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in Sinai, and there they receive 
the law of God. They will then proceed from the 
giving of the law to the giving of the instructions for the tabernacle, 
and that'll bring the book to an end. But beginning in chapter 
20 at verse 1, and God spoke all these words saying, 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. 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. 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. Honor your father and your mother, 
that your days may be long upon 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 house, 
you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor 
his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything 
that is your neighbor's. Now all the people witnessed 
the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, 
and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they 
trembled and stood afar off. Then they said to Moses, you 
speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us 
lest we die. And Moses said to the people, 
Do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that His fear 
may be before you, so that you may not sin. So the people stood 
afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God 
was." Amen. So we're in the first table of 
the law, the first four commandments refer to our duty toward God, 
and then the latter six refer to our duty toward man. And, 
at least directly, and somewhat indirectly, the first four commandments, 
or our responsibility to God, are framed with reference to 
worship. So the first commandment defines the object of worship, 
the second commandment describes the manner in which we worship 
that true and living God, the third commandment, not taking 
the name of the Lord your God in vain, is also related to worship. In Deuteronomy chapter 6 at verse 
13, you shall fear the Lord your God and serve him and shall take 
oaths in his name. Our confession highlights that 
oaths are a form of religious worship to the living God. And 
of course the fourth commandment sets apart the day upon which 
the people of God worship the God of the people. Now, we have 
looked at the Fourth Commandment within the last year in our local 
church in terms of sermons, so we'll just go through this somewhat 
a bit more rapidly tonight. We're going to just deal with 
the Old Testament, emphasis on the Sabbath. Now, there are obviously 
a lot of questions and issues related to the Sabbath, and we're 
not going to deal with all of that tonight. Simply want to 
look at, first, the exposition of the commandment, and then 
secondly, the Sabbath in the Old Covenant. And I think our 
confession of faith summarizes well the biblical teaching of 
the Sabbath. It says in paragraph 7 of chapter 
22, 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 by his word in a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, 
binding all men in all ages, he hath 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." Now I know the day change is one 
thing that definitely trips up some of the people of God. So 
as I said, we'll look at the Sabbath and the Old Covenant tonight, 
God willing next week we'll look at the Sabbath and the New Covenant 
and see the same sort of emphasis, but then look at Hebrews chapter 
4 specifically, I think is the biblical warrant for the day 
change in light of some other concerns that we find in the 
New Testament. But in terms of the exposition, 
notice in the first place the positive aspect The children 
of Israel, according to verse 8, are told to remember the Sabbath 
day to keep it holy. So here, in Exodus 20, they are 
told to remember. In Deuteronomy, the parallel, 
they are told to observe the Sabbath day. Now, in order to 
remember something or observe something, it seems to follow 
that it had been previously in play. God is not instituting 
something afresh here at Sinai. He is not telling them, now I 
want you to set apart a day of the week to worship and to gather 
before me. No, the fact that they are called 
upon to remember argues that there was something already in 
existence. And the activity of God ultimately 
in Genesis chapter 2 at verse 3 is the foundation or the origin. In fact, the commentator Matthew 
Poole says this word, remember, is very emphatical, and it reminds 
us of a former delivery of the substance of this command to 
wit, Genesis 2-3. So he sees the origin of Sabbath-keeping 
in the practice of God Himself that we see in the Garden. after 
God made the world and everything in it in the space of six days 
and all very good, God rested, God sabbathed. And you see, specifically 
in this particular commandment, this is the rationale for why 
the people of God are to sabbath as well. So the people of God 
are positively enjoined to remember or to observe this particular 
day. Notice the prohibition. It says, 
remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Now, keep it holy means 
to sanctify it, set it apart, use it for the purposes, consecrate 
it for the purpose for which God gave it. And then it says, 
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. So the prohibition is specific, 
no regular work. Now, in terms of regular work, 
I think that this particular commandment looks back to the 
Genesis account, not only in terms of God's cessation or Sabbath, 
cessation from labor and his Sabbath rest, but it also underscores 
the creational ordinance of labor. God made man to work. And in this particular commandment, 
it's not necessarily a command, you must work six days, you can't 
have Saturday off. But it does assume what is valid 
and what is abiding upon the creature of God. Man was made 
in order to work. Man was made specifically in 
the garden, to tend the garden, to guard the garden, to keep 
it, to cultivate it. and to function as a priest within 
that garden, to extend that garden temple such that it would encompass 
the entirety of the earth. Man was not made to lay on the 
couch. Man was not made to just engage 
in recreation. Work is legit. God gives great 
credence to labor, and we see it upheld in this Sabbath command. 
Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the stress 
falls or the accent falls upon that seventh day. It is the Sabbath 
of the Lord your God. It belongs to him. In it you 
shall do no work. And then in terms of the scope, 
no one related to the covenant family, even the beasts of burden. 
You were to cease from, to engage in a cessation of all regular 
and ordinary work. Now, when we get to the New Covenant, 
when we get to the ministry of Jesus Christ, we see that there 
are allowances for the works of mercy and the works of necessity. And we'll deal with that, God 
willing, next Wednesday. So, works of mercy, works of 
necessity. Jesus indicts or upbraids the 
synagogue ruler at the time that he healed the woman in the synagogue. when they all got upset, and 
the man rebukes the woman, and he says, you know, six days you 
can come for a healing, the seventh is a Sabbath day to rest unto 
God. Jesus says, which one of you, if you had an animal fall 
into a ditch, wouldn't fetch it out on the Sabbath day? That 
is a work of necessity, a work of mercy rather, works of necessity 
are also allowable by God. The priests labored on the Sabbath 
day in order to conduct and to facilitate corporate worship 
with reference to the Tabernacle or Temple. So works of necessity, 
works of mercy, are certainly allowable. But in terms of the 
prohibition, it is no regular work. The cessation from regular 
employment, the necessity for labor on the other six days, 
and the pursuit of holy things. So God says, one day out of the 
seven, I want you to separate that unto me, and I want you 
to utilize that time to pursue holy things." In other words, 
do what God does when He engages in Sabbath rest in the Garden 
of Eden. And I love the confession, 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. Now when 
it refers to the law of nature, it's referring to those things 
not necessarily inscribed in Scripture. In other words, man 
made in the image of God has some semblance of law written 
on his heart. When we looked at Romans chapter 
1, when the creature who is made in the image of God looks at 
the created order, that creature leads him to consider the Creator. 
That effect causes him to consider the cause. there is this law 
of nature, there is embedded in our soul that it is right 
to set apart time to worship the living and the true God. 
Now of course here at Sinai this is a codification of the moral 
law and it does jive with the natural law, they're not at enmity 
with one another, they are consistent and there is harmony between 
them. And then notice that the rationale given in the Exodus 
account is the doctrine of creation. So we have the positive aspect, 
remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy. We have the prohibition 
against the cessation from your normal labor, your normal work. 
That scope applies to everybody connected to the covenant family, 
including the animals themselves. And then in verse 11, 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. Turn over to Deuteronomy 
chapter 5. Deuteronomy literally means second 
law. It isn't a second law like it's 
different from the giving of the law at Sinai, but rather 
it is the rehearsal of that self-same law to the generation that's 
going to enter into the promised land. So basically, Deuteronomy 
is a series of addresses by Moses to the children of Israel to 
prepare them for entrance into the promised land. And as we 
look at the Ten Commandments in both Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 
5, they are synonymous. They are parallel. There are 
a few features that differ along the way, and in the fourth commandment 
you see one of those. Notice in chapter 5 at verse 
12, So we've got remember, in Exodus, observe here. Not that 
big of a deal. 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. 
In other words, that's a good and beneficial thing that you 
afford time off to your servants, that they may rest, that they 
may engage in a refreshment, and that they may as well have 
access and privilege to worship the living and true God. Now 
notice the rationale for the commandment here in Deuteronomy 
5. 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. Again, it's the 
same commandment, but with reference to rationale or reason, in Exodus 
chapter 20, you have creation. In Deuteronomy chapter 5, rather, 
you have redemption. both those concepts are undergirding 
the concept of Sabbath. They will be carried into the 
New Covenant. And when we look at Hebrews chapter 
4, we'll see how creation and redemption are utilized by the 
apostle when he argues for the day change from Saturday to Sunday. So just tuck that in the back 
of your head that creation and redemption are the rationale 
for Sabbath keeping. Exodus 20, 11, doctrine of creation. Deuteronomy 5, 15, you have the 
doctrine of redemption. Now you can turn to Genesis chapter 
2 as we work through the Sabbath in the Old Covenant. And again, 
this is probably review. Hopefully you remember all of 
this from when we covered it in our Sunday sermons. Notice 
in chapter 2 at verse 1, 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 
is highlighted, which he had done, the work of the six days." 
