Well, this morning, I know Pastor Luke finished Chapter 26 of the Confession last Thursday, and I was not quite ready to move into Chapter 27 yet, so we'll do that soon enough, but today's not that day. So I'm gonna give you a last installment of the Fourth Commandment. We've kind of gone through the Fourth Commandment and, of course, preached through the Fourth Commandment. And then we dealt with certain questions related to the Fourth Commandment, the continuation of the Fourth Commandment. And so the question I would like us to consider this morning, and I don't know how long this will take. I think this is more of a survey through Scripture, just so that we know. I think it's important that we know. But here's the question. Why do we worship on Sunday? And not, of course, Saturday, what would be the Jewish Sabbath. So why do we worship on Sunday? What would, how would you answer that? Maybe I can just let you do the Sunday school class if you would like to answer that thoroughly, yes. Okay. Yeah, that is true. So there is tradition there. Tradition in the sense that the apostles did it, and we will go through that because I think that's very important. And you say that is tradition, apostolic tradition. Well, it's also confirmed to us in Scripture, right? So it's not just tradition. It's not like something that accumulated later. We think it's good to worship on Sunday for these reasons. It is given to us in Scripture, okay? Anyone else, how would you answer that question? Yes. Traditionally, if you looked at the timing of the Passover and the crucifixion, then the resurrection would have been on Sunday. So we're celebrating the resurrection rather than the historical day of rest. Yes, good. So there are significant events that would point us to that. You guys are actually, other than the verses themselves, you're answering the question and actually doing the Sunday school for me. Anything else? I would say, along with Mike, that in scripture you have the worshiping of the Christians, those who are specifically believers in Christ, and you have the continuation of the Sabbath for the Jews under the law. days of worship were, but they actually go, they're side by side. But there's a distinction in that the believers in Christ are worshiping on the first day of the week, Sunday, and the Jews are continuing to worship under the old law on the Saturday. So that is why I would say, that's why we, I'm not a Jew. I'm not underneath the old law. I am a believer in Christ, and being that he rose again, That is why I worship on the first day. Yeah, that is good. And you're getting at the, there is continuation from the old covenant system to the new covenant. But yet, if we look back, there's a lot of things that have been changed or shifted. And so to suggest that the day is one of those things that have been changed or shifted is also, I think, a very logical thing. Yeah. I know one struggle with people who are non-Sabbatarians is that there's never a definitive verse that says, where even Jesus instructs, hey guys, this is the change. Or you never see Peter or Paul say, explicitly, this is change. But, like everyone else has been saying, the fourth commandment is still binding. There's never a part of Scripture where you point to that says somehow that that's been fulfilled and that is no longer binding. No, it's nine out of 10. So the church, as everyone's stated, has been, any time we see something major happen, or when they're gathering, they're gathering on the Lord's Day. We never see the church, early church in Acts, gathering on the traditional Sabbath. So that's also, would be an argument I would use as an indicator that the Sabbath's still binding, the fourth commandment, may not the law that was to Israel, all those little things are still binding, but the Sabbath itself, and then now it's the Lord's day. Good, good. Yes? I think harm could have been practical as well. A lot of the Jews were still meeting on the Sabbath in the temple, and the Christians were also meeting in the temple, so having it on a different day practically made sense. Maybe we should just pray here, and we can... No, I do want to give you the scripture references, but everything you've said is, you know... to get to the point, right? Yeah, we've got apostolic profession for us. We've got the examples. And so, yeah, let's go through that. I think it'll be worth our while to solidify that and to think through the verses and to come to that picture. Because again, if I ask that question, why do we worship on Sunday? You've given me the answer. I'm not sure that most Christians could give me that answer. I'm not sure that they would. I think that if you ask most Christians, why do we worship on Sunday, they'll just say, that's when we worship. That's what we do. And so, why specifically do we worship? Well, you are here today and it is Sunday, so I trust that all of this will as we just mentioned. So, what are we doing? We're gonna go through the scripture. Again, this is more of a survey. Let me before I do that, I do want to mention, because these were very helpful to me, I did mention this last time that I did the Sunday school class on this topic as well, but I think these books are very helpful. So let me mention just a few that have been helpful to me. Sam Waldron's The Lord's Day, which is a very accessible book. I have used that for the basic order of the Sunday School this morning. Robert Martin's The Christian Sabbath, that is a much more technical treatise on the topic. But if you really want to get into the Hebrew and the Greek and all of that, that is excellent. Walter Chantry's called The Sabbath a Delight, which