Well, before we come to consider the topic of the Christian Sabbath for today in our new series of sermons entitled Things Most Surely Believed Among Us, I ask you, brothers and sisters, that you once again unite your hearts with mine as we seek the face of our God. Let's pray. Our Father, we confess that from the beginning to the end. It is all amazing love. It is Your great, boundless grace. We thank You, Lord, for it is You who have first loved us, and not vice versa. You, O God, from before the foundation of the world, had Your heart and mind on Your elect people. And for this, we thank You, O God, We thank You for Your love. We thank You for Your great grace. Lord Jesus, we thank You for accomplishing our redemption on the cross of Calvary. And Holy Spirit, we thank You that You through the Gospel came and quickened us, gave us new hearts that we might respond to the Gospel by repenting of our sins and trusting in Jesus Christ the Lord. Oh God, we confess that from beginning to end, salvation is of the Lord, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Thank you for making us part of that great eternal council of redemption. Oh God, who are we that we should be partakers of such grand things? Oh, we are so thankful this day. We humble ourselves before you and we ascribe our salvation wholly to your blessed person. Thank you, God, for making us a people who were once not a people. Thank you for making us the very people of God. Bless us, then, this day, O God, as we come to your word. Feed us, we pray, with the great truths of your word. And we ask all of these things through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. In writing in the 19th century, the well-known, beloved, godly Christian pastor and author J.C. Ryle wrote these words concerning his own generation. Ryle said, There is a subject in the present day which demands the serious attention of all professing Christians in the United Kingdom. And that subject is the subject of the Christian Sabbath or the Lord's Day. Ryle wrote, this is a subject that has been forced upon our notice. And this is because the minds of many are agitated by questions arising out of it. Is the observance of the Sabbath binding on Christians? Have we any right to tell a man that to do his business or to seek his pleasure on Sunday is sin? Is it desirable to open places of public amusement on the Lord's Day, etc.? All of these, says Ryle, are questions which are continually asked. They are questions to which we ought to be able to give a decided answer. Now, I find it quite striking that in a similar way in our own day and in our own generation, in our own country, this matter of the Christian Sabbath is still very much something that many people are confused about and question And this is because, sadly, there are many people in our day who tell us that the Sabbath is no longer binding on us as Christians. Sadly, there are those who tell us that there are only nine commandments, only nine commandments for believers to uphold. And sadly, there are some who tell us that all days are alike. And this is because all of life is worship. Perhaps you've heard that all of life is worship. So therefore, God does not have one specific day for his own worship. Since Jesus Christ, our Lord, is now our Sabbath rest, etc. Well, dear friends, even though such notions like these abound and are embraced and are taught by many at present. I say that nonetheless, in light of such ideas, we must go back and ask the pertinent question, which is, what does the Bible say? We must ask the question, what has the church always said about this matter of the Christian Sabbath throughout the ages as evidenced through her confessions of faith? And we must ask the question, which is, what have the godliest men and women practice concerning this topic. These are the things that we're going to consider for today as we come to our theme at hand. This is what we're going to think on as we comb through the scriptures, seeking to see what God himself says about the matter. You see, dear brothers and sisters, when it comes to the subject of the Sabbath, or any other biblical subject for that matter. The truth of the matter is not ultimately to be found in what people or even pastors say. Ultimately, what people purport about this thing or that thing is not to be our final standard. No, rather for us, the word of God is to be the final bar of arbitration. For us, as Reformed Baptists, in this place, to quote our own London Baptist Confession of Faith, the Holy Scripture is our only sufficient, certain, and infallible rule of all saving knowledge, faith, and obedience. Now, dear congregation, it would be hard for me, it would be very hard for me to stress to you exactly how immensely important our topic is for today. Personally, I believe that it is not too much to say that the prosperity or the decay of the Christian faith in the world depends largely on the maintenance of the Christian Sabbath, the Lord's Day. which, as we shall see today, is connected to the fourth commandment of God, is the day that has been made for God's glory and for our good. And therefore, if we turn away from its significance or practice in any way, shape or form, we lead ourselves and others astray from biblical truth. Now, thankfully, thankfully. In this place, We have a high regard for the Lord's Day, and I greatly rejoice over this fact. This is a matter which, despite many churches, despite what many churches are doing around us, by and large, we have steadfastly held. And in doing this, I think that we can all say in truth that for us, the Lord's Day is indeed the very best day of the week. I think we can say that in truth. For us who have been saved by the great grace of God, Sunday is the market day of the soul, as the Puritans would say. And this is because on this day, our souls greatly feed on the word of truth. And therefore, we could joyfully say with the psalmist in Psalm 122 and verse 1, I was glad. Not I was sad, but I was glad when they said unto me, let us go to the house of the Lord. Amen. Now, as we come to this material for this afternoon and then again this evening, my main goal. In bringing this material simply to establish from the Bible the fact that God indeed has a day which we as Christians are to observe. Today, my goal is very straightforward, and it is that we all come to see and be reestablished in the fact that the God of the Bible has a whole day for himself and for our good. And so as we come, then, to this very important topic for our time together now, let's begin this morning by considering the Sabbath commenced at creation. And in doing this, I ask you to please turn with me in your Bibles to Genesis chapter 2. Genesis chapter 2. Genesis 2 will begin by considering verses 1 to 3. Now, for some of you here who might not be too familiar with this topic, you might be wondering, why did I go to Exodus chapter 20 to look at the Ten Commandments first concerning this matter. Well, friends, I didn't do this because, as we'll see, the keeping of the Sabbath is not merely that which is Jewish, no, rather it is that which is for all people everywhere, as this Genesis account makes abundantly plain. So Genesis chapter 2, after wrapping up the wonderful six-day creation account in Genesis chapter 1, notice what we read in Genesis 2 verses 1 to 3. Let's start from Genesis chapter 1 verse 31 and I'll read through to Genesis 2 verses 1 to 3. So Genesis chapter 1 at verse 31 Moses writes then God saw everything that he had made and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had done. Verse three. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work, which God had created and made. Now we have here in our passage in chapter 2 of Genesis, the very impressive conclusion to the account of creation, having read at the end of chapter 1, verse 31, that at the end of six literal days, God considered all of his creative work, and behold, it was very good. Now, on the seventh and final day of the creation week, God added one final blessing as the capstone over all his work. And so we're told that God rested on the seventh day and that he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Now, unfortunately, there are some anti-Sabbatarians, this is to say people who are against any idea of a Sabbath. There are some anti-Sabbatarians who, in looking at this passage, Genesis 2, 1 to 3, say that because the word Sabbath is not found in it, nor are there any references to the matter that we ourselves are called to wrest from our labors, that this passage is completely irrelevant concerning the whole matter of Christians keeping a Sabbath day for God. Perhaps some of you have heard this particular Well, in response to this, I respond by saying first that concerning the matter that the word Sabbath is not in the passage, as some say, I respond by saying, dear friends, this is absolutely not the case. And this is because the Hebrew word for Sabbath actually appears twice. If you could read Hebrew, you would see here that in the original language in verses two and three, the text literally says, and on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had done, and he sabbathed on the seventh day from all of his work, which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it, he sabbathed from all the work which God had created and made. And so again, we see here that in fact, the word Sabbath is in the passage. It is the Hebrew word for the English word rested that is found twice in our passage here. We're literally told that God stopped or God ended his unique supernatural process that he used when he created the world originally. And then we're told that he Sabbath. Now, of course, concerning this matter of God sabbathing or resting on the seventh day, this does not mean that he became completely inactive on this day, because we know that our God continues to uphold and preserve the world that he made each and every day. And thank God for this. As a matter of fact, Jesus confirmed this matter in John 5 and verse 17. For there, while our Lord was engaged in another Sabbath controversy with the Pharisees in proving that it is right to heal on the Sabbath and to preserve life, that this does not violate the Sabbath, our Lord said to his hearers concerning God's activity on the Sabbath day, my father has been working until now. And so back to the point, let's be clear. that here in the early account of Genesis, when God himself made all things, God Sabbath on the seventh day, God rested from all his work, which he had done, and therefore we're told that he blessed the day. That is to say, he expressed his own special goodness and favor on this day, that he also sanctified it. That is to say, he set it apart as sacred, as consecrated, as that which is holy, which is exactly what the word sanctified here means. And so we see, dear brothers and sisters, that just based upon what we've seen already at this point, that although some people say all days are alike according to God, quite plainly such a notion is not found here in this passage of scripture. According to the Bible, there is one specific day which God has marked out for himself, blessed and sanctified. This day is not like any other day, and this is the Sabbath day. However, we ask the all-important question, which is this. What does all of this have to do with us? So what, that God sabbathed on the seventh day? Well, dear friends, I say that it has everything to do with us. It has everything to do with us. You see, while there are some who say that yes, in fact, God did rest on the Sabbath day, that's clear. However, they say that There's no principle here that we ourselves are to do the same. Well, friends, let me say that to say this is to totally miss the point of the passage here on two levels. And firstly, I say that is to miss the point that in doing this, God himself was leaving us an example to follow. I asked you, dear brothers and sisters. Does God need to rest? I ask you, does the Almighty need to re-energize himself after working six days? Does he? No. Obviously not. And this, of course, is why Isaiah could say in Isaiah 40, in verse 28, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. God does not need to rest. And so we ask then, Why did God Sabbath after six days of work? Why did he do this? Well, again, the plain implied answer in the passage is that this was done so that all of his creation, human beings made in his image, that they would follow his example. As John Calvin rightly says about the matter, when God's Sabbath, he invited and exhorted us to quote the imitation of himself. But second, and more specifically, I argue that our passage teaches us that the Sabbath, the original Sabbath was not made for God, but rather for man. And this is because this is exactly what Jesus tells us when he comments on this narrative here in Genesis chapter 2 in Mark chapter 2 in verse 27. And we won't turn to that passage now because we'll look at it in a little while. However, in Mark chapter 2 in verse 27a, as Jesus corrects the Pharisees for their misunderstanding of the Sabbath and in effect rebukes their narrow minded approach to it. As Jesus comments on the passage before us today, he