Isaiah 58 verses 13 and 14. Please hear the word of God. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable and shall honor him, not doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasure or speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, the mouth of the Lord has spoken." This is the word of the Lord. May God, by His Spirit, apply it to our lives this morning. You may be seated. Last week we began the first of three sermons, hopefully only three sermons, on the gracious gift from God to His image-bearing men and women, the Sabbath. The Sabbath day that was made for man and to be kept holy for his God. The Sabbath day that was made to be a delight for man and for man to delight in the Lord. The Sabbath day that was made for man's rest and for man to glorify his creator who himself rested in that day. And the Sabbath day that is sadly a day that's been largely forgotten neglected, and even rejected, and even in the Church of Christ. And so it's good, we said last week, and good for us to teach and revisit periodically the truths and the benefits of the Lord's Day, Sabbath. And last week, we focused on the foundational truth, seeing the Sabbath as a creation ordinance. As recorded in Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 through 3, We saw that after creating the crown of creation, mankind, male and female, made in his image and made to reflect his glory like none other, then God declared that everything he'd made in those six days to be what, young people? Was it just good? Or was it very good when he's all done? And then he declared his work of creation to be finished. And then his finished work was shown by his sitting down, so to speak, and resting on the seventh day, being refreshed on that seventh day. And as Genesis chapter two, verse three records, then God blessed the seventh day and he sanctified it. He set it apart as holy because in it, he rested from all his work, which God had created and made. So we saw last week that the blessing that's spoken up here was meant for the one who had observed such a day. And to be sanctified means to be set apart from common use and set apart unto God in a better way. And so this declared blessing in Genesis chapter 2 verse 3 is to those that he made in his image who would follow his pattern to set one day apart as a day of rest from the other six and unto God. We said last week the importance of a creation ordinance like marriage, like the differences in gender, and yes, like work, things that were created before sin that were meant to be a blessing and meant to have purpose before sin, things that were created before anybody was called Jewish, before any law was given, written down. Creation ordinances, including the Sabbath day, were made for all men at all time and for their blessing and for God's glory. And so today we move from the Sabbath in creation to understanding the Sabbath as it's founded in the moral law. Next week, by the way, if it could entice you to come, we'll have food next week again if that would help you more. But next week, we'll try to finish this. We'll go from creation to the moral law to then to look to see Sabbath as Christ has taught it in the New Testament. Christ is both the creator and the law giver. He has some say. on how the Sabbath day is to be understood and to be used. And what we see as the scripture unfolds is that the seven day week created by God and created for man is not surprisingly repeated and even engraved in his moral law, the 10 commandments as well. It shouldn't be a surprise that when he engraves this seven days, the six and one proportion in creation, he would then engrave that in the heart of all men as well and then engrave it in his moral law. So what we're going to do today, here's your outline. I think it's in your bulletin. If you open up the bulletin, there's a brief outline. We're going to look at these four things. First of all, we'll look at the Sabbath remembered in Exodus chapter 16. Then we'll look at the Sabbath written in stone in Exodus chapter 20. Then we'll look at the Sabbath witness in Exodus chapter 31. And then we'll see Sabbath and redemption. in Deuteronomy chapter 5. That would be our outline for today. So first of all, I want us to look at a Sabbath remembered in Exodus chapter 16. You might turn to Exodus chapter 16, because we're going to walk through it. This is a way to keep the young people awake so you can walk through the Scriptures as we look through Exodus chapter 16. But it also means the older people can stay awake as well. As you're turning to Exodus chapter 16, it's interesting to me that the seven-day week that we have, six days and then one, is even now in 2016 pretty much a universal observance by all men. And to me, that's an evidence that this six and one is a God-ordained, God-created, and created-in-man thing that God has done. Some people would say, well, there's nothing natural about seven days and six days of labor and one day off. But God has created it this way, and we see that throughout history. And we even see it in the book of Genesis as we get to Exodus chapter 16. In Genesis chapter 4, we said last week that Cain and Abel, after the end of days, which literally means after the end of the week, the seven days have passed, then they offered sacrifice. And in Genesis 7 and 8, when we read about Noah, that there's several times throughout the whole account of Noah that there's a week that goes by, or seven days go by. We see that seven-day week already ingrained in man. And in Genesis chapter 29, Jacob fulfills Leah's week before he now can have Rachel. And then in Genesis 50, Jacob is mourned for seven days after he dies. And there's this continuing seven days. It might seem unnatural because, yes, we know there's so many days for the earth to go around the sun. There's so many