 THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT

     All right, this morning we're back once more to Exodus chapter 20. Exodus
chapter 20, beginning at verse 1.

     Now, maybe you get tired of reading these things over and over again. But
you'd be surprised how many times you can read Exodus 20 and not know the Ten
Commandments. If some of you had to get up right now and give all ten in
order, there wouldn't be any way in the world to do it.

     I had a friend up in Tennessee who was talking to an Orthodox Jew one
time about salvation. The Jew said, "Well, I keep the commandments."

     This friend of mine said, "Would you tell me what the Ten Commandments
are?"

     He didn't know. Didn't know. You wouldn't have a have a dozen orthodox
Jews in this town that know what the Ten Commandments are.

     Exodus 20, verse 1: <B>"And God spake all these words, saying,  I [am]
the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the
house of bondage." <P>One: <B>"Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
<P>Two: <B>"Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness
[of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath,
or that [is] in the water under the earth:  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to
them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the
iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth
[generation] of them that hate me;  And shewing mercy unto thousands of them
that love me, and keep my commandments."<P> Three: <B>"Thou shalt not take the
name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless
that taketh his name in vain."<P> Four: <B>: "Remember the sabbath day, to
keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:  But the
seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do
any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy
maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:  For
[in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them
[is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day,
and hallowed it."<P>

     <I>Now, Father, we pray the Holy Spirit might bless the reading of the
word here this morning. We pray the Holy Spirit of God will open this Book,
and might teach this Book through us to this congregation. We pray this people
here, who have assembled here today, will find the truth about the sabbath,
and know what these things refer to, and how they affect their own lives as
Christians. And we pray, Father, if there is any unsaved person here this
morning, that by the law will come the knowledge of sin, and may the law be a
schoolmaster to lead them to Christ. And I pray it in Jesus' name. Amen."<P>

     Now, in this passage here I just read of the law, Paul said the law is a
schoolmaster that leads us to Christ. And man doesn't realize what a sinner he
is until he compares himself with God's standard.

     You heard me preach this morning on the radio about Naaman. I remarked of
the fact, I made mention of the fact that he was a great man with his master.
And some folks think they're all right because of the crowd they hang out
with.

     Now, when you compare yourself with God's standard, then you see how low
you are. When you compare yourself with the people around you, you make out
pretty. And these days, excellent! I mean, these days, the standards are so
low, anybody can pat themselves on the back.

     But, when you take the law--"Thou shalt not kill." "Thou shalt not
steal." "Thou shalt not commit adultery."--you suddenly realize you're a
sinner.

     Now, in this fourth commandment, we have the principle of rest. What's
the principle of rest? The principle of rest is that God saw it needful to
cease from doing something, and spend a little time just doing nothing. That
is, He didn't lie down and go to sleep. But He rested in the sense that He
quit His labors and quit laboring. There should be a time in your life when
you rest from labor. There should come regular periods in your life when you
get rest. You need a day of rest.

     With this shift work and all this stuff that goes on in this country goes
full steam all day long, many of these things 24 hours a day. And they're
worried about the breakdowns. You'll break down if you run 24 hours a day.
Roloff used to say, "You better learn how to come apart and rest, or you'll
come apart." In a Gallup poll conducted by George Gallup, he said the thing
that Americans complain about first of all, and they realize is wrong with
them, is too much food, not enough rest, not enough exercise, and misuse of
leisure time--which is a pretty honest appraisal. Now, of course, none of them
mention neglecting the Lord and the Bible, see. But the things that are on
their minds are the fact that they eat too much, they don't exercise enough,
they don't rest enough, and they misuse their leisure time.

     Take your Bible and turn to Isaiah chapter 58. Isaiah chapter 58. And
here you'll find the basic idea of the Sabbath laid down. Isaiah 58:13. You
want to keep this in mind, because the day of rest for a child of God is not
the same as a day of rest for a Jew. We're not under the old Sabbath law, and
we'll see that in a minute. But the idea behind it is in Isaiah 58. Isaiah
58:13: <B>"If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, [from] doing thy
pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD,
honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine
own pleasure, nor speaking [thine own] words:  Then shalt thou delight thyself
in the LORD;..." <P>and so forth and so on.

     Now, that promise is given to Israel in the Old Testament in regard to
the Sabbath, but it's true with the essence of the day of rest. There should
be a day set aside for the Lord, where you make a special effort to do what
God wants you to do on that day, and not do what you want to do!

     Now, of course, we realize, a Monday through Saturday thing for a child
of God, whatever you do, do word and deed, and all this and that. But there
ought to be a special time, when you give the Lord some special time and some
special thoughts that He doesn't get at other times. And I'll show you that
here in a minute.

