Topic
Sabbath
12 sermons · All topics
2LCF Chapter 22 Of Religious Worship and Sabbath Day Part 2
The perpetual moral obligation of the Christian Sabbath is grounded not in Sinai alone but in the creation ordinance of Genesis 2, where God blessed and sanctified the seventh day as a reflection of his own divine perfections. The 1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith chapter 22, paragraphs 7 and 8, frames the Sabbath as a positive-moral commandment — moral in its trans-covenantal, creation-rooted character, and positive in its covenantal form, shifting from seventh-day to first-day observance upon the resurrection of Christ as the inauguration of the new creation. The day belongs to God before it belongs to man: the governing question is not what may be avoided on the Lord's Day, but how near to God the worshipper may draw. Paragraph 8 calls for whole-souled preparation, rest from works, words, and thoughts entangled in worldly concerns, and the filling of the day with public and private worship, works of necessity, and works of mercy.
The Resurrection of Christ
The resurrection of Christ is the foundation of Christian hope, the confirmation of Old Testament prophecy, and the grounds of both justification and coming judgment. Working through John 20:1–10, this sermon examines the discovery and investigation of the empty tomb by Mary Magdalene, Peter, and the beloved disciple John, noting the eyewitness character of the narrative and the theological significance of the burial cloths. The shift from the seventh-day Sabbath to the first day of the week is grounded in Hebrews 4 and the pattern of new creation. The empty tomb preaches comfort to the believer and the certainty of judgment to the unbeliever, calling all to repent and believe on the risen Lord Jesus Christ.
The Fourth Commandment, Part 2
What does Jesus's ministry teach about the continuing obligation of the Sabbath commandment, and how does the resurrection determine which day Christians must observe? This study works through the Fourth Commandment (Deuteronomy 5:12–15) in its New Covenant application, examining Christ's relation to the law in Matthew 5:17–20, his correction of Pharisaic Sabbath-keeping in Matthew 12, and the testimony of all four Gospel accounts that the resurrection occurred on the first day of the week. The moral principle of one day in seven devoted to God is shown to be trans-covenantal and perpetual, while the positive-law element — which day — shifts from Saturday to Sunday with the resurrection of Christ, establishing what the 1689 London Baptist Confession calls the Christian Sabbath.
The Fourth Commandment Part 1
The abiding validity of the Fourth Commandment is defended through a biblical theology of the Sabbath that traces the institution from creation through the old covenant. The sermon argues that Sabbath rest is grounded not in the Mosaic economy alone but in the creation ordinance of Genesis 2 and the redemption of Exodus, making it binding upon all humanity — not Jews only — as Christ himself teaches in Mark 2:27. The positive and moral character of the commandment is distinguished from its ceremonial and positive elements, with the day change to the Lord's Day deferred to the following session. Hearers are called to receive the Sabbath as the gift it is declared to be in Isaiah 58, not as a Judaizing imposition.
The Christian Sabbath, Part 2
The Christian Sabbath, grounded in both creation and redemption, does not cease in the New Covenant but is transformed by the resurrection of Christ from the seventh day to the first day of the week. Working through the ministry of Christ in Matthew 5 and 12, the resurrection accounts across all four Gospels, and the apostolic teaching in Hebrews 4, Acts 20, 1 Corinthians 16, and Revelation 1, this exposition argues that the moral obligation of one day in seven for the worship of God remains perpetually binding on the church. The shift from Saturday to Sunday Sabbath is grounded in Christ's completed redemptive work, which mirrors the Father's rest at the close of creation, establishing the Lord's Day as the Christian Sabbath. Believers are called to receive this day not as a legal burden but as a gracious gift from God, a weekly foretaste of the consummate rest that awaits the people of God.
The Christian Sabbath, Part 1
The Fourth Commandment's call to Sabbath observance is grounded not in Mosaic legislation alone but in the created order itself, the pattern of divine rest in Genesis 2, and the logic of redemption running through both Testaments. This sermon, the first in a series on the Christian Sabbath, expounds Deuteronomy 5:12–15 alongside key Old Covenant passages — Genesis 2, Exodus 16, Isaiah 56 and 58, and Jeremiah 31 — to argue that Sabbatarianism is a moral, perpetual, and trans-covenantal obligation rooted in creation and confirmed by covenant. The confession of the Second London Baptist Confession chapter 22 frames the doctrinal parameters, and the sermon closes with a call to receive the Sabbath not as a burden but as a blessed provision of God for his creatures.