hours for the earth to turn on its own axis. Where does the seven days come from? Well, God created all things in six days and gave us the seventh day of rest. And that was the pattern He gave us. And so it's ingrained in us. And that brings us to Exodus chapter 16. And I hope you're there by now, where the Sabbath day is remembered. And one thing I think it's important to notice in Exodus chapter 16 is that it's remembered. It's enforced upon the Israelites without any instruction or explanation. This is before the law is given in stone, but yet they know. And this is even after being in slavery for perhaps up to 400 years in a pagan land. There's no explanation or instruction has to be given to them. And so in Exodus chapters one through 14, we see from Moses to the plagues to then the redemption of Israel from Egypt, through the crossing of the Red Sea in Exodus chapter 14. Exodus chapter 15, they're already complaining because of the water problems they have. And now we get to Exodus chapter 16, and what do you think they're doing again? Young people, what do you think they're doing in Exodus chapter 16? I'll give you a hint, they were complaining in Exodus chapter 15. They're complaining again. They need food. It shows the spiritual state of this nation. As they're released from a pagan nation under the pagan culture, And in Exodus chapter 16, verse 3, they say, oh, that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the pots of meat, when we ate bread to the full. For you have brought us out into the wilderness to kill us, this whole assembly, with hunger. Now, isn't that kind of like us, that we forget how things were? It was so much better as slaves under the Egyptians. We just had a buffet set before us every day. But now they've seen all that God has done to show His glory and who He is as God to all peoples, but now we're complaining because we don't like the food. But see how God graciously responds to this complaining nation, but without explanation or preparation. In verse 4, look in verse 4 of Exodus 16. Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. That's the manna that He would provide. and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, only what they need, that I may test them, whether they will walk in my law or not. In verse five, it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gathered daily. And then Moses in verse six says to the people at evening, you shall know the Lord has brought you out of the land of Egypt And in the morning you shall see the glory of the Lord. What I'd like you to at least see from this first look at Exodus 16 is that the language suggests there's nothing surprising. Now think about it, if this is an unnatural thing, this is something they didn't know about, and God is instructing, look, on that sixth day you get twice as much, which means on the seventh day, I don't want you gathering anything. I'm going to provide for you so that seventh day you can have a day of rest. But there's no explanation as to why, there's no instructions, and that means that they already know these things. And then what the Lord promised to do then was to graciously provide quail for meat and manna for them for bread. And so if you look at verse 11 in Exodus 16, and the Lord spoke to Moses saying, I have heard the complaints of the children of Israel. Speak to them this way. At twilight you shall eat meat, that's the quail, and in the morning you shall be filled with bread, that's the manna, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God." It's interesting to note that the plagues, the ten plagues in Egypt were met to show forth that God is the Lord to all people. But the food that he provides for his people is to show that he is their Lord, their God, personally. We shall know the Lord by his mercy and his provision in a personal way. And we've spoken last week that God is glorified in his creation, and he's glorified in his redemption. But he's also glorified in his provision, his providence. He's our creator, provider, and redeemer God. For those of you who, I don't know, you know something about nursing or something like that, He's our CPR God, our Creator, Provider and Redeemer. He's glorified in all three. We know that God rested from His work of creation. Christ has rested from His work of redemption, but they're still at work in His gracious provision and providence for His people and even for all people. So look at verse 13. We'll just read through here. So it was that the quails came up at evening and covered the camp. And in the morning the dew lay around the camp. That was the manna. And when the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a small round substance as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, what is it? Now kids, wouldn't you do that if you got up in the morning and there's these wafer-like things all over the ground. What is it? Which is basically what the word manna means. What is this? For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, this is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Let every man gather it according to each one's need. One omer for each person according to the number of persons. Let every man take for those who are in his tent. And then the children of Israel did so, and gathered some more, some less, according to their need. So when they measured it by Omer's, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one's need. And so then Moses says, let no one leave any of it till morning. Of course, you know what happens when you say, don't leave any of it till morning. Last week, I said, don't look at the clock. And of course, then everybody wanted to look at the clock. So what happens, notwithstanding in verse 20, They did not heed Moses, but some of them left part of it until morning. And what happens? It bred worms