The Fourth Commandment
The Ten Commandments
We could turn with me in your Bibles to Deuteronomy chapter 5, as we continue an exposition of the Ten Commandments. We're at the fourth commandment tonight. We'll look at verses 12 to 15, but I do want to read beginning in verse 6 of chapter 5 in the book of Deuteronomy. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image. any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother as the Lord your God has commanded you, that your days may be long and that it may be well with you. may be well with you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, and you shall not desire your neighbor's house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's. These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice. And he added no more, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me." Amen. Well, let us pray. Father, thank You for Your Word, thank You for these commandments, and I pray that You, by Your Spirit, would produce in us what the psalmist so often exclaims, how I love Your law, that it is the meditation of our hearts, day and night. And God, as we come to this fourth commandment, we know there's a great deal of controversy concerning it. Help us to see what Scripture says concerning it. Help us, God, to find great joy and delight in the Sabbath day. and help us, Lord God, to honor and to glorify you as a church of the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, supply the Holy Spirit as we have need, and Lord, forgive us for our sins. And we ask in Jesus' name. Amen. Well, if you were raised in a non-reformed church, it's most likely that you were never taught the doctrine of the Christian Sabbath. You were taught that nine of the Ten Commandments are binding for New Covenant Christians. But they would suggest that the Fourth Commandment no longer has abiding validity on the part of God's people in this New Covenant era. If you were brought up in a Reformed church, then you were taught that the fourth commandment, along with the other nine, are still binding. It's a question, ultimately, that centers on hermeneutics, or how we interpret the Bible. There are those who see a lack of continuity between the Testaments. They would be called dispensationalists, or New Covenant theology. They see more discontinuity between the two covenants, and therefore they jettison the Sabbath commandment. Reformed persons, however, see more continuity, and their maxim is that if the New Testament doesn't tell us that something is done away, then we assume that it's binding for us today. And I will argue throughout our exposition of the Ten Commandments that there is a trans-covenantal utility about the Ten Commandments. And what I mean by that is that whatever covenant you find yourself in, whether it's the old covenant in Israel or it's the new covenant in the church, the 10 commandments are binding. Remember that it is the moral law of God. It is a reflection of or a revelation of his nature, his being, his glory, his majesty. So the fourth commandment is binding. And as we consider this particular commandment, we're gonna slow down the exposition a little bit because I've always thought it's helpful to get a biblical theology of Sabbath. In other words, what does the scripture say concerning Sabbath? So we'll, tonight, look at Old Testament texts in terms of Sabbath, observance, keeping, and whatnot. And then, God willing, not next Sunday, because we have the supper, but the following Sunday, we'll look at the New Covenant teaching. And we will see that there is in fact continuity, that there is in fact a Sabbath for the people of God. And I think that is very accurately propounded by the apostle in Hebrews 4.9. He says, there remains a Sabbath for the people of God. Now some take that from this present age and put it into the eschaton, but that's not what Paul does in Hebrews chapter four. So tonight, brief exposition of the commandment as we find it here in this section, and then the Sabbath in the Old Covenant. I'm not going to mention every single text that speaks to Sabbath, because some texts in the Prophets, for instance, are condemnation of Israel for Sabbath violation. The texts I have selected show us a theology of the Sabbath, what it means to keep it, what it means that it's binding upon the people of God, and what function it has for the people of God. But first, let's look at this commandment in its setting. Verse 12. There's a couple of differences between the Deuteronomy version and the Exodus version. Notice in Deuteronomy 5.12, it says, observe the Sabbath day. In Exodus chapter 20, verse 8, it says, remember the Sabbath day. Not a big difference, obviously, but a difference nonetheless. And then the reason for Sabbath keeping in Deuteronomy is verse 15. Notice, and remember that you are 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. So in Deuteronomy, the reason for Sabbath keeping is God's redemptive power displayed in the people of Israel. But in the book of Exodus, it's God's creative power in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. Not that there's a great big difference, but those two themes undergird a proper understanding of Sabbath, both creation and redemption. And if you're so inclined, tuck that back into your head. When we get to Hebrews chapter 4, I think you'll see the significance of this particular point. Those themes of creation and redemption with reference to Sabbath keeping are absolutely crucial to keep in mind. Hebrews 4 is the passage that teaches the day change. Why do we as New Covenant Christians meet on Sunday instead of Saturday? Well, Hebrews 4 answers that. And again, after we survey the New Testament teaching, we'll end up there and then we'll deal with the passages that some suggest are contrary to the idea of a Christian Sabbath. So God willing, we're going to go through all of this material. If you attend the confession studies, this will be a review for you because it's essentially what I teach when we come to chapter 22 in the confession of faith. But in terms of the positive aspect of the command, it says, observe or remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The Israelites here, or in Exodus specifically, were to remember something that was already present. This is important as well. It is not the case that this is the first giving of the law of Sabbath, but rather they are called in the book of Exodus to remember the Sabbath day, and here they are called to observe the Sabbath day. And the reason they are to remember is specified in the text. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you. Holiness means to separate it, to sanctify it, to make it distinct from the other six days. We are certainly supposed to worship God Monday through Saturday, but the Sabbath day, Sunday, Lord's day, is to be set apart. We are to be wholly occupied with the things of God. We are to seek His blessing. We are to sanctify the day. We are to traffic in those good things of the Lord. Again, not to suggest that Monday through Saturday, we're not supposed to do that. One of the arguments contrary to Sabbath keeping is that very mindset. Well, every day is the Lord's Day. Every day is a day of worship. Well, most certainly every day is the Lord's Day, and most certainly every day is a day of worship. But there is one day of the seven specifically called out by God, where the people of God gather together in their covenant community and they worship him and they seek to glorify and honor him. And in the old covenant that was Saturday and in the new covenant that is Sunday. And then notice the prohibition that he gives in verse 13. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work. You, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you." So the prohibition is no regular work, no ordinary work. The sort of thing that occupies you six days, you're not supposed to do that on the Sabbath day. Now, there are works of necessity and there are works of mercy. And when we get into the new covenant teaching, we will see that specifically in the ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ. But for now, we need to emphasize the reality that no ordinary or normal work is to be done on the Sabbath day. That is the prohibition. And then notice the scope. No one related to the covenant family, even beasts of burden, You're supposed to give your ox the day off as well, because rest is refreshing even for animals. Now, having said all that, it follows after the prescription, six days you shall labor and do all your work. So while the Sabbath does call us to cease from our normal or ordinary work on that Sabbath day, it nevertheless enjoins, assumes, presupposes the idea that we will work hard. We were not put on this earth just to lie on the couch. We were not put on this earth just to have everybody serve us, but rather we were put on this earth to labor. And six days you shall labor. Six days you shall work hard. Six days you shall put your shoulder to the plow and not look back. You're supposed to be diligent. You're not supposed to be a slacker. You're supposed to be the kind of person that honors God in their lawful vocation or their calling. So the text is very specific and clear that we are to be working six days. Now, if you say, well, my employer makes me take Saturday off. Be busy around the house. Ask your wife. I'm sure she's got a lot of work for you to do on Saturday such that you don't have to just lie on the couch and be an amoeba or a sponge or whatever it is that sort of just lies on couches. But then we come back to the particular text and we see there's a cessation from regular employment, there's a necessity for labor on the other six days, But on that day, we are to keep it holy. We're to pursue holy things. So it's not just a cessation. It's not just a stopping of our ordinary work. But the Lord God, through Moses, says to keep it holy. And when we start to sketch a theology of the Sabbath, we'll see those things. We'll see blessing and sanctification, holiness, religious sort of worship. on that particular day. So the reason for this, as God has specified in Deuteronomy, is the doctrine of redemption. In Exodus, it's the doctrine of creation. Exodus 20 11 says, 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. And now let's look at the Sabbath in the old covenant. Let's start in Genesis chapter two. because that's where Exodus 20 verse 11 goes back to. So the Sabbath at creation, Genesis chapter two, this is the proof text or the rationale or the reason for Israel to keep the Sabbath day according to Exodus 20 verse 11. Why should we keep the Sabbath day? 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. Now, there is no command. I am going to concede that point in Genesis 2, 1 to 3. I will concede at the outset that there's not a command wherein God says, okay, creature, now you do exactly what Creator has done. But there doesn't need to be a command when we have a divine exemplar, when we have God the Lord set forth this pattern, and then we have Moses later invoke that pattern as a reason for the creature to keep the day holy. It doesn't need that direct, explicit, thou must, when God sabbaths. God intends for the creature to follow Him in this particular pattern. Notice at verse 2a, He ends His work. Verse 2 tells us, well, 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. Now, in terms of God having ended His work, which He had done, that speaks specifically to the creation account. God is obviously active in providence. God doesn't just lie on the couch. God is certainly over all things. He is in the heavens, and He does whatever He pleases. Deism is inaccurate. Deism teaches that God set the world in order and then God sort of pulled back or God withdrew himself. That's not biblical Christianity. God is active in the creation through providence, through the power and the presence of the spirit among his people. But in terms of God working in the original creation, he finishes that work on the seventh day. And then notice in verse 2b, he rests. It says, he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Now, we need to understand this the way that Moses intends. God doesn't get tired. God doesn't need naps. God doesn't say, wow, that really took a lot out of me. I'm just going to sit for a while and watch golf. That's not how God functions. The rest in view is complacency, approbation of the creation that he has done. 