says to those men before him that the Sabbath was made for man. The Sabbath was made for man. Now, friends, I don't know if language could be plainer than this. I don't know if there could be a clearer statement in all the Bible about who Jesus Christ thought the Sabbath was for. Quite literally, the passage there in Mark chapter 2 reads that the Sabbath was made for the man. Definite article is in the original. And the man could only be the man Adam, the first man, and all people after him. Jesus doesn't say the Sabbath was made for God. It was made for man. Dear friends, the Sabbath, the weekly day of rest, the day of ceasing from our normal labors is that which God has put into the very fabric of the foundation of our existence. As with all of the other creation ordinances, which God established for man's good, which are spoken of right here in this general setting, marriage in Genesis 2 verses 20 to 25 and work in Genesis 2 in verse 15. So also the matter of resting one day in seven was given to us. Now, having said this, of course. There are some who argue against what I've just mentioned and say, that the Sabbath was not a creation ordinance for all people everywhere, Jews and non-Jews. And this is why we don't see people keeping the Sabbath day before the command was actually given to the Jews in Exodus chapter 20 in the Ten Commandments. Perhaps you've heard that argument as well. Well, friends, let me say, That to say such a thing is really a sloppy handling of scripture. It really is. And I say this because of what we see in two specific places. And the first two specific places before Exodus 20. And the first is right here in the opening chapters of Genesis in Genesis chapter 4 verses 1 to 4. And I ask you to note those words with me. Genesis 4 verses 1 to 4. Hereafter, Jehovah God has given his creation the ordinances of work, marriage, and as I say, and many others, Sabbath. Notice with me what Moses writes concerning Adam and Eve and their children. Genesis 4, verses 1 to 4, we read the words which say, now Adam knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain and said, I have acquired a man from the Lord. And she bore again, this time, his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep. But Cain, a tiller of the ground, and in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the first born of his flock and of their fat. Now, personally, I believe that this passage here is very important, very crucial to all that I've just said, because it is an interesting that we have set forth in these words the creation ordinances of marriage and work. Here we're told in verse one that Adam knew his wife, which points to the marriage ordinance. And then secondly, we're told about the creation ordinance of work in verse two, that Abel was a keeper of sheep and Cain a tiller of the ground. However, we ask the question, what about the third ordinance of keeping a day for God by resting from our works and worshiping him. Surely, if there was such a thing implied in Genesis chapter two, for all people to keep, we would see something of this in this first family. And so do we. Well, I believe we do. And it's found in verses three and four. Note the language again. Hereafter, speaking about marriage, he knew his wife, work, describing what the two boys did. We're told next in these verses that in the process of time, it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the first fruit of the ground to the Lord. Abel also brought of the first fruit of his flock and their fat. And so the question is, at what time did Cain and Abel do this? When did they stop working their normal jobs in order to worship Jehovah? Well, the answer is found in the phrase which says in the process of time. And if you have a footnote by the phrase, you'll see that the Hebrew language literally reads that they did this at the end of days. Well, I asked what day at the end of days is being spoken of here. Why rather what day did Cain and Abel bring offerings to Jehovah in a formal way? Well, friends, I say that the only day at the end of days that is recorded in the first three chapters of Genesis is the end of the days of the week. And that, of course, directly points us to the Sabbath day. Just as we read in Genesis chapter 2 and verse 2 that on the seventh day God ended his work, which he had done. This is exactly what we see being spoken of here in our passage. Now, in discussing this matter, I like what A.W. Pink writes in his very helpful treatment on the Christian Sabbath. Pink says concerning our passage, what is meant by the end of days? Well, we have suggested above that it signifies the end of the week, that is the end of the work days. Well, Pink says, how can this be proven? Well, he replies by saying in a very simple way, that is to say, by appealing to the context. and then after explaining this matter some more, he summarizes all that he's been saying and says that in Genesis 4 and verse 3, we have a scripture that proves four things. First, that previous to the days of Cain and Abel, a Sabbath had been instituted. Secondly, that this Sabbath came at the end of a work week. Third, that it was recognized by the sons of Adam and Eve. And fourth, that it was part of sacred use, namely for the worship of God. Well, friends, I think that A.W. Pink is absolutely correct. In the process of time, what time? The end of days. What days? The work days. And when those work days were over, the six work days, like their creator, they rested and they worshipped. However, we have still yet another passage. which shows us that the Old Testament people of God honored the Sabbath, kept the Sabbath before it was officially instituted in the Ten Commandments. And this passage is found, of course, in Exodus chapter 16. And I ask you please to turn with me there in your Bibles. Exodus 16. Before God gave his law to his people, Exodus 16 What do we read here in the context as God says that he will rain the man of bread down from heaven so that his people would always have food for their journey? We read, picking up in verse 21, note the language. So they gathered it, Exodus 16. That is the manna every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melted. And so it was on the sixth day. Why? Why the sixth day? How are they knowing about a sixth day? God didn't tell them that in the Ten Commandments yet. This is way before that time. However, these people were doing something on the sixth day. What did they do? 