and it stank. And Moses was angry with him. So they gathered every morning, every man according to his need. And when the sun became hot, it melded. So from here, we see that God provides just enough, just what is needed. There's no lack. It teaches them to trust and to rest in God's provision. It should teach us to trust and to rest in God's provision. We have a beautiful picture of God's provision for his people and in relationship to a Sabbath day, a Lord's day, one in seven, that sometimes we find it so hard to take a break from the other things. How can I afford to do this? It helps to teach us to trust God that he can provide and be trusted so that we can have one day set apart and to be spent with him apart from our normal labors of the week. But now look again at how the Sabbath is remembered without instruction without explanation look in verse 22 again there is no law written in stone here there is no no day-long meetings with with doughnuts and the breaks to say this is this is what the Sabbath is in verse 22 and so it was on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread two omers for each one and all the All the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses, and they said to them, this is what the Lord has said. Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath, a day set apart to the Lord. By the way, not as a burden, but to the Lord, as Isaiah would say. Bake what you will bake today and boil what you will boil and lay up for yourselves all that remains to be kept until morning. So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink. Remember, we had worms, and it didn't smell so good when we waited until the next day. But now, on this seventh day, it didn't stink the next day, and there are no worms in it. In verse 25, Moses said, eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord. Today you will find it, you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh, the Sabbath, there will be none. And now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, how long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See, for the Lord has given you the Sabbath, therefore he gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. And so the people rested on the seventh day. So again, it's clear, there's nothing in the text indicates that there was extra instruction or explanation. It's rather a matter of fact. All of a sudden, they're redeemed out of Egypt after 400 years. Being in a pagan culture, by force and by their own sin and by the culture, they're pulled away from how God had intended them to live with six days and then one for a rest. And now God says, let's do this again. And there's no question. And God did provide. He gives them manna to keep for the second day, and he will provide for us in our day and age as well, so we can have a day set apart as rest unto him and delight in him. And just like the Israelites were told to, we too should plan ahead so as not have to be laboring and doing these common things on the Lord's day, but have a day set apart for him and to delight in him. What can we learn from this remembering of the Sabbath in Exodus chapter 16? I have about six very brief things. I'm going to run through them. I was going to say, because I'm looking at the clock, but then you'll look at the clock, Jesus, and I wouldn't want that to happen. Six quick things on remembering the Sabbath. What can we gather from this? Which is almost a pun, I guess, just like the men. What can we gather from this remembering of the Sabbath? First of all, remember that the Sabbath was given to man for a blessing. And here the Israelites, they had no days off in Egypt, but God's giving them a blessing. I'm giving you a day of rest. It was made for man and it's given to man for a blessing. Remember that. Second, I'll remember that we are called to work for six days and then to rest on that extra day provided. As we look into the moral law of the fourth commandment, We'll see that that's part of the commandment as well, that we're to be those who labor on six. But then we have the day on the seventh to rest in God and to rest from those common labors. Remember that this was not something new. This was a renewing of something that God had already talked to them about and they already knew about. There's no instructions or explanations needed. The fourth thing is remember that it's God who is glorified when he provides. and he provides rest for his people, the people he created, and then those who are in Christ, he's recreated in Christ. So remember God's glory is in his providing and providing rest for us. The fifth thing is that, remember the Sabbath teaches us to trust in our God. Have you ever been there where you say, you know, I just don't think, I don't think I can set this activity aside on a Sunday because I don't know. How's that test going to go on Monday? Or how am I going to make ends meet financially if I don't work this extra day? And we'll talk, especially next week, there are acts of necessity and mercy that, yes, it requires you to do labor on us. I mean, that's okay. Well, we'll talk about those things. That's part and parcel of it. But we remember that the Sabbath teaches us to trust. We can't afford to take the time off. In fact, we need it off. That's how we were created. And lastly, Remember that the manna that we've read about is a symbol of the real bread of life. And what does the manna symbolize in reality? What is the real bread of life? It's Christ Jesus. Jesus in John chapter six says to the Israelite church, your fathers had manna in the desert and they all died. But those who partake of me, the real bread of life, you'll never die. And so it's a picture that we don't live on bread alone, but we, we live on Christ. And it reminds us that part of the blessing on our Lord's day Sunday is