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Well, you can turn with me in 
your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 5. Deuteronomy chapter 5. Our focus is on verses 12 to 
15, and I'll read the passage, we'll pray, and then we'll look 
at it in some detail. So, Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 12. 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. that 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 the Sabbath day. Amen. Well, let us pray. Our Father, 
we thank you for the law. We thank you for the gospel. 
We pray to you for wisdom on dealing with them both. Give 
us grace now by the power of the Spirit to see your word. 
concerning your day, for the benefit of your people and for 
the glory of God Almighty. Give us help now, give us grace, 
guide and direct us, not just in the Old Testament, continuing 
into the New Testament, to see that it's always your plan and 
it's always been your purpose. And that whatever the Fourth 
Commandment said to the Israelites of old, it certainly speaks to 
the people of God today. And we ask this in the name of 
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Well, if you come from 
a non-reformed Christian background, you will have heard that the 
Sabbath has been abrogated, it's been fulfilled, it's no longer 
binding upon the people of God. In fact, some of them suggest 
that Sabbath-keeping in the New Covenant Church is an act of 
legalism, or perhaps it's an act of Judaizing. We're Judaizing 
the New Testament, bringing to bear things that God never had 
intended. Well, with reference to this 
Sabbath commandment, the way that we interpret the Bible will 
yield what we get out of the Bible. The Reformed have a hermeneutic 
that differs, say, from dispensationalism. In other words, the principles 
that you put into the Bible and interpretation are the doctrines 
you're going to get out. So we as a Reformed Baptist Church 
subscribe to the Second London Confession. And I think chapter 
22, paragraph 7 summarizes well the doctrine of the Christian 
Sabbath. 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 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 that's a handful or a mouthful, but over the next few weeks we're 
going to cover that material. We don't cover it because 17th 
century divines made it up. We don't subscribe to this confession 
insofar as it is biblical. Rather, we subscribe to this 
confession because it is biblical. This is a wonderful summary statement 
of the doctrine of the Christian Sabbath. So I want to do a few 
things over the next couple of weeks. First, the exposition 
of the commandment, we'll do that this morning. Secondly, 
the Sabbath in the Old Covenant, we'll do that this morning as 
well. And then in the coming week or two, the Sabbath in the 
New Covenant. And when we consider the Sabbath 
in the New Covenant, we'll look first at the ministry of Christ, 
the resurrection of Christ, the teaching of the apostles, And 
then we'll deal with those alleged anti-Sabbatarian texts, Romans 
14, Galatians 4, Colossians 2, those passages that have been 
taken as sort of proof texts that the Christian Sabbath, or 
Sabbath rather, is no longer for the Christian church. Now, 
I am very particular. I do not want to be a legalist. 
I do not want to be a Judaizer. I don't want to subscribe to 
things that are unbiblical. But as I said, I think that statement 
from the Confession is a biblical statement. And I hope to prove 
that or demonstrate that to us in the coming weeks. Now, first 
of all, let's look at an exposition of the commandment in its context. Notice what we have. Observe 
the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded 
you. Intriguingly, in the parallel passage in Exodus chapter 20, 
they are told to remember Now, remember and observe seem to 
indicate something that preceded this particular situation. In other words, at Sinai in Exodus 
20, the people of God, the covenant community, the Israel of God 
is told to remember. They're not told to now begin 
to think about something brand new. And when we move through 
the Old Testament, we'll see why it's the case. There was 
Sabbatarianism prior to the giving of the law in Sinai. Just like 
there was sexual ethics prior to the giving of the law at Sinai. The seventh commandment didn't 
begin at Sinai. The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah 
were destroyed by God for having violated the law of God. So it's 
not the case that because it was given to Israel at Sinai, 
it is confined to Israel at Sinai. The moral law of God is trans-covenantal. That means whatever covenant 
you find yourself under, those Ten Commandments are the guide, 
are the guard, are the reflection of who God is and what God demands 
from His people in terms of sanctification. It is a revelation of who God 
is in terms of His being, in terms of His nature, character. 
So we have this command to remember the day in Exodus 20 and a command 
to observe the day in Deuteronomy chapter 20. And the reason is, 
or rather the reason to remember the day is to keep it holy. Now 
I'm going to argue in a few moments that this goes back to what God 
does in terms of his own Sabbatarianism in Genesis chapter 2. But with 
reference to the positive act, observe the Sabbath day to keep 
it holy as the Lord your God commanded you. There is a prohibition, 
and that prohibition concerns work. You're not supposed to 
engage in regular work. You're not to engage in those 
things that you can suspend for the purpose of worshiping God 
Almighty. When we get to the teaching of 
our blessed Lord Jesus, we will see there are works of mercy. If you're a doctor, or you're 
a nurse, or you're a paramedic, it's a work of mercy for you 
to work on Sunday. to work on the Lord's Day, and 
nobody's going to fault you for that. And then there are works 
of necessity. Remember the Lord Jesus upbraids 
His interlocutors when He says, if one of you had an ox and it 
fell into the ditch, wouldn't you pull it out from the ditch 
on that day? I mean, this man comes to be 
healed on the Sabbath day, Jesus heals the man on the Sabbath 
day, and everybody complains that there was a Sabbath violation. So Christ upbraids them by calling 
them hypocrites. If your ox falls into the ditch, 
of course you're going to pull it out. Works of mercy and works 
of necessity were always okay in light of the fourth commandment. 