is, again, very accessible. So those three particularly have been helpful to me preparing this. There is one that I think has been published in the last few years by an author, John English Lee. That title is There Remains a Sabbath Rest for the People of God. I have not read that specifically, although I have watched some videos of his that are related to the book that he wrote. And then one that was written, I think Robert Haldane was in the 1700s, Robert Haldane, that book called Sanctification of the Sabbath. So if you really wanna know more all about the Sabbath issues, particularly about the continuation of the Sabbath, the abiding principle of the Sabbath, those are some excellent books. Now, historically, what are we gonna do? Well, we'll go back to that point, what we call the post-resurrection time frame. So we, as was said, Jesus observed the Sabbath, which would have been the last day, right? He observed the Sabbath. So what has changed between Christ observing the Sabbath, the Jewish Sabbath, and our observance of what we would call the Christian Sabbath on the first day of the week? Well, I will break this into three areas, and this will not be a surprise to you at this point. But the three areas that I would like to discuss are first, Christ, his resurrection on the first day, and then from Christ's resurrection, we'll talk about the apostolic observance, and then later, we'll talk about the Lord's Day designation, particularly there in Revelation 110. So with that said, Stephen mentioned this moments ago, and we must admit it, There is no command. Robert Martin says it this way, let us begin by acknowledging that there is no biblical command changing the Sabbath from the seventh to the first day. There's no specific command. So what are we doing then? If there's no command that you now shall worship on the first day, right, rather than the last day, how do we arrive at this position? Well, I hope, again, this will be obvious by the end of this. First to consider is that Christ rose on the first day. Now, you can, well, go along with me in scripture here if you desire. I will read these pretty fast because they're repetitive, but they're repetitive for a reason. There's nothing in the scriptures that is repetitive for no reason, right? There is a reason that it keeps repeating itself over and over. So here we will go to the Gospels, the four Gospels. Matthew 28, one. I'll give you just a moment if you're turning there. Matthew 28, one. Actually, can I have a volunteer there? That would be good. 28, one, yes. Now after the Sabbath. as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. Okay, so specific mention to the first day of the week. Who has Mark 16? Sorry, I didn't ask you to turn to Mark 16 yet. So you can turn to Mark 16. Actually, let me read Mark 16, one through two. Can I have another individual turn to Luke 24, one. Let me go ahead and set this up here. I'll read Mark 16, one through two. Somebody can prepare in advance. Who can read Luke 24 one? Is that Frank? Yep. And then John 20 verse one. Who can take John 20 verse one? Okay, that's fine. And then also, why don't you, if you don't mind, do John 20 verse one and also verse 19. So verse one and verse 19. So just for a moment, back to Mark 16, one through two, it reads this. Now when the Sabbath was passed, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Salome bought spices that they might come and anoint him. Verse two, very early in the morning on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. So again, emphasis on the first day of the week. Luke 24 one. Again from ESV, on the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb taking the spices they had prepared. Good, emphasis once more, and then John 20, verse one. Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. And then in verse 19, on the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, So if you see from each of the four Gospels, there is an emphasis on the first day, the first day, the first day. Now, some will just chalk that up to coincidence, or they'll chalk that up to, you know, all of the Gospels were essentially, they were just copying each other. So this is why it says the first day, the first day, the first day. We need to think better than that. There's a reason for this, right? The Lord has given us essentially a four chord agreement, right? In each of the four gospels that we have, we've got the agreement of the first day, the first day, the first day. So, the question we just have to ask ourself is, is that some sort of superfluous detail, it's not significant, let's just read over it, or is it significant? Well, I think it's significant. I think the Lord was giving us that. We could ask the question then, what other days, which other days are repeatedly mentioned specifically by the day in the Gospels? Now there are some, there are other days mentioned, like the third day. But again, which other days are repeatedly mentioned, specified by the day itself in the Gospels? And the answer to that is no other. Yes. There may be a technicality here, and I want to begin by saying that as far as the point But there is another day that's mentioned repeatedly in the Gospels, which is the Sabbath, which is to say the seventh day. And none of the passages we read said that Jesus rose on the seventh day. His having risen, which the angels speak about in the past tense, he's not here, he's risen, the stone had been rolled away. If I had to guess, based on the sort of whole counsel of scripture, I'd guess that he rose shortly after sundown on the Sabbath day. And then the disciples, discovered this on the first day of the week. Okay. Yeah. Well, I think