to partake and to rest in Christ as we worship. We spend time with his people nourished by his grace, his word and his spirit, and with the fellowship that he provides through his people in the body of Christ. Remember this points to our rest in Christ as well. That's Exodus chapter 16. You might want to turn to Exodus chapter 20 as we move from the Sabbath remembered to the Sabbath written in stone. We say written in stone because here in chapter 20, after much preparation and seeing the holiness of God in Exodus chapter 19, the people are gathered and now the law is given on the holy mountain. This law that represents the holiness of God, his eternal moral law, who he is. It defines what righteousness is and it defines what sin is when we transgress the law. It's an important thing. And I know that in our day and age, there are many who would say the Ten Commandments don't apply to us. That was just a Jewish thing. We've gone over this several times. I have some handouts that you can read later as well. It'll be in the back. It's actually around the corner as well to show how you go through to see why the Ten Commandments apply to us today. but all 10 are seen before Exodus chapter 20 even the Sabbath and all 10 are seen in the New Testament as well. Christ teaches the 10 commandments and he says they're summarized by the two greatest commandments to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul strength and mind and to love your neighbors yourself. And so the law of God is the law of love. Paul says in Romans 13 The Ten Commandments represent the summary of God's eternal moral law written on the conscience of every man from birth. We know right from wrong because this moral law is written upon the hearts, at least on the conscience, it says in Romans chapter 2. And so here in Exodus chapter 20, these Ten Commandments are written in stone. To make it clear and to make it public, this is who God is and this is what he demands. This is how you live to please him and to know a good and fulfilling life. It's not like the civil law, the ceremonial law that's also given to the Israelites that was meant for Israel at that time. And the ceremonial law is fulfilled in Christ. The civil law is abolished when the nation of Israel was taken away. But we still have the moral law. And in Jeremiah 31, verses 31 through 34, some very important verses, the only place in all of the Old Testament where the phrase new covenant is mentioned. There we see very clearly that the moral law of the 10 commandments that were written in stone are now passed from the old covenant to new covenant and to be written on the hearts of those who are redeemed in Christ Jesus. There's more that could be said, but just a brief summary there I think is helpful. So now the Ten Commandments are given, this is the moral law, and just like if the Sabbath is in the creation, that should be enough to know this is something we pay attention to now. It's also embedded, engraved in the moral law, which means we should be paying attention to it now. And last week we said that the first four commandments really flow about how we love and worship our God. The first commandment is that there should be no other gods before God. We are to love and worship the right God in a singular fashion. The second commandment, there's no images or likenesses. We're to love and to worship the right God, but now in the right manner, the way he prescribes and we submit to his will on how we love and worship him. The third commandment is to use the name of the Lord in vain, which speaks of sincerity. And so we're to love and worship the right God in the right manner, but with the right attitude, with sincerity. He calls us to love him and to worship him with our heart. But that brings us into the fourth commandment. And since we are creatures of time, it makes sense then that we're to love and worship the right God in the right manner with the right attitude, but on the right day and time, according to the appointed time that God has given us. The law of God is the law of love, love to our neighbor and love to God. And to love takes purposeful and planned time together. Isn't that right? Husbands and wives. Isn't that right? Parents and children. It's right then for those who want to spend time with the Lord and love him and worship him. There has to be a purposeful plan time together. Hence, there's a required day and time to express such love and worship. I think that the essence of worship on the Sabbath day is so very important. I think we miss that. In Israel, they had several Sabbaths and holy days set apart. We just have the one that's stuck in the lawn and it's in creation. But they had several holy days and Sabbath days, but the thread that ties them all together is they're all met in a special way to worship God. And so the high point of the high point of the day is when we worship our God together. It's meant that way. And even in creation itself, there's a sense after the six days of creation, then you had that seventh day. It's not an afterthought. It's almost like a gathering saying, glory to God, it's very good. It's the high point of creation is that Sabbath day on the seventh day in creation. And now due to Christ's resurrection, moving that day from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week, it's the high point of our week. It's the first day of the week we gather to worship and give honor to God, and then the rest of the week flows from it. And last week we looked at the context of the commandment We also looked at the contents. Let's look at the actual commandment itself in Exodus chapter 20 verses 8 through 11. Let me just read it again. And this week we looked at it last week a little bit. We'll look at some more practical things this week. Starting in verse 8 in Exodus chapter 20. Remember the Sabbath day. We just talked about remembering. 