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exodus chapter 20 our last message on the fourth commandment verses eight to eleven so we'll review the material that we've looked at thus far and then conclude with some thoughts of application so i'll read the section i'll read the decalogue beginning in chapter 20 at verse 1. god spoke all these words saying i am the lord your god who brought you out of the land of egypt out of the house of bondage you shall have no other gods before me you shall not make for yourself a carved image any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth beneath or that is in the water under the earth you shall not bow down to them nor serve them for i the lord your god i'm a jealous god visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me but showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments you shall not take the name of the lord your god in vain for the lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain remember the sabbath day to keep it holy six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the sabbath of the lord your god in it you shall do no work you nor your son nor your daughter nor your male servant nor your female servant nor your cattle nor your stranger who is within your gates for in six days the lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day therefore the lord blessed the sabbath day and hallowed dead honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land which the lord your god is giving you you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor you shall not covet your neighbor's house you shall not covet your neighbor's wife nor his male servant nor his female servant nor his ox nor his donkey nor anything that is your neighbors now all the people witnessed the thunderings the lightning flashes the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking and when the people saw it they trembled and stood afar off then they said to moses you speak with us and we will hear but let not god speak with us lest we die and moses said to the people do not fear for god has come to test you and that his fear may be before you so that you may not sin so the people stood afar off but moses drew near the thick darkness where god was amen so we've looked at this particular commandment from several different vantage point points primarily we've done biblical theology biblical theology uh scripture from genesis to revelation goes in order and surveys doctrine from that vantage point versus systematic theology which is more of a logical sort of uh arrangement in terms of doctrinal study so we looked at the exposition of the commandment there is a positive aspect to remember the sabbath day to keep it holy or observe the sabbath day is what the parallel says in deuteronomy 5. and then there's the prohibition against working cessation from your normal duties there are a couple of exceptions obviously works of necessity and works of mercy and then we saw the reason given specifically in verse 11 for sabbath keeping notice 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 at so we have creation as the rationale or reason for sabbath keeping here in the exodus account and we have redemption in deuteronomy chapter five so the reality that god had delivered israel out of egyptian bondage is another aspect or another piece of rationale for sabbath keeping so creation and redemption are twin concepts that see sabbath as the outflow or application of those particular things then we looked at the sabbath in the old covenant did we begin in sinai no where did we begin at the beginning right creation so in genesis chapter 2 verses 1 to 3 remember it's not a precept or a commandment but it's rather a precedent or a pattern god himself sabbath after making the world and all things in it saying that it was in fact very good so god sabbath on that particular day where in the new testament do we have an excellent commentary on what god does in genesis 2 1-3 does anybody remember what is it mark two absolutely good good uh good remembrance or good memory there in mark chapter two at verse 23 it happened that he went through the grain fields on the sabbath and as they went his disciples began to pluck the heads of grain the pharisees said to him look why do they do what is not lawful on the sabbath but he said to them have you never read what david did when he was in need and hungry he and those with him how he went into the house of god in the days of abiapar the high priest and ate the showbread which is not lawful to eat except for the priests and also gave some to those who are with him and he said to them the sabbath was made for man and not man for the sabbath therefore the son of man is also lord of the sabbath when jesus says the sabbath was made for man what's he talking about in that particular verse is he talking about jewish man is he talking about israelite man is he talking about sinai or plains of moab man or what kind of man is he speaking about [Music] mankind that's right the sabbath was made for man which underscores or indicates that what god does in genesis 2 1-3 is a pattern for his creature in other words since god's sabbaths then it is the case that man is the sabbath as well and we see the gift nature of the sabbath god doesn't make man so that man can obey the sabbath rather he makes sabbath so that it is a gift given for man jesus says the sabbath was made for the man and not man for the sabbath therefore the son of man is also lord of the sabbath so christ asserts his lordship over all things to be sure and that certainly includes the sabbath so going back to the creation account how do we know that adam understood the pattern that god had given in genesis 2 1-3 that's right by teaching cain and abel to come at the end of the days of the week with sacrifice they would have learned sacrifice from adam who learned sacrifice from god in genesis 3 at verse 21 god killed animals and he gave uh the he covered the adam and eve with those skins so he shows or demonstrates blood it's owned it so adam passes that on to cain and abel and as well he passes on this idea of sabbath such that they come at the end of the days of the week and present their offerings unto the lord now from there we moved on not to genesis or exodus chapter 20 in sinai but we see another passage or another text that predates sinai which one was that you'll all be able to do this after tonight so that's why we're what is that that's right exodus chapter 16 in the gathering of manna and god's specific direction to them that they doubly collect on the sixth day so that