Now this does not mean a complete cessation of God from all things. He is not the God of deism. Deism 
teaches that God made the world the way that a clockmaker makes 
a clock, and then the clockmaker takes the clock and he puts it 
on the mantle and he forgets about it. That's deism. That's 
not Christianity. with reference to God's working. God works in terms of providence. In John 5.17, the Lord Jesus 
says, He answered them, My Father has been working until now, and 
I have been working. So God did not stop working completely. God is in the charge of the government 
of the universe. But what we have in chapter 2 
of Genesis is the cessation of the creation week. He made all 
that he made, and it was very good." There is approbation, 
there is approval, there is complacency, there is joy and delight at his 
surveying the works of his hands. The Lord did not rest because 
he was weary, but it was a rest and refreshment to demonstrate 
his pleasure and delight in what he had made. John 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 says the Creator's 
Sabbath rest is much more a matter of taking satisfaction and delight 
in his consummated building. So the rest there isn't like 
you and I rest. If we went out and built something 
and it took us six days, our rest would be one of sleep, it 
would be one of weariness, and it would be one where we would 
need our energies restored to us. That's not the way we're 
supposed to understand the rest of God. He doesn't get weary. 
He doesn't need rest. He doesn't need sleep. This is 
delight and approval and approbation of the works of His hand. Now 
many have seen in this particular section the creation of a temple, 
and I think the prophet Isaiah, specifically in chapter 66, highlights 
or underscores this for us. Heaven is my throne and earth 
is my footstool. The created order functions as 
a temple, as a sanctuary. It'll be restored, renewed, blessed 
in the new Jerusalem, but at this particular instance we see 
something of that. The cosmic structure, this is 
Klein, 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. 
So God is not only resting here, but there is an enthronement. 
God is over the works of His hands. The heaven is His throne, 
the earth is His footstool, He oversees it all. James Hamilton 
says that 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 God covers the land as the waters cover 
the sea. This is a wonderful theme in 
scripture, the dwelling place of God, the habitation of God, 
the temple of God. In the same language, thus the 
heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. 
It is paralleled when the tabernacle itself is constructed in Exodus 
chapter 40. So there is this concept of sanctuary, 
this concept of dwelling, this concept where God is with his 
people that should cheer and encourage our hearts. It's not 
just a biblical theological theme that Hamilton and Meredith Klein 
and G.K. Beale, you know, make their money 
off of. The concept is glorious. God says, I will be your God 
and you will be my people. He created us to dwell with Him. He created us to enjoy communion 
with Him. He created us so that we would 
understand that He is the chief among 10,000 and altogether lovely. He created us so that we would 
have that blessed fellowship that He has purposed. Obviously, 
there is the fall into sin, and this then sets the stage for 
the coming of the last Adam to bring to fruition all that was 
supposed to transpire, again, humanly speaking, in this first 
temple setting. So God blesses then the day, 
notice in verse 3, it says, 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, he's a scholar working 
today, whose forte is biblical theology. Starting in Genesis, 
going to Revelation, and just seeing how Scripture teaches 
the various truths that it does convey. But he's arguing that 
Genesis 2-3 includes a mandate to humans. So 2-3 doesn't say, 
based on this, Moses says, I want all of you to have a Sabbath. 
but the fact that it's worded the way that it is does suggest 
that it is a mandate. The fact that Moses, God through 
Moses in Exodus chapter 20 grounds Sabbath keeping on the rationale 
of remember and then argues for in six days the Lord made the 
heavens and the earth and then on the seventh day he rested. 