The Fourth Commandment, Part 2
The fourth commandment's perpetual moral obligation is examined through the lens of Christ's ministry, his resurrection, and apostolic teaching, demonstrating that the Saturday Sabbath of the old covenant has been transformed into the Lord's Day — Sunday — under the new covenant. Hebrews 4:9 is treated as the theological linchpin: 'there remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God' is not an eschatological footnote but a present weekly obligation, with the change of day grounded in Christ's resurrection as the completion of new-creation work. The sermon distinguishes the positive-law element of the fourth commandment (which day) from its abiding moral-law element (one day in seven devoted to God), before closing with practical qualifications against both legalism and antinomianism in Sabbath observance.
Genesis 2:1-3
Genesis 2:1–3 establishes the Sabbath not at Sinai but at creation, where God's completion of the cosmic temple, his rest of holy delight, and his blessing and sanctification of the seventh day together constitute a creational ordinance binding on all mankind. The text moves in three movements: the completion of creation (v. 1), the rest of the Creator (v. 2), and the blessing and sanctification of the seventh day for the creature's benefit (v. 3). Christ's declaration in Mark 2:27 — 'the Sabbath was made for man' — is not a new pronouncement but a commentary on Genesis 2, confirming that the day was given to image-bearers as a gift from the beginning. Any theology of the Sabbath that does not begin here in Genesis 2:1–3 is defective, and believers are called to receive the weekly Sabbath as a good gift from God rather than resist or dispense with it.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabath Day (Part 3) (2LCF 22)
Romans 14, Galatians 4, and Colossians 2 are frequently cited to argue that the New Testament abolishes the Christian Sabbath, but each passage, read in context, is addressing something else entirely. Romans 14 concerns Christian liberty and mutual forbearance between stronger and weaker brethren over food and culturally retained Jewish observances; Galatians 4 condemns the Judaizers' insistence that legal observances can supplement faith and commend a sinner to God; and Colossians 2 targets the ceremonial, typological Sabbaths of Israel's calendar — festivals, new moons, and occasional sabbaths — not the weekly moral Sabbath rooted in creation and carried forward into the Lord's Day. The fourth commandment's moral obligation to set apart one day in seven for worship is a positive, perpetual, and binding ordinance, and Sabbath-keeping is the fruit of justification by grace through faith in Christ, not a means of obtaining it.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day (2LCF22)
The Sabbath commandment is a moral, positive, and perpetual law binding all men in all ages — not a distinctively Jewish institution abolished with the Mosaic economy, but a creation ordinance blessed and sanctified by God from the beginning and carried forward into the New Covenant era. Working through 2LCF chapter 22, paragraphs 7 and 8, this session traces a biblical theology of the Sabbath from Genesis 2 through Isaiah and Jeremiah, establishing both the moral principle (one day in seven) and its positive element (the particular day). The shift from Saturday to Sunday is grounded in creation and redemption as the twin rationales for the commandment, anticipating the resurrection of Christ as the basis for Lord's Day worship. Hearers are called to receive the Sabbath not as a burden but as a gift given by God for the good of His creatures.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day, Part 5 (2LCF 22.1-8)
The change of the Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day of the week rests not on explicit apostolic command but on authoritative precedent: Christ's resurrection, the post-resurrection gatherings He led, the apostolic practice recorded in Acts and the Epistles, and the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. The Sabbath command remains morally binding in the new covenant, grounded theologically in Christ's rest from His re-creative labors (Hebrews 4:9) as the Creator's rest grounded the old covenant observance. Paragraph 8 of 2LCF Chapter 22 is then opened to address both preparation for the day — spiritual (repentance, the framing of the mind in prayer and Scripture) and practical (ordering common affairs beforehand) — and conduct on the day, distinguished between necessary cessations (vocational, commercial, recreational, and conversational) and wholesome operations (public and private worship, works of necessity and mercy).
Matthew 12:1-14
Jesus' conflicts with the Pharisees over Sabbath observance in Matthew 12:1–14 are not evidence that he abolished the fourth commandment, but that he cleared away the Pharisaic misinterpretation encrusting it. This Bible study is the second half of a biblical theology of the Sabbath, tracing the commandment through Christ's own teaching on the law (Matthew 5:17–20), the resurrection, the apostolic practice of first-day worship (Acts 20, 1 Corinthians 16, Revelation 1:10), and the eschatological Sabbath rest of Hebrews 4. The argument throughout is that the Decalogue is trans-covenantal, that Christ fulfilled rather than abrogated the fourth commandment, and that the shift from the seventh day to the first day reflects the same creational-redemptive logic — now centred on the risen Christ as head of the new creation.