     The fate of Mexico and Spain is the fate of two countries that had
bullfights on Sunday. And the fate of America is the fate of a country that
has a Super Bowl on Sunday. It teaches people to be lovers of pleasures more
than lovers of God. Isaiah--not doing your own pleasure.

     I've learned to put up with volleyball games out here, and special times
of dinner on the grounds on Sunday up here on the school property with the
young men, but even that is kind of stretching things a little bit. I don't go
very far on that kind of stuff. I mean, you won't get me off to play football
or something else on Sunday afternoon, or baseball or softball anywhere. And
I'll show you why in a minute.

     All right, now, first of all, about this Sabbath. The Sabbath is the only
ceremonial commandment in the Ten Commandments. Now, it's the only one that's
a sign. Take your Bible and turn to Ezekiel, and I'll show you where the
Sabbath given to Israel is a Jewish sign. It's the only Jewish sign in the Ten
Commandments, and it's the only ceremonial sign. And, for that reason, it's
not for a child of God. A child of God has no business observing the Old
Testament Jewish Sabbath, and I'll show you why.

     Ezekiel chapter 20, verse 12. It's a ceremony, not a moral commandment,
and the other moral commandments are given--this isn't one of them.

     Ezekiel 20 verse 12. <B>"Moreover also I gave them my sabbaths, to be a
sign between me and them,..." <P>Who is "them"? Who's "them"? Why, it's the
children of Israel. Look at verse 5. <B>"The house of Jacob." <P>Verse 3:
<B>"The elders of Israel." <P>Verse 12: <B>"I gave them my sabbaths, to be a
sign between me and them." <P>The Sabbath was never given to a sign to a
Christian for anything.

     When your Seventh-day Adventist friends come to your house, one of the
first things they do is take out Ezekiel and try to show you that the Sabbath
is a sign between the child of God and the Lord. It's <I>not. <P>It's a sign
for Israel. The Jews require a sign.

     In the same passage, look at Ezekiel chapter 20, verse 20. Ezekiel 20,
verse 20: <B>"And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and
you, that ye may know that I [am] the LORD your God." <P>The Jewish Sabbath
found in Genesis is a sign given to the nation of Israel.

     Now, come to Nehemiah chapter 9, and notice when God let 'em know about
the Sabbath. Nehemiah chapter 9. This Sabbath was unknown to Abraham, Isaac
and Jacob. Some of your Seventh-day Adventist friends will pick up a Bible and
show you Genesis 2, and say, "You see there? Back there in Genesis 2, the Lord
established the Sabbath." No way in the world! Let me ask you this: How could
Adam have kept the Sabbath, when he had no work to do? I mean, what could he
rest from? His work didn't begin until he got kicked out of the garden!

     Did you ever read about Abraham keeping the Sabbath? Did you ever read
about Isaac keeping the Sabbath? Did you ever read about Jacob keeping the
Sabbath? You never read about Enoch keeping the Sabbath. You never read about
Noah keeping the Sabbath. There isn't one man or woman in Genesis that ever
kept the Sabbath. Why is that?

     I'll show you why. Nehemiah chapter 9. Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 13.
Nehemiah 9:13: <B>"Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with
them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good
statutes and commandments:  And madest known unto them thy holy sabbath."
<P>See that? That holy Sabbath Moses wrote about in Genesis 2 was not made
known until God came down in Mount Sinai, verse 13. In plainer words, the
Sabbath is unknown as a day of rest until God comes down in Mount Sinai in
Exodus 20.

     You know how folks get so confused? They get to reading the Bibles there,
and they say, well, "The Lord blessed the seventh day and sanctified it and
hallowed it in Genesis 2," and they forget who wrote Genesis 2. Who wrote
Genesis 2? Why sure! Moses! Moses wasn't even born when Abraham, Isaac, and
Jacob lived. Moses gets the revelation of the Sabbath, and writes down Genesis
1, 2, 3, and 4.

     So, it's a Jewish sign. It wasn't known until the Lord came down on Mount
Sinai.

     You have people in this town, right down from me, we have the Seventh-day
Adventist Church. Now, I'm not here to speak against somebody's faith, but I'm
here to tell you what's so and not so according to the word of God. And, if
that's against somebody's faith, they can lump it. I mean, they <I>certainly
<P>speak against mine. They tell you Christian people have to keep the Jewish
Sabbath, and I say you <I>don't.<P> Now, if they're going to say something
about mine, I'm gonna say something about theirs.

     Now, do you realize that nobody outside the land of Palestine could have
really kept the Sabbath? Because the time zone. There are seven hours
difference in those time zones. The Jewish Sabbath starts over there, and
doesn't start over here until seven hours later. Every Seventh-day Adventist
in America has been violating the Sabbath seven hours before he starts. Tell
'em that, and watch that turn 'em on.