In other words, God's example, God's pattern, God's paradigm 
is something that the creature is to follow. Beal 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. I think he's right, and again, 
this is a cumulative argument. People that are anti-sabbatarianism 
in the New Covenant, they point to the reality that there's not 
one text that you can point to that says, Sunday has replaced 
Saturday, it is the Christian Sabbath, and you must worship. 
It's a theological argument. In much the same way, the argument 
against continuationism, the continual employment of the supernatural 
gifts of revelation, it's a theological argument. There's not one text 
here or there, but there's a whole lot of texts, cumulatively, that 
are brought forth to show what God's mind is on a particular 
subject. So, at Sinai, God says, remember. At Deuteronomy, He says, observe. 
In Exodus, He gives creation as the rationale, and in Deuteronomy, 
He gives redemption. We get to the New Covenant, we 
see those twin themes used by the Apostles, specifically again 
in Hebrews 4, to buttress and uphold this concept of Sabbath-keeping. Now, back to our text. Notice the Lord sanctifies the 
seventh day. The vast majority of the uses 
of sanctify or set apart refer to God, people, or religious 
days. And interestingly, if you go 
back to the creation account in Genesis chapter 1, with reference 
to the fourth day, Look at the fourth day, 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 signs and seasons and 
for days and years. Think, so often we just gloss 
over that. We look at and let them be for 
lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the 
earth, and it was so. Then God made two great lights, 
the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule 
the night. He made stars also. God set them 
in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and 
to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the 
light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 
So the evening and the morning were the fourth day." It's that 
clause at the end of verse 14, though. Let them be for signs 
and seasons, and for days and years. Israel's calendar was 
very important. and central on Israel's calendar 
was Sabbath keeping. And so there's already this emphasis 
on the fourth day. Yes, the big lights that cause 
light in terms of shining brightness upon the earth, but let them 
be for signs and seasons. God is going to lead and tutor 
his people by calendrical observances in the old covenant. And then 
the function of the Sabbath is that, it functions typically, 
but it also functions as a moral precept in terms of setting aside 
time for God so that the creature can enter into the rest of God 
and worship God. And then in terms of the reason 
for his action, notice at verse 3b, 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. So the Lord blessed 
and sanctified the day and then he rested. Again, God doesn't 
need rest. God does this to express his 
delight and his approval over his creation, but then it functions 
as a pattern. We're supposed to follow this. 
This is what the Exodus commandment reminds us of. Remember the Sabbath 
day for in six days the Lord created the heavens and the earth 
and on the seventh day he rested. You follow his pattern. You do 
what he did according to Genesis chapter 2 verses 1 to 3. And then when we turn to Genesis 
chapter 4, again Sabbath and the Old Covenant. Sabbath and 
the Old Covenant. We see Genesis 4 specifically 
at verse 3. And in the process of time, the 
new King James has in the margin, at the end of days. That's the 
literal reading. So verse 3, it says, and at the 
end of days it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the 
fruit of the ground to the Lord. We know that end of days was 
not the eschatological end of days, not the day of judgment, 
not the day of consummation. It's the end of the days of the 
week. and at the end of the days of the week they did what their 
father Adam had taught them. How did they know to bring sacrifice 
to God? Well in Genesis chapter 3 at 
verse 21, also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made tunics 
of skin and clothed them. God provides blood atonement 
in that instance and thereby signifies to Adam the way of 
approach to our God. So Adam passes this information 
on, this data on, to Cain and Abel. Cain obviously botches 
it, but Abel follows through and does what he's supposed to 
do. So at the end of the days of the week, these young men 
brought sacrifice to the Lord. Matthew Poole describes, more 
probably at the end of the days of the week, or upon the seventh 
and the last day of the week, Saturday, which then was the 
Sabbath day, which before this time was blessed and sanctified. And then in terms of the practice 
itself, again, they didn't conceive of this, Adam passed it on to 
them. Calvin said the custom of sacrificing was not rationally 
decided by them, but was divinely delivered to them. So it's not 
only the custom of sacrifice, but it was the time for sacrifice. So set apart time specifically 
for the worship of the living God. relative to Genesis chapter 
2 and what the rest of the Bible subsequently reports concerning 
Sabbath keeping, I think that's a good argument to suggest that 
these boys, these young men, were engaged in this particular 
activity. Now, to continue on in the Sabbath 
in the Old Testament, we need to turn to the New Testament. 