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 or your daughter nor your male servant or your female servants or your cattle or your stranger who is within your gates. Why? For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth the sea and all that is in them and he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it which is a reflection of what is said in Genesis chapter two. And so like with All of the Ten Commandments, we can understand them by looking at the what is it, how do we do this, and then the why. And so we're going to look at the what, the how, and the why. So what is it? Well, there's two things. Remember and keep it holy. That's the two practical things. What do we do, or what is it I should say, we remember it and we keep it holy. It says remember the Sabbath day. I think in context you can see he's saying, Remember, look back. Yesterday, Exodus chapter 16, when we had this thing going again. But most importantly, he's saying, look back to creation. Remember what I have done, God is saying. Remember what I have done in creation, creating this day for you. And I did this as an example for you as well. Therefore, remember this day by committing and preparing and planning ahead for it. That's the practical explanation. or application? Remember it by knowing the foundation to it, but remember it by preparing for it. Men, when you remember your anniversary, do you remember it by saying, as you put the paper down and turn the TV down, oh, yeah, it is our anniversary. I remember now. Happy anniversary, honey. Well, I hope not. We can always have some counseling afterwards if you have some questions about that. But know you remember anniversaries, you remember special days by valuing them, by planning ahead for them, so that everything else is out of the way, so that you're prepared for the day. Otherwise, we know, I mean, how many times, dads, we intend to do something with our sons, and something comes in, and it pushes out of the way, and it doesn't happen because we haven't planned and prepared in advance to make sure nothing would get in the way. It's the same thing with the Sabbath day. We value and we plan ahead, we plan ahead of time on how to best spend the day. or else we know when the day comes, it'll be wasted, because other things rush in. And some practical examples. Spiritually, how do you remember by planning ahead? Well, your daily time in the Word is one of the most important things you can do to prepare for the Sabbath day. Your daily time of family devotions, family worship, is some of the best things you can do on those six days in preparation for the seventh spiritually. Then on Saturday, praying and preparing for the Sunday Maybe if the pastor is more diligent, he gets you the worship order ahead of time and the plans for the Sunday ahead of time, you can think about those things as a family or individually to prepare yourself spiritually for that day. You can prepare yourself physically. Get rest on Saturday. If your week is spent in such a way and you can't avoid it, I know there's some who work all night and they come on Sunday and we're very happy. Nurses have such a difficult time in life. But if you can avoid it, then prepare yourself physically through the week, especially on Saturday. So you wake up on Sunday, you have some sense of non-grogginess and your eyes can stay open, you can be alert. Treating the day as something special. Mentally, think ahead of time, especially fathers, think ahead of time preparing for the tasks during the day on that Sunday that you'd like to do with your family. Is there something you'd like to be going through on a regular basis with with your son or moms with your daughters or something like you and personally to have a time to be set aside on that day. If you don't plan ahead, it doesn't happen. And so you plan ahead mentally and maybe even setting some things out on Saturday night so that on Sunday morning, this never happens to you. But sometimes it happens with me where we're rushing to grab everything and put it on as we go and hope we're not going to be late to get to church. And then it kind of sets a stage for the whole rest of the day that's not so good. So mentally planning ahead for the day. So we remember the Sabbath day, but then it says to keep it holy. The remembering is looking back and preparing, but the keeping it holy is now. Now that it's here, it's Sunday. Do it. Keep it holy once it arrives. Follow through with your plans and your commitments. Setting this day aside from common use and unto the Lord, but it's not a burden. Do you remember what we talked about last week? And I smiled a lot during it to try to make sure you understood. This is not a burden. We looked at Isaiah 58, especially verses 13 through 14. It's a day that set aside purposely to free us from selfish and common labors, pursuits, entertainments, and the constraints of life. instead to be spending a time of worship in the word and fellowship and prayer with our families, visiting the sick and visiting the poor, acts of necessity and mercy, evangelism, but yes, physical and mental and spiritual rest as well. Isaiah 58 tells us this is a day of feasting. It's a day of victory, a day of joy to be delighted in while being a great delight in our Lord who we say we love. So we remember it, and then we keep it holy when it comes. The how. How do we do this? We see that in verses 9 and 10. And all of the commandments have a positive and a negative aspect. This is what you do, but this is what you don't do. And the positive is, do work for the six days ahead of time. Don't forget this. We're made to work. It's dignified to be working as our God has worked. We're made to work and to labor. We're to be positively obeying this fourth commandