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Chapter 5, this is typically 
where we slow down the exposition because the fourth commandment 
is a bit more controversial than the other nine commandments and 
so I break it up into various parts and I'll explain a bit 
more of that as we go on, but I do want to read the section 
again, the giving of the law on the plains of Moab by God 
through Moses, Deuteronomy chapter 5 beginning in verse 1. And Moses 
called all Israel and said to them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes 
and judgments which I speak in your hearing today, that you 
may learn them and be careful to observe them. The Lord our 
God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make 
this covenant with our fathers, but with us, those who are here 
today, all of us who are alive. The Lord talked with you face 
to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire. I stood 
between the Lord and you at that time. to declare to you the word 
of the Lord, for you were afraid because of the fire, and you 
did not go up the mountain. He said, I am the Lord your God, 
who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of 
bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not 
make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that 
is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that 
is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them 
nor serve them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting 
the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, to the third and 
fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to 
thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. 
You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for 
the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Observe 
the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded 
you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the 
seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you 
shall do no work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your 
male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your 
donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within 
your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest 
as well as you. And remember that you were a 
slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you 
out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, 
the Lord your God commanded you to keep this sabbath day. Honor 
your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded 
you, that your days may be long and that it may be well with 
you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall 
not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, 
you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall 
not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your 
neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female 
servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. 
These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain, 
from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, 
with a loud voice. And he added, no more. And he 
wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me. Amen. As I said, there's a lot of differences 
of opinion with reference to the Fourth Commandment. We find 
that here in Deuteronomy chapter 5, in verses 12 to 15. So I think 
it's helpful to slow down to do a biblical theology of the 
Sabbath and try to explain why we, as Reformed believers, hold 
to the abiding validity of the Fourth Commandment. Our Confession 
of Faith, I think, has a wonderful summary statement concerning 
the Fourth Commandment in chapter 22, paragraph 7. It says, as 
it is the law of nature that in general a proportion of time 
by God's appointment be set apart for the worship of God. So what 
the divines are recognizing is that in general revelation, what 
they call here the law of nature, God's manifestation of himself 
through the created order to his image bearers, we know intrinsically 
and inherently that this God is, that he is to be feared, 
that he is to be worshiped, that he is to be glorified. So that 
principle is built in by God. Now we suppress truth in unrighteousness, 
we distort it and twist it by our own sinfulness, but man is 
hardwired in this particular way. So after stating that it's 
rooted in the law of nature, the basic principle to worship, 
it then goes on to designate that it comes by special revelation 
the specific day upon which we worship. Continues, so by his 
word and a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding 
all men in all ages, he has particularly appointed one day in seven for 
a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning 
of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of 
the week. And from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the 
first day of the week, which is called the Lord's day, and 
is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian 
Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished. So again, I think that's a great 
summary statement, a very comprehensive statement that does tie together 
both Testaments in terms of its presentation with reference to 
the Fourth Commandment, specifically observance of the Sabbath day. 
Now, for those who are dispensational in their theology, and if you 
don't know what that word means, I'm sorry, we're not going to 
get into a detailed explanation, but it's the opposite of covenant 
theology. So a dispensationalist does not 
believe that the Ten Commandments are binding upon the Church today. 
They believe that the commands given by God at Sinai were specifically 
for Jews. So when we get to the New Testament, 
unless something is repeated or unless something is specified 
in the New Testament, it's no longer binding upon the people 
of God. And so they find, interestingly, 
MacArthur, for instance, in his study Bible, finds nine of the 
ten commandments repeated in the New Testament. Of course, 
he doesn't find the fourth commandment. So a dispensationalist would 
think that we are Judaizing the new covenant, or they might be 
tempted to think that. Some do, for sure, that we're 
Judaizing. We're taking old covenant things 
and placing them in a new covenant context, and that we're unauthorized 
to do that. So dispensationalism differs 
with reference to the Sabbath commandment. As well, we have 
those within Calvinistic Baptist churches that would claim adherence 
to the 1689. Yet they typically would take exception to chapter 
22. So chapter 22 not only specifies 
the Sabbath day, but it also specifies regulative principle 
of worship. So those who say they're 1689 
confessionalists and they're Reformed Baptists, I'm not saying 
they're Satan. I'm not saying they're the Antichrist. 
I'm just trying to explain some of the intramural debates that 
we have with other brethren that confess the same confession. 
They typically do not see continuity between the covenants, and therefore 
they do not hold to the Sabbath in principle. They do not receive 
it as a command from God to those in the new covenant. Now, when 
we look at this confessional statement, it says that, so by 
his word in a positive moral. So I've tried to explain the 
threefold division of the law. We've got moral, which is the 
Ten Commandments. We've got ceremonial, which is 
all those things applying to worship, prefiguring and typifying 
the Lord Jesus. And then there's judicial law. 
You see those three categories in the book of Exodus, Exodus 
20. Ten Commandments is the moral law. Exodus 21 to 23, you've 
got judicial law, those laws taken, those general principles 
of the moral law and applied to civil polity. And then from 
25 to 40, you have ceremonial law, the instruction for the 
tabernacle, the instruction for the priesthood, those things 
that were to serve Israel's cultic or religious life. So the argument 
is that the moral law is perpetual, it continues, it doesn't matter 
what covenant you find yourself in, the Ten Commandments are 
always the revelation of God's will for His people, all men, 
everywhere, at all times. Now the judicial law, we learn 
wisdom from it, but technically it has expired with the Commonwealth 
of Israel. But we can glean general equity 
principles from the judicial law and make new covenant application. Ceremonial law is no longer. 