     A Jewish Sabbath begins at 6:00 Friday night, ends at 6:00 Saturday
night. Right down from my house, on Rawson Lane, is the Seventh-day Adventist
Church. You go by there Saturday night, and it looks like a service going on.
Everybody in there on Saturday night, you know. Well, the Sabbath is over
Saturday at 6:00. I don't know why you're having the service after 6. As a
matter of fact, it was over seven hours <I>before <P>that in Palestine. So,
every fellow who observes the Sabbath over here is violating it seven hours
before it starts, and continues it seven hours after it's over. And that's why
the Sabbath wasn't given to anybody but the Jew in Palestine as a sign.

     Now, if the Jew wants to keep that where he it, he can keep that where it
is. But it isn't given to him out of that time zone anyway.

     It's the only commandment purposely omitted from the Pauline epistles.
Take your Bible and turn to Romans 13, and notice the only commandment that's
purposely omitted is that commandment about the Sabbath. That Jewish sign--not
for the Christian to keep. And no amount of quoting Matthew or Acts will
change things a bit. In Romans 13, when Paul gives the commandments, he omits
the Sabbath. Romans 13:8. Romans 13:8. Romans 13:8. Romans 13:8: <B>"Romans
13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another
hath fulfilled the law.  For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt
not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt
not covet; and if [there be] any other commandment, it is..." <P>what? The
Sabbath? No. <B>"It is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt
love thy neighbour as thyself."<P> Paul omits the seventh day Sabbath as a
commandment for the child of God.

     Now, why do we observe Sunday as the day. Why do we set it apart as a
special day, and I do, as a special time? Why is that? Well, first of all,
it's because the church assembled on the first day of the week.

     Take your Bible and turn to Acts chapter 20. The church did not assemble
on the Sabbath. It assembled on the first day of the week. Acts chapter 20.
Acts chapter 20, verse 7. It assembled on the first day of the week, and they
preached on the first day of the week. Acts chapter 20, verse 7. Acts 20,
verse 7: <B>"And upon the first [day] of the week, when the disciples came
together to break bread, Paul preached unto them." <P>The church met on the
first day of the week, not on the Jewish Sabbath. They had preaching on the
first day of the week--<I>not <P>the Jewish Sabbath.

     All right, what about over there in Romans 14, "one man esteems one day
above another, one man esteems every day alike, let every man be persuaded in
his own mind." If you don't think there's any difference between Sunday and
Saturday and Monday and Tuesday, you're at perfect liberty to think so. But,
you're going to have to be careful, because there are some other factors
involved. And we'll talk about them in a minute.

     The church assembled on the first day of the week. The first day of the
week for us is Sunday, the first day of the week. The Old Testament Jewish
Sabbath--Saturday. Do you observe the first day of the week? "Blessed is the
man." These are the beatitudes. "Blessed is the man who doesn't stay away from
church because it snows or rains. Blessed is the man whose calendar contains
prayer meeting night. Blessed is the man who can stand more than one hour in
the service. Blessed is the man who loved the Lord with his checkbook as well
as his heart."

     You know, the doctor says you're heart's up here. I think sometimes it
may be down here somewhere, you know, with that pocket.

     "Blessed is the man whose watch keeps church time as well as business
time. Blessed is the man who leaves the back pews for the late comers. Blessed
is the man whose eyesight can stand as much Bible as television."

     I don't recall where reading the Bible ever drove anybody blind. Isn't it
strange how some of the best programs are always on Sunday. Have you ever
noticed how some of the best kids' programs are on Sunday night, you ever
notice that? Walt Disney coming on Sunday night, so your kid will miss the
services? Boy, if you want to separate the men from the boys, you wait till
the Super Bowl comes, and it comes on, you know, Eastern Standard, Rocky
Mountain, whatever it is, and comes so it hits the place about 6:00. I've been
out, almost every time the Super Bowl's come on in the last ten years, I've
been out in a meeting at that time, and the thing came on around 5 or 6:00 in
the afternoon, and, boy, you can tell whose are the Lord's, and who are the
Cowboys, and the Colts, and that stuff takes place.

     All right, take your Bible and turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 16. The next
reason why we observe the first day is because the collection is taken up the
first day of the week. The collection is taken up the first day of the week.
First Corinthians 16 verse 1. See, we have a Biblical reason for doing what we
do and acting the way we act. It isn't just giving this. First Corinthians
16:1. The reason why we're not Seventh-day Adventists is because nobody in the
New Testament was. First Corinthians 16:1. Now, some of you folks, just relax,
relax. You got Bromo-Seltzer at home, you know. Contains some analgesic,
sodium, acetacilicate, and all that stuff. Just get ahold of yourself.
Headache, powder, aspirin. You'll be all right. You'll recover. I mean, you
think you're hearing Hitler or something; that's because you haven't got any
sense. You haven't got the sense God gave a brass monkey. And if you did,
you'd listen.