Specifically, Mark chapter 2, to see the Sabbath at creation 
explained. I jumped ahead, I'm sorry. I 
should have done Cain and Abel after this point, but Sabbath 
at creation in Mark chapter 2. Notice that Jesus explains the 
significance of Sabbath in its original context in Genesis chapter 
2. So chapter 2 of Mark, verse 23, 
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? 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 showbread, which 
is not lawful to eat, except for the priests, and also gave 
some to those who were with him. And 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. Whenever we consider 
this doctrine of the Sabbath, whenever we approach the fourth 
commandment, yes, it's a commandment. Yes, it's law. But John the apostle 
tells us in the first epistle, the commandments of God are not 
burdensome. They are not grievous. We're 
not supposed to look at the Sabbath and go, oh, what a horrific thing 
that God has bound us with. How terrible that he wants us 
to set apart a day for the worship of his great and awesome No, 
we're not supposed to look at it that way. We're supposed to 
see it through this kind of a framework. It's a gift given by God to the 
creature such that the creature can enjoy fellowship with the 
Creator. That's what Jesus gives here. So countering the argument of 
the Pharisees in verse 24, look, why do they do what is not lawful 
on the Sabbath? Not, you know, just Israel, but 
it's made for man. Man represented by Adam the first 
man. There is a universal scope involved. Ryle said 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. Again, it's a gift given. Notice 
the language of Jesus. The Sabbath was made for men. 
This is where, you know, some versions of Sabbatarianism far 
exceed what God's ever called us to. It's not that God created 
you to observe the Sabbath. God made the Sabbath as a blessing 
for you. There's a big difference there. 
If you think I've been made to obey the commandment to Sabbath, 
there's a different approach involved then. God gave me the 
Sabbath such that as I obey it, I enjoy fellowship and blessing 
and joy? It's a matter of perspective. 
If you look at it As a burden, it's like it has well been said, 
everything looks like a nail to a hammer. Everything looks 
like a burden to somebody whose heart's not changed, to somebody 
who's still in bondage, to somebody who sees the law as something 
that is restrictive and confining, and doesn't have the disposition 
and the attitude of David, who said, oh how I love your law, 
it is my meditation day and night. The blood-bought child of God 
rejoices in the law of God. His problem isn't in God's law, 
his problem is with his own remaining corruption that keeps him from 
fully embracing and delighting in that law as is fit and is 
proper. So the Sabbath was made for man, 
Adam, mankind, and not man for the Sabbath. And then he says, 
therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus in 
several places in his earthly ministry had to deal with Sabbath 
violation. And as one fellow says in his 
book on the Sabbath, it's odd that he would take pains to correct 
the thinking on the Sabbath to only disregard the Sabbath. If 
he was going to abolish the Sabbath, he sure did it in a strange way, 
because he cleared away all the misconceptions, he underscored 
the legitimacy of it, he gave us the right nature of it in 
terms of its gift character. If he was doing that simply to 
say, well, you know, it's no longer a gift for you in the 
new covenant. That is a very odd methodology 
to assume or to propose, and especially when we look at the 
pages of the New Testament, we see the church gathering together 
on the day of God with the people of God in the house of God to 
worship God Most High. So go back now to the Old Testament, 
next section is Exodus 16, and we were recently there. Exodus 
chapter 16, there is a Sabbath prior to Sinai, Sabbath prior 
to Sinai. We see that specifically in Exodus 
chapter 16 with reference to the manna. You've got the instructions 
for gathering manna in chapter 16 at verses 4 and 5. 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. Interesting. God giving commandment 
that is consistent with what he's going to give by way of 
codification at Sinai in chapter 20. Again, this was extant. That means it was present. It 
was already there. You see it in at least Cain and 
Abel. We don't have much between the 
pages then, but we have to assume that this kind of stuff was passed 
on. Now notice the specific reason 
for the instructions given in chapter 16 at 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, 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. Turretin 
said, this could not have been said unless the Sabbath had already 
been instituted and commanded by God. It would have made no 
sense. If we assume that Exodus chapter 
20 is the first statement concerning Sabbath, we're going to run into 
problems with Exodus chapter 16. I think we're going to run 