they don't violate the commandment on the seventh day so all of that data prior to the giving of the law at sinai such that when we see in general exodus 20 verse 8 remember the sabbath day to keep it holy that idea of remember reflects upon something that had already been in play so this wasn't brand new it wasn't surprising it wasn't something earth-shaking with reference to the old covenant people of israel so after the the giving of the command here in exodus 20 and then it's duplicated in deuteronomy 5 with a couple of variations as i said in terms of the rationale remember that the giving of the law here is for the generation prior to the wilderness the giving of the law after in deuteronomy is after a bulk of that generation had been slaughtered because of their dis uh unbelief and disobedience so god is preparing them on the plains of moab to go into the land of promise so it's the same law given in that particular context again with a few variations but the same substantial law so after that what prophets speak about sabbath there's others to be sure but the ones that we covered who is it isaiah 56 and 58 what's the emphasis in 56 right speaking i mean it's all flowing out of that fourth servant song of isaiah that has to do with the servant of the lord chapters 52 and 53. so the redemptive work of the savior on behalf of sinners will bring to pass good things in new covenant in the new covenant and so what we have in terms of isaiah 56 is prophecy concerning the messianic reign and so what two things specifically do we see in isaiah 56 that we see fulfilled later in redemptive history flipping pages is a good idea what's that the eunuch that's right eunuch and what else in the presence of sabbath there's going to be sabbath in the new covenant according to the prophet isaiah we see the fulfillment specifically with the eunuch in acts chapter 8 so that we know we're dealing with new covenant reality or blessing in isaiah 56 and then in isaiah 58 we see a prophetic denouncement of the nation of israel based on their practices concerning fasting and sabbath keeping and in that context god says there's great blessing for those who cease from their own ways and thinking their own thoughts and they are calling the sabbath a delight god blesses them and then one other prophet that doesn't speak specifically concerning sabbath but he speaks concerning law who is that jeremiah jeremiah 31 31-34 in fact you can turn there it's a fundamental or foundational statement concerning the new covenant jeremiah 31 is an old covenant prophecy concerning the new covenant through an old covenant prophet and in verse 31 it says behold the days are coming says the lord when i will make a new covenant with the house of israel and with the house of judah not according to the covenant that i made with their fathers in the day that i took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of egypt my covenant which they broke though i was a husband to them says the lord but this is the covenant that i will make with the house of israel after those days says the lord i will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts i will be their god and they shall be my people no more shall every man teach his neighbor and every man is brother saying know the lord for they all shall know me from the least of them to the greatest of them says the lord for i will forgive their iniquity and their sin i will remember no more so we see this emphasis that in the new covenant god is going to internalize the law upon the hearts of the new covenant citizenry that happened for david it happened for the saved in the old covenant to be sure but it's not an essential feature of old covenant religion it wasn't an essential feature of old covenant religion to have a redemptive writing of the law in the heart to have the forgiveness of sins and to have this intimate knowledge of god it was certainly there for some of the old covenant people but it wasn't an essential feature so what jeremiah is saying by the power of the holy spirit is that when we get to the new covenant these are essential features this is what is definitional of what a new covenant citizen is he or she has the law written in their hearts he or she has been forgiven of their sin he or she knows the lord in a saving and redemptive way it's one of the reasons why we don't baptize pedos not that we don't think they can be saved but we don't know if these things are true of them with reference to the new covenant sort of badge of membership these are the things that are specified now someone asked a very good question about the writing of the law on the heart and isn't there a sense where the law of god is written on the hearts of all men yes there is a sense where the law of god is written on the hearts of all men there's a creational sort of a writing and then there's a redemptive sort of a writing the creational is when man is created in god's image he hardwires us in a certain way we know that there are certain things that are wrong we know that there are certain things that are right now because of our sin we twist that we distort that and we act against it to be sure but paul says concerning the gentiles in romans chapter 2 at verse 14 that the when gentiles who do not have the law by that he means they haven't received the written oracles of god as handed down by moses and the prophets so for when gentiles who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law i mean again at times they even get things right they don't murder people and commit adultery who who do not have the law by nature do the things in the law these although not having the law are allah to themselves who showed the work of the law written in their hearts their conscience also bearing witness and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them in the day when god will judge the secrets of men by jesus christ according to my gospel so again there's this creational writing i don't know how better to explain it but the fact that we're hardwired the fact that we're created in the image of god the fact that gentiles prior to the giving of the revelation of god have evidence that the law is written on their hearts that's no one denies that but the jeremiah 31 when it's in combination with the forgiveness of sins and that intimate knowledge of god indicates that the writing of the law there is in a in a in a way wherein the the actual recipient loves that law he delights in that law the law according to john is not his burden it's not a grief it's not something he that he holds in you know antagonism but rather it's something