It's fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ. Ceremonial law is also 
positive law. Positive law refers to those 
things that God commands for a specific instance or a specific 
time. They're not moral. For instance, 
God, in positive or ceremonial law, commanded the children of 
Israel not to eat pork. There's no moral principle there. 
Some would argue, well, it's not as safe, it's not as healthy. 
But that's never intended or it's never specified by the text. 
Don't eat pork because you'll get whatever that disease is, 
trichosis or whatever, whatever you get from bad pork. That's 
not the argument. It was to differentiate them 
from the Gentile nations around them. So there's no moral principle 
prohibiting pork. There's no moral principle prohibiting 
shellfish. It was ceremonial, or it was 
positive, and it was commanded for a specific time. So with 
reference to the Sabbath commandment, the divines rightly conclude 
that it's both positive and moral. It's moral based on the reality 
that God is, that he is to be feared, that he is to be loved, 
that he is to be worshipped, and that a day ought to be set 
aside for the worship of God. That's the moral aspect of the 
fourth commandment. The positive aspect is the specific 
day upon which we worship. And so in the Old Covenant, the 
positive aspect was Saturday Sabbath keeping. In the New Covenant, 
and I hope to show this to us, or to all of us, if not next 
week, the following week, but the positive aspect in terms 
of the New Covenant is first day worship. It's Sunday worship. And so both positive and moral 
we see in this particular commandment. So we have differences among 
Calvinistic Baptists. We have differences, obviously, 
with dispensationalists. And so we want to make sure that 
if we are charged with legalism or Judaizing, we're able to give 
a biblical defense and rationale for why we believe that the Sabbath 
abides for the people of God in this new covenant era. So 
tonight we'll look at the exposition of the commandment, what it says 
in Deuteronomy chapter 5, and then secondly we'll take up the 
Sabbath in the Old Covenant, and that should bring us to a 
conclusion, and then God willing next time we'll continue on into 
the New Covenant. So note first in terms of the 
positive aspect, verse 12, observe the Sabbath day. In Exodus chapter 
20, it's remember the Sabbath day. And interestingly, and we'll 
see this in a moment, in Exodus 20, they're told to remember 
something, which indicates it was already in play. It was already 
present. It was already something that 
was there. It wasn't a brand new command. Sabbath did not 
originate at Sinai. That argument is faulty. That 
argument is incorrect. And God willing, we'll see that. 
So remember or observe. The Israelites were to remember 
that. which had already been in place. And as we move through 
the Old Covenant, we'll see it from Genesis chapter 2, Genesis 
chapter 4, and then Exodus chapter 16. All passages prior to the 
giving of the law by God at Sinai through Moses. The Israelites 
were to remember that which was already in place. The Israelites 
were to observe that which had already been in place. So remember 
and observe. And note specifically in verse 
12, observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your 
God commanded you. The activity of God recorded 
for us in Genesis chapter 2 verses 1 to 3 is a pattern, it's a paradigm, 
it is a plan from God for his creatures that they are to do 
likewise and Sabbath on the day that he has appointed for that 
reality. So notice again we have this 
emphasis, keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded. Now, 
from the positive aspect to observe and remember, we move to the 
prohibition. Notice in verse 13, six days 
you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is 
the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, 
you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your 
female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your 
cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your 
male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. So a cessation from labor, that's 
the prohibition. And the Fourth Commandment infers 
or implies six days of labor. So we call these creation ordinances. When you look at Genesis chapters 
1 to 3, there are certain things, as I said, are paradigmatic or 
a pattern for posterity, for mankind, the ordinance of labor. the ordinance of marriage, the 
ordinance of Sabbath. Those things are all built right 
in to the ethical structure in Genesis 1 to 3. When we're redeemed 
by Christ through his precious blood, we are new men and women 
in Christ Jesus, God doesn't give us a brand new set of ethics. 
He doesn't give us a brand new set of rules. He doesn't give 
us a brand new set of laws. But rather, he points us back 
to the Decalogue. He also points us back to those 
Genesis ethics in chapters 1 to 3. When Paul argues for male 
headship, he doesn't do it based on cultural norms. He doesn't 
do it based on the strength of the man according to nature. He argues from Genesis. He argues 
from what God had intended in terms of creation. So male headship 
in the life of the church, 1 Corinthians 11, 1 Timothy chapter 2, the 
argument is not cultural, the argument is creational. Same 
thing when it comes to husbands and wives. When Paul comes to 
deal in Ephesians 5 with husbands, love your wives, wives submit 
to your own husbands as unto the Lord, where does he ground 
that? He grounds it in the book of Genesis. So when we are saved 
by God through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, we're not handed 
a new set of ethics. We're handed the Decalogue. The 
Spirit enables us to comply with those things. There is an advocate 
with the Father when we don't comply with those things. But 
as well, creation, what God intended for creation to be, is what new 
men and women in Christ Jesus are supposed to pursue. So no 
regular work is to be done on the Sabbath day. As we move on 
in our biblical theology of the Sabbath, we will see that works 
of necessity are authorized, as are works of mercy. And we 
see that in the ministry of the Lord Jesus in Matthew 12, which 
we'll get to in due time. But notice not only a prohibition, 
but the scope. Everybody is supposed to cease 
from their regular labor. Everybody is supposed to get 
a Sabbath. Everybody is supposed to enjoy 
that rhythm of a six-in-one cycle. Do the hard work. The six days, 
you're supposed to labor. You're supposed to do all that 
has been commanded and all that is your vocation. But there is 
to be a cessation. No one related to the covenant 
family, even beasts of burden. So the implications are obvious. 
A cessation from regular employment. Again, works of necessity and 
mercy. What if somebody's a nurse or a doctor and they have to 
work on Sunday? That's authorized. That's permitted. 
I would say, you know, try to make it such that you don't have 
to work every Sunday and works of mercy. The Lord Jesus upbraided 
the Pharisees of his day. If you have an ox or a donkey 
that falls into a pit, you don't leave him there because it's 
the Sabbath day. You fetch him out. Well, shall not Jesus heal 
a man on the Sabbath day? Or shall not Jesus heal a woman 
on the Sabbath day? So works of necessity and mercy 
are authorized. And no one related to the covenant 
family are to engage in regular employment. The necessity for 
labor on the other six days, the fourth word reflects that. 
Those two creation ordinances, labor and rest, labor and Sabbath. And then, of course, the pursuit 
of holy things. Now, continuing in verse 15, 
you see the rationale given by God for this commandment. So he's got the positive aspect. 
Observe it. Keep it holy. He's got the negative 
or the prohibition. Don't do any normal work. The 
scope of it includes your family. It includes your beasts. It includes 
your slaves. It includes everything that is 
connected to you. And here's the reason for it 
according to verse 15. And remember that you were a 
slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you 
out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, 
the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Now 
turn back for just a moment to the book of Exodus, Exodus chapter 
20. Exodus chapter 20, same law, same Decalogue, same Ten Commandments, 
different contexts. Here Sinai, Deuteronomy, Plains 
of Moab. Here the previous generation, 
Deuteronomy, the second generation. Here, the children of God are 
about to go into the wilderness. Here, Deuteronomy, Plains of 
Moab, they're about to go into the land of promise. So notice 
again, or notice with me Exodus 20 at verse 8. Remember the Sabbath 
day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and 
do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord 
your God. In it you shall do no work, you nor your son, nor 
your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, 
nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. Now 
here's the rationale or the reason. For in six days the Lord made 
the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, 
and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the 
Sabbath day and hallowed it. So here the argument or the rationale 
is creation. That's why we start our biblical 
theology of the Sabbath at creation. We're going to look at Genesis 
2 tonight. But in Deuteronomy, it's redemption. Remember that 
you were slaves in Egypt, and you have been redeemed from that. 
So those twin concepts of creation and redemption is the rationale 
for Old Covenant Sabbath keeping. When we get to the New Covenant 
and we argue for the day change, we will see specifically in Hebrews 
chapter 4 that creation and redemption are the argument for the change 
of the day, or for continued Sabbath keeping, but the day 
change is indicated there as well. And in fact, in Hebrews 
chapter 4, it says unequivocally, there remains therefore a Sabbath 
rest for the people of God. So it's a very compelling text, 
and I think the context makes clear what the apostle is doing 
in terms of not only calling upon the people of God to continue 
that Sabbath observance, but he indicates the day change, 
at least in terms of its theology, and he does so based on creation 
and redemption. So my point here, remember those 
twin concepts. The rationale for Sabbath keeping, 
according to Exodus 20, is creation. The rationale for Sabbath-keeping 
in Deuteronomy is redemption. Those aren't contradictories. 
They are supplementary. And they are both those things 
that God grounds the fourth commandment in. So now, the Sabbath in the 
Old Covenant. You can turn to Genesis chapter 
2. Genesis chapter two, you remember the scene, God creates the heavens 
and the earth, all things in it. And then in Genesis chapter 
two at verse one, we read, thus the heavens and the earth and 
all the host of them were finished. And on the seventh day, God ended 
his work, which he had done, and he rested on the seventh 
day from all his work, which he had done. Then God blessed 
the seventh day and sanctified it because in it, he rested from 
all his work, which God had created and made. So the end of his work, 
the end of his work is highlighted, which he had done, the work of 
the six days in terms of creation, calling all things out of nothing 
by the word of his power in the space of six days and all very 
good. Now, that doesn't mean that we're 
deists. that God made the world, and 
now He has ceased completely. It means that He's not continuing 
in that process of creating the earth. That's what the text refers 
to. In John 5, 17, Jesus says, My 
Father has been working until now, and I have been working. So God didn't stop working completely. but rather God in terms of the 
creation of the universe stopped because he completed it, and 
he was complacent with it or satisfied in it, and he rests 
on the seventh day. The Lord did not rest because 
he was weary. Again, remember the Bible is 
accommodated to us. God doesn't rest. He's not weary. 
He doesn't need a nap. If you and I created the world 
in six days, we'd need a nap along the way. We'd get tired. 
We'd need to lay down. We'd need an iced tea along the 
way. But that's not what it means 
there in terms of God's rest. It was rest and refreshment. In fact, you can leave your pencil 
in Genesis 2, assuming you have a pencil, and turn to Exodus 
31. Exodus chapter 31. We'll bounce back to Genesis 
in a moment. But notice in Exodus 31, specifically 
at verse 17. It is a sign between me and the 
children of Israel forever, for in six days the Lord made the 
heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and 
was refreshed." Again, two terms predicated of God improperly. 
He doesn't need rest, and He doesn't need refreshment. He 
is the ever-blessed God. He is unchanging. This is language 
accommodated for us. It's spoken in the manner of 
men so that we can get our minds wrapped around what's happening 
in terms of Sabbath. And so back to Genesis chapter 
2, while you're turning there, Owen says, it was not a rest 
of weariness from the labor of his work, but a rest of complacency 
and delight in what he had wrought that God entered into. Meredith 
Klein, in a very helpful book, if not a bit complicated in part, 
it's called Kingdom Prologue, says the Creator's Sabbath rest 
is much more a matter of taking satisfaction and delight in his 
consummated building. So it's a rejoicing, it's a delight, 
it's a satisfaction in what he has done. So that's the idea 
behind rest. But as well, there's more of 
a macrocosmic thing going on in terms of the creation week. 