into problems with Genesis chapter 2, 1 to 3, especially when we 
consider the Creator doesn't weary. The Creator doesn't need 
rest. He doesn't need that physical 
refreshment because he's not a physical being. He is doing 
this to express his delight, and he is doing this as a pattern 
for his creatures, so that they will know there is this one-in-seven 
pattern. A modern commentator, Ross, says, 
does Exodus 16 not suggest that they were aware of an obligation 
to rest before they heard the Decalogue? It certainly seems 
implicit in the passage. They didn't say, what are you 
talking about Sabbath? What are you talking about gathering 
up twice as much? Now of course they disobey and 
they don't always do what God says, but that does not mean 
they weren't familiar with the particular practice. And then 
if we turn over to the prophet Isaiah, Isaiah has specific details 
concerning Sabbath keeping. Isaiah 56 and Isaiah 58. The context is Messianic. The 
context is New Covenant blessing. The context goes back to the 
Servant of the Lord song in chapters 52 and 53. The suffering servant 
of the Lord, Isaiah 42, 49, 50, and then 52 and 53. 52-53 is the one we are most 
familiar with, the man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. After 
53, 54, which talks about the enlargement of the church, the 
people of God, the blessedness of the people of God. Chapter 
55 is that invitation to come and join the people of God. Come 
and buy and eat. All you who have no money, come 
buy and the milk and the water and the wine and then in chapter 
56 we see this expansion in terms of new covenant blessing to include 
Gentiles and to include eunuchs. Now eunuchs were forbidden from 
the house of the Lord in the old covenant. They were kept 
from the assembly of the Lord. That's what's glorious about 
Isaiah 56 and especially when we compare it with Acts chapter 
8. When Philip meets that Ethiopian eunuch, you're to think in terms 
of biblical prophecy. You're to think in terms of fulfillment 
and fruition. You're to think in terms of chapter 
56 of Isaiah. The new covenant reality has 
come. Eunuchs are now included in the covenant people of God 
Almighty. Look at 56.1, thus says the Lord, keep justice and 
do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness 
to be revealed. 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. It is a 
prophecy concerning New Covenant blessing. It's a prophecy concerning 
the Messianic reign. And in New Covenant blessing 
and in the Messianic reign, Sabbath-keeping is a feature. Sabbath-keeping 
is present. It's not, oh, there's no more 
Sabbath-keeping in the New Covenant. There's no more Sabbath-keeping 
under the reign of the Messiah. No, blessed is the one who keeps 
from defiling the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing any 
evil. Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself 
to the Lord speak, saying, The Lord has utterly separated me 
from his people. Nor let the eunuchs say, Here 
I am, a dry tree. For thus says the Lord to the 
eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, and choose what pleases me, and 
hold fast my covenant. Even to them I will give in my 
house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of 
sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting 
name that shall not be cut off. So when that Ethiopian eunuch 
comes to the Savior through the preaching of Philip, who took 
the prophet Isaiah, and from that passage preached Jesus to 
him, Isaiah's prophecy comes to fulfillment. It comes to fruition. And Isaiah's prophecy includes 
not only the inclusion of eunuchs, but it also includes Sabbath 
keeping for the new covenant people of God Almighty. Notice 
verse six, also the sons of the foreigner who joined themselves 
to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord, 
excuse me, to be his servants. Everyone who keeps from defiling 
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." So you see what 
you have in 56. You have what was originally 
promised to Noah, to Abraham, to the other patriarchs of Gentile 
inclusion in the covenant blessings of God. You see that reiterated 
here by the prophet Isaiah in terms of eunuch inclusion in 
the covenant of grace. That is the Ethiopian eunuch 
in Acts chapter 8. But also a feature that looms 
large in New Covenant blessing is this idea of Sabbath keeping. And then also in Isaiah 58, Notice 
Isaiah 58. You have the declaration of the 
sin of Israel, verse 1. God tells Isaiah, let them have 
it. It's the Jim Butler paraphrase 
of verse 1. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up 
your voice like a trumpet, tell my people their transgression, 
and the house of Jacob their sins. And the subject of fasting 
is addressed in verses 2 to 12, and then the subject of Sabbath 
in verses 13 and 14. And notice the language with 
reference to Sabbath. 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." Now 
all of this is couched in the language of Old Testament religion. 