that he does delight in in the inner man so just to sort of uh clarify that particular point so then after the old covenant we looked at the new covenant and where do we start there does anybody remember where we started in the new covenant matthew 6 matthew 5 what specifically right so we looked at the ministry of jesus christ first his doctrine concerning the law which is matthew 5 17-20 he didn't come to abolish but rather he came to fulfill he does fulfill by doing everything that was specified of him in the law of god the ceremonies that pointed to him and free figured him he fulfills that but he also fulfills the law in his own teaching as spurgeon said he confirms it he he shines the light upon it so his doctrine concerning the law and then his practice concerning the sabbath there are many places we could go to in the gospel records we went to matthew 12. there we see the works of necessity and mercy if you engage in a work of necessity or mercy on the sabbath you're not condemned when jesus told that paralyzed man to pick up his mat and walk jesus wasn't breaking the law jesus wasn't commanding that man to break the law there are works of necessity and mercy and this idea that christ did break the law is a horrible sort of implication because it really runs roughshod against the doctrine of the active obedience of our lord jesus christ if he doesn't fulfill even the sabbath law then we die in our sins and our trespasses so jesus does do away with the the pharisees and they're there doesn't do away with them physically or literally he does away with their misinterpretation and their misapplication of the law relative to the sabbath commandment so after the ministry of jesus what's the next next aspect in this doctrine of the sabbath the resurrection on the first day so the first day is the day that the church now worships on christ distinguishes that day by his resurrection from the dead and from the resurrection of christ we moved on to the teaching of the apostles where does the bible say there remains therefore a sabbath rest for the people of god hebrews 4 what 4 9 hebrews 4 9 and then 4 10 gives us the specifics concerning that particular day it is the day wherein christ rested from his works the subject in hebrews 4 10 is not us ceasing from our works but it's rather christ's ceasing from his works so as the father ceased after having created the world and then rested christ seizes after having redeemed the world and then he rests so that's the theology of it in hebrews chapter four and then we moved on to the worship service at troas in acts chapter 20 at verse seven there they met on the first day of the week they had been in that particular town for seven days they had been there including on the uh the saturday sabbath but they chose to gather together to break bread and for paul to preach and to continue his his message late until midnight when eutychus fell out of the window and had to be revived so they meet together on the lord's day on the first day of the week according to acts 20 and verse 7. what was the next new testament passage that we looked at first corinthians 16 that's right verses one and two where the apostle tells them to lay up messiah lay aside money on the first day of the week so that that money could be gathered so that money could be transported to the people in need at that particular time it was in judea that was under famine conditions and then from there we went to revelation chapter 1 verse 10 the vision at patmos so john is in the spirit on the lord's day what's unique about that statement lord's day in revelation 1 10. the greek verb that greek word is only twice in the new testament that's right and where's the other use corinthians 11 that's right good one corinthians 11 which is the lord's supper and that word means something owned by or possessed by the lord in a particular way so of course god owns friday and he owns monday and he owns wednesday to be sure but the lord's day is his unique possession just like he owned your dinner that you had tonight but the lord's supper is his unique possession so intriguing that the apostle john the apostle paul used those or use that particular word to modify the supper and to modify the day and then we looked at the alleged anti-sabbatarian new testament texts it's a good uh good title there the alleged anti-sabbatarian new testament tax where did we look first [Music] romans 14 and what does romans 14 teach christian liberty how to deal with people that differ from you on matters of liberty that's the context from moment for romans 14. and what we see in terms of day observance what we see in terms of meats and drinks and those sorts of things are most likely connected to the jewish way of life and so the apostle paul comes to deal with the the stronger brethren and the weaker brethren the stronger brethren's tendency is to despise the weaker and the weaker brethren's tendency is to judge the stronger paul says don't do that neither group just pay attention to yourself and to the lord and don't condemn your brothers for whom jesus christ died from then we looked at her from there we went where from there we went there what's that before that something else galatians 4. what's the point in galatians as a whole defending justification by faith alone against judaizing wretches after trying to combine salvation by faith with salvation by works excellent they wanted to have certain positions of the gospel and they deserve to be come out that's right good so yeah the the idea of law keeping for salvation so faith in jesus the judaizers wouldn't condemn that but they would add faith or not they would add to faith in jesus the ceremonies of moses specifically circumcision is the the primary issue there but in galatians 4 10 we see that the calendar had something to do with it as well so this idea that the jews were coming in and saying to the galatian churches yes faith in jesus plus you need to be jews like us in order to be saved so that's what galatians is dealing with and then the final one is colossians chapter 2 and what's the specific argument there jewish calendar jewish calendar angel worship kind of a hodgepodge of mystical approach some legalism some asceticism just a lot of weird stuff going on in colossae so of course the apostle paul says in 2 8 don't let them cheat you and then in 216 don't let them judge you and the three terms that are used there the new moons the feasts and the sabbaths the fact that sabbaths is plural and the fact that it comes attached to new moons and feasts and we see that used several times in the old testament it's