     I mean, some of you are almost in a state of shock: "What'd he say about
that?" Well, <I>listen! <P>You might learn something. It's possible. I
<I>think!<P>

     You know, people spend so much time getting wrapped, when you lay it on
them, they'll think you're wripping them or something! What do you want to
have me do? Sit up here cross-legged in the pulpit, you know, with a moustache
and a cigarette and talk to you?

     First Corinthians 16:1: <B>"Now concerning the collection for the saints,
as I have given order to the churches of Galatia, even so do ye.  Upon the
first [day] of the week..." <P>See it? <B>"Upon the first [day] of the week
let every one of you lay by him in store, as [God] hath prospered him."<P>
First day of the week. Took up the collection.

     Met the first day of the week. Preached the first day of the week. Took
up the collection the first day of the week--if there was any collection to
take up.

     A fellow said, "What if you were a business man, you had 400 workers, and
half of them showed up for work?" Half of them could be relied upon to do the
job, and half of them couldn't. Every time lightning or snow showed up, they
failed to report to work. They only worked when they felt like it. But you
couldn't fire any of them, and had to be sweet to all of them. You had to beg
and plead to get them back without offending them. In competition, you were in
competition with a man who had no scruples or morals, and he could use fishing
rods, guns, TV, soft pillows, comic books, anything else to get your
customers. Wouldn't you have some business?

     What if in your business you had to depend upon your own force for
operating capital, for the most important business in the world, and the
people who supported you only gave when they felt like it. Can you imagine
what it would be to run a business like that?

     Well, every Bible-believing pastor in the country is trying to run a
business like that. And, you've got a force where half of them show up, or a
third of them show up, or a fourth of them show up, and they support when they
feel like it. If they don't feel like it, they don't.

     And you can't fire any of 'em. Like Brother Forte, you know, fired
somebody, and somebody threatened to get a lawyer on him for firing somebody.
You can't fire 'em.

     Oh, some of these churches up North do. Some of those fellows up there,
they're real dictators, you better believe it, boy. If you don't believe it,
go up there and get one of them. Listen, there are churches up there that
aren't nearly as charitable as we are down here. Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen!
Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen, brother!
Amen! Amen! Amen! I mean, there's churches up there, that if you get in their
way, they'll call you into the office and say, "Here's your paper, boy, hit
the road!" You better believe it, man. They give you a letter, man, and you're
<I>out!<P>

     You take, but the average church doesn't operate that way. The average
church, you have to be nice to everybody, get along with everybody, and count
on 'em to do your work for you, and some of 'em work, some of 'em won't.

     Now, you take a child of God, he observes that day because Christ rose
the first day, the Holy Spirit came down the first day, they assembled the
first day, they preached the first day, they took up the collection the first
day. We don't keep an Old Testament Sabbath. And, even then, we can't observe
our sabbath like they observed theirs. They were told, why, did you ever read
back there in the Bible where that guy was picking up sticks on the Sabbath?
And they <I>stoned <P>him. He said in Leviticus you're not to light a fire in
your habitation on the Sabbath. You gonna have a hot noon meal today? How can
you have a hot noon meal if you don't light a fire on your habitation? You
turn on the range, you know--that's fire there. You're cooking the meal there.
They weren't even allowed to do that on the Sabbath.

     The Holy Spirit came down on the first day of the week. The church was
assembled when the Holy Spirit came. When the Holy Spirit came, the church was
assembled there on the first day of the week, when the Holy Spirit came. We're
not talking about a Jewish Old Testament Sabbath. The church was together, and
the church, as a fellow said, is not a place for exhibiting a gallery of
saints, but it's a training center to live like saints.

     There are many reasons why you ought to belong to a good church. You
ought to belong for what you can do through it as well as what you can get out
of it. You ought to be a better person because of its influence on your
family. Some of these independent hyper-dispensationalists don't have any
churches, and their kids turn out like dirty rag dolls. I mean, there ought to
be a place where they can send you, you ought to have a good Sunday School for
your little kids, you ought to have a place where they can grow up in a
Christian influence in church.

     I'm not for these independents who just spend their time in meeting
houses arguing about verses in the Bible. It will never come to anything.
It'll never get the kids to behave like that. I've got a good friend up here
I've watched for 25 years. I'm not being personal; I'm just telling you what
God told me to tell you. I've watched him; he has a little group over here, a
little group over here. "We stand for this." "We stand for this." "We believe
this." They get so hyper-separated, man, they're good for nothing. Their kids
look like they fell off the back end of a garbage truck.

     All that stuff. You need a place where you can meet because of its
influence on your family. You say, "Brother Ruckman, the church has been
nothing but a bad influence on my family." That isn't true. That isn't true.
Any good, Bible-believing, Gospel church, there's always a bunch of people in
there who love the Lord, they are decent people that would be a good influence
on your kids. You say, "They're little sorry rascals." You got sorry rascals
anywhere! I mean, I'll take God's people anytime.