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 the Sabbath day rest. A holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today. And boil what you will boil. And lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept until the morning. So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded, and did not 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. Well, friends, I trust you see that this passage here and along with the Genesis four account, they establish the fact that the keeping of a Sabbath day rest. was that which was happening before it was officially codified in the Decalogue. God's pattern of working six days and then sabbathing on one was apparently that which God's people did from the Garden of Eden through the patriarchs until finally it was ascribed on tablets of stone. And so, in speaking about this matter of tablets of stone, also called the Ten Commandments, I ask you to come with me secondly for today to consider the Sabbath commanded at Sinai as we come to consider Exodus 20 verses 8 to 11. The Sabbath commanded at Sinai, Exodus 20 verses 8 to 11, and here by way of context, we should understand first and foremost, and this is very important, We should understand that this giving of the Sabbath, as with all the commandments of God, that was something that God did out of love for his people. Sometimes people say, oh, the law, God was mean, trying to hinder his people. No, it was out of love for them. Here, the Lord who delivered the nation out of Egyptian bondage and bore them on eagle's wings and brought them to himself, as he says in the previous chapter, now gives his people his law. not as a legalistic obligation, but as that which was to be a light and to guide to them so that they could follow him correctly, having been redeemed by his mighty hand and with an outstretched arm, to use the language of Deuteronomy 5 in verse 15. And so when speaking about the Sabbath day, notice what we read, picking up in verse 8, God says, note it closely, remember, not forget, Not throw away as inconsequential, but remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. That is to keep it separate and free from ordinary secular use. 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 daughters, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger who is within your gates. And why is this? Well again, in connecting this command to the divine example of God for us, concerning what we already read about in connection to God in Genesis 2, the Lord now says through Moses, remember the Sabbath day. Why? For in it, 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. Why do we keep the day? Because God kept the day. That's the point. Now, again, here we have the Sabbath being codified in the Ten Commandments. Here we have a gracious God speaking about a sacred day, which is to be kept separate from all other days. And with reference to the fourth commandment in the Ten Commandments, I want to highlight five things for you in this passage briefly. And the first thing that I want you to note is that because these words, remember the Sabbath to keep the day holy, because these words are embedded in the Ten Commandments, written on stone with the very finger of God, they are therefore part of God's eternal law. which must be followed by all people at all times in all ages. You see, friends, when it comes to the law of God in general, we should understand that typically it is to be understood in a threefold fashion. It is to say there are ceremonial aspects of the law, there are civil aspects of the law, and there are moral aspects of the law. Now, clearly, when we read the New Testament, we understand that in the coming of Christ, the ceremonial aspects of law are done away with. Clearly, we understand that the civil aspects of the law are done away with. You no longer have a theocracy. However, because the Ten Commandments are moral, they remain as a perpetual rule for all people in all places. Brethren, I say that just as it is always wrong to take the name of our God in vain, it is always wrong to profane the Sabbath. Just as it is always wrong to lie and to steal and to not honor our parents, etc. It is always wrong. Morally speaking, it is always wrong to not keep a day separate for God, whether we're Jewish or not. Secondly, we see from the passage that the Sabbath day was a movable day. Was a movable day. Now, what do I mean here? What I mean Is that the command to keep the Sabbath for God is so worded in the Ten Commandments that it permits a change of day of the week on which the Sabbath is to be observed. Notice the language with me again. We read in verses 9 and 10 that six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. Now, did you notice here that the language in the passage does not say the seventh day of the week? is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. No, rather it says the seventh day after six days of labor. Now, friends, this is important for us to understand, because we must know that the moral aspect of the command to observe one day in seven, that's the moral aspect of it. Keep one day in seven. And so to say that it has to be Saturday as the Jews kept it is absolutely incorrect. And this is the great error of the seven day Adventist and sadly the seventh day Baptist. You see, these groups say that we must Sabbath on the seventh day of the week like the Jews did. However, this is absolutely not the case because God never said this here, nor did God say this anywhere else in the Bible. Now, of course, to me, the absence of the words of the week clearly point forward to the fact that in the great wisdom of God, he would allow for a change of day for the Sabbath to happen under the new covenant. In God's great wisdom, he so worded the fourth commandment so as to suit both the Jewish age and the Christian age, so that in the Old Testament, the day that was to be kept for him fell on the seventh day of the week. And yet in the New Testament, as we shall see, the day fell on the first day of the week, thus abolishing the old day. Thirdly, we see from this passage that the Sabbath is to be a whole day for God. Not just the half day here, God doesn't say merely remember the Sabbath morning to keep it separate, nor does he say just remember the Sabbath night to keep it separate. No, rather, he says, remember the Sabbath day. That is to say, the entire day. Friends, the Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath is exactly the same length as every other day during the week, it is a 24 hour period. And when we look at such passages as Psalm 92 and Psalm 134, we see that the people of God, as they worshiped God on the Sabbath, which is what they did and is what we're to do. They said, for example, in