likely the occasional sabbaths in israel's calendar and not the weekly sabbath that is set apart by the moral law of god now one final piece of review when we look at the the the law as a whole or the the threefold division of the law does anybody remember what that threefold division is what is it moral ceremonial and judicial what's the moral law of god the decalogue the ten commandments what was the judicial law of god just like in israel that's right the the the ten commandments applied to the civil polity in israel um what's that as well the penal code as well so the sanctions attached to law breaking that was supposed to govern them for their time in the land so the judicial law according to our confession expired with that commonwealth but the general equity abide so that means when we move through gender or exodus 21-23 well some of it may seem foreign and a bit odd the confession and the reformed tradition says there's still a lot to learn still a lot to glean from that and still a lot to apply so we can have a robust application of god's law even though that judicial law has technically expired with the commonwealth and then how does the ceremonial law function tights and shadows it connected or it was the the basically the worship structure of old covenant israel and so that worship structure prefigured or was typical of our lord jesus christ now when we look at the fourth commandment it is what in terms of those three that threefold division what is it moral is it anything else positive or ceremonial so when you look at the fourth commandment you see the the abiding principle the moral law that says one day out of seven is given to the worship of god now the positive or the ceremonial aspect is conditioned by the covenant so in the old covenant it was saturday and in the new covenant it's sunday so that's why the confession our confession speaks of it having a positive aspect positive law is something that isn't moral it's something that god commands like for instance the prohib prohibition against eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that was a positive loss right because god commands it it's not moral law it's always wrong to eat from trees no it's positive lots given with a specific focus for a specific purpose at a specific time and it's typically jiving with whatever covenant you find yourself at so the fourth commandment has both moral aspects and as well ceremonial or positive aspects it functioned as a sign between yahweh and israel would function in a capacity for the nation of israel that was ceremonial in aspect so the ceremonial or the positive deals with the day change when we get to the new covenant now any questions or comments about any of that any of that that was a lot so uh yeah we could be here for a while for those questions or comments pretty makes sense i i hope it made sense so i just have a few thoughts in terms of uh some application first i want to summarize this the christian sabbath we've just done that but i think our confession is good here second london confession 22 7. 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 it's an interesting statement as it is the law of nature so the divine say it's not only written revelation the moral law is also the law of nature there is something about creation and about us imaging god wherein the moral law is part and parcel of who we are again because of our sin because of our rebellion we distort what's there we try to obliterate the vestiges of it in our own heart but we can't ultimately escape it because we're god's creatures at all times so while we may try very hard to suppress that truth and unrighteousness there's something deep down inside of us the romans 2 14 and 15 saying wherein we know there is a god and that there is law so this is a great admission as it is the law of nature we have theologians today trying to deny natural theology natural law things that are that are given to us in our own confession of faith so it's 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 it says 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 again i think it's a matter of perspective when we take this particular command if we have been brow beaten by pharisees in our lives to believe that the sabbath is painful to believe that the sabbath is constricting to believe that the sabbath is a day of misery and you know a leftist holiday then we are going to have a bad understanding of the sabbath when we see however the lord jesus perspective in mark chapter 2 verse 27 that man wasn't made for sabbath observance but the sabbath was made for the man it was given to him for a gift it was given to him so that he may have truck with god each and every sunday that he gathers together in the house of god it's a positive it's a blessing it's a benefit given by god to his people and i love the emphasis here binding all men in all ages and then it is to be continued to the end of the world as the christian sabbath again i think hebrews 4 underlies that we have this idea that in the old covenant because the heavenly rest wasn't obtained yet they had this weekly down payment in the sabbath that encouraged and cheered their heart and helped them in the perseverance of that we get to the new covenant we haven't entered into our final rest that is still not yet we've enjoyed much blessing of the age to god but we have not yet fully entered into so the idea of sabbath is still helpful for the people of god as a means of encouragement as a means of help to persevere and as a means to wet our appetite each and every sunday for that new jerusalem and that heavenly kingdom so the the the summary of the christian sabbath i think is very good there in chapter 22 at paragraph seven and then the theology of the christian sabbath we've seen creation and redemption as the rationale for sabbath keeping not just in the old testament but again in hebrews chapter four god the father creates the world and he sabbaths god the son redeems the world and he sabbaths creation and redemption as well with reference to sabbath the the emphasis is on rest sanctification and blessing and that's associated in both covenants not just the old covenant but the new covenant as well and then the third uh piece of application is the practical help for the christian sabbath i mentioned last week that some have suggested that our confessional statement is an impossibility it's an impossibility to attain sabbath keeping according to chapter 22 paragraph 8. so chapter 22 paragraph 7 gives us the doctrine of the christian sabbath and then paragraph 8 gives us the practice of keeping the