     You say, "Well, they give us problems, and that problem." YOU GOT
PROBLEMS ALL YOUR LIFE! I get sick and tired of these folks, <I>grunt grunt
grunt grunt! <P>Settle down, man, settle down, man! Not everybody's a
hypocrite, not everybody's full of the devil. One or two! You can put up with
them, they can put up with you. Amen amen amen! Some of you folks have lost
your sense of humor, and I ain't halfway through this thing yet!

     Listen, my wife says to me once in a while, I don't know how in the world
you've kept on all these years. Well, the Lord just holds me up and takes care
of me. Folks say, "If you knew what I knew, you..." Boy, if I wrote a book
about what I knew, man, you wouldn't want to be a Christian again. You can't
do that! You can't keep your eyes on the people! You've got to keep your eyes
on the Lord!

     This church here is a good influence on my family. You say, "One or two
people?" Yeah, one or two people are a bad influence on my girls, yeah. And
they probably have been a bad influence on somebody else's kids once in a
while, too. I mean, human nature is human nature, man! I wouldn't trade you
for that crowd out there! I've been in that crowd out there! I wouldn't trust
any of them with my kids, boy--<I>any <P>of 'em!

     You take, a church is a place where you can get together with the people
who have a good influence on your life. They'll stir you up. They'll make you
zealous. They'll make you examine yourself. They'll make you think. I mean,
some of you--you never heard anybody shout until you came to this church! How
many of you never heard anybody shout in church until you came here? Let me
see your hands! There, you see? A hundred hands, see? You say, "I don't like
it." Makes you think, though, don't it?

     I mean, didn't you catch yourself about a week after you heard some
shouting here, you were in a ballgame and started to shout, and suddenly you
thought to yourself, "What am I doing?" I mean, you said, "That fellow who was
shouting in church--what was <I>he <P>shouting about?" Makes you think. Good
for you. Good for you.

     You know, I was up in Hoboth Beach, Delaware, visiting the grave of my
parents about a month ago. My mother and father and sister all died within
three months of each other. June 1966, July 1966, August 1966. All three of
them--<I>snap!--<P>just like that. Now, maybe eight miles outside the little
ol' fishing village up in Delaware, and I drove out there in that graveyard
where they're buried, and I stood on those markers down there and looked down
on them: John Hamilton Ruckman, U.S. Army, World War I, World War II, sat down
there, thought about my sister and my mother. You know what I kept thinking
about? I kept thinking about the company they kept before they faced judgment.
The company they kept in an unsaved Episcopal church, with an unsaved liberal
preacher, and a modernist in the pulpit. And nothing but card parties and
cocktail parties and bridge parties until they die. Until they die.

     The worst independent Baptist church I've been in my LIFE was better
company than that! It will be for you too, brother--no matter what kind of
feelings you have about it.

     I read in my dad's diaries. I almost could weep. I never seen such a
miserable life in all my life. Never seen it. Diaries, day after day, 1950,
'51, '52, '53, '54, '55, '56, '57, up through there: "Played bridge at So-and-
So's house." "Went to a movie. Wasn't very good." "Cold day on the beach
today." "Missed a day on the beach." "Took out the boat." "Had trouble with
the water pump." "Came back." "Had a headache." "Feel pretty good today."
"Don't feel pretty good today." "Read a book. Wasn't much." "Went to church.
Not much of a sermon." "Took up the collection. Met with the vestrymen. Pretty
sorry meeting." "Played bridge." "Went to the movie." "Cocktails."

     My God--what a way to live! My God--what a way to live! You'd be better
off DEAD than live like that! All that stuff. What's that trouble? BAD
COMPANY!

     You can find good company in church if you look for it. Thbe trouble is,
some of you don't look for it. You wait until you get connections cut off from
the word of God and prayer and praise, and see how it goes. Some of you
fellows, wait until you get out there, and you've been out there two or three
years out there in the work out there, where they don't praise, and they don't
shout, and they don't preach the Book, and they don't love the word of God--
and you'll see. You'll see. You'll see that to assemble with a bunch of God's
people that believe the Book is a great privilege.

     All right, take your Bible and turn to Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter
4. We put this day aside especially for the Lord; of course, He's got all the
other ones too. But this one especially. He arose from the dead the first day
of the week. Did you ever think about that? He arose from the dead the first
day of the week. The Holy Spirit came down on the first day of the week. And,
for you people who are saved, you have a rest. Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews
chapter 4, verse 4: <B>"For he spake in a certain place of the seventh [day]
on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works." <P>Verse
9: <B>"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.  For he that is
entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did]
from his."<P> Now, that's talking about resting in Christ. That's talking
about believing Christ and being saved. And these people who brag about the
Sabbath, they're not resting in Christ at all. They're working like dogs to
get to Heaven. Trying to keep this and keep that, and not do this, and not do
that. You people who are saved, you have a place where you can rest in Christ--
you <I>ought <P>to rest.