we would, we would have to, that's a lot of digging into context. Yeah. I will say what we have before us is of course the continual mention of the first day, the first day, the first day. Yes. Yeah. Okay. Well, again, I think this is a detail that we should not look over. I think God has given us, in other words, if we say it this way, if we needed an arguing point, I think that God has given us an arguing point related to the first day. Augustine, he agreed with this. He thought that that was a correct synopsis of what we read. He says, the Lord's day was not declared to the Jews, but to the Christians by the resurrection of the Lord. And from the event, its festivity had its origin. So the resurrection again, culminating with the first day, as that all comes together, And here, again, Augustine is making that connection. There's many others, of course, that have made that connection, but just speaking of Augustine is one that many would cite. He's saying, again, this seems to be clear to us, related to the resurrection, related to the connection, the first day and the resurrection. We would also say that there's not lacking Old Testament significance for the first day or the eighth day. Now, let me explain that. We understand, of course, the first day. The eighth day in sequence, right, continual sequence, so the eighth day, if you're just counting the eighth day, would be another first day. Does that make sense? In the seven-day week cycle. So often we see, of course, in the Old Testament, the first day mentioned, but we also see the eighth day mentioned. And so just a few of these, the Passover, this is the first day mentioned in Old Testament Passover in Exodus 12. We won't turn to these passages, I'm just giving them to you quick. Feast of Booths on the first day, Leviticus 23. On the eighth day we have circumcision performed, Genesis 17 and many others. We have consecration of the firstborn in Exodus 22 verse 30 and several other references. We have priestly ordination on the eighth day, Leviticus 9. chapter one, and then we have days of cleansing, various days of cleansing in Leviticus 14, verse 10, and many, many others. So the point of that is simply to say that the Jews and the early Christians would have in context already had a significance for some sort of event, holy event, we might say, on either the first or the eighth day. It would have already been settled in their mind that these days are days that are very important. And so we'd say they're recognized holy days. And then we read John 20, verse 26, and it says, and after eight days, this is after the resurrection, of course, After eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, excuse me, the doors being shut and stood in the midst and said, peace to you. So there's another eighth day mentioned in the New Testament even. So was it Christ's intention for the resurrection to be commemorated? I think the answer to that is yes. And I think the apostles would agree. It seemed very quick that they understood the context. They understood what was happening. They understand that Christ rose on the first day and that this was to be a commemoration. And so every first day of the week, again, is a commemoration of the resurrection of Christ. And so let's look secondly at that apostolic observance, and we've already mentioned this in our discussion earlier, but let me give you some specific verses. Acts 2.1, we can look at Acts 2.1. Here, let me just read it first. It says, Acts 2.1. I'll give you just a moment to, I know this is in rapid succession this morning. Acts 2.1, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, Now that's, we could go back to many Old Testament references there to Pentecost and what would come. Leviticus 23 would be an example. So when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Now that was observed on the first day. So what does that tell us? Well, both the resurrection of Christ and Pentecost, when the spirit would come upon the church, both of those Events, we would say, that mark the New Testament church, the resurrection and Pentecost, both happened on the first day. Now, surely the apostles noticed these things. Surely they understood these things. Acts 20, verse 7. I'll give you just a moment to flip there. Acts 20, verse 7. Now some of these passages will, I think, sound very familiar to you now. They were brought forth when I preached and or when I taught previously on this topic. So Acts 20 verse seven, it says, now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. So again, on the first day of the week. Now, this is significant in many ways. Here, if we look at the context, what did Paul do? Paul specifically waited because he wanted to meet with the entire church before he departed to Jerusalem. He was headed to Jerusalem. But he held up, and he held up because he wanted to meet with the entire church. And what day of the week? Would he be able to meet, and you gotta think in that context, right? What day of the week would they all come together in a form in which they could meet together, in which Paul could address them? Well, that would be the first day of the week. That would be the day that they're meeting. That would be the day that the early church already, at this point, understood as this is the day, right, that we come to worship our Lord, the first day of the week. We could also go to 1 Corinthians chapter 16, verses one through two, and I'll give you just a moment to turn there. 