christian sabbath here's what it says the sabbath is then kept holy unto the lord when men after a due preparing of their hearts and ordering their common affairs beforehand do not only observe and holy rest all day from their own works words and thoughts about their worldly employment and recreations but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship and in the duties of necessity and mercy again persons have heard that and said that's pretty unattainable i mean if you walked into church and said how was your week you've betrayed this piece of application if you said boy it's raining quite hard out there you have betrayed this particular application that's what it says they're taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship and the duties of necessity and mercy and then they observe and holy rest all day from their own works words and thoughts about their worldly employment and recreations so it's a very strict statement concerning sabbath keeping and again persons have recognized that and said it's unattainable my response to this to that is this if we were writing a help on the practical application of the seventh commandment it would read in much the same way you're not supposed to have wicked thoughts you're not supposed to let your eyes wander you're not supposed to engage in you know anything that would violate this particular command and we would know pretty much that people are going to break that or the sixth commandment we're not supposed to hate people without cause we're not supposed to pray in preparatory psalms over people that cut us off on the road but you know sometimes we just might so there is a betrayal in our hearts of every one of the commandments i'm not suggesting therefore we don't try to keep the commandment we certainly try to keep the commandment by the power of the holy spirit like we do with all the other commandments but we need to understand that our our our best attempts at commandment keeping aren't typically the best and so we need to realize that there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared even when it comes to an imperfect sabbath keeping so the fact that the divines wrote this particular paragraph for the keeping of the sabbath they don't do that for any of the other commandments and i'm sure well they do in the the catechisms if you read actually yeah go to the larger catechism and read it on any one of the commandments you will see that same sort of a high standard how else would you expound on the law of god but by a high standard the the commandment is very clear law breaking or transgressing or lacking a conformity onto it is very clear and so it is the responsibility to point that out so that is really a goal now are we going to do that uh effectively and successfully every single sunday probably not but as the the puritan said our repentance needs repenting of we need to realize that our best works are still tainted by sin and that we are supposed to attempt to keep the sabbath day holy but we're not to keep or we're not to have this mindset that i thought about tuesday when it was a sunday and therefore i'm gonna go to hell or i asked my brother about the weather and therefore i'm gonna go to hell now that's not i think a good response to paragraph eight in our confession of faith it is giving us guidelines for what is involved and entailed in terms of that particular commandment now fourth application is the use of the commandment what are what are the three uses of god's law we have a threefold division we saw that moral ceremonial and judicial what are the three uses of god's law civil pedagogical and normative that's right civil imagine a society that actually operated on this cycle that actually acknowledged that rest was important for the creature and that actually acknowledged that the creature ought to rest in his god there used to be a time when these sorts of laws were maintained when that passed away i wasn't around i'm not sure what happened in the christian world you know suffer the outrage that we did when the seventh commandment has been obliterated or the sixth commandment has been obliterated we should be upset when bill c4 passed we should be upset when they sanction the murder of babies we should be upset when the government steals from us and violates the eighth commandment but the fourth commandment is binding by god as well and when a society rejects that commandment it doesn't typically go well we don't we don't honor god and we don't do what god says then we're not in the place typically a blessing so the civil use is uh an oft neglected use of god's law when it comes to society now people will say but they're not christians they can't be governed by the ten commandments it's binding upon all men in all ages it is a perpetual commandment we wouldn't say well they're you know they're not bound to the to the dictates of the seventh commandment because they're not christians they don't have to abide by the sixth commandment because they're they're not christians they don't have to abide by the eighth commandment because they're not christians i mean i'm sure somebody out there would make that particular argument but the civil use of the fourth commandment would be just a blessing as well the pedagogical use so pedagogue means child tutor one of the functions of god's law is to show us how much we miss the mark and so the fourth commandment shows us our need for christ the fourth commandment i mean read 22-8 again at some point realized man i'm a wretch i i like to only talk about the weather on sunday i know i like to only go to tim hortons on sunday whatever it might be so so that law shows us our need for the savior now when we come to the savior by grace he points us back to the law to define for us a pattern for sanctification and then the normative use is simply the christian using god's law as a justified by grace through faith believer and one who has the holy spirit god does not leave us to try and figure out what sanctification is god doesn't say you know give it your best shot whatever you feel led to you you do that and i'll know that you're sincere and i'll accept that from you no god gives us a detailed law on our or for our sanctification now again we're not going to keep it perfectly but that's the pattern that we're to pursue by the power of the spirit and we are to seek by god's grace to obey and to glorify him and then fifthly i have questions for anti-sabbatarians these are some things that if you ever get into this debate you might ask or you might think about first why does god establish the six in one pattern at creation why does god establish that why does he spend time on the fourth day explaining the fourth day more than the rest and the specific significance of the lights in the sky they are for signs and for seasons the calendar in israel would be foundational but not just israel's calendar this idea of sabbath keeping this idea of a one in uh uh seven pattern that god establishes at creation why does sabbath observe uh observance observance pre-date sinai now i know the argument well it doesn't say cain and abel are are doing that on the sabbath but it does they're doing it at the end of the day they're doing it at the end of the days of the week they're doing specifically religious things on that particular end of the day of the week they're bringing sacrifice to god most time previous revelation tells us why they bring sacrifice previous revelation tells us why they bring sacrifice on that particular day god's sabbath adam knew it god made blood atonement for adam adam knew it and adam dutifully passed that information down to cain and abel it wasn't haphazard and it wasn't simply designed to teach us what a wretch came was that's certainly one of the emphases in genesis 4 to show us the spread of sin that rapidly that in the first family there's actually you know what is it fratricide the killing the murder of a brother so that is definitely one of the the main emphases there but the fact that they worship god at the end of the days of the week is also telling as well why does god at sinai tell them to remember the sabbath it's not simply from this time forward going or from this time going forward remember it subsequently remember it in the sense that you're already cognizant of it you've already had dealings with it specifically in chapter 16. and then why does god refer to both creation and sabbath in the giving of the sabbath law he does that in exodus he does that in deuteronomy and those twin concepts come out again in hebrews chapter four god the father creation god the son new creation or redemption why does isaiah speak of sabbath keeping during the messianic age just like he speaks of the inclusion of eunuchs into the covenant people of god just as he mentions at the house of god or rather yeah the house of god will be a house of prayer for all nations so just as all nations are flooding into the house of god in the new covenant just as the ethiopian eunuch is coming into the house of god so sabbath so lord's day so one day out of seven for the people of god to worship why does jesus claim lordship of the sabbath in mark ii and again when it comes to the sabbath wars and the gospel narratives remember that quote i think it was gil phillip why would jesus tear or or or defend and protect the integrity of something he was just going to demolish if you're going to demolish a house you don't go in and put new counters in if you're going to demolish a house you don't put in backsplash i didn't know what backsplash was until a few years ago uh but you wouldn't do that you wouldn't put in a new toilet simply to destroy the house why would he vindicate the integrity of the sabbath day with the jewish opponents simply to do away with it at his death and resurrection it makes absolutely no sense and why does jesus say that the sabbath was made for man either adam specifically or mankind generically instead of saying it was made for israel the dispensational argument falters here well i think it falters every one every step of the way but it certainly has trouble here it's not made for israel it's not made for the jew as jew i mean it is they're included in the all mankind miss of the scope of the commandment but it was made for men not not israel at sinai which is a i think a death blow to a dispensational approach why would jesus i already mentioned this clear way the jewish corruptions only to destroy it not long after why does the early church worship on the first day of the week the day that christ rose from the dead now i know the argument well you know it just seemed like the right thing to do he was rose from the dead and that's when the early church met yes but why did they do that it's because of the sabbath it's because of this moral commandment it's because it's a whole and inclusive law it's not the case that you can pick and choose what manages to carry on into the new covenant era moral law differs in that regard from ceremonial which is fulfilled in jesus and judicial which is expired with the commonwealth of israel moral law is perpetual and it doesn't matter what covenant you're in you are under the moral law now in terms of being in a particular covenant with reference to the sabbath it would be either saturday or sunday depending on the positive aspect which is conditioned by covenant but it is the case that we have this reality that the church meets on the first day of the week and then why does the integrity of the ten commandments suffer in the new covenant in other words how do we hermeneutically justify nine out of the ten commandments and again i know the answer here i know it was specifically with one man who has his name on a study bible who says well the the fourth commandment is the only of the ten that isn't repeated in the new covenant now that's a fundamental difference between reformed and dispensational hermeneutics the reformed assumed continuity if there's not something in the new testament that does away with something then we have it for the dispensationalists they say that unless something is repeated then it's no longer binding that opens up the door or pandora's box to a whole host of problems bestiality is not repeated in the new covenant i don't know of any dispensationalist that wants to argue that bestiality is now lawful in the new covenant they still allow the old testament to inform their understanding about the law and if they're going to do that they need to justify that there needs to be a hermeneutical reality that that makes heads or tails out of how they do that it actually seems and strikes me as very arbitrary and that they pick and choose as it best serves them which is never a good hermeneutic and then finally why does the author of hebrews emphatically assert that a sabbath rest remains for the people of god i shared with you there's a pastor that i have heard of that made the comment that it's foolish no one who could you know be a student of the bible could ever think there's new covenant sabbath keeping oh really you just wrote off all of the english puritans you just wrote off all the reformed you know confessions you wrote off you know much of the church of the lord jesus