     I had a woman telling me about a baby the other day. She was talking
about how all her baby did was eat and sleep. And I said to her, "That's all a
baby's supposed to do. Supposed to eat and sleep."

     You take a new Christian--you know what he ought to be doing? He ought to
be feeding on that word and resting in Christ. You gotta rest. There's a rest
to the people of God.

     Christians without regular times of rest, regular times of assembly.
Folks say, "Well, I can just worship God; better out there in the brim bread."
No, you can't. No, you can't. You worship God's works out there. Listen, "The
heavens declare the <I>glory <P>of God. The firmament showeth His
<I>handiwork.<P>" See?

     I'm great for that. I mean, I'm Germanic. I think a big ol' forest in a
thunderstorm is more beautiful than a flower. I think that creation's great.
But that's what God <I>did. <P>Folks say, "Well, I just go up there and think
about God." Well, if you prayed all the time while you're fishing, I believe
you. Folks around here get in the boats, you know, and they get in the car,
and take up, you know, that green meadow, Sears Roebuck boat along behind the
five horsepower Wizard motor and a bunch of bamboo poles on Sunday. And you
say, "Where you goin'?"

     "I'm goin' to Grandma's church in the country. My grandfolks are buried
up there."

     You have to fish in the graveyard? Is that the boat for the graveyard?
They're dead up there, are they? You got to put Catawba worms in the
collection, is that it? You're going to church Sunday morning and put
grasshoppers and the Catawba worms in the collection? I don't believe that!

     You know what I'm thinking of when I'm fishing? I'm thinking about
catching fish! You understand, when you're casting out like that, and coming
across there and trying to get that shallow running around deep or ride low,
you know, to get the right cast, you feel that bump, you know, weed the grass--
you mean you're thinking about the Second Coming? Not unless you're a great
big liar! I don't believe that!

     I mean, with that kind of stuff, do you really think about the Judgment
Seat of Christ, do you? You're out there with a bunch of lily pads, you know.
Pitch that baby belton out there, you got a weedless thing in the bottom of
it, and your pork rinds. You pull that thing in, a bass gets it and it wraps
around the lily pads, you know, and you're pulling that texture around the
section--you're really thinking about the Judgment Seat of Christ, are you?

     I suppose you're thinking about how to explain the Trinity when you get
to a thing like that? You're lying. You're lying.

     I'll tell you something else. There will come a time in your life when
you need real sympathy. You'll have some real trouble. And I mean real
trouble. And, when that time comes, you know what you're going to find out? I
mean, you may not get all the sympathy you want. You may not get it all the
time. You may not get it in the quantity you want it. But, you get more
sympathy from the people that love God and love that Book than you will you
will anyplace else.

     The time will come to get married, and you're going to want a church. The
time will come to get buried, you're going to want a church. The time will
come to get down to the hospital, and you'll be flat on your back, and you
want some of God's people from the church come and see you. I'm glad some of
the people went by and saw Mrs. Freeman while she was there; I was wondering
if anybody was going to go up there. I'm glad you did. That's good. You take
out in the world, you've got one or two friends like that, and they'll stick
with you for awhile, and if things go to pieces, they'll drop you too.

     Now, you take about Sabbath observance. I wouldn't do like some of these
fellows say, you know. "No work on the Sabbath, boys. No work on the Sabbath.
A sin to take a job on the Sabbath." You got job conditions today where you
<I>got <P>to work on Sunday, man! There's shift work and stuff going on, if
you don't go to work on Sunday, you don't work--you'll lose your job. I mean,
that stuff might have worked OK back in 1890, where the preacher came around
every fifth Sunday, and you gave him a bushel full of potatoes for preaching,
but it don't work any more. And you take that kind of thing. I'm not a fanatic
on it. I'm not going to say, "Don't do this on Sunday, don't do that on
Sunday," and "Don't hang up clothes on the line." Man, I've been in churches
where it was a sin for them to hang up wash on Sunday. Now, if something got
dirty in the house, I guess you just kept it in the house till Monday before
you'd wash the thing.

     I'm not like that, but I will say this. That Bible says, "Let not your
good be evil spoken of." That Book, "Listen! No man liveth to himself, and no
man dieth to himself." Your life has an effect on other people. I try to be
careful how I behave myself on Sunday. One of the ways I try to do it is, when
I go home after a big meeting, I just observe the Sabbath! Amen, brother! A
day of rest! It don't embarrass me to say it at all, brother! I'd recommend it
to you, any one of you. Any one of your family.