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 or refreshment there isn't by way of necessity. God is tired, he's wiped the sweat off his divine brow, and now he's gonna lie down for a nap. That's not what's in view, it's what Owen says. It's an approval, it is an approbation, it is a complacency in what he has done, and a delight in it. Now in terms of just a few thoughts before we move on, authors have seen that there's more going on even than just this. What we have is God the Lord, who says in the prophet Isaiah 66.1 that heaven is my throne and earth is my footstool. What God is doing in the creation of the heavens and the earth is making a temple, a temple where he will dwell with his people. That's what the garden functions at. It is a sanctuary. Adam's primary task was not agrarian, but rather it was priestly. He was to serve the living God and extend the boundaries of the garden and multiply so that the image of God would fill the earth and God would be all in all. So there is an enthronement aspect in terms of what's happening here as well. Again, Meredith Klein says, "...the cosmic structure was built as a habitation for the Creator Himself. Heaven and earth were erected as a house of God, a palace of the Great King, the seat of sovereignty of the Lord of the Covenant." So God takes His throne, sits and rests, and has that delight in what He has created, and then the rest of redemptive history is God moving His creation to share in that rest with Him, to participate in that eternal Sabbath. But the weekly Sabbaths are down payments of that. They are foretastes of that. They help us to see the glory that awaits us, and to jettison the Sabbath is to jettison that blessed reality. James Hamilton says God is presented as building for Himself a cosmic temple. In this cosmic temple, He places His image, whose task is to fill the earth and subdue it, such that the glory of Yahweh covers the land as the waters cover the sea. So this is an enthronement as well with reference to God. But in terms of the creature, we are supposed to follow his example. Notice what happens 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. All the other days were good. He reports that they were good. All of the other days did exactly what God had intended. But it's on this Sabbath day, this rest day, this day of refreshment, this day of delight, that he blesses the seventh day and he sanctifies it because in it he rested from all his work, which God had created and made. G.K. Beal speaks concerning this mandate to humans. He says, the Hebrew word for bless is normally restricted to living beings in the Old Testament and typically does not apply to something being blessed or sanctified only for God's sake. Accordingly, Genesis 2.3 appears to be directed to humanity as a creational ordinance to regard the seventh day of each week to be blessed and set apart by God. Now, before you say, well, this whole idea seems way too theological, there's no clear command, consider marriage. There's no command in Genesis chapter 2 to go thou and do likewise, find a bride, marry the bride, take her home to mom and dad, all that sort of thing. It's an example or paradigmatic or a pattern of what was done. Some Reformed writers have commented that there are creation ordinances. Labor is a creation ordinance. Again, there's no direct command. Well, God tells Adam to tend to the garden, but in terms of God telling us to be mechanics or lawyers or whatever, there's no command suggesting that, but rather it's a pattern, it's a paradigm. It is illustrative of what the creature should do. There are creation ordinances that we find in Genesis chapters one to three. Marriage, labor, Sabbath. When the creator Sabbaths, the creator expects his creatures to Sabbath. And again, the best proof of that is Exodus 20 11. For in six days, the Lord God created the heavens and the earth. The seventh was a Sabbath and therein he sanctified it and he blessed it. Now, let's turn to Genesis four. So we consider, I'm sorry, Mark chapter two. I know that's a bit of a jump, but I'll explain myself as you're turning. We're going to look at the Sabbath and the Old Covenant. We have the Sabbath at creation. Secondly, I want to look at the Sabbath at creation explained. In fact, our Lord Jesus, in Mark chapter 2, illustrates for us the abiding perpetuity of Sabbath observance. Why would he spend time combating the religious leaders of his day if he was going to abolish the Sabbath? Do you know how many controversies surround Sabbath-keeping in the life and ministry of our Lord? It would have been a whole lot easier for him to say, you know, once I die on the cross, there's not going to be Sabbath anymore, so there's no reason for us to engage in this sort of direct combat. That's not what he does. He engages in that direct combat, and he clears away the Pharisaic misinterpretation of the commandment, and he highlights the truth and validity of the commandment. And Mark chapter two is a great example of that. Notice in verses 23 to 28. In the first place, you have the conduct of the disciples. 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. They were hungry. They had to eat. See, fasting is legitimate in its place and in its time, but you're not supposed to fast always because you would die. Fasting is good, again, in its place and in its time, but for the most part, we need to eat. And that is precisely what is displayed in this passage. Notice, then, the complaint of the Pharisees. They've always got something wrong. They were, you know, akin to the modern day, you know, Democrats or liberals. They complain about everything. There's no pleasing them whatsoever. They find fault with everything. Somebody does something great. Well, they didn't do it greater. That's just a terrible mindset. And it is more owing to the Pharisees than it is to biblical religion. Notice in verse 24, and the Pharisee said to him, look, why do you, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath? You see an assumption contained in their language? Why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath? They assume that they're right. And in discussions concerning Sabbatarianism, we can sound a lot like these Pharisees. We can sound a lot like these people. Why did you do that on Sunday? Don't you know that the way I do it is always the best way possible? There can be a judgmental attitude on the parts of God's people when it comes to this issue of Sabbath. I put Sabbath along with the other nine commandments. Do we keep the other nine commandments perfectly? If you think for a moment you do, you're not paying attention to this exposition. You're not paying attention to anything I ever say, and I would like to encourage you to start to do so. We have issues even with the Sabbath commandment, and ultimately we don't go to heaven because of our Sabbatarianism. We don't go to heaven because of our lack of blasphemy, our lack of idolatry. We go to heaven because Jesus Christ perfectly kept the Ten Commandments. Jesus Christ in his active obedience, that is imputed to us and received by faith alone. That doesn't militate against the reality that we need to try by the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit. But brethren, there is something fundamentally wrong when we use the Sabbath as a mallet to crush other people that we're supposed to be loving. We're supposed to express kindness to and compassion. Maybe they're at a place in their Christian life where they haven't been instructed, where they have been raised as dispensationalists, where this whole idea of Sabbatarianism is a brand new thing. You've got to remember that outside of the Reformed community, when it comes to Sabbatarianism, there is no lack of vitriol leveled against those who hold to it. This would be considered legalism in a whole lot of places. The very thought that one has to set apart the Lord's Day and keep it as a Sabbath day, holy unto God. Oh, you've just crossed over into the realm of legalism and you've got bigger problems than anybody we've ever met. This is the kind of stuff that persons are brought up on, and then they come into our Reformed churches, and we immediately want to chop their heads off, because they're not as good as Sabbatarians, typically, as we are. That's always the measuring standard. How I do it is the way it must be done, you see. So let's not be Pharisaic when it comes to this. Now, I'm not suggesting that we willy-nilly let everybody break God's law. But boy, I'm sure that we can not do that and not be Pharisees as well. But anyways, these guys whine, they grumble, they complain, and of course they assume that they're right. The Pharisee said to him, look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath? Now notice the response of the Lord. First he highlights the example of David. Do you want to argue with David? Do you want to say sinful things about David? Do you want to challenge David? In 1 Samuel chapter 21, 1 to 9, David and his men are on the run. David and his men need to eat, and David and his men eat the showbread. And that showbread was supposed to be for the priests only. So I think this is a brilliant way for our Lord to start to shut them down in their whining and their grumbling and their complaining. Unless you're prepared to debate King David of Israel on the merits of Sabbatarianism, then you should probably keep your mouth shut, is essentially what Jesus is saying. Maybe he didn't mean it quite that harsh. It sounded more harsh coming from me than I suspect it would have sounded coming from him. But he not only mentions David, but then notice he highlights The purpose for the Sabbath. The very purpose for the Sabbath. It's at this point that I must say, it's when we consider Sabbatarianism, and I hear the various sorts of, you know, opposition expressed against it, I wonder why. It's a gift given by God to his creatures. It is something good. It's not bad. He doesn't say, I want to give you this gift of poison. Go ahead and ingest it. I want to give you this gift of misery and pain. Go ahead and enjoy it. That's not it at all. God gives us something wonderful. God gives us something blessed. God gives us something that is in fact a gift. And for whatever reason in this new covenant era, we don't want it. Oh no, we go in the morning and then that's it. We can't be bound. That's legalism. That's not conducive to the spontaneity of the Christian man. Every day is the Lord's day. It's that kind of drivel and dreck that one constantly hears when they engage in these Sabbath wars. But Christ sort of clears away all of the muck and tells us the original intention of God with reference to Sabbath. Notice in verse 27, He says, the Sabbath was made for man. Isn't that a beautiful thing? It's a gift. He made it for us. He didn't make it to kill us or to hurt us. And it's literally in the text, the Sabbath was made for the man. The man is most likely Adam. So as Jesus highlights the true purpose of Sabbath, where does he go? He goes back to Genesis chapter two. He goes back to that place where God blessed the Sabbath day, where God sanctified the Sabbath day, where God by way of pattern established for the creature what they should be doing in that weekly cycle. It was made for the man. Not the Jew. That's one of the arguments proffered by dispensationalism. That the Fourth Commandment is for Israel. That the Ten Commandments given on Sinai were for Israel. They don't have any binding on the New Covenant Christian. They don't have any binding on the Gentile Christian. Unless, of course, they're repeated in the New Testament. That's why dispensationalists will find nine of the Ten Commandments repeated in the New Testament. So they've got nine of the Ten Commandments that are binding, though they wouldn't say it's because it's the Ten Commandments, it's because it's repeated in the New Testament. But here we see that the Sabbath was made for the man, man as man, not Jew as Jew. In fact, Ronald makes the observation. He says, God gave it for Adam in paradise and renewed it to Israel on Mount Sinai. It was made for all mankind, not for the Jew only, but for the whole family of Adam. So as Christ is clearing away the dust and the debris with reference to Sabbatarianism, he highlights the gift nature of it. The reality is, is that God made the Sabbath for us. Why don't we just happily receive it from him and seek by grace to keep it and delight ourselves in the presence of God along with his people? He also says that man was not made for the Sabbath. Verse 27, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. That Pharisaic interpretation looks more akin to that, that man was created by God in order to do the Sabbath. Man was created by God in order to comply with the Sabbath. Jesus says that's not the case. The Sabbath was made for the man. The man wasn't made for the Sabbath. Ezekiel Hopkins makes the observation that the Sabbath is but one day younger than man. It is but one day younger than man, and it was given by God as a gift to man. But the point is, as he's clearing away the debris, he goes back to creation. He goes back to Genesis 2, just like God through Moses in Exodus 2011. So those who say, well, Genesis 2, 1 to 3 doesn't contain a command. You are obliterating some very necessary data that comments favorably on Sabbatarianism from Genesis 2, 1 to 3. And then he ends it by saying, therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath. Again, an interesting line of defense if in his wheelhouse he's going to abolish it. He is going to get rid of it. He is going to just obliterate the concept of Sabbath. Why spend time polishing a house that you're going to just destroy anyway? You destroy a house to either rebuild anew or to salt the earth so that nothing ever grows there again. He is actually spending time correcting the Pharisaic misinterpretation Not because he's designing to destroy it, but confirming it, upholding it, and making it something blessed even for his new covenant people of God. It really is a beautiful thing. Now, a third text is back in Genesis chapter 4. This one may not carry the same sort of weight as some of the others do, but I think it's something worth observing. Genesis chapter 4. If you're taking notes, I'll give you the heads. We're looking at first the Sabbath at creation, Genesis 2. The Sabbath at creation explained, Mark 2. Thirdly, the Sabbath observance of Cain and Abel, Genesis 4. The Sabbath prior to Sinai, Exodus 16. The Sabbath at Sinai, Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5. The Sabbath in the prophet Isaiah. And then finally, the Sabbath in the prophet Jeremiah. It occurs to me we may not get through all of this tonight, but that's okay. As one who believes that we're going to be around for a little while, I don't feel any constraint to try and shove all of this in to one message. I'd rather that we were all conversant with the text, so that when we get to the New Testament, we can see what the authors are doing there. They have a theology of Sabbath. They don't suspend it. They don't abolish it. They work with it. And then they show and demonstrate why, in terms of God's redemptive plan, the day changes from Saturday to Sunday. Now, some would suggest that the Sabbath only existed in a ceremonial way. There were ceremonial aspects to the Sabbath. But there is moral aspect, perpetual aspect, that we simply cannot get rid of, and that's the focus of our survey. Now notice in Genesis 4-1, it says, Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. Then she bore again this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. Now, verse three is crucial to our consideration. It says, 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. And the Lord respected Abel in his offering, but he did not respect Cain in his offering. And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. Now, if we were to ask the question, how did Abel know to bring blood? How did Abel know to bring blood? I would suggest that his father Adam had instructed him. Remember that after the fall into sin, Adam and Eve were naked, they're trembling and God has dealings with them. And then God kills animals and he clothes Adam and Eve with these skins. I think that is atonement. I think it's typological. I think it points forward to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. But what Adam learned there is that killing animals and sacrificing animals is perfectly consistent with Yahweh, with our covenant Lord. So no doubt Adam told Cain and Abel, this is the way you approach God. You go to him with sacrifice and Abel as a keeper of flocks, killed his animal and brought the blood, brought the meat and offered it up as sacrifice unto Yahweh. But verse three is intriguing. It tells us, and in the process of time, if you look at the margin in the New King James, the reading literally is at the end of days. It is at the end of days. Now, I don't believe it meant the end of all days because we haven't gotten there yet. It was probably the end of the days of the week. And if Adam instructed Abel that blood was necessary in terms of atonement with God, then we can surmise that Adam instructed Abel and Cain that on the Sabbath, at the end of the days of the week, you go to Yahweh and you present your sacrifice. In fact, Matthew Poole, The Puritan commentator takes it this way. He says, more probably defining or describing this process of time or this end of days. He 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, Genesis 2.3. which before this time, he says, Genesis 4, was already blessed and sanctified. What's he saying? Exactly what Jesus says and exactly what Moses says in terms of the rationale for Sabbath keeping. Because God's Sabbath on that seventh day and because God blessed that day and sanctified that day, then the creature needs to follow suit. The creature needs to follow lockstep with the Creator when it comes to this issue of Sabbatarianism. Now, a fourth line of evidence, or rather, yes, the fourth is Exodus chapter 16. Exodus chapter 16. Now, this is important because it's before Exodus chapter 20. I do that once in a while so everybody knows I can count. We have an instance of pre-Sabbatarianism or Sabbatarianism prior to Sinai. In other words, God tells them to gather manna. The instructions are clear in verses 4 and 5. Gather twice the ration on the sixth day so that on the seventh day you don't have to go out and violate the Sabbath. See, God is a forward thinker. God is future-oriented. God wants his creatures and wants to facilitate his creatures obedience to his law. So he tells them, I'm gonna provide this manna. There's gonna be a double portion on Friday. And I want you to go out on Friday and I want you to gather up double so that on Saturday, you don't have to. On Saturday, you can bless the day or rather enjoy the blessing of the day and sanctify the day and keep the day holy. Now notice in chapter 16 at verse 22. 