All of this is couched in the language that the children of 
Israel would have appropriated, they would have understood, they 
would have heard, they would have resonated with. But the larger context 
again shows us that it applies to the New Covenant. And so with 
reference to the New Covenant, this aspect, this feature of 
Sabbath gibe is upheld. It's seen as a good thing. The 
commandments are not grievous, they're not burdensome, they're 
not problematic to the people of God. E.J. Young, he was a 
Old Testament scholar at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. He was there, I think, when Van 
Til and and Machen, maybe, yeah, I think Machen, and then we're 
all, I mean, they just had a loaded house at the time. Well, E.J. 
Young wrote a three-volume commentary on the prophet Isaiah that has 
stood the test of time. If you have, you know, one, you 
know, ten, however many bucks to buy one book on, or one work 
on the book of Isaiah, you won't go wrong with E.J. Young. I mean, 
he's a solid, sure, faithful guide on the prophet Isaiah. 
He comments, 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." 
I think that's the way we should approach the Sabbath. Far too 
often, the Sabbath is looked at as a mallet to beat the people 
of God up with. I mean, if our instruction to 
our children and our grandchildren is only constantly negative, 
okay, go sit in the corner and look at the wall and don't smile. It's the Sabbath day. Do you 
think they're going to come out with a robust appreciation and 
love for the Sabbath? No, they're going to despise 
it and loathe it and abhor it. But when you see that day is 
the day we get to go to church, we get to be with the people 
of God, we get to sing the praises of God, we get to have rest for 
our souls, we get to cease and desist from all the normal stuff 
we do all the other six days. It's how we couch it, how we 
frame it to people. If it's just a mallet to beat 
people up with, then we have violated the parameters of Sabbatarianism. Sabbatarianism shouldn't be, 
oh man, shouldn't be addressed. It should be what the prophet 
underscores in Isaiah 58. That doesn't mean you can't enjoy 
the presence of God when you're walking through the park on a 
Thursday. Doesn't mean that at all. But 
it means that when God's people gather together corporately, 
when He has promised and purposed to be there in their midst, when 
they give themselves to Him, He gives Himself to us. And it's 
a most rich blessing that we ought to jealously guard and 
fight for and contend for. not a mallet to beat up people, 
but a blessed provision given by the Lord from the Lord of 
the Sabbath as a means of blessing for the people of God. And then 
one final text speaks not specifically concerning the Sabbath, but it 
speaks concerning the Decalogue or the Ten Commandments. and 
the fourth commandment is one of the ten commandments. Here's 
my problem with those who get rid of the fourth commandment. 
On what basis do they do that? How do you willy-nilly declare 
that nine are abiding but one isn't? Now, I know the argument, 
well, it's not repeated in the New Testament. I get that argument. I think it's terrible. I don't 
appreciate it. But hermeneutically speaking, 
there is something unique about the Decalogue. I think I introduced 
that when we looked at those passages. It's the Decalogue 
specifically that is written by the finger of God. That doesn't 
mean that the law concerning the tabernacle isn't from him. 
That doesn't mean that the law concerning the goring ox isn't 
from him. It doesn't mean that at all. 
But there is something special about the Decalogue, or the moral 
law, or the Ten Commandments, and we are to view them as a 
unit. And if we start to shift that unit around and we take 
out bits and pieces of that unit, we better have solid hermeneutical 
grounds upon which to do that. So back to the prophet 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. 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. I will put my law in their minds. 
I guarantee you that if you were a contemporary of Jeremiah, and 
you heard him preaching this from Yahweh, you wouldn't have 
said, Jeremiah, what law do you, what are you talking about? What 
law is in your mind? No, it would have been obvious. It would have been that law that 
came from the finger of God. I will put my law in their minds. I will write it on their hearts. 
