearing Jesus and remembering that this land, this home, this world we live in is not. And I'm not seeking a kingdom here, but I'm seeking a kingdom above that's Jesus's. And so I can rest. I can I can rest when he tells me to rest, I can work when he tells me to work and I can trust that our redeemer knows best. So yeah, there's a lot of practical applications from the principles behind this. Good. You want to pray or you want me to pray? Okay.
Lord, you are generous and gracious. You provide us with our daily bread. You watch over us all the days of our lives, and Father, we thank you for the amazing ways in which you have loved us and have promised to love us. Lord, we pray that you would not let us be anxious about anything, but we pray that we would be able to go to you We'd be able to tell you the things of our hearts, but also be able to trust you and to be thankful to you for all of the good things you have given in Jesus's name. Amen. Well, may God bless you. May you rest in the peace that comes from knowing that your good shepherd knows your needs and will provide for you all the days of your life and even into eternity. Bye bye.
Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.