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. You see that? Prior to Sinai, they're keeping the Sabbath. Some of the objectors to the doctrine of the Christian Sabbath say, well, it was given at Sinai. No, it predates Sinai. It's Genesis chapter 2, verse 3. We see it there at the end of days with reference to Cain and Abel. We see what Christ says commenting on the gift nature of this Sabbath given by God to his creatures. And here you see it operative, even in Exodus chapter 16, prior to their hearing the law at Sinai. Turretin says this could not have been said unless the Sabbath had already been instituted and commanded by God. Again, brethren, you can't miss that logic, can you? You can't say, well, you know, it's there. Sabbatarianism is present prior to Sinai. A more modern author, a guy named Philip Ross, if you want a good book on the threefold division of the law, get Philip Ross. He says, does Exodus 16 not suggest that they were aware of an obligation to rest before they heard the Decalogue? Obviously they were. They are conversant with the theme and with the idea. But let's go back to the text and continue to read. Verse 23. 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. Lay up for yourselves. I'm sorry. Bake what you will. Excuse me, 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. Hard to maintain that the Sabbath wasn't given till Sinai in light of Exodus chapter 16. That's a very foolish argument to engage in. It's not given only to Jews and it's not only given at Sinai, it's prior to Sinai and it was given to Adam as man, not as Jew. But then look at verse 27. There's always gotta be, there's always gotta be those who don't do what they're told. Now that's probably all of us, but look at what verse 27 says. Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, how long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. let every man remain in his place, let no man go out of his place on the seventh day, so the people rested on the seventh day." Couldn't be any clearer. There is a Sabbath prior to Sinai, and we see it there in Exodus 16. Now, we won't spend any time at the Sabbath at Sinai, because that's what we're considering in the larger scheme of things. But in terms of the prohibition with reference to work, here's some of the things the Old Testament forbid. Gathering manna, obviously here, Exodus 16, gathering firewood, according to Numbers 15, plowing and harvest, kindling a fire, trading, carrying loads, those sorts of things. Normal, ordinary stuff that you could do on the other six days. God says, get it all done, so on the seventh day, you can find the blessing of the Lord and sanctify the day and keep it holy. That's God's purpose and intent. Now let's move to the Sabbath and the prophet Isaiah, two passages, and then we'll bring this to a conclusion. Sabbath and Isaiah, Isaiah 56, a passage that we should be somewhat familiar of or with because when we were in Acts chapter 8, I know we're going way back, but in Acts chapter 8, we saw how Isaiah 56 is actually being fulfilled in Acts chapter 8. Essentially, what Isaiah 56 indicates is new covenant blessing. What's going to happen in the age of Messiah? What's going to happen when the Lord Jesus Christ comes? What kind of benefit is going to obtain for those outside the Commonwealth of Israel? Well, Isaiah 56 answers that question very beautifully. The context, beginning in chapter 52, with reference to the Last Servant song, is the Messianic Age. It is the time of Jesus Christ. And then notice in verse two, well, verse one, 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. Verse three, 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 eunuch 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. Again, the idea of Sabbatarianism and both eunuch and Gentile inclusion in the new covenant of grace are obviously set forth here in terms of new covenant blessing. Notice in verse 6, also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants. Everyone who keeps from 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. You get that Jesus brings that to pass in the new covenant. Jesus says those very things in terms of Gentile inclusion in the covenant of grace and as well eunuchs as we see in Acts chapter 8. But notice that Sabbath keeping is part and parcel of life in the new covenant. Again, an odd way to argue or an odd component to add if the plan all along was to suspend, to decimate, to destroy, or do away with Sabbath. As there will be a new covenant, and as it will be that the church is the house of prayer for all the nations, Gentile inclusion, and as it is the case that eunuchs were forbidden by Deuteronomy 23.1 of ever entering the house of the Lord, now they will be brought nigh. So we have Gentile inclusion, we have eunuchs now in the house of God, and we have Sabbath-keeping, all consistent and blessed pieces and elements of New Covenant worship under Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. And then turn to Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58, it's a condemnation of heartless ritual. A condemnation of heartless ritual. And the two specifics are fasting and Sabbath. Notice in Isaiah 58 at verse 1, In verses 2 to 12, he highlights their problem in fasting. Again, it's not wrong to fast. It's wrong to fast when you fast the way that they did. It's wrong to fast when you engage in it with a heartless ritual. It's wrong to fast when you go around and tell everybody you're fasting. Remember Jesus' indictment with reference to those who walk around in misery and pain, so that everybody knows they're fasting. Matthew chapter 6, Jesus says, anoint your face with oil, smile, be happy, go around, do what you're supposed to do. Don't try to draw attention to yourself because you're fasting. There's the holy man who's fasting. That's not the way it's supposed to be. So he condemns fasting, but then he condemns their heartless ritual relative to Sabbatarianism. And in 58 verses 13 and 14, it sort of gets at what we should be concentrating on when it comes to Sabbatarianism. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, 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. What do you think their problem had been in terms of their own approach to Sabbatarianism? They didn't call it a delight. They didn't call it honorable. They were continuing to seek their own pleasure, and they were continuing to seek their own words. Well, if that's the way we're going to approach Sabbatarianism, then we've missed it by a long shot. But in verse 14, he says, if you do what you're supposed to do, 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. Call the Sabbath a delight. We see that it's extant, or it will be present in the New Covenant community according to Isaiah 56. Along with eunuchs brought nigh, along with Gentiles brought nigh, there will be a Sabbath for the people of God. We get to Isaiah 58, and the way that we're supposed to approach the Sabbath is not to be with heartless ritual. We're to call it a delight, we're to enjoy the things of God, and God brings blessing and Help to us EJ young and his commentary on the book of Isaiah. He says the Sabbath was not merely a mosaic ordinance It was far more it was instituted at creation and is a pattern of the heavenly Sabbath rest which the redeemed are to enjoy in the presence of their eternal God and 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. And then one final passage. I think I said that already. Made a mistake. One final passage is Jeremiah 31. The Sabbath and the prophet Jeremiah. Again, there's other things stipulated or stated about Sabbatarianism in the prophets, but Jeremiah 31 is germane to the argument at hand. Now the word Sabbath doesn't appear, but let me just tell you the rationale for citing this particular text. Jeremiah 31 31, it's a prophecy concerning the new covenant. 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. One of the first distinctions with reference to old covenant, new covenant that we ought to rejoice in. They broke the old covenant. We can't break the new covenant. This is where I'd say, can I get an amen? We cannot break the new covenant. When Christ enters into covenant with us, when Christ redeems us by his precious blood, there is, in the language of Paul, in Romans chapter 8, nothing that shall separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. The old covenant was a covenant of works and therefore they broke it. The new covenant is a covenant of grace. It was a covenant of works for Christ who kept it, and therefore it is a covenant of grace to us. So the inviolability, that means the unbreakableness of the new covenant, is a great boon in our religion. It highlights, it is the underpinning for Paul's statement in Philippians 1.6. I am confident that he who began this good work in you will complete it unto the day of Christ. Back to the text. 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 and write it on their hearts. I guarantee you that the Jew who heard this that the Judahite who heard Jeremiah stipulate this would have not thought of some altogether new law. He would have thought ten commandments. He would have thought Decalogue. And he wouldn't have thought nine out of ten of them. He would have thought consistently that all ten are going to be written on the heart of God's people. I have always found it to be a necessary defense of Sabbatarianism by turning the weaponry on the objectors and ask them to validate how you can have nine out of the Ten Commandments and not the fourth. We always have to be the ones defending ourselves when it comes to these Sabbath wars. I have a list of questions that I'll probably read at the end of whatever the last sermon is on this subject that I think non-Sabbatarians need to ponder, they need to reflect on, they need to think through, and they better be able to pony up answers for why they are suspending a moral law of God Almighty. They say, legalism? I will never tell you Sabbath-keeping for salvation. That's legalism. I will tell you Sabbath-keeping because God commands that the blood-bought children of Jesus Christ gather together and worship Him in spirit and truth. They come to the Father through the Son in the spirit, so that God will be all in all in their assemblies. That's not legalism, brethren. That's obedience to the commandments of God. Jesus said in John 14, if you love me, you'll keep my commandments. John the Apostle says in 1 John that the commandments of God are not grievous, they're not burdensome. This is another thing that's always shocked me for those anti-sabbatarians that treat sabbatarianism as if it's this great big burden. Well, yeah, the Pharisaic version is, but God's original intent at creation, what Jesus Christ declares concerning Sabbatarianism, it's a blessed and a beautiful thing. But in terms of this particular text, this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts, 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. You see, these were elements that were involved in Old Covenant religion. In other words, David experienced this. Abel experienced this. Isaac, Jacob, Abraham, they experienced this. But these weren't absolutely essential features of the old covenant. They are, however, absolutely essential features of the new covenant. No one is a new covenant adherent or member that does not possess the law of God written on his heart, who does not have the forgiveness of sins, who does not have this experiential knowledge of Yahweh as Lord. So what was present in the Old Testament, grace through faith in Jesus Christ to come, was not an essential feature of old covenant religion. But in new covenant religion, all of God's people will have all of God's law written on their hearts. That's why preaching on the Sabbath needs to be taken seriously. Because if the Sabbath commandment is abiding, if it's still perpetual, if it is still something for the church today, and we have large segments or sects of the church saying, oh no, that's legalistic. Brethren, I think we need to reorient ourselves as to what Scripture says concerning this most important doctrine of the Christian Sabbath. Well, in conclusion, in terms of obedience to the command, may I just say practically work hard for six days and rest on the seventh. You know, I think at times we lose