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, 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." So not a specific statement concerning Sabbatarianism, but 
a statement concerning the Decalogue as a whole. And here we find 
what I call, I got this from Cam Porter, the trans-covenantal 
utility of the Decalogue. Trans-covenantal means it doesn't 
matter what covenant you're in. It doesn't matter if you're an 
old covenant believer going to the tabernacle or going to the 
temple with your goat. It doesn't matter if you're a 
New Covenant believer going to the Church of God with your spiritual 
goat. It doesn't matter whatever covenant 
you find yourself under. It doesn't matter if you're a 
Jew. It doesn't matter if you're a Gentile. There is a trans-covenantal 
utility, usefulness about the Decalogue or the Law. of God. 
The Ten Commandments are abiding on all men everywhere at all 
times. No man is an island. No man is detached from the law 
of God. What standard do you think it 
will be when God brings judgment to bear upon unbelievers on that 
day of judgment? It's gonna be the Decalogue. 
What'd you do with the law? How do you know you're sin and 
misery? The law of God tells me so, right? It's a pretty obvious 
sort of emphasis that we find in our Bibles. And then when 
we compare something like that to what Jesus does in Matthew 
chapter 5, which we'll look at, God willing, next week, in verses 
17 to 20. Don't think that I came to abolish 
the law. I didn't come to abolish it, but I came to fulfill it. 
Jesus does not treat the law of God as a bad thing. Jesus, 
in his earthly ministry, fulfills the law. Jesus, in his earthly 
ministry, shows great esteem for that law. And as Jesus' people, 
we should have a likewise love for the law of God. And in conclusion, 
just let me re-emphasize the positive emphasis for rearing 
children or teaching or telling others about the joys of Sabbatarianism. If it's just a straitjacket, 
if it's just a mallet in your life, if it's just every bad 
thing you can imagine, it's Sunday, just sit there, don't smile, 
don't look at anybody, just shut up and obey the Sabbath, That's 
not going to endear people to our way of thinking when it comes 
to this. The man was not made for the Sabbath, but Sabbath 
was made for the man. It's a good thing, it's a blessed 
thing. And in terms of the normative use, Turretin made this observation. 
He says, experience teaches too well that license and the negligence 
of sacred things grows more and more where a proper regard is 
not shown for the Lord's day. I think I might have explained 
a month or two ago, I got invited to a Signal chat group called 
the Billy Club, and it's all the pastors in Canada that kept 
their churches open. It's a mixed bag, brethren. I 
gotta tell you, I keep it on mute, and I look at it at my 
leisure. But there was a great sort of 
interest, you know, the two Sundays ago, we looked at the Seventh 
Commandment. They got John MacArthur roped 
in on that. It was kind of a big deal. And 
all these billies are going nuts on, you know, let's preach against 
the sexual perversions of our day. There's a reformed guy, 
Steve Richardson, the guy that just had his day in court. He's 
a confessional Presbyterian. I have far more in common with 
him than I do with the rest of the Baptists. Richardson wrote 
an interesting blog post. He said, where were we when the 
fourth commandment was thrown out? I didn't ever see the Billy's 
come to rally around that one. Where were we when the fourth 
commandment was tossed? Where was this kind of this mindset 
or earnestness when the world basically said, no, we're done 
with Sunday. We're done with this whole concept 
of the Lord's Day. I think you made a very good 
point, as I think Turretin does too. Experience teaches too well 
that license and the negligence of sacred things grows more and 
more where a proper regard is not shown for the Lord's day. 
More positively, Voss says, the Sabbath has faithfully accompanied 
the people of God on their march through the ages. I think that's 
a good vantage point for which, or by which, we ought to approach 
it. Well, let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank 
You for Your Word, we thank You for the Law of God, and we thank 
You that it has been given to us for our good, not as an abuse, 
not as a mallet to keep us down. Give us the disposition of the 
psalmist who delighted in the Law of God and the inner man. 
Give us that delight that we find in the Lord Jesus Christ 
and the apostles of Christ. We know we're not saved by law-keeping. 
We know that we would never be saved by law-keeping, but we 
know that as saved sinners by grace through faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ, we have that law as a pattern for our sanctification. 
We ask that you would bless our souls, bless our minds and hearts, 
strengthen and encourage each one, and God, for all of the 
brothers and sisters in our church currently sick, we know this 
has been a rough season. We just commit each one to you 
and to the word of your grace and pray that you