     You know, years ago, I had a fishing buddy. He's not my buddy any more.
He's gone the parting of the ways of hyperdispensationalism. He lived over in
Foley, Alabama. He was from Upper Mississippi. And he got all tangled up with
Cornelius Stam and Baker and all this bunch of hyperdispensationalists. And
that fellow was doing a great job where he was, if he'd stayed on the beam for
God, no telling what he could have done. He came within two months of a Ph.D.
in mathematics at the University of Auburn. And that fellow had one of the
most brilliant minds of any man I had ever known.

     Talked like a Mississippi hillbilly; he was a Mississippi redneck. But he
was sharp. He was sharp. Had a sharp mind.

     And that fellow was within two months of graduating from the University
of Auburn, and he was witnessing all over that campus to people. He won a
couple of people to the Lord right there on the campus. Then he got all
tangled up in hyperdispensationalism. And he got moving off around here.
Pretty soon he began to pick off some of our boys down the street, to get 'em
to the dry cleaners, and began working on 'em. And pretty soon he began to
find fault with the church bulletin. It wasn't Scriptural. And the order
wasn't Scriptural. And the choir wasn't Scriptural. And the pulpit wasn't
Scriptural. He said nothing about the commode,  but I don't think that was
Scriptural, either!

     And we went on like that for awhile, and one day he walked out in the
front of the church, and one of my friends stopped him outside the church, and
said, "You know, if I were you," he said, "You're so Scriptural, you're
unscriptural!"

     And this fellow said, "Well, you can't be too Scriptural!"

     Yes, you can! You can get to the place where you're going so much by the
Scriptures, and the other fellows aren't, that you think you're sinless, and
they're not. Then your unscriptural!

     And so he began to find fault with me, and he said, "Now, you're keeping
my girlfriend"--he was engaged at that time--"up, you know, on Saturday or
Friday, getting the church bulletin ready. And I need time off to be with her
on Saturday."

     I said, "Why don't you take time to be off with her on Sunday?"

     He said, "Well, I go fishing on Sunday."

     I said, "Change your fishing day. Make your fishing day Friday or
Saturday, and be with the girl Sunday."

     Now, what's unreasonable about that? Why you gonna fish on Sunday? He had
to fish on Sunday just to prove that he esteemed every day alike, and one day
was just like every other day, you know, and he wasn't of the Jewish law.

     Well, two things happened. First thing, he got out there fishing bluefish
off Alabama Point, and that boat went over that he was in. Lost all his fish;
he had a bonanza that day; he had about forty of them. And over he went with
the boat, and lost the boat, and lost the motor. I mean, everything was on the
bottom, you couldn't haul it out. And it rusted, they hauled it out a couple
weeks later, and nothing would work.

     And that's the first thing that happened. The next thing that happened,
he was out there one Sunday. And I've been fishing with this guy. I wouldn't
go with him on Sunday, but I fished off Granada Dam and Jim Woodworth Dam and
Sarbath Dam with him. He taught me how to bass fish off those spillways off
those dams. And he'd get out there and get to fishing off those dams, and he
was telling me about a case one time where he was out there, and making his
own bucktail streamers to catch the fish with. And he was fishing out there,
and one of those old rednecks came up to him, and said, "How ya doin'?"

     He said, "Oh, pretty good. Got a good springer." Showed it to him.

     The old fellow said, "Bitin' pretty good today, ain't they?"

     Bill said, "Yeah!" He said, "Are you a Christian?"

     And the guy said, "No. Are you?"

     And he said, "Yes. I'm a Christian."

     And that fellow said, "What the blankety-blank you doin' out here, when
you ought to be in church?"

     Unsaved, old, Mississippi redneck.

     Now, that fellow really <I>blew <P>it! And he didn't have to do what he
was doing.

     Well, it finally came to a head. He was out there on Alabama Point. And
about a week before he was there, I took Marlin and Brother McGaughey and some
of us out there, and back in those days you had to swim across a thirty-foot
hole to get out to the bar, and walk the bar. Otherwise, you had to walk a
half-mile down the bar to get across. And so we swam across there with the
rods in our mouths, you know. Got out there on the bar, and had a pretty good
day's fishing.

     About the time we were to come in, here comes a boat. And the guy says,
"How'd you fellows get out here?"

     We said, "We swam across the channel."

     And he said, "Well, you better be careful. There's a 12-foot tiger shark
out here we've seen. He's been out here."

     Well, he might just have been pulling our legs, you know, but better have
<I>him <P>pull it than a tiger shark!

     And so, when we went back in, we didn't swim. We walked a quarter-mile
down there and around the bar and came on in.

     And the next Sunday Bill Sharpe was out fishin'. And he got out there in
that bar, about a quarter-mile out, on the west side, you used to be able to
walk out there, in about three feet of water, pitched on out about seven feet
of water, handmade Mickey's own rod, blank, you know, all kinds, you know,
$80, a hundred dollars worth of equipment. Pitches out there, and he got some
bluefish and a stringer. And he pitches out there and catches a blue and
starts coming in.