Yes, God made the heavens and the earth, but there's some other 
sorts of things going on, and it's the enthronement of God 
the Lord. It's the enthronement of the 
king after he had completed His temple. So God in creation basically 
structured a cosmic temple. And again, if you want to leave 
your pencil there or just listen to me read Isaiah 66 and verse 
1. Isaiah 66 and verse 1. Thus says the Lord, heaven is 
my throne and earth is my footstool. Where is the house that you will 
build me, and where is the place of my rest? For all those things 
my hand has made, and all those things exist, says the Lord. 
But on this one will I look, on him who is poor, and of a 
contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word." So the text says, 
heaven is my throne, and earth is my footstool. So what we see 
in Genesis 2 is the creator, the Lord, the sovereign, the 
blessed God, is now taking his seat on the throne of the universe. And so again, Meredith Klein 
says, the cosmic structure was built as a habitation for the 
creator himself. Heaven and earth were erected 
as a house of God, a palace of the great king, the seat of sovereignty 
of the Lord of the Covenant. And I think this theme is very 
important. I think it gets overlooked at times. What we have in Genesis 
2 is a temple. It's a sanctuary. In fact, Adam's 
vocation specifically is not agrarian. Adam's vocation specifically 
is priestly. He is to function in the service 
of God Most High. The language that is used here, 
in fact, 2.1, notice, thus the heavens and the earth and all 
the host of them were finished. Same language that you see applied 
to the tabernacle in Exodus chapter 40. And then in verse 15, then 
the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden 
to tend and keep it, to guard it, to protect it. That was the 
purpose for the priests and the Levites with reference to tabernacle 
and temple. So what you have is a cosmic 
temple and God entering into his rest upon his holy throne. 
Heaven is his throne and earth is his footstool. This is comprehensive 
majestic sovereignty. Jim Hamilton says, God is presented 
as building for himself a cosmic temple. In this cosmic temple 
he places his image, whose task is to fill the earth and subdue 
it such that the glory of Yahweh covers the land as the waters 
cover the sea. Again, that's what God is doing. 
He makes man in His image, and He calls that man to multiply, 
to be fruitful, to extend that garden sanctuary to encompass 
the entirety of the earth. The man was to tend it. He was 
to guard it. He was to keep it. But because 
he was derelict in his duty, the serpent comes in. He tricks 
Eve, Eve takes the fruit and hands it to Adam, he forfeits 
all that he had in terms of that communion and blessedness with 
God. And so it becomes the task of the last Adam, our Lord Jesus, 
to recover what was lost in the Garden of Eden. So this idea 
of temple and this idea of majesty even transcending what we can 
see, touch, and feel here on this present Earth, that's what's 
behind the scenes, and that's what's going on in this particular 
situation. So he expresses his delight, 
and then he is enthroned as creator. So he's called man to function 
in Genesis 1, 26 to 28, to exercise dominion over the creatures. 
But it's God who has dominion over man. It's God who has dominion 
over all things. He's given delegated dominion 
to man to exercise as his image bearer, and again, to multiply 
that image throughout the earth to manifest the glory of the 
God of heaven and earth. And then with reference to the 
blessing of the seventh day. Notice verse 3, then, God blessed 
the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from 
all his work which God had created and made. G.K. Beale makes this 
observation about this language of bless in a context arguing 
that chapter 2, verse 3 includes a mandate to humans. Okay, because 
you don't see a command there. Verse 3a or 3b or 3c doesn't 
say, and therefore every man everywhere ought to obey the 
Sabbath. That's not there. But as Beal argues, it is there. 
Listen to what he says. The Hebrew word for bless is 
normally restricted to living beings in the Old Testament. 
and typically does not apply to something being blessed or 
sanctified only for God's sake. Accordingly, Genesis 2-3 appears 
to be directed to humanity as a creational ordinance to regard 
the seventh day of each week to be blessed and set apart by 
God." So again, it's a paradigm, it's a pattern, it's an example. It is for us that come after 
Adam, Adam obviously, but us who come after him, so that our 
understanding of the Sabbath begins in Genesis 2. And we're 
warranted by Sinai, because in Exodus 20, what's the argument 
for Sabbath? Remember the Sabbath? It's because 
in six days the Lord your God made the heavens and the earth. 
in the six days of creation. And then on the seventh day, 
he rested, and he blessed it. So Genesis 2, 1 to 3, if it is 
not a vital component of our biblical theology of the Sabbath, 
or if as a dispensationalist, we simply say, well, we're not 
Jews, and Jews received the law at Sinai. We're going to see 
in a moment that this was made, this command was given, or this 
pattern is given to Adam as man, not as Jew. It's not a Sinaitic 
thing. It certainly involves Sinai, 
and it certainly involves the Jews, but it's for all men everywhere 
at all times. So the vast majority of the uses 
of sanctify or set apart refer to God, people, or religious 
things. And the only day said to be set 
apart or holy in the Old Testament are Sabbaths and various festival 
days. In fact, look at Genesis 1.14. 
Genesis 1.14. There's a beautiful sort of literary 
expression that you find in the six days of creation. And some 
have suggested that because it's such a beautiful literary sort 
of formation or structure, therefore it mustn't be true. Well, why 
can't we have truth revealed in a beautiful literary structure? 
I mean, we are dealing with the infinitely wise and glorious 
and good God. Just because there's a good literary 
structure doesn't mean that it mustn't be true. It's like to 
say that the Proverbs 31 woman, that description is an acrostic, 
which is a beautiful literary structure. Does that mean that 
none of you ladies have to do with that lady in Proverbs 31? 