Nobody is suggesting otherwise. So the prohibition is against 
regular work and the scope. No one related to the covenant 
family, even the beasts of burden. And so I think there's a few 
implications we ought to make here. First, the cessation from 
regular employment. Again, God in His Word tells 
us that there is priority in our lives. You must work, and 
I think that's an implication from this text as well, but you 
must also rest. And as we see rest described 
relative to the Sabbath, we'll see that it doesn't necessarily 
mean laying on your couch, but it means to rest in God, to bless 
the day, to keep it holy, to sanctify it, for holy duties 
and engagement with our blessed God as we use the access that 
He has afforded us in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. So we have this cessation from work on this one day in 
seven. But again, it tells us the other 
six days, you're not supposed to rest. The other six days, 
you're supposed to work. The other six days, you're supposed 
to be diligent. The other six days, you're supposed 
to be industrious. The other six days, you're supposed 
to to do what God has given you to do in terms of vocation. So 
I would suggest that at creation, when God Sabbaths, He gives us 
not only a paradigm or a pattern for rest, but there's also the 
emphasis upon labor, upon work. God shows industry in creating 
the world in the space of six days and all very good. And so 
the reason affixed to the keeping of the commandment, notice here 
in Deuteronomy, is the doctrine of redemption. He says, observe 
the Sabbath day to keep it holy, verse 12, 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." 
Now, here's the reason or the rationale for the command. It 
says in 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. What's the rationale 
for Sabbath keeping in Deuteronomy chapter 5? It is the doctrine 
of redemption. It is what God has done in terms 
of liberation. It is what God has done in terms 
of deliverance. You were in bondage, slavery 
to Egypt, God brought you out. Again, not so you could carry 
on like the rest of the nation, but rather you could Sabbath, 
you could call it holy, you could keep the day and enjoy the presence 
of the God who has redeemed you. But turn back to Exodus chapter 
20. The rationale or the reason given there is different. Not 
that there is a contradiction, but it's the twin themes indicated 
in these two passages that serve as the foundation for Sabbatarianism 
throughout Scripture. Notice in Exodus chapter 20. 
We're at verse 8. Remember? Again, different than 
the observe in Deuteronomy. So if I were to tell you, remember, 
that means I had previously told you something and I'm giving 
you a call to recall that. Remember. You can't remember 
something you'd never heard before. There was Sabbatarianism prior 
to this giving of the law in Exodus chapter 20. But it goes 
through the same similar thing. 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 
notice the rationale or reason here. For in six days the Lord 
made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, 
and rest of the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the 
Sabbath day and hallowed it. You've got the doctrine of creation 
and you've got the doctrine of redemption that undergirds this 
idea of Sabbath keeping. The rationale for the cessation 
from regular work on the one day that God has appointed is 
rooted in the creative work of God and in the redemptive work 
of God. Now, this will be important when 
we get to the New Testament to consider the change of the day. And for those who say, well, 
the Bible doesn't tell us that, the Bible does tell us that. 
And we need to have ears to hear and hearts to receive and eyes 
to understand what the Bible says concerning these things. 
So there's the exposition of the commandment. Pretty simple. 
Positively worship God. Rest in God. Sanctify the day. Keep it holy. Negatively, don't 
do what you'd normally do the other six days of the work. This 
applies not just to you, but to your family and to all those 
associated with the covenant family. And the reason why you're 
supposed to engage in this is one, because God created the 
world in six days and he sabbathed on the seventh. And as well, 
because God redeemed you from the house of bondage from Egypt 
and brought you into the promised land. So let's turn back now 
to creation in Genesis chapter 2. So we're moving now to the 
Sabbath in the Old Covenant. And we have several lines of 
thought here, not all the passages, not all the lines of thought. 
We're engaged in what scholarship calls biblical theology. You 
start at Genesis, you go to Revelation, and you see what Scripture says 
concerning a particular doctrine along the way. A bit different 
than what's called systematic theology. What does the Bible 
say about the Bible? What does the Bible say about 
God? What does the Bible say about man? What does the Bible 
say about Christ? What does the Bible say about 
redemption? That's systematic theology. Both disciplines are 
necessary, both disciplines overlap, both disciplines have as their 
end the glory of God in the instruction of the mind so that we can take 
every thought captive to the obedience of Jesus Christ our 
Lord. So as we construct a biblical theology of Sabbath, we're starting 
in the old covenant and we're looking first at the Sabbath 
at creation. Notice in Genesis chapter 2 and 
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. Now, the Lord Jesus tells 
us in John 5, 17, My Father has been working until now, and I 
have been working. With reference to what it says 
in Genesis chapter 2, it's the cessation from the work of creation. The work of creation is God's 
making all things out of nothing, by the word of His power in the 
space of six days, and all very good." So the cessation of activity 
in Genesis chapter 2, with reference to God, is specifically connected 
to the creation account. He's already finished. Days 1 
through 6, He makes all that we see, and behold, it was good. 
