Numbers 15:32-36 - The Sabbath Of God

I. THAT WHILE ALMOST ALL OTHER ORDINANCES , EVEN CIRCUMCISION AND THE PASSOVER , FELL INTO DISUSE , THE SABBATH REMAINED FIXED , INVIOLABLE , AND ETERNAL . Even so while all outward things may change, while even sacraments themselves might fail, the true Sabbath of the soul can never alter, never cease to be observed and sought. To cease from our own works by a true unselfishness; to live for others by an active love; to find our rest in contemplating good and rejoicing in it; that is to rest from our labours as God did from his, and that is the law of the holy Sabbath which can never be altered. As long as God is God, and man is man, God can only set to us, and we can only set to ourselves, this law as the law of all laws to be observed for ever.

II. THAT THE VIOLATION OF THE SABBATH - LAW WAS NOT PARDONABLE . The sentence of death was confirmed, on special appeal, by God himself. Even so whatever directly violates the law of rest, and so destroys that rest, is fatal and deadly to the soul. For as this rest is the end of all religion, and is to be heaven itself, that which directly militates against it (and that is in the deepest sense selfishness) has never forgiveness, can never be overlooked or suffered to continue.

III. THAT THE ESSENCE OF THE MAN 'S CRIME WAS NOT THAT HE GATHERED STICKS ON THE SABBATH , BUT THAT HE GATHERED THEM FOR HIMSELF . For the priests were guiltless, cleaving wood for the altar on the Sabbath; and though the Jews to this day will not make a fire on the Sabbath even to save a man's life, yet it is certain that our Lord would have commended it, and that from an Old Testament point of view. Even so the essence of all sin, and the cause of all wrath, is selfishness. Selfishness is the real and only Sabbath-breaker, because it alone disturbs that Divine rest which stands in conformity to the will of God (see on Galatians 2:20 ; Colossians 3:3 ; 1 John 3:21 , 1 John 3:22 , &c.;).

IV. THAT THE DOOM OF THE SABBATH - BREAKER WAS STONING —A PUNISHMENT INFLICTED BY ALL , AND EXPRESSIVE OF UNIVERSAL CONDEMNATION . Even so the true punishment of sin is that it arrays against us both God and all good and holy beings. A selfish person would find neither sympathy nor allowance in heaven: his soul would fall crushed beneath the weight of silent disapproval and unintended reproach. And so the only way to war against a sin of selfishness upon earth is to enlist the sympathies of all good people against it.

V. THAT THE END OF THE SABBATH - BREAKER WAS DEATH , ALTHOUGH IT WAS NOT IMMEDIATELY EXECUTED . Even so spiritual death is the certain end of selfishness. Amidst the uncertainties of time indeed that death appears to be postponed; selfishness is quite consistent with some amount of religion. But the sentence of death against it is plain and irrevocable, and it will surely be carried out ( Matthew 10:38 , Matthew 10:39 ; Matthew 16:25 ; Luke 12:21 ; Romans 8:6 ; Philippians 2:4 , Philippians 2:5 , Philippians 2:21 ).