christ but most importantly right off the apostle paul who under the inspiration of the spirit says there remains a sabbatist mosque or a sabbath keeping for the people of god why would he say that would he say that because there doesn't remain a sabbath rest for the people of god no he says it because that eternal rest has not been achieved and one of the helps that god has given and we need to see the sabbath this way is the sabbath to help us march onward to that blessed reality the lord's day functions in a most excellent capacity for people that treat it in the way that god intended it it's a gift and it's a good thing to help us along the way when we neglect the sabbath when we neglect the supper when we neglect the means that god has given we drag our way into heaven but when we give or when we give credence to those things and when we give obedience to those things that he's ordained even when we don't feel like it brethren i get it there are times on a sunday morning you might want to just roll over and go back to sleep that's not unique to you you're not a delicate snowflake that happens to people throughout history but what do we do we understand that it's given for us it's given for our good we roll out of bed we comb our hair we drink our coffee we show up and typically what happens typically god blesses that and typically we find our hearts cheered at the prospect that we're heading to the heavenly jerusalem so i think those questions are most uh appropriate for anti-sabbatarians there is sixthly an objection that sabbatarianism is inconsistent with christian liberty now that might make sense if any of the passages dealt with that but that doesn't seem to bother people you can explain what romans 14 is you can explain galatians 4 you can explain colossians 2 and yet there's this perpetual be in the bonnet that sabbath keeping is bad it's just not consistent with the liberty of the new man in jesus christ william ames says christian liberty is not at all diminished in this conception as some seem to feel without cause for it is not liberty but non-christian license which results if any think themselves free from the from the observance of any commandments of the decalogue or the institutions of christ experience also teaches that license and the neglect of holy things more and more prevail when due respect is not given to the lord's day in other words when people give up the lord's day do they get holier typically that's not been my experience i can tell you for you know however many years the times when our sabbath keeping wasn't as tight as it should have been it wasn't prosperous times it wasn't you know ride the high hills of jacob's time this is the reality with reference to any of god's commandments but when it comes to a commandment wherein the worship of god is facilitated on the day of god in the house of god if we treat that with little to no respect then it's going to have a damaging effect upon our souls in the long run he says that turriton said the almost the exact same thing turton must have had william ames and and copied him and and not giving him credit well i don't know if i should say that probably it was in his head from uh from uh having just read but turrican said the same thing experienced teaches too well that license and the neglect uh negligence of sacred things grows more and more where a proper regard is not shown for the lord's day so so it's not that it's inconsistent with christian liberty ames says it's a non-christian license which results if anyone think themselves free from these observance of any commandments of the decalogue or the institutions of christ and then finally with reference to the gospel remember the law is not the gospel we're not saved by our sabbath keeping we're saved because of the sabbath keeping of jesus christ i mean among other things jesus kept the ten commandments perfectly jesus kept the ceremonial law perfectly jesus got the judicial law perfectly jesus was under the obligation that israel was placed under in the old covenant and jesus fulfills what israel does not and it's through his fulfilling of that law his obedience to that law that we have life so he obeys the law he dies on the cross and he's raised again the third day so because of that law keeping in the perfect righteousness that he had secured that is then imputed to us so the law of the sabbath should make us rejoice in the gospel of our salvation we should rejoice in the fact that jesus came to save us from our sin now our sin wasn't just the first three and then the latter uh commandments our sins involved the fourth commandment as well so jesus law keeping is beneficial for us and we ought to appreciate the perfection of our lord in light of the ten commandments because without that we'd have no hope we'd have no life and we'd have no salvation so when we study the law and and brethren when you talk about the law to people never forget the gospel i i think it is a crucial misstep on the part of some preachers to preach the law and not the gospel now i'm all for preaching the law i think there needs to be a lot more law preaching in the churches of christ today i think that it does however need to be conjoined with or accompanied by the gospel because if we preach the law it has that killing ability in the hand of moses but we need to hear of the redemption that is in the hand of jesus christ and thus we need to be encouraged that we have the blood of jesus christ his son that cleanses us from all sin and we now have the the purchased possession of the holy spirit by christ given to us to empower and enable law keeping and when we sin we have an advocate with the father even jesus christ the righteous so the law apart from the gospel is going to kill us that's just all there is to it but the law always needs to be tempered by her we always need to remind people of the gospel that's why usually if you hear me preach the law i try to make sure we understand that there's a jesus who saves us from our sin our rebellion against that law we'll all pray and then if there are any questions we can deal with those our father in heaven we thank you for this gift that you have given to the church i pray that you would give us grace to call it a delight and help us to use these days profitably and for your glory we thank you as well for so great a salvation that we have in and through our lord jesus that perfect law keeper who always did the will of his father who obeyed the the the jots and the tittles of that law who died who was raised again we have everlasting life in in and through him we just bless you and