And so the cessation from labor doesn't mean that God is deistical. 
It doesn't mean that He's wholly other and far removed. God is 
active, obviously, in Providence, upholding creation by the word 
of His power. But it's a cessation of activity 
relative to the creation of the world. And then notice the rest 
of the Creator. In about the middle of verse 
2, it says, And He rested on the seventh day, from all his 
work which he had done." Now, we're not supposed to understand 
this as if God was tired. It is speaking in the manner 
of man, it is accommodated to us, it is in a way that we can 
track with, but we're not to conclude that the creation account 
wearied our God. I mean, God at the end of this 
week just needed to wipe his brow, he needed to lay down on 
his cosmic couch, and he needed to just chill out. No, it's not 
that. It was complacency, it was delight 
in what he had made. The rest that God takes is indicative 
of the fact that the creation account, or the creation rather, 
is completed and that God is delighting in it. So the Lord 
doesn't rest because he's weary, but it was a rest of refreshment. Exodus 31, 17 highlights that 
reality. To demonstrate his pleasure and 
delight in what he had made. John Owen, not on his commentary 
on Hebrews, but elsewhere, 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. You need 
to remember that the heavens are God's throne, and the earth 
is his footstool. What God does in Genesis chapters 
1 to 3 is He makes a sanctuary. He makes a temple. He makes a 
place where He can be with His people. In fact, one man has 
rightly reflected upon that. Again, 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. 
So when it says what God does here, it ought to cause us to 
go, wow! It ought to cause us to reflect 
with joy. It ought to cause us to see that 
what He has made is a good day, and that He is not a part of 
it in the sense that God is pantheistic, but that God is a vested interest 
in the creation. There's complacency, there's 
delight, there's satisfaction, and this rest will serve as a 
pattern for the creature. James Hamilton reflects on this 
cosmic habitation as well. He 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. So when we read the creation 
account, if we get that Adam was a farmer, we're missing the 
point. Now Adam was a farmer, but Adam's 
primary vocation was priestly. Adam's primary vocation was to 
extend the garden temple, to multiply image bearers, that 
they could enjoy the presence of God Almighty. Now, obviously, 
sin enters in, and that ruins everything until the coming of 
the last Adam, who, by his redemptive work, restores things to the 
way they were supposed to have been. And then notice that God 
blesses the seventh day. Verse 3, then God blessed the 
seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from 
all his work which God had created in May. He blessed it. G.K. Beal makes this observation. 
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. In other words, what he says 
is what I think the Bible upholds everywhere when it comes to the 
doctrine of the Christian Sabbath. What God does here in Genesis 
2, 1 to 3, is a pattern for the creature. So that when it comes 
to that day that God has set apart for the public worship 
of God, we bless it, we sanctify it, we keep it, we remember it, 
we observe it. all of these concepts obtained 
as we study exegetically what God is doing in the creation 
account. And then as well, the reason 
for His action is seen in 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. There is this pattern of 
divine rest afforded to us by God Himself, and as creatures, 
we're supposed to follow along. Now notice, secondly, in terms 
of the Sabbath at creation. Here we're going to turn to Mark's 
Gospel. I said this was a biblical theology of the Sabbath. This 
is the Sabbath and the Old Covenant, so you might wonder why we're 
going to a New Covenant passage. Because I think Jesus speaks 
volumes concerning God's purpose at the creation account with 
reference to Sabbath keeping. Mark chapter 2. We see what happens 
often with Jesus and his opponents. We see Sabbath wars. Jesus and 
the religious leaders mixed it up a lot about the doctrine of 
the Sabbath. And intriguingly, Christ never 
said, well, I'm getting rid of it anyway, so there's no big 
deal. Why would Jesus so earnestly fight for proper Sabbath keeping 
only to invalidate it after His death and resurrection? Why would 
He take pains to fix it or to keep it or to protect it only 
to obliterate it a few years later? The idea is that He is 
vindicating the original purpose of God in creation with reference 
to the Sabbath. Notice in the first place, you 
have the conduct of the disciples in verse 23. 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. 
That then invokes or provokes from the religious leaders a 
complaint. As far as they were concerned, 
Jesus' disciples are Sabbath breakers. As far as they're concerned, 
they are not complying fastidiously with the law. So verse 24, the 
Pharisee said to him, look, why do they do what is not lawful 
on the Sabbath? Imagine being in the very presence 
of the lawgiver himself wanting to debate the fine points of 
the law. They assume that this is unlawful 
behavior because they assume what the commandment never intended. The commandment never intended 
for you to sit in your living room and die of starvation, or 
to not engage in the act of pulling your ox out of the pit. The commandment 
was made rather for the man, and the man wasn't made for the 
commandment. Notice that's how Jesus expresses 
it. So Jesus responds 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 showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for 
the priests, and also gave some to those who were with him. In 
other words, Jesus says the commandment wasn't broken. Typically and 
normatively, that bread was for the priests only. But when David 
and his men are about to die, go ahead and eat the bread. See, 
the Pharisees and the scribes, they set up hedges and protection 
around the Sabbath so you couldn't get anywhere near actually violating 
it. But those hedges and protections 
became the new norm. They became the new law. And 
as I think I've said recently, the same God who says, don't 
take from the Word, is the same God who says, don't add to the 
Word. Don't tell us that obedience 
is over here when the Bible says it's here. And then get mad at 
us when we don't do that. See, that's what's happening 
in the life of Jesus as he's confronted by these religious 
leaders. So he invokes the example of David in verses 25 and 26. 