Of course not. The Book of Lamentations is an 
acrostic, except for the last chapter. Every verse continues 
alphabetically till the third chapter. I think it's the third 
or fourth. My mind is slipping here. There's 66 verses. So you've got three A's, three 
B's, three C's continuing through the Hebrew alphabet. So a beautiful 
literary structure doesn't argue against the truth that is conveyed 
by that literary structure. But the structure is day one, 
light. Day four, light, bearers. Day two, sea and sky. Day five, 
fish and birds. Day three, land. Day six, land 
creatures. But with reference to day four, 
we oftentimes, and rightly so, focus upon light bearers. It's good to think about the 
sun and the moon and the stars. It's not to worship them. We 
saw that prohibition in Deuteronomy chapter 4. But there's something 
else going on in Genesis 1-14. Notice, then God said, let there 
be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day 
from the night and let them be for, notice, signs and seasons 
and for days and years. Now the calendar in Old Covenant 
Israel was pretty vital. It's pretty important. Sabbath 
days, feast days, we've gone through most of the Pentateuch 
by this point. We've seen a lot of emphases 
on feast days. We see a lot of emphasis on calendar. 
We see emphasis on calendar in the book of Galatians when Paul 
is arguing against Judaizing. Why is that? Because calendar 
is important in Old Covenant Israel. So these light bearers 
are helpful for the division from day and night, but also 
for signs and for seasons. In fact, one of the texts in 
Exodus, you can turn to Exodus 31. We looked at one of the texts. There's another one that I wanted 
to see, Exodus 31. Exodus 31, 13, speak also to 
the children of Israel saying, surely my Sabbaths you shall 
keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations 
that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. Verse 
17, it is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever 
for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and 
on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. Sign being 
used a little bit differently. This is sort of a badge connecting 
God and old covenant Israel. this concept in 114 concerning 
the signs with reference to the calendar is very important. And as Beale says, in every case 
the day is clearly set apart for humans to observe. So it's 
pretty compelling from there. Now turn to Mark chapter 2. So we've just looked at the Sabbath 
at creation set forth. We'll look at the Sabbath at 
creation explained. I realize we're doing an old 
covenant biblical theology tonight, so why are we bouncing into Mark? 
Well, because Jesus explains what's happening in the creation 
account in Mark, Mark chapter two. Now it happened that he 
went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and as they went, 
his disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees 
said to him, look, why do they do what is not lawful on the 
Sabbath? They've assumed that it's not lawful. They've assumed 
that they're breaking the law. They've assumed because they 
haven't gotten. They don't understand. This is 
one of those works of necessity. If you're going to starve to 
death, you can pick grain. If you're going to choke to death 
because you don't have water, you can pick up a canteen. The 
law was never made to crush you. The law was never made to destroy 
you. The law that the Pharisees were, 
but not the law as it came from God through the hand of Moses. 
So notice in verse 25, but he said to them, have you never 
read what David did when he was in need and hungry? He and those 
with him, how he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar 
the high priest and ate the show bread, which is not lawful to 
eat except for the priests, and also gave some to those who were 
with him. In other words, that was stipulated by law. That was 
governed by law. But David did it. Nobody ever 
had a problem with that. Why? Because everybody recognizes 
that it was a work of necessity. It was legitimate to do that 
in that situation so that David and his men could be refreshed 
and move on. So notice then in verse 27, he said to them, the 
Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, 
the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. So look at where 
he goes. The Sabbath was made for man 
and not man for the Sabbath. He's not going to Sinai. He's 
going to Genesis when things were made. He's going to Genesis 
when things were built. He's going to Genesis where God 
exemplified the pattern for his creatures in terms of Sabbath. The Sabbath, note again, was 
made for man, tan-anthropon, not the Jew. There you go. Arjun's 
studying Greek. He hopefully got that. If not, 
then I'm going to call his professor and yell at him. No. The Sabbath 
was made for man, not Jew. What do you think Jesus has in 
mind when he says the Sabbath was made for man? He has Adam 
in mind. He has mankind in mind. He doesn't have Sinai or plains 
of Moab, certainly probably does, but he's got the creation account 
where God sabbathed and God blessed that day. Subsequent, or all 
creatures subsequent from the hand of God would know that. 
I'm going to argue in a minute that Adam did know that. J.C. 
Ryle says, God gave it for Adam in paradise and renewed it to 
Israel on Mount Sinai. It was made for all mankind, 
not for the Jew only, but for the whole family of Adam. So 
that dispensational mindset is simply not warranted by scripture. Jesus says it's made for man, 
not Jewish man, not Israelite man, not Old Covenant man, but 
man, Adam man, mankind, every single human being. And no, the 
Sabbath was made for man. This is one of those commandments 
that people get hung up on and they say, well, it's so oppressive. 
You mean I can't go to Lake? I can't go to Tim Hortons? Praise 
God you can't go to Tim Hortons, just kidding. Just a joke. But it's a gift given by God, 
a cessation of labor, a day to keep holy, a day to traffic with 
our blessed God. Hopkins says the Sabbath is but 
one day younger than man. It's the gift given by God to 
Adam. There are cultures that I've 
read in the past where missionaries, Christians, have gone and have 
explained the Sabbath principle, and certain cultures are shocked. 
Your God gives you a day off? Your God gives you rest? Your 
God gives you cessation from labor? Yeah, our God is good. He gave us the Sabbath. It's 
a gift. The son of man, then, is Lord 
of the Sabbath. And as I'm going to quote later 
on as we move through the material, a fellow by the name of James 
Gilfillan points out that Jesus many times argues with the Pharisees 
on Sabbath. not necessarily on the Sabbath, 
but on the doctrine of the Sabbath. And Gilfillan points out, why, 
if he was going to tear it down, why, if he was going to obliterate 
it, why, if he was going to cast it into the field of irrelevance 
for the New Covenant community, does he take such pains in arguing 
for the validity of it? to clear away the Pharisaic misinterpretation, 
to upbraid them for being more concerned about their donkey 
that fell into a ditch than some bleeding bent-over woman that 
was hemorrhaging inside. So the Lord Jesus wouldn't spend 
all this time fixing the house only to tear it down by his death 
and resurrection. It just doesn't make any sense. 