it because we make it far more complicated than it needs to be. We're supposed to not do our normal, ordinary work on Sunday. We're supposed to come to church, and we're supposed to worship the living and the true God. That's what it means to remember the Sabbath day, to observe the Sabbath, to keep it holy, to enjoy the blessings that God has associated with Sabbatarianism and His people. As well, we need to understand, with reference to the commandment, the fourth commandment is rooted in creation and redemption. I'm going to say that, I hope, a lot, so that when we get to Hebrews 4, you'll go, oh yeah, I see it. I'm not going to lie to you, Hebrews 4 is a theological argument, exegetical to be sure, but you have to bring some theology to Hebrews chapter 4 to see what the apostle is doing. And creation and redemption are absolutely crucial to keep in our mind. Now, in terms of the use of the fourth commandment, we try to do this with the commandments. There are three uses of the law, threefold use of the law. You have a civil use, you have a pedagogical use, and you have a normative. Civilly, wouldn't it be great if everybody actually did take a day to rest? It's a good thing, isn't it? We're not John Deere tractors. Brethren, we need some downtime. We don't just keep running and running and running. And I'm blessed. I love the fact that we're in a church where people work hard. Like people really work hard in this local body. For the most, I don't have to spend a lot of time on six days you shall labor and do all your work, because that's actually being carried out. But we have to have rest. were not disembodied spirits. Even Jesus Christ went into the boat, took a pillow, according to Mark, and laid down and took a nap. Even Jesus Christ told his disciples, come apart and rest a while. Rest is a good and necessary thing for our creatureliness. If we do not rest, we will either A. die, B. burnout, or C. be pretty much good to no one. So the rest motif embedded in the Sabbath commandment is the concern of a good God in terms of His creation giving us what we need for our benefit. Remember, the Sabbath was made for man by the God who knows what man needs. And if you deny that and you keep trying to push yourself all seven days, now, you know, there are times where it's just the way it is. Typically, younger men are gonna have to work more harder and longer. It's just the way that it is. Because as you get older, you don't have the same sort of physical strength and stamina and whatnot. But the bottom line is, is that hard work is a blessing, but so is that day of rest that the Lord gives us. In terms of the pedagogical use, I think the Sabbath commandment, I think especially Isaiah 53, or I'm sorry, Isaiah 58, and the way we should approach Sabbath as enjoined there by the prophet, or by God through the prophet, probably rebukes some of us. Do we call the Sabbath the delight? Do we look forward to this day? Is that the high point? Is that the pinnacle of our week? Is it something that moves us and motivates us? Are we like David in Psalm 122? I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Or is it a dirge march? Is it drudgery? Is it the most depressing and oppressive thing that is in your week? Now, if it's this church, if you're not happy at this church, well, you're certainly able to go find a church so that you can be glad to go to. Of course, I don't want anybody to do that, but I don't want a death march walking into the very house of God. You can smile on a Sunday. You can call it a delight. You can find your pleasure in the Lord Most High. That's all perfectly acceptable, and God calls us to that, and God appends or attaches great blessing to those who do so. And then in terms of normative use, how do we use the command on a regular ongoing basis? Turretin makes the 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 that is 100% true. Let me just read it again. 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, the Church isn't the holier for having jettisoned the Christian Sabbath. The Church isn't godlier for having gotten rid of the Christian Sabbath. The Church isn't more spiritually in tune and more minded than having gotten rid of the Christian Sabbath. Arguably, and probably demonstrably, it's just the opposite. There's more carnality and more worldliness among the professing Church today I guess every generation says this, but I'm going to continue to say it, than there's ever been. And part of it is connected to the fact that we no longer concern ourselves with, remember, the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Gerhardus Voss, in his biblical theology, says the Sabbath has faithfully accompanied the people of God on their march through the ages. I think that's a great way for us to end this study tonight. And hopefully, God willing, as we move into the New Testament and survey the various texts, we will see there's not any discrepancy or contradiction or sort of disparity between the two Testaments. but rather the New Testament upholds what the Old Testament sets forth in terms of Sabbath keeping for the people of God. And it does reach that climax in Hebrews 4.9 when the author says, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. And I hope to show us why we can't take it out of the modern church and put it into the eschaton. That is a misstep in Hebrews chapter 4 that is not authorized. It is not good exegetical theology. Well, I hope that we will come back, and I hope that we will be instructed concerning Sabbatarianism. Let us pray. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for clarity. We thank You for consistency. We thank You that it reflects Your very being, Your nature, who You are. We know these commandments are not arbitrary, they're not capricious. You didn't give them simply to hinder us or hurt us, but they tell us who you are. And God, not only are you the living and the true God who calls us to worship in a proper way, but you also give us a whole day in which to do that. And we thank you for that. We thank you that the Sabbath was made for man and help us to appreciate it. and help us, Lord God, to honor it and help us to honor you. And we pray these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.