This is 1 Samuel 21, by the way. And then the purpose of the Sabbath 
in verses 27 and 28. He says, 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. Now, 
when he says the Sabbath was made for man, what do you think 
he's thinking about there? He's not thinking about Sinai. He doesn't say the Sabbath was 
made for the Jew. He says the Sabbath was made 
for the man. What man? Most likely Adam, who 
would follow God's pattern at the end of Genesis chapter 2. 
But man in general, not just Jewish man who heard Sinai, Not 
just Jewish man who was at the plains of Moab in Deuteronomy 
chapter five, but it's always been God's purpose to bless his 
creatures. And that's another mindset we 
need to have when it comes to Sabbatarianism. It's not a burden. It's not a binding. It's not 
grievous. Oh, wow, you mean God wants me 
to spend a day worshiping and praising Him? That's kind of 
our attitude when it comes to this whole giving the Lord a 
day. Oh, come on, I'll give Him the 
morning, but the rest of the day is for me. When I was growing 
up, going to a Catholic church, they had a 5.30 mass on Saturday 
afternoon. You'd go to 5.30 mass on Saturday 
afternoon, so you could do whatever you wanted on Sunday. It's unfortunate 
that Protestantism, in many ways, has followed that. Come to the 
Saturday evening service, then you can spend the day at the 
lake with your kids on Sunday. There's nothing wrong with spending 
a day at the lake with your kids. God's not anti-lake days with 
kids. But when it comes to Sabbatarianism, 
when it comes to one day out of the seven, specifically set 
apart by God for the public worship of God in the house of God, I 
don't know why that's such a burden to us. I don't know why we meet 
with such opposition when we try to underscore the biblical 
doctrine of the Christian Sabbath or the Lord's Day. Oh no, that's 
legalism, that's Judaism. No, God's given us a gift. The 
Sabbath was made for the man. In other words, God knows our 
frame. He knows that we're weak. He 
knows that we're but dust. He knows that we're not John 
Deere tractors. He knows that we need to cease 
from our labors, our ordinary work. We need to come into the 
presence of God. We need the refreshment that 
comes from on high. We need those blessings and those 
benefits, so God in His kindness has given that to us. The Sabbath 
was made for man. J.C. Riles 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 God. That's what the Bible teaches. So back to verse 27, the Sabbath 
was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. See, that's 
the Pharisaic response. You exist to fulfill Sabbath 
law. You exist not to walk more than 
whatever many steps they said you could walk. Remember if the 
nub or the core or the essence is here, they put it over here 
and then had this idea that you need to function in obedience 
to that. Your job is to function in obedience 
to these man-made provisions relative to Sabbath law, and 
if you don't, then you're going to be cut off. No, the Sabbath 
was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. You weren't 
made simply to obey those regulations. Rather, you need to see it as 
a good gift given by God. So, Sabbatarianism doesn't say, 
okay, wretch, you just do what you're supposed to do and eke 
it out. No, Sabbatarianism says God's given you a blessed gift, 
He's given you a provision, He's given you a place, He's given 
you access, He's given you free approach to the throne, and He's 
given that to you for a day, one out of the seven. Work hard 
the other six days to be sure, but on that seventh day, Remember 
it, observe it, sanctify it, and find rest in it. It is a 
blessed and a wonderful thing. And then again, notice what Jesus 
asserts concerning himself. Therefore, the Son of Man is 
also Lord of the Sabbath. Curious language, if in his mind, 
at the death and resurrection, he is going to suspend Sabbatarianism. Strange thought indeed. If he 
says on the one hand, this was a gift given by God, are we getting 
less gifts in the New Covenant? No, we get more gifts in the 
New Covenant. We get more provision. We get 
more access. We get more blessing. We get 
more excellence. And so if there was a day set 
apart in Old Covenant Israel for the trafficking in the good 
things of God, there is certainly a day set apart in the New Covenant 
Israel, which is the Church of Jesus Christ, for trafficking 
in the things of God. There ought not to be an aversion 
in our hearts concerning this. Now again, if at the exegetical 
level it is legalism or it is Judaism, then we ought to reject 
it. But hopefully as we move through 
these passages, you'll see that's not the case. Now notice thirdly 
the Sabbath observance of Cain and Abel. We go back to Genesis. 