So the Sabbath wars of our Lord Jesus Christ are very instructive 
in terms of those things specified by the commandment. So now back 
to the Old Testament and go to Genesis chapter 4. Genesis chapter 
4. So we've seen the Sabbath at 
creation set forth, the Sabbath at creation explained, now the 
Sabbath observance of Cain and Abel. Genesis chapter 4, we know the 
story. Now Adam knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, 
and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore 
again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of 
sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in the process 
of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the 
fruit of the ground to the Lord. So just working backwards in 
the text, they knew to sacrifice. They knew to sacrifice, right? 
Abel brings animals. Cain brings fruits. How do you 
think they knew to sacrifice? Well, because their father Adam 
told them. How do you think Adam knew? Because 
God killed animals, according to Genesis 321, and took their 
skins and clothed Adam and Eve. He showed blood atonement all 
the way back in the garden. So Adam told Cain and Abel that 
you need to sacrifice. Working backwards in the text 
to the front, if that makes sense. Notice that phrase, and in the 
process of time. If you're using the New King 
James, find your margin, find the note at 4-3. It's literally 
at the end of days. at the end of days, not in the 
process of time. I mean, that's not a bad translation. We don't throw the Bible out 
because of a bad translation or because that's a bad translation. 
But in the, excuse me, at the end of days, the end of days 
of what? Not the end of the days of life. 
It's not the second coming. It's not the judgment. It's the 
end of the days of the week. The end of the days of the week, 
they knew to bring sacrifice to God. As Matthew Poole says, 
more probably at the end of the days of the week, or upon the 
seventh and last day of the week, Saturday, which then was the 
Sabbath day, which before this time was blessed and sanctified. 
He appeals to Genesis 2, 3. So what God does in Genesis 2, 
3, he instructs Adam. What Adam learns from God's sacrifice 
and the day appropriate to sacrifice, he passes on to Cain and to Abel. So the offerings of the sons 
and the practice ultimately was informed by the Lord. Certainly 
Adam taught them, but Adam learned it from God. Calvin says, the 
custom of sacrificing was not rashly decided by them, but was 
divinely delivered to them. That there is a God, that He 
is to be loved, that He is to be worshipped, that He is to 
be feared, men know that by the law of nature. But how that God 
is to be worshipped, it comes through revelation. So God revealed 
to Adam both sacrifice of atonement in the killing of the animals 
and the clothing them with the skins and the necessity for sacrifice 
to God at the end of days. Now then, we move on to the Sabbath 
prior to Sinai. Not that this isn't, but Exodus 
chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16, the Sabbath 
prior to Sinai. There's instructions for gathering 
manna. Notice in verses four and five, 
then the Lord said to Moses, behold, I will rain bread from 
heaven for you. And the people shall go out and 
gather a certain quota every day that I may test them, whether 
they will walk in my law or not. And it shall be on the sixth 
day that they shall prepare what they bring in. And it shall be 
twice as much as they gather daily. That is further explained 
then in verses 22 to 26. Notice in verse 22, and so it 
was on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread, 
two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation 
came and told Moses. Then he said to them, this is 
what the Lord has said. Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest. Remember, 
this is before Exodus 20. This is before the Sinai covenant. 
This is before God spake the Decalogue. What's the instruction? Assume? What's the instruction? Presuppose? What's the instruction? Argue for? That there was a Sabbath 
already in play and they had been observing it and remembering 
it. How did they learn of it? Divine revelation through Adam, 
through Cain and Abel, through subsequent generations, to the 
children of Israel, out in this particular situation having come 
out of Egypt. So verse 23, then he said, this 
is what the Lord has said. Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a 
holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today 
and boil what you will boil and lay up for yourselves all that 
remains to be kept until morning. So they laid it up till morning 
as Moses commanded and it did not stink nor were there any 
worms in it. Then Moses said, eat that today, 
for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find 
it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, 
but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none. This predates 
Sinai. In fact, Turretin says, this 
could not have been said unless the Sabbath had already been 
instituted and commanded by God. There's no way. In that book 
I mentioned on the threefold division of the law by Philip 
Ross, he makes the similar observation. Does Exodus 16 not suggest that 
they were aware of an obligation to rest before they heard the 
Decalogue? It's there. You can't argue it 
away. It's present. So in our biblical 
theology of the Sabbath, we begin in Genesis 2. We see it in Genesis 
chapter 4. We see it in Exodus 16. And of 
course, we see it here in Exodus 20 and in Deuteronomy chapter 
5. Positive command, the prohibition, 
and then the reason. What was the reason? Creation 
and redemption. It's going to be very important 
when we get to Hebrews 4. Creation and redemption. So then 
let's move finally to the prophet Isaiah. Actually, almost finally. Isaiah chapter 56. Isaiah chapter 
56. Most commentators interpret this 
section as messianic, meaning it applies to the time of the 
Messiah. We know that from that fourth 
servant song in Isaiah 52 and 53, where it talks about the 
man of sorrows who's acquainted with grief. Isaiah 54 speaks 
about God blessing the children of God. Isaiah 55, on the heels 
of all of that blessed redemption, we have that great call from 
God, O everyone who thirsts, let him come, let him gain rest 
from me. Without money, come buy and eat. 