     And about that time a big ol' fin comes out of the water. That thing was
as big as a tabletop, man! I mean, it would make a porpoise, you know, look
like a minnow. And that thing is -- like that. And Bill takes one look at that
thing, and jerks, and OOP! And that thing's on the rod, whatever that thing
is. And he said he screamed, and then he took that rod, and beat the water--
that's the school's solution, you know; you're supposed to beat the water, and
they're supposed to get 'em--but that one didn't bother him! And that thing
just kept right on coming--twelve feet long, boy--a tiger.

     And he dropped that hundred dollars worth of junk and turned around and
headed for shore. And he told me, "You might not think that a man could run on
water, but he can!"

     He left $120 worth of rod and $40 worth of fish, and $20 worth of lure
out there on that thing, and that tiger shark after him. And when he told me
about it, I just laughed.

     Now, I didn't preach to him. I didn't have to. Because he knew what I was
thinking.

     And, if I were you, I'd be careful about your testimony on Sunday. And if
I were you, I'd set aside a day where you rested and did God's pleasure and
not your own.

     All right. <I>Father, bless the message this morning. I pray the Holy
Spirit of God will make these words plain and pure to this congregation. May
they understand their liberties and privileges under grace. May they
understand their obligations, Father, under grace, and not be taken in by all
this libertine, licentious stuff that's going on. We know the grace of God
doesn't appear to teach us to do what we want, but appears to teach us to live
soberly, righteously, godly in this present world--looking for the coming of
our great God and Saviour, Jesus Christ.<P>

     Now, let's remain in prayer a few minutes. I'm not going to give an
invitation this morning. But I'd like to have us pray a little while before we
leave, a little season of prayer here today. And, if there's anybody in this
building here this morning that is trusting in your work to save you, you're
trusting in the law to save you, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou
shalt be saved. You can't be saved by the law. You can't be saved by keeping
the law. But by the law is the knowledge of sin.

     God gave you these instructions to you to show you your need, and to show
you your lack--that's why He gave them to you.

     Let's pray a little while. <I>Lord, may we say with Paul the apostle, I
delight in thy law. The law is Spirit, for the law is good. May we delight in
it and confirm that these things are so, and right, and proper. And, Lord,
help us always to put your counsels first ahead of our own. Especially on this
day, the first day of the week, when Jesus rose, and when the Holy Spirit
came, and when the apostles met, and when they preached. Help your people not
to forget this day. May they assemble for preaching, and assemble for
exhortation, and assemble for prayer and for worship, for singing, for
exhortation, for encouragement. Lord, encourage somebody here this morning
that needs encouragement. Lord, give rest to somebody here today that needs
rest. Maybe there's somebody here that needs physical rest real bad, Father,
as well as spiritual rest. I pray that you might open a way for them to get
rested up, Father, and get things together. May you supply their need. If
they're not lazy, Lord, supply their need. If they're not lazy and willing to
work, then help them pay their bills, and, like the Old Testament said, make
the bed in sickness. Help them get the rest they need. And, Lord, if there's
any Christian here this morning doubting their salvation, we pray that they
might learn to rest in thee, and rest in your finished work, knowing that you
did what you did, and you finished your work, you said, "It's finished!" and
you sat down on the right hand of the throne to rest. Help us to rest with
you, and not worry, and doubt our salvation.<P>

     While we're still in prayer, is there anybody here this morning, you're
worried about your salvation, not sure whether you're saved or not, you got
your doubts about it? You can't say, "Brother Ruckman, I'm completely
satisfied." "I'm disturbed. I'm at unrest about my spiritual condition. I
think I'm saved. I believe I'm saved. But I don't know for sure. I want to
know." Would you raise your hand right now and let the congregation pray for
you as a congregation? Anybody here like that this morning? Doubting your
salvation, not sure about? Haven't learned to rest in the finished work of
Jesus Christ? Anybody like that here today? Nobody like that here today? Good.
You know you're saved? How many of you know you're saved? Will you raise your
hand? You know you're saved? All right good. Good.

     All right. <I>Father, bless the message, and bless your word. Bless us
tonight. Take care of us throughout the day. Lord, give us a great service for
thee tonight. We pray that the power of the Holy Spirit be manifest here
tonight in an unusual way. That you might save sinners. We're thankful for the
man who got saved last Sunday, Father, even though he didn't come forward. We
pray he might bring into open confession of thee this week someplace, that he
might stand up for thee. Lord, be with others tonight, give us a great time of
victory and jubilation in thee, and joy in the Holy Spirit. We pray it in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.<P>

     Amen, the Lord bless you, and good night.