Genesis chapter 4. Genesis 4 verse 1, Now Adam knew 
Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have 
acquired a man from the Lord. And she bore again, this time 
his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of the 
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. Abel also brought of the firstborn 
of his flock and of their fat. Now the thing that should be 
curious to us or interesting to us relative to Sabbath is 
that phrase, in the process of time. If you have the New King 
James Version, if you look at the margin, the reading literally 
is at the end of days. So when we look at that, 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 at 
the end of days it came to pass that Cain brought an offering 
of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of 
the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. As Matthew Poole 
wisely 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. And then he cites Genesis chapter 
two, verse three. Now think about that for just 
a moment. It's not that the end of the days in terms of the final 
day of judgment, it's at the end of the days of the week. 
And on the end of the days of the week, what do Cain and Abel 
do? They bring sacrifice. Well, if we ask the question, 
how did they know to bring sacrifice? They would have learned it from 
Adam. And if we ask the question, how did Adam learn sacrifice? 
He would have learned it from God. Because when Adam and Eve 
went to hide themselves, they cover themselves with fig leaves. 
When God comes to deal with them, He kills animals and takes the 
skins and covers them. They are taught a very instructive 
lesson at that point. Blood atonement is an actual 
essential need with reference to sinners and God. So they saw 
God not unzip a man in a bear suit and put that bear suit on 
them, but kill and spill blood of animals and then take those 
skins and cover them. And if we ask the question, how 
would Cain and Abel have known which day they should have presented 
these sacrifices? Again, from Adam. And how would 
Adam have known on which day to present these sacrifices? 
From God, Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 to 3. So in the process 
of time, or at the end of days, they bring a sacrifice to approach 
to God with reference to Sabbath keeping in terms of the larger 
concern of the sermon. So the offerings of the sons. 
Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel 
brought the firstborn of his flock. And the practice was informed 
by the Lord. John Calvin made this observation. The custom of sacrificing was 
not rashly decided by them, but was divinely delivered to them. Again, if you've ever read Genesis 
4 and you've seen Cain and Abel, oftentimes our thoughts turn 
on, why did he receive Abel and why didn't he receive Cain? But 
your previous thoughts ought to be, how in the world did they 
know to bring a sacrifice to this holy God? Because this God 
sacrificed animals and covered their parents in the skins. How 
did they know at the end of days? Because this Holy God, Sabbath, 
according to Genesis 2, 1 to 3, He passed that information 
on to Adam, and Adam dutifully passed that information on to 
his sons, such that at the end of the days of the week, they 
didn't go to the lake with their kids. They went to the altar 
of Yahweh with the gifts given by God to them, and they return 
a portion. in terms of tithes, offerings, 
and sacrifices, and to underscore the necessity of blood atonement. Now, fourthly, turn over to Exodus 
chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16, to see the 
presence of Sabbath prior to Sinai. The presence of Sabbath 
prior to the giving of the law in Exodus chapter 20. This is 
dazzling exegesis, isn't it? 16 comes before 20. That's your dazzling exegesis. That's why they were told to 
remember, because it was something extant. It was something present. It was something in play. And 
we have in Exodus chapter 16, verses 4 and 5, instruction. 
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 that, 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. And let's just drop to 
the explanation in verses 22 and following. 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 shall not find 
it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, 
but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none. Again, it's 
extant, that means it's present, it's in existence prior to the 
giving of the law at Sinai. How do we know that? Because 
that is specifically what the text says. So Adam was a dutiful 
parent that passed this information down and the covenant community 
kept it alive. Oral tradition was powerful. 
We worship God on the seventh day. We bring blood atonement. 
We seek by God's grace to enter into his presence. All these 
things obtained in Israel prior to the giving of the law at Sinai. Turretin says this could not 
have been said unless the Sabbath had already been instituted and 
commanded by God. And in a very excellent modern 
book by a fellow named Philip Ross, he makes this observation. I'll tell you the name of the 
book in a moment. He says, does Exodus 16 not suggest that they 
were aware of an obligation to rest before they heard the Decalogue? Of course it does. Philip Ross's 
book is called From the Finger of God, and it's a study in the 
threefold division of the law, the moral law, the judicial law, 
and the ceremonial law of Moses. It is most excellent, and he 
uses as a foil, Sabbatarianism, because that is a big sort of 
demarcation within the church today. There are those who from 
a confessional standpoint embrace Sabbatarianism, and there are 
those outside of that confessional standpoint that are suspicious 
that that is legalism or it is Judaizing with reference to the 
New Testament. So he uses that as a sort of 
specimen passage or subject, and he goes through it quite 
beautifully and quite helpfully. Now, in the fifth place, turn 
over to the Sabbath. Well, Sabbath at Sinai. I won't 
spend time here, but that's what we have. So Exodus 20, with reference 
to the Sabbath at Sinai, you have the positive command, remember 
the Sabbath day to keep it holy. You have the prohibition, six 
days you shall labor and do all your work. And then again, the 
rationale. If this was quiz time, I'd ask you to take out your 
pencil and paper and write, why is it that God tells the people 
of Israel to Sabbath? Or what two overarching themes 
underscore the reality of Sabbatarianism? Creation and redemption. The 
fact that God created the world in the space of six days and 
then rested on the seventh. And the fact that God redeemed 
Israel out of bondage in Egypt. Now in the next place, we have 
the Sabbath and the prophet Isaiah. You can turn to Isaiah 56. Isaiah 
56. Again, not everything Sabbath 
is being brought out, but this is a sort of a summary exposition 
of some significant passages relative to Sabbatarianism. Two 
passages in Isaiah that we want to look at. First, the teaching 
in Isaiah chapter 56. Now, I put this in the context 
of the Messianic age. Isaiah 52 and 53 highlight the 
fourth servant song of Isaiah. And in that fourth servant song, 
we find out the servant of Yahweh will be bruised. The servant 
of Yahweh will be crushed. The servant of Yahweh will stand 
in the place of His people, will take their punishment, and will 
bring them His righteousness. What we have in Isaiah 53, we 
might call Isaiah one of the apostles, because it's so evangelical, 
it is so full of Christ's substitutionary atonement on behalf of sinners. 