And then in 56, we see something prophesied concerning the New 
Covenant. Something prophesied concerning 
the new covenant. And notice, it is eunuchs participating 
in Sabbath and in the house of God. So we know this cannot be 
Old Covenant-ish, because in the Old Covenant, eunuchs were 
prohibited from entering the assembly of the Lord, Deuteronomy 
23.1. If you have the Old King James Version, it renders that 
text in a kind of humorous way. You can look at that later. But 
Deuteronomy 23.1. Basically, the newer translations 
say whoever is emasculated or whatever the specifics it uses, 
if you were a eunuch, you didn't get to come into the assembly 
of God. So Isaiah 56 is prophesying a time when eunuchs will have 
full privilege into the very assembly of God Almighty. Now, 
in Acts 8, just want to mention this, when Philip meets that 
Ethiopian eunuch, it's a wonderful salvation story of an individual 
sinner. It's beautiful, right? The Ethiopian 
eunuch's reading the prophet Isaiah. Philip says, do you know 
what you're reading? He says, how could I unless somebody 
explains it? And then it says, Philip preached 
Jesus from Isaiah 53. Okay? Great story. Wonderful 
testimony. But you've got to connect it 
to the larger redemptive scope of Scripture. This is the prophet 
Isaiah coming to fruition in Acts 8. The inclusion of the 
eunuch into the full privilege of the people of God is the fulfillment 
of the prophecy of Isaiah, chapter 56. So it's a new covenant. It's messianic. It's connected 
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And that messianic connection 
to the Lord Jesus Christ involves Sabbath keeping. in the new covenant. So notice in verses 2, 4, and 
6, chapter 56, blessed is the man who does this and the son 
of man who lays hold on it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbath 
and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Verse 4, for thus says 
the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and choose what pleases 
me and hold fast my covenant. Verse six, also the sons of the 
foreigner who join themselves to the Lord to serve him and 
to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone 
who keeps from deviling the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant. Even 
them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful 
in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their 
sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall 
be called a house of prayer for all nations. That's new covenant 
messianic language. It's a house of prayer for all 
the nations. This, you know, reeks of the 
promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and you all the families 
of the earth shall be blessed. This is a new covenant prophecy. 
And in new covenant prophecy, Sabbath keeping is a part of 
it. And it's not a chore. It's not a burden. It's a blessing. The eunuchs who were once banished 
from the assembly of the Lord are welcomed into the assembly 
of the Lord on the Sabbath day to the house of prayer to have 
access to the Father through the Son and the Spirit. It's 
wonderful. And then notice in Isaiah chapter 
58, Isaiah chapter 58. Verse 1, cry aloud, spare not, 
lift up your voice like a trumpet, tell my people their transgression, 
and the house of Jacob their sin. So God now comes to complain 
about the children of Israel in that old covenant setting 
for their sin. And he highlights two specifics, 
fasting and Sabbath. When they fasted, they didn't 
use it profitably, they didn't do what they should have done 
when they were fasting. But then notice Sabbath, in verse 
13, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing 
your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, 
the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor him, not doing 
your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your 
own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will 
cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed 
you with the heritage of Jacob your father, the mouth of the 
Lord has spoken, Look at it. You don't get this drudgery and 
this oppressiveness and this burdensomeness of Sabbath from 
Scripture. You get it from Pharisees. You get it from people that twist 
Scripture. But you don't get it from the 
positive presentation in Scripture. In fact, Turretin says, experience 
teaches too well that license and negligence of sacred things 
grows more and more where a proper regard is not shown for the Lord's 
day. And then Voss, I love this statement from Gerardus Voss. 
The Sabbath has faithfully accompanied the people of God on their march 
through the ages. That's beautiful. That's the 
way we ought to appreciate and appropriate that blessed blessed 
day. E.J. Young commenting on the 
book of Isaiah. He says, the Sabbath was not 
merely a mosaic ordinance, it was far more. It was instituted 
at creation and is a pattern of the heavenly Sabbath rest 
which the redeemed are to enjoy in the presence of their eternal 
God. In the great calamity of the exile that was to come upon 
them, Isaiah stresses the Sabbath as, in a sense, the heart of 
true devotion to God. He who keeps the Sabbath as it 
is intended to be kept will be happy in the Lord of the Sabbath. 
Again, it's positive. It's not a negative. It's not 
a burden. It's not the curse or the bane of the old covenant 
that we are somehow importing into the new covenant and binding 
the people of God with some Judaizing principle. That's not it at all. It's a delightful day. It's a 
blessed day. It's a wonderful gift that God 
has given to the children of God. And then one final text 
is Jeremiah 31, and we'll close here. Jeremiah 31, as I've mentioned 
on several occasions in this study in God's law, here you 
have an Old Covenant prophet prophesying New Covenant blessing. 
An Old Covenant prophet prophesying New Covenant blessing. Notice 
in Jeremiah 31, 31. Behold, the days are coming, 
says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house 
of Israel and with the house of Judah, not according to the 
covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took 
them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, my 
covenant which they broke, You could break the Old Covenant. 
You could be in and then out. That's a distinctive difference 
between the Old and the New Covenant. If you're in the New Covenant, 
by God's grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, you're not out. 
You don't lose it. You're not kicked out. Our covenant 
head was faithful, and we, by virtue of our union with him, 
are kept and preserved unto the day of Christ. You could break 
the Old Covenant, and you could be thrown out of the Old Covenant. 
You cannot break the New Covenant if you're in the New Covenant. 
That's a blessed reality. That's a good thing. There's 
nothing that shall separate us from the love of God which is 
in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not because of us, but because 
of Christ. Because of the covenant head. 
Because of his perfect obedience. Because of his sacrificial death 
on the cross. Because he is the mediator of 
the new covenant. We have every spiritual blessing 
in the heavenly places in Christ. It's not that we get these blessings 
for a time, we mess up on a Thursday, and God rips them away from us. 