Psalm 92, Pastor Jack read it earlier. It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night. Fourth, we see from these words that on the Sabbath, we are to put aside our ordinary work of the six other days. God says that we are to do our regular work six days, but the seventh day is a rest day from our normal labors unto Jehovah. Friends, the point is, the Sabbath day is a day for God, not a day for our regular matters of life. It is a day when we are deceased from our regular labors, be that our work at our jobs or our schoolwork, if we are students, etc. In addition, and along these lines, I must say that since this commandment is morally binding upon all people, just like the other nine commandments, we ought not to unnecessarily cause others to work on the Sabbath, since they themselves are entitled to a day for God, just like everyone else. I ask, why should we as Christians be shopping on Sunday? Why should we be eating at restaurants? Why should we be getting coffee on His day, when in doing this we are encouraging others to break this commandment? In doing this, we are driving others, depriving others rather, of their God-given right to rest from their labors and to worship God. And therefore, I say to do this is to ignore the physical and the spiritual well-beings of our fellow man. To do this is to encourage others to sin. And to do this is to hinder our Christian witness in the world, because as Christians, we should know better. Well, fifthly, then, we see from these words that the fourth commandment is a family command. It's a family command. It's called, remember, the Sabbath, or as it's stated in Deuteronomy chapter 5. Observe the Sabbath. Keep the Sabbath. It's first addressed to heads of homes. That is to say, the father. It's directed to the husband because God says to him in verse 10 on the Sabbath, you shall do no work. But then he goes on to speak to the rest of the family, et cetera, saying, you know, your son or your daughter, know your male servant, know your female servant, know your cattle, nor the stranger who was within your gates. So the point is the Sabbath, the day for God is to be kept by everyone in our home. That's the point. All who live under our roof are to honor this day. And therefore, if we have children, the Sabbath day is not to be a day when they're out playing their sports. It's not to be a day when they're camped out in front of the TV doing the things that they do the rest of the week. No, rather, it's a day for them to put these things aside and to join with God's people in the public praise of his name. Well, here then are five things that the commandment teaches us. Here are five things that the commandment teaches all people everywhere. In sum, it teaches us that the Sabbath is to be remembered because it is eternally binding upon every member of the human race being moral in nature. Second, it teaches us that it is to be kept after a six day work week. It teaches us, thirdly, that we are to observe the entire day, not just half the day. It teaches us that it is to be a ceasing from our ordinary labors. And fifth, it teaches us that this commandment is to be kept by everyone in our household. So come with me thirdly, then, to consider the Sabbath communicated by the prophets, the Sabbath communicated by the prophets. Now, here I will be brief. But suffice it to say that along with the Old Testament prophets constantly speaking about the glories of the Lord's Day Sabbath and making it a benchmark for the religious vitality of the nation, for if they didn't keep it, they spiritually were not doing well according to God, In such passages as Isaiah 56 in verse 2 and Isaiah 58 verses 13 and 14 speak of this. Along with the positive side, unfortunately, we also see that through the prophets, they repeatedly had to call out the Old Testament people of God to stop breaking the Sabbath. And this they did either by not regarding the day at all or by keeping it merely in an external in an external way. Now God's rebuking of the people in this way is shown in many passages of Scripture. But just so that we can see it in one, I ask you please to turn with me in your Bibles to Ezekiel chapter 20. Ezekiel chapter 20. Ezekiel chapter 20. Here is God speaks to the prophet about the apostate nation. He says to him, Ezekiel 20 verses 11 to 13, we read the words which say God speaking, and I gave them my statutes and show them my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. Moreover, I also gave them my Sabbaths to be assigned between them and me and they that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctifies them, who sets them apart. Yet the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statutes. They despise my judgments, which if a man does them, he shall live by them. Now notice the language. And they greatly defile my Sabbaths. The result then, I said. I would pour out my fury on them in the wilderness to consume them. But we see here what many other passages in the Old Testament say, namely, that to dishonor God's day is a heinous sin in His sight, in God's judgment, and in the judgment of the prophets for a person or a nation to do this is a horrible crime. And guess what? If we read Jeremiah 17 and Nehemiah chapter 13, we would see that the very reason that God says For why the nation was put off into Babylonian judgment was because they broke my Sabbaths. That's the reason God gives. The breaking of this commandment was the main reason for their banishment. And friends, I say that since the Old Testament was written for our example, as Paul says in Romans 15 in verse 4, we should learn a lesson from the sins of the Old Covenant, people of God. Fourthly, consider with me the Sabbath commended by Christ. The Sabbath commended by Christ. Now it is at this point where I am completely baffled, utterly dumbfounded concerning popular evangelicalism, and this is because There are many Christians who say that Jesus was against the Sabbath and that he constantly criticized it. You've heard that before, I'm sure. Well, friends, in response to such an idea, I say that such a statement is completely, utterly unbiblical. And this is because throughout the entirety of his life, Jesus kept the weekly Sabbath going to the synagogue, that is to say, the Jewish place of worship, because this is what all Jews did. on the Sabbath, as the Old Testament teaches. I mean, think with me for a moment. Why would Jesus speak against a day that God made for his own glory? Why would Jesus speak against the day that God made for man's good? Why would he speak against a special time once a week, which