So after Isaiah 53, we then see the benefits accruing from the 
work of the servant with reference to the church or the people of 
God. And then when we get to Isaiah chapter 56, we have a 
statement concerning new covenant reality, new covenant blessing. Notice in verse two, blessed 
is the man who does this and the son of man who lays hold 
on it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbaths and keeps his hand 
from doing any evil. In other words, in the New Covenant, 
there will be sabbathing. There will be blessing for the 
people of God in terms of a cessation from regular, ordinary work, 
where they get to gather into the house of God on the day of 
God to access the God of heaven and earth. It is a most blessed 
provision given by our Lord. Notice in chapter 56 at verse 
4. 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. Now we know that this applies 
to New Covenant reality. It's not just Sabbatarianism 
in the New Covenant, but the eunuch finding access into the 
house of God is Acts chapter 8. When Philip meets that Ethiopian 
eunuch and baptizes him in the name of the Father and of the 
Son and of the Holy Spirit, you have Isaiah 56 fulfilled. you 
have a eunuch who at one time, because of his unicacy, kept 
from the house of the Lord, Deuteronomy 23.1. But now in Christ and the 
new covenant, eunuchs and men from every tribe, tongue, people, 
and nation, as we drop down in this particular chapter, we'll 
see that the house of Yahweh is a place of prayer for all 
the nations of the earth. It's looking forward to the new 
covenant under the messianic reign of King Jesus. where eunuchs 
are welcomed in through that precious blood, and where Sabbath-keeping 
is still part and parcel of New Covenant religion. It's not Judaizing, it is not 
legalizing, it is rather the blessed benefit of God, given 
or created for man as man, realized by the last Adam, and given to 
his people for their benefit, for their growth, for their help, 
and for their good. It's not a bad thing. Notice 
in Isaiah 56 at 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, to be his servants. Everyone who keeps from defiling 
the Sabbaths 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. The Lord God who gathers the 
outcasts of Israel says, yet I will gather to him others besides 
those who are gathered to him. So several things promised by 
God in the Old Covenant that come to fruition in the New Covenant. 
Gentile inclusion in the covenant of grace. We see that in Isaiah 
56. eunuch inclusion in the covenant of grace. We see that in Isaiah 
56, Acts 8, but as well Sabbath keeping. It is included in this 
new covenant setting to prophesy or to predict or show forth rather 
that in the days of Messiah, the people of God will benefit 
like the people of God did in the old covenant as well. He 
doesn't suspend or abrogate something calculated to do them good. And 
then turn to the prophet Isaiah chapter 58. Isaiah 58, you have 
the declaration of the sin of Israel in verse 1. You see, God 
says, go after my people. Certainly the pagans and the heathen need 
to hear God's law preached. But so does the House of Israel, 
so do the people of God, so do the children of God, because 
the Word of God is given to convince, rebuke, and exhort. The Word 
of God is given to correct us, to instruct us, to chasten us, 
to discipline us. And so in this particular chapter, 
two things come under fire. First is fasting, and second 
is Sabbath. And with reference to fast day, 
instead of using the time of fast day for the good of others, 
they walked around with heavy hearts and heavy faces, and they 
said, oh, woe is me, I'm fasting. Jesus condemns that approach 
to fast day in the Sermon on the Mount. Don't tell everybody 
you're fasting. Oh, I'm such a godly, pious fellow. I'm engaged in fasting today. 