That's not it at all. This is a distinctive discontinuity 
between the Old and the New Covenants. The Old Covenant, you could break, 
you could apostatize, you could be thrown out. But in terms of 
New Covenant, you can't break it if you're in Christ. So my 
covenant, which they broke, Though I was a husband to them, says 
the Lord. But this is the covenant that 
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says 
the Lord." So these things that we're going to look at in just 
a moment were had by the saved in the Old Covenant. David had 
it. Isaac, and Abraham, and Jacob, 
and Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, they all had these blessings. They weren't essential features 
of the Old Covenant. They're essential features of 
the New Covenant. They can be had in the Old Covenant, 
but not by virtue of the Old Covenant. What was the Old Covenant? 
Do this and live. They looked to the promise of 
God in the New Covenant, the Lord Jesus Christ, and by virtue 
of that, they had these blessings. But these were not essential 
features in the Old Covenant. You could be an Old Covenant 
member in good standing and not be forgiven of your sin. You 
could be an Old Covenant member in good standing and not have 
the law of God internalized in you. You could be an Old Covenant 
member in good standing, devoid of these features, but these 
features are absolutely essential in the New Covenant. This is 
one of the reasons why we argue for credo baptism. The New Covenant 
has some discontinuity with the Old Covenant. In the Old Covenant, 
you were circumcised, you were in. It didn't matter whether 
you were saved or not. But when you get to the New Covenant, 
it does matter if you are saved or not. You're not in the New 
Covenant if you're not saved. So the argument is that those 
who are in the New Covenant, those who are saved, are the 
ones that get baptized, are the ones that get the sacrament. It was a different scenario in 
the Old Covenant. So these features were there. 
but by virtue of the promise of God to save by Jesus Christ. 
They weren't there by virtue of the old covenant. Does everybody 
get that? That's important, especially 
as Reformed Baptists in a very Reformed Paedo-Baptist community. So this is the covenant that 
I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says 
the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their 
hearts. What law? the moral law of God. Deuteronomy 
20, Exodus, Deuteronomy 5, Exodus chapter 20. How do we know that? Because everywhere in the new 
covenant, when the apostles and our Lord appeal to the law that 
is normative for the people of God, they do so by pointing back 
to the Decalogue. Children, obey your parents in 
the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and your mother, 
which is the first commandment with promise. Paul says that 
to a Gentile church. Why? Because Gentiles, saved 
by grace, have the normative use of God's law. It is put in 
them by God, and we now want to keep it. I will put my law 
in their minds and write it on their hearts, and I will be their 
God, and they shall be my people. No more shall every man teach 
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, 
for they all shall know me." That means within the New Covenant 
community, you don't have to evangelize New Covenant members. 
Doesn't mean we don't ever get reminded of the gospel. Doesn't 
mean we don't ever preach the gospel to ourselves or we hear 
it in the church. But it means there's no need 
for a Jacob to evangelize an Esau if 
Jacob and Esau happen to both be in the New Covenant. That's 
the point. No more shall every man teach 
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord. 
You could say that in the Old Covenant because they were all 
in the Old Covenant, but not everybody knew the Lord. Why? 
Because it wasn't an essential feature of the Old Covenant to 
make sure that everybody knew the Lord. Now, of course, they 
knew Him cognitively, but I think the text is emphasizing experientially. You'll know the Lord. You'll 
know Him in the way that Jesus speaks in John 17, This is eternal 
life, that they may know Thee, the only true God, and Jesus 
Christ, whom Thou hast sent. So no more shall every man teach 
his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord, 
for they all shall know Me. From the least of them to the 
greatest of them says the Lord, for I will forgive their iniquity 
and their sin I will remember no more. Essential features of 
New Covenant religion. That's why we say we baptize 
people who possess the essential features of New Covenant religion. 
I don't know why that's tough. I don't know why that's a stretch. 
I don't know why that's difficult. But that's precisely what the 
prophet is saying. That in this new covenant setting, 
there is some continuity. Same moral law governs the people 
in both covenants. There is some continuity, but 
there's also discontinuity. And if we don't allow for that 
discontinuity, we're going to sprinkle babies. If we don't 
allow for that discontinuity, we're going to have unsaved people 
in the covenant. That's an anomaly in terms of 
New Covenant. You don't have unsaved people 
in the New Covenant. The New Covenant, definitionally, 
is made up of people who have the law of God internalized upon 
them. It is made up of those who know 
the Lord experientially and those who have received the forgiveness 
of sins. That's definitional New Covenant Christianity. The 
larger and broader point is, is that when Jeremiah promises, 
or God promises through Jeremiah that he's going to write the 
law on the heart, we know, based on our studies in the New Covenant 
or in the New Testament, it is the Ten Commandments. So thus 
ends, there's other passages to be sure. We actually sang 
a psalm of the Sabbath, Psalm 92, a song for the Sabbath day. 
There's other portions of the Old Testament that certainly 
speak to Sabbath and Sabbath-keeping and Sabbath-breaking. But I hope 
you get the gist. You start at Genesis. You don't 
start at Exodus 20. You start at Genesis 2. You see 
it there in Genesis 4. You see it in Exodus 16. You 
see it codified and summarized in Exodus 20 and then Deuteronomy 
5. But then you see it throughout 
redemptive history, all the way into the new covenant, which 
by God's grace or God's willingness, we will look at next week. So let me close in prayer here. 
Father, we thank you for your word. We thank you for what we 
find in your word. We thank you for the consistency 
and the continuities that do exist. We thank you for that 
pattern exemplified by you on that in that creation account, 
and I pray that you would cause us to reflect afresh upon this 
wonderful gift that you have given, and help us to glorify 
you as we gather together for worship on the Lord's Day, and 
help us to call it a delight, and we pray through Christ our 
Lord. Amen. I know that was a lot, but are 
there any questions?