was meant for God's worship For as we read Leviticus 23 in verse 3, six days shall your work be done. But the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. Friends, the fact of the matter is, if we searched our Bible through and through, if we searched the New Testament, we would see that Jesus was never against the Sabbath, nor did he ever speak against it. If we search the Bible honestly, we would see that Jesus completely upheld the day, for if He didn't, He would be a sinner, and we know He's no sinner. And we know also that according to Matthew 5 and verse 17, He came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill. No, beloved, Jesus kept the Sabbath completely. For as we're told in Luke 4 and verse 16, it was His custom. to go to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. Now, of course, having said this, we must note that it is absolutely true, absolutely true that our Lord came against the religious leaders in his day who sought to defile the Sabbath by their nitpicky, minute and often absurd man-made legalistic traditions that they sought to put on this day. No questions asked. This is absolutely the case. And I say, dear friends, that such a pharisaical disposition which turns the Sabbath from a gift of God for our blessing into a harsh, legalistic, oppressive affair must always be spoken against and must never be practiced by us. Brethren, God have mercy on us. If we ourselves ever turn the Sabbath into that which saps our joy because of our adding unbiblical requirements to it, which neither we nor our forefathers could bear, God have mercy on us. However, let's be clear again. Let's understand that in attacking the Pharisees with their Sabbath legalism, with their Sabbath additionalism, if you will, The Lord Jesus Christ never attacked them for keeping the Sabbath. Never. And that's what people would have us think. No, rather, as I mentioned, Jesus attacked them for obscuring what the day was all about. A day for God's glory. A day for man's good. Jesus only criticized what the Pharisees had made of the day and had done to it. Therefore, I believe J.C. Ryle was absolutely right in his articulation of this point. Listen to what Ryle says concerning this matter, quote, The plain truth is our Lord did not abolish the law of the weekly Sabbath. No, rather, he only freed it from incorrect interpretations and purified it from man-made additions. Ryle says that Jesus did not tear the Sabbath out of the deck along the fourth commandment. He only stripped off the miserable traditions with which the Pharisees had encrusted the day. And by it, they had made it not a blessing, but a burden. Well, not only did Jesus commend the Sabbath through his own practice in the fact that he always kept the day, But he also commended the day in his teaching. And for this, I ask you to please turn with me in your Bibles to Mark Chapter 2. Mark Chapter 2. Mark Chapter 2. Let's see what Jesus actually says about the Sabbath. I spoke about this passage earlier, but let's look at it a little more closely now. Mark Chapter 2. Here is our Lord again is engaged in another debate with the Pharisees concerning the purpose of the Sabbath. Mark two and pointing them back to the original intent of this day, Jesus says to them first in verse twenty seven, Mark two and verse twenty seven. Note the language. Mark two and verse twenty seven, and he that as Jesus said to them, the Sabbath was made for man. And not man. For the Sabbath. Now, this is the New Testament, I just want to point that out just so we're clear here. OK, this is the New Testament, Jesus speaking about the Sabbath. OK, some say no mention of the Sabbath in the New Testament. This is the New Testament. And here's what Jesus says about the Sabbath. It was made for Hoanthropos, the man, and all men after him. Now in these words, three things I want to note. The first is, as we saw earlier, clearly this passage proves to us that according to Jesus, the Sabbath is not strictly Jewish. It was made for man, mankind. Jesus says it was made for man, not merely the Jews. And we must always keep this in mind. God made the Sabbath for Adam in paradise. Think about that. Even in a sinless state, Adam needed a day of rest. He was going to work. God said, still, you need to rest and you need to worship me even before sin came into the world. Adam in paradise, the day was for him. And according to the Lord Jesus, it's also made for every person after him. Secondly, Jesus says that the Sabbath was made for man. It was made for man, which again shows us that it was made for his good. The point is the Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath, was made for our benefit and happiness. But dear friends, God knew that after a physically demanding week of working, as it were, from the sweat of our brow, we would need a day off from these things. We would need rest from our labors. And he knew that like Adam, we would need one day in seven of special devoted fellowship with himself so that we could get to know him better. And this is why God instituted the day. Well, thirdly, Jesus says the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. And this is because man existed first and then the Sabbath was appointed for his welfare, not vice versa. The point is the Sabbath serves us. We don't serve the Sabbath. Well, having commented then on the subjects of the Sabbath and its value, notice with me finally. What Jesus says in verse 28, in light of this fact, in speaking about himself, verse 28, note the language closely. Jesus says, therefore, in light of what I've just said, the Son of Man is also the destroyer of the Sabbath. No, I'm sorry, I read that wrong. Look again. Rather, Jesus says, the Son of Man is The abolisher of the Sabbath. Is that what it says in your Bibles? Destroyer? Abolisher? That's how many would have us to read the passage. That's not what Jesus said. He said He's the Lord of the Sabbath. Here, Jesus doesn't say that he's the repealer of the Sabbath. No, rather, as the God-man, he says again, he's the Lord of the Sabbath, and that's because the day belongs to him. The point is, here in this context, Jesus says to these Pharisees, the day doesn't belong to you. To do what you think ought to be done on the day, I'm the Lord of it, it's to be kept how I say. Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath, which is made for all people. And as a side note, if we are living under Jesus' Lordship, we are to keep a Sabbath day for Him. And so you see, that although many people say in our day, I'm not going to keep the Sabbath commandment unless it's reiterated in the New Testament. Well, friends, that's exactly what Jesus does here. People say the Sabbath is never repeated in the New Testament, so we don't have to keep it. Well, friends, I say that it's never been repealed. It's never been removed. And Jesus' statement here makes that abundantly plain. And so having seen the Sabbath commenced at creation, commanded at Sinai, communicated by the prophets and commended by Christ. That's completely and finally for today to the Sabbath continued by the church, the Sabbath continued by the church. Now, really, this last point here deserves an entire sermon. And when I preach this message, not this message today, but this portion of the message of several years ago, I preached an entire message on it. However, for today being I want being that I want you to have the whole concept together, and I couldn't possibly break up my nice alliteration. I'm going to give you in four minutes what I preached in 50 minutes several years ago. And so having established from the Bible that the Sabbath is to be a weekly day of rest from our normal labors unto a day of worship for God, for all people to observe at all times. This is morally binding. We ask now why after the death and resurrection of Christ, our Lord, Did the New Testament Church, which was initially comprised of Jews who used to keep a Saturday Sabbath, why did they, and the entire church throughout church history, begin to gather for worship after Christ's resurrection, not on Saturday, like the Old Testament people of God, but on the first day of the week, as plainly seen in such passages as John 20 and verse 19, Acts 20 and verse 7, In 1 Corinthians 16 verses 1 and 2. Why did this happen? Well friends, let me give you the answer to this question briefly. By stating that they did this because, negatively speaking, according to Exodus 31 and verse 17, the Saturday Sabbath was a specific sign between God and the children of Israel forever, literally unto the vanishing point, And then positively, the day change from Saturday to Sunday occurred because whereas the Jewish Sabbath commemorated the completion of God's original work of creation, the Christian Sabbath Sunday commemorates the completion of Christ's work of new creation. That is to say, the redemption and salvation of his people. Old Sabbath, old creation. New Sabbath, new creation. The salvation of Jesus elect people. You see, friends, that God must have a day for himself, it's indisputable. Can't get around it. Can't be denied, biblically speaking, that the weekly Sabbath principle of rest from our regular labors to worship God must continue. But what is the day in which Christians are supposed to do this? When are we to do this? Well, again, as we read the New Testament, we see in every place that is the first day of the week. This is the day that Jesus rose from the dead. We sung about it earlier. This is the day when the Spirit of God descended on the early disciples on the day of Pentecost, the first day of the week. And again, this is the day when the early Christians met for worship, because that's what you do on the Sabbath. And even in the day change, we must see that the Sabbath is still preserved. A day of ceasing from our labors and a day for worshipping God is still preserved. First day of the week, Sunday, this is the day which Jesus is to be worshipped until he returns. And this is why I'm speaking about a new day for God. In contrast to the old day for God, the writer of Hebrews, New Testament again, Hebrews 4 and verse 9 can say that there remains a rest, literally a Sabbath for the people of God. Look at the reference later, Hebrews 4 and verse 9. The writer didn't say there awaits a Sabbath for the people of God. No. Nor did he say there is yet to be a Sabbath for the people of God. No. In writing to New Testament Christians, he says there remains a Sabbath at the very present time for the people of God. This is the Christian Sabbath, dear congregation. This is the Lord's Day because it belongs to Him. It commemorates Him. He is the focus of it. And so John can say in Revelation 1 in verse 10, I was in the spirit on the Lord's Day. The Lord's Day replaces the old covenant Saturday. And so as I begin to close the message for today, having considered this matter of the Christian Sabbath, one of those things in this place that is most surely believed among us, I begin to close by speaking firstly to Christians here today, and say to you, dear brothers and sisters, first and foremost, and really get this, in light of our topic at hand, I call you this day to rejoice. I call you to rejoice. God in his great grace has given you one day to cease from your normal activities, your normal work that you've got to do throughout the week. And a day where you could draw near to Him in public and private worship. Our God is kind, friends. God is glorious. He saw that we needed a day for freedom. from our normal activities. We needed a day, a special day, to be set apart for Him. And so, by way of application, let me say, don't squander this day. Don't squander it. Don't ruin it through worldly and sinful engagement. Do those things on another day. Not on God's day. This is the day God has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. derive benefit from the Christian Lord's Day. Make full use of the day. Delight yourself in the Lord. Secondly, in light of what we've seen today, dear brothers and sisters, I say graciously defend the Lord's Day. Defend the Lord's Day. And dear ones, don't be an individual who acts as though the Bible has nothing to say about this matter. Just going along with the crowd and the antinomians of our day, the nine commandment Christians, the New Testament only Christians, don't be only a New Testament Christian, be a full Bible Christian. Beginning to end. And be ready to graciously defend what the Bible teaches. Talking to my kids this week about the preparation for the message, and I said to him, you know, it's almost like I feel silly having to set forth that God has a day for himself. It's like me trying to prove that Jesus is God. I mean, just open your Bible. I don't know. It's just very simple. So I've got to spend an hour and show them that God has a Sabbath day. I mean, I have to show you that. And I got to deal with five million arguments about the sermon so that you can see it. Just read your Bible, I want to say, really not to you, but to people who It's almost like you got to prove the obvious thing. But this is the day we live in. Friends, let me say that holding to a Lord's Day is not legalistic. It's biblical. It's not puritanical. It's the plain teaching of the Bible. This is what Christians have always done. Check the London Baptist Confession of Faith. Check the Westminster Confession of Faith. Check the Savoy Confession of Faith. Check the Philadelphia Confession of Faith. All of the historic confessions are telling us what Christians have always done. Not Christians today. So what? So what? I'm not impressed with Christians today. Some I am. But by and large, not many. Defend the Lord's Day graciously. Don't be ashamed to stand for this biblical truth. Thirdly, not only should we rejoice in the day God's given us a day to worship him, to bless his name, not only should we graciously defend it before its detractors, but lastly, we should also come to this day very expectantly. Very expectantly, because when we search the New Testament, we see that the Lord Jesus Christ, as it were, surprised his disciples on the first day of the week. He appeared in their midst. as we're told in many places. And so what's the point? When we gather together as a local body, let's expect that Jesus will be among us. Let's prepare for it. I'll talk about that this evening. But this is not just a gathering of folks about some particular topic. This is God's special day. And Jesus has promised us where two or three or more are gathered in my name. There I am in the midst, gathered in my name where? In someone's basement? No, the whole context is gathered in my name as a local ecclesia, a local church. When we gather on the Lord's Day, the day that belongs to Jesus, he in a special way is with his people. Let's come expectantly believing that Jesus, by His Spirit, with His Word, gathers with us. And that He's promised to bless our souls, to teach us His Word, to cause us to ride upon the high hills of the earth, and to feed us with the heritage of Jacob, as God promised to us spiritually speaking in Isaiah chapter 58. Dear friends, above all other days, in a very special way, The Lord's Day Sabbath is made for us, God's people. Come running into this place on Sunday. This is the day God has made for me to turn from my normal labors and for me to worship God. For me to fellowship with the saints. For me to communicate God's truths to them and them to me. This is the day. that God has given me for these wonderful and glorious things. I end then with a word to any non-Christian here today. I've been speaking to Christians throughout the whole message, because this is really children's food, that is to say, God's children. But I end with a word to any here who are not saved, who are not a Christian here today. What can I say to you, my dear friend? Perhaps in hearing the message today, you've been convicted because you've not kept a day for God. A day wholly unto the Lord. Perhaps you didn't even know that God had a day all for himself. And so you feel yourself, and rightly so, a robber of what God has required of you. Maybe you feel that way, and really you should. But my friend, what you need to know is that as with all other sins that you have committed, There is forgiveness with God that He may be feared. The breaking of the fourth commandment, the breaking of the fifth, the ninth, the tenth, the first, the breaking of all those commandments constitutes you a sinner. But thanks be to God that God sent His Son into the world. And on behalf of sinners, Christ kept all of those commandments perfect as our representative. We had broken those commandments millions of times, including the fourth. And therefore, if we were ever going to be made right with God, we needed a representative to keep those commandments for us. Jesus did that. Absolutely perfect as our representative. And then that sinless Son of God willingly gave His innocent life to be that which would then take all of our crimes upon itself. All of our law breaking, all of our rebellion, all of our Sabbath breaking, lying and stealing and all the other sins that we've committed. God laid our sins upon our substitute. And Jesus willingly absorbed the punishment of God that was due us in our place on the cross of Calvary. He was crushed as our substitute. So that all of the law-breaking that we have done in our lives, Jesus, for the wrath of God, do us on our behalf, shedding His blood to cancel out all of our guilt, so that we trust in Him and His work alone. We, through faith alone in Him, could be saved. We've broken all the commandments of God, in one way or another. And therefore, Jesus came in the fullness of time, born of a woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law, that we might have the adoption as sons. Jesus came and did for us exactly what we needed to have done. We needed a perfect life to commend us to God. And we needed a death to pay the penalty for the sins that we have committed against Him. In Jesus Christ, we have both of those things, sinless life, substitutionary death in one person. My dear non-Christian friend here today, turn to this Lord and trust in Him alone for your soul's salvation. Call upon His name. Say, Lord, I see that I'm undone before you. If I kept all of your law and yet was just guilty of breaking the fourth commandment, the Sabbath, I would be damned forever because cursed is he who does not continue in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. My friend, if you don't flee to Christ by faith and ask him to save you, you will be damned in the final day. Not only for your Sabbath breaking, but for all of your other sins. But in Jesus, you have a sufficient Savior. You have one who two thousand years ago accomplished the redemption of sinners and on the cross, he made a perfect atonement to God on our behalf. So that he said it is finished, I have accomplished the work that they needed to have accomplished on their behalf. Turn this day to Jesus and ask him to forgive you of all of your sins based upon his finished work. On the cross of Calvary. God willing, then this evening will come to the second part of the message to consider some common objections to the Sunday Sabbath and then how it's to be practically observed. And so for now, let's commit our time to the Lord. Let's pray. Father, we are amazed that something so basic to your word is so often forgotten. So often this very topic is a fought against by various people. But Lord, we see it in your word from beginning to end. Help us, then we pray. To understand this truth. To live in light of this truth. To bless you for this truth. And to be encouraged by it. Oh, Lord. Might your name be magnified today in our midst. We ask these things in the worthy name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.