praise you for the gospel of our salvation we pray that you would help us to find great joy and comfort and delight in it and as well cause us to delight in the law of god and we pray through christ our lord amen well any questions or comments about anything sabbath because we're done no kidding we'll probably visit again sometime in the future but next week god willing we'll get to the fifth commandment which should be fun in light of the current governmental situation so anyone with uh with regards to like paragraph eight of uh chapter 22 i think right yes um like i i personally haven't i've had a hard time just reading through that all like every thought everything has to be towards the worship of god you know so then like in [Music] when we when we when we say you know if we were to say the seventh commandment you know this is these are the things you shouldn't be doing you should not be looking at a woman with lust and then that sort of thing when we do we feel that that our conscience we repent of that sin now in that to be consistent then if we ask our you know brother on sunday morning how was your week like you don't feel a pang of conscience yeah yeah again the only way i can explain this brother is that they they shot high with with this particular paragraph i don't feel like i'm in sin if i say how was your week or no i agree i agree but yeah if you were gonna write you know when you look at the seventh commandment for instance i mean it's not just that if you look at the larger catechism for instance there are probably things in there that all of us do without having a paying of conscience so so so remember the puritans and the reformers and and and christians throughout history when they're treating particular commandments again give you the the you know the biblical contours as to what obedience looks like but i'd like to think that they would understand that you know i mean again if you asked you know hey how was your dad or how was your i don't i you know we'd have to ultimately go back to the the principle in mark two the sabbath was made for man we'd have to look at you know the works of necessity and mercy you know when jesus and his disciples were walking in the grain fields did they talk about anything probably so so they're they're giving us an idealized version of what sabbath keeping looks like just like the westminster larger gives us an idealized version of all the commandments and they're they're lengthy so so yeah i i don't think we should jettison the the paragraph or get rid of it that's been the suggestion you know it's unattainable nobody could do it if we tell people that's what what it's involved it'll only exa exasperate them that's why i typically try to encourage us that we're gonna i know this may seem paradoxical by way of encouragement we're gonna break all the laws all the time anyway i know that sounds pretty uh pretty bad but but it is true right i mean love the lord your god with all your heart soul mind and strength love your neighbor as yourself we get you know a millisecond into the day and we've already forgotten that if we even thought of it to begin with there was a reason why jews and you know in the morning when they'd wake up would recite the shema was to keep those things in front of them so that they wouldn't i doubt any of us are reciting the shema and immediately thinking godward thoughts and how can i best serve my brother today so so when it comes to the law yeah there's stipulations on how to keep that law but ultimately we need to come back to the reality that we have remaining corruption and again i'm not justifying influence or laziness or or sinfulness or anything like that but it's like john in first john i think he's idealistic and i think he's realistic and idealistically he says my little children i write these things to you so that you may not sin i'm writing this first epistle to you so that you don't sin but if anyone does sin we have an advocate with the father even jesus christ the righteous so john the apostle is saying here's what i want but i know that's probably not going to be attained in the way that i'd like it so never forget the advocate right if we get to that point where you know we're and again we should be fastidious we should be desirous of obedience but we could become modern pharisees or neo-nomian or legalistic and forget all about the blood of the gospel and and that's my concern that we don't do that so yeah paragraph eight great standard great exposition or application of what the fourth commandment looks like just like the seventh just like all of them you know in in the larger catechism for instance yes um that's absolutely positively so it's a good guide that way so that yeah i mean you know when you wake up on a sunday morning that might be a good thing hey instead of you know asking whatever talk about things like that that's legit you know after a sermon you know it's it's sometimes pandemonium i know we got a lot of little kids with energy and all that sort of thing and they go you know tearing away and running off and that's fine but but as adults are we pondering are we contemplating are we talking that there's you know i don't know that we need a law to or anybody to police us hey you can't say that but it would be a good thing to cultivate that spiritual sort of a climate where we do talk about such things i think there's always room to abound yet you know more and more in that that regard all right so what was the switch that flipped the light for me and so what i would advise those of you guys who are coming from the sanitary background if you were to talk to the teenage version of myself who was very much committed to scripture i'd like to think i was orthodox it's not like i was an open theater planning but the idea was that i wasn't educated wasn't aware and i had a lot of frankly false assumptions about calvinist false assumptions about people coming from report background uh it was pretty close to assuming that people were drinking blood and skulls or something like that so the idea that is about it possible that cares better when i would just just remember we're shooting a lot of stuff in terms of kind of theology right with the principle of worship and a lot of these people have not read chapter 21 prior to chapter 22. so they're not even fluent in the characters vsu when we've had discussion between this so i would encourage patients perseverance being willing to answer certain questions over and over again and just letting scripture speak and leaving your skull of blood at home that'll help too all right well have a good night