Anoint your face with oil. Be happy and joyful. And the same thrust is seen here 
with the prophet Isaiah. But then he turns his sights 
against or turns his attention to Sabbath keeping. And then 
notice the great promise of verses 13 and 14. If you turn away your 
foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, 
and call the Sabbath the 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. That 
doesn't sound like a bondage thing. That doesn't sound like 
a burdensome thing. That doesn't sound like a grievous 
thing. Here's what I suspect. The problem 
is never the law. The problem is always our hearts. And if we are that messed up 
by the good gift of God giving us a day to Sabbath, giving us 
a day for public worship and rest in Him, that says more about 
our hearts than it does about the nature of God's holy law, 
who John the Apostle tells us is not grievous. It's not burdensome. E.J. Young made this comment 
in his commentary. 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 true heart 
of devotion to God. He who keeps the Sabbath as it 
is intended to be kept will be happy in the Lord of the Sabbath. That is a great way to underscore 
the point. It is good by God to make this 
for man, for the benefit of the creature, for the worship of 
God, and for the enjoyment of the rest, at least in part, of 
what we're heading to in terms of consummated glory. One last 
text and then we're done. Jeremiah 31. Jeremiah 31. Well, Jeremiah does not indicate 
Sabbath-keeping per se, Jeremiah tells us something about the 
moral law of God. Remember, you've got the moral 
law, you've got the judicial law, and you've got the ceremonial 
law. It is the moral law that's in 
view here in Jeremiah chapter 31. Again, the context is the 
promise of the new covenant. It is the promise of what we'll 
obtain when the Messiah comes. when the champion of Israel is 
manifested, when he takes on our humanity, when he lives for 
us, when he dies for us, when he's resurrected again for us. What will happen when sinners 
are born again by the power of God's Spirit, when they, by grace, 
look to Jesus Christ in faith? 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. Here's a contrast 
between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. The New Covenant 
is inviolate. You can't break it. You can't 
suspend it. You can't abrogate it. This is 
what we base the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints 
on. He who begins this good work 
in you will complete it unto the day of Christ. New Covenant 
blessings are sure. New Covenant blessings are secure. 
The Old Covenant, you could break it, and they did. and thus reap 
the whirlwind in terms of God's judgment." Now notice as he goes 
on, "'Though I was a husband to them,' says the Lord." Now 
verse 33, "'But this is the covenant that I will make with the house 
of Israel after those days,' says the Lord. Not that these 
things were absent from the true believers in the Old Testament, 
David possessed these blessings. Jacob possessed these blessings. 
Abraham possessed these blessings. They weren't, however, essential 
features of Old Covenant religion. You could be a part of the Old 
Covenant and be a Jacob or an Esau. You could be in the Old 
Covenant and be an Isaac or an Ishmael. So these features that 
he speaks to aren't brand new in terms of redemptive history, 
but they are absolutely sure for the New Covenant community. 
They are essential features in the New Covenant. So verse 32, 
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 in their hearts. Which law? The ceremonial? No. That prefigured Christ. Once 
Christ comes, we have the substance. We have the grandkid. We don't 
need the picture. Is it the judicial law? No, this 
isn't the Commonwealth of Israel, and we're not dwelling in the 
physical land of Canaan. The law that God writes in the 
heart is the Ten Commandments. It was given at Sinai, it was 
given in Deuteronomy, but it predated that. It comes, as it 
were, hardwired into our very psyche. God makes us in His image, 
and as a result, we know it's wrong to murder. We know it's 
wrong to engage in gross sexual immorality. Men know this, women 
know this. They try really hard to suppress 
the truth in unrighteousness, but deep down inside, their conscience 
screams at them that what they're doing is wrong. Now, you might 
say, well, why, if it's written on our hearts at creation, it 
needs to be written in redemption? Because we're messed up, and 
because the second or last Adam comes to save us from our sin, 
and a feature of the new covenant is that this law will be written 
in our hearts in an experiential way, in a way that we want, in 
a way that makes us imitate David, who said, how I delight in your 
law, it is my meditation day and night. So he says that he 
will put his 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, 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. Again, all these central features of New Covenant religion. 
You don't need to tell your neighbor in the New Covenant, hey, you 
should know the Lord. He knows the Lord if he's in 
the New Covenant. But if you were in the Old Covenant 
and you happen to be Jacob, you need to tell Esau, you need to 
know the Lord. If you were Isaac, you would 
need to tell Ishmael, you need to know the Lord. But these are 
essential features in New Covenant religion in the mouth of an Old 
Covenant prophet. And when he prophesies that God 
will put his law in our minds and hearts, he is talking about 
the Decalogue. He is talking about the Ten Commandments. That's why in Matthew 5, and 
we'll visit that, Jesus says, do not even let it begin to rise 
in your mind that I have come to abrogate the law. I didn't 
come to get rid of it or destroy it, but rather I came to fulfill 
it. Yes, in his own doing. Yes, in 
his own dying. Yes, in his own resurrecting. 
But as well, with reference to his people, the blood-bought 
children of God, born again by the power of the Holy Spirit, 
have that law internalized in their hearts such that now they 
want to do it. They want to comply. They want 
to honor God. When they disobey or when they 
transgress, they are convicted and they can confess that sin 
to God and fetch forgiveness, but wanting the presence and 
the power of the Spirit such that they can comply with what 
God has said pleases Him in terms of His creatures. In summary 
or in conclusion, first, the obedience to the command. We 
need to cease from Us. It's always about us, right? 
It always comes back to us. And we need to understand a cessation 
from our regular ordinary work is done so that we can be caught 
up in God Most High. Now brethren, this is just a 
great way for us to actuate or to fulfill or rather comply with 
the exhortations we saw in the last sermon from Hebrews chapter 
10. We're to draw near. We're to hold fast. or to consider 
one another, to stir one another up to love and good works. Well, 
we do that by having a day given to us by God upon which to engage 
specifically in those things. Secondly, in terms of the use 
of the commandment, I mentioned that not only do the Reforms 
see a threefold division of the law, but they also recognize 
three proper uses of the law. The first use is the civil or 
political use. God gives His law to restrain 
His creatures. Imagine a world without law. 