1 Corinthians 16, one through two. Can I have somebody read that? 1 Corinthians 16, one through two. So you must do also, on the first day of the week, let each one of you lay something aside, storing up, as you may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. Okay, good. So we see that, of course, in verse two here, we see the mention of the first day of the week. We really have reference to two separate churches here, right? As I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, Okay, so that church were churches, churches of Galatia. So you must also, right, speaking of the Corinthians, so you must also do. And the instruction is, on the first day of the week, let each one of you lay aside something. Why on the first day of week? See, we just have to ask, what's the significance of it? Why on the first day of the week? Well, it was early established, right? The apostolic practice was to worship on the first day of the week. And so that was the day that they would all come together. That was the day that the instructions were given. The first day was the Christian day of holy assembly. And so that was understood by the church very, very, very early. And it seems at least from any of the context that we have, that was not something that was disputed. That was fully understood. So again, the question is, do the apostles understand the first day as having significance? I think the answer is clearly yes, they understood the first day as having significance. In other words, if we're wrong today, they were wrong first. And if they were wrong first, the scriptures clearly record for us that they were worshiping on the first day, and that then provides a normative standard for us. In other words, working backwards again, we're worshiping on Sunday, why? Partially because the apostles did. It set the apostolic precedence. If they were wrong, right, and we say we're wrong now because they were wrong, but if they were wrong, it's then recorded in the scripture that they were worshiping on the first day of the week. Nothing in scripture is telling us otherwise. In other words, can we not take that as a normative standard for us? I think that we didn't have to go it'd be kind of like a whoops, I kind of showed up at the wrong time. It should have been, I should have stayed on the Sabbath day, but I wasn't in full control of that. So when we look at really, we step all the way back from actually the core of where we're getting this is because Christ started it, and that's why it continued on. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good point. And of course you're saying that all in kind of fun, which, which is, it's because we understood that, that, that would be an impossibility, right? And so we, we, we, we line ourself with what happened, what was Christ doing? Okay. And then when did he rise on the first day that emphasis is given to us over and over again. If, if, if hypothetically something was not correct there, Okay, then the emphasis comes, then it's kind of a double-edged sword there, right? So, good. Any other thoughts there before we'll go to our last point? Yes. Going back to what Mason was saying, even if he rose a minute after sundown, that would have been the first day. Because on their calendar, that's when the next day starts, right? Yes. And that scripture says he rose on the third day according to the scriptures. Yes. So it has to be on the first day if it's the third day according to the scriptures. Agreed. Agreed. Yes. Okay, last point. The Lord's Day designation. I did mention this in our discussion. I think it was Sunday School Class. I may have also mentioned this when I preached on the topic. Revelation 110. So you can turn there if you desire. Revelation 110. This, of course, is John. And there's much, much from John, as we've already gone through the four Gospels, not only from John. But John has a lot to say about the first day, and then also here connecting it to the Lord's Day. So Revelation 110, he says, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and I heard behind me a loud voice as a trumpet. Now, this actually is the only New Testament reference to the Lord's Day. So we say the Lord's Day. We use that as a reference very commonly all the time. But this is the only New Testament reference to that, the statement, the Lord's Day. Okay, let's connect this because I think this is important. First of all, it's clear that John assumes that the Lord's Day is understood by his audience. And that audience includes us as well. He clearly assumes that those that are reading this are understanding what he means by the Lord's Day. If it's the only reference, he's not explaining it. He states it. Those, right, immediately reading, and those, of course, later, ourselves reading it, there is an assumption here that it's understood, the Lord's Day. John assumes a connection to the first day, and I think that's clear as well, as we'll move through, I think we'll see this, but he assumes a connection to the first day. In John, in his epistle, he mentions the first day over and over, as we've quoted some of those verses already. Right, there's New Testament evidence that supports the connection. We must assume that as well. Now, if the Lord's Day here does not mean the first day, we have to be honest, we don't know what it means. Let me say that again. If the Lord's Day in reference in verse Revelation 110 does not refer to the first day, we're not even sure what it refers to. Some suggest Easter, but... I believe if he would have referred to it as a Sabbath, he would have said Sabbath, and he doesn't say that. Yes. So there is something significant about the Lord's Day, and you say, well, is that just a Sabbath? But previously he's talking about the first day in the epistle. There's at this point in time, right, we think Revelation was written later, there's all of the