That would be hell. Secondly, there's the pedagogical 
use or the child tutor use of God's law. God gives us the law 
so that we'll see our sin and misery and our need for redemption, 
our need for Jesus Christ, because we cannot keep that law perfectly. 
We don't do it exactly or entirely or perpetually. We do not do 
that. And so the law drives sinners 
to Christ so that we can find relief in and through the blood 
of Jesus. But then that third use is the 
normative use of the law. So we are driven by the law into 
the arms of the Savior. And then the Savior says, as 
a pattern for sanctification, there's the law. The law reveals 
to us who God is. The law reveals to us what God 
delights in. God delights in it when we don't 
engage in idolatry. God delights in when we don't 
blaspheme. God delights in when we obey 
Sabbath. God delights in subordination 
to a proper authority. God delights in us not murdering, 
not committing adultery, not being thieves, not being liars, 
not being covetous. So the law drives us to Christ, 
then Christ sends us back to the law. This is why he prays 
in the high priestly prayer, sanctify them by thy truth, thy 
word is truth. We need the promises, we need 
the gospel, but we also need the law, because the law reveals 
to us who God is and what He desires, or rather what He demands 
from His creatures. 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. In other words, as the Lord's 
Day has been suspended, do people get holier? Not usually. Do they get more godly? Not usually. There's exceptions to every rule, 
and I get it. There could be the guy that's 
in a dispensational church that has no regard whatsoever for 
the Sabbath, but could be a wholly faithful guy. That's not the 
argument. The argument is simply this. When we suspend what God 
commands, typically we don't benefit. When we get rid of what 
God calls good, we don't do well. And then Gerhardus Voss, in his 
biblical theology, made this observation. I love this. He 
says, the Sabbath has faithfully accompanied the people of God 
on their march through the ages. Always there for us, God and 
His Sabbath. Always there for us to encourage 
us. Perhaps you have, I don't want 
to get too touchy-feely here, but perhaps you've woken up on 
a Sunday morning and you feel like the spiritual equivalent 
of a dead fish. And then you pray, God help me, 
give me the Davidic experience. I was glad when they said to 
me, let us go to the house of the Lord. And lo and behold, 
you come here and it's not like, you know, the heavens open and 
you have a beatific, it's not that, but you're encouraged, 
you're blessed, you're assisted, you're aided, you're helped. 
That's the point with Vos' statement there. The Sabbath has always 
accompanied the people of God throughout their march in the 
ages. And for us to disregard it, or 
for us to render it null and void, or for us to say, oh no, 
Jesus fulfilled that. Well, Jesus fulfilled the other 
Ten Commandments too, but nobody's saying, let's go out and commit 
adultery, let's go out and engage in murder. Whatever fulfillment 
of Decalogue on the part of Jesus Christ means, it doesn't mean 
go ahead and do whatever it is you want. No, the Sabbath was 
made for the man and not man for the Sabbath. But remember, 
and I want to end here, Sabbatarianism doesn't save you. Jesus saves 
you. Sabbatarianism may underscore 
your need for salvation. There was a famous preacher in 
the life of the church, his name was John Elias, and he would 
hear about the prevailing sin of a particular community, and 
then he'd come there on the Sunday and he'd preach against that 
sin. And very often it was Sabbath breaking. Very often it was a 
lack of Sabbath observance. And so he would use that as a 
means to show sinners their sin and their need for the Redeemer. 
He didn't go there saying, you just keep the Sabbath and you're 
going to go to heaven. No, if you don't keep the Sabbath, it 
shows you something about your own heart. So let's set forth 
Jesus Christ in all of his offices, his prophet, priest, and king, 
and the one who's able and ready to save all who come to him. 
Those who believe and repent will be saved by our Lord Jesus 
Christ, and then, by God's grace, they'll get to enjoy the Sabbath. 
Well, let us close in a word of prayer. Our Father, thank 
you for your word and thank you for this day that we can come 
together to worship you. I pray that you would go with 
us now, that you would watch over this church, that you'd 
watch over all of the brothers and the sisters in Christ in 
our local assembly. Bless all the churches of Christ 
in our community and throughout this nation and to the uttermost 
parts of the earth and protect them. and defend them and continue 
to rule over us, Lord God, for your glory and for our well-being. And as the gospel goes forth 
today, we pray it would prevail and that many sinners would come 
to Jesus in faith. And we ask this in his most blessed 
name. Amen. Well, we'll stand and close 
by singing the doxology in praise to our triune God. It can be 
found on page 568 in your hymn books. Praise God above with all blessings 
o'er. Praise Him, all creatures here 
below. Praise Him above, ye heavenly 
host. because Lord, bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine 
upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance 
upon you and give you peace. God, may this be true for each 
of us. May it be true for your people all over the earth. And 
may we live in light of your word. And may we seek by your 
grace to bring glory and honor and praise to you each and every 
day. And may you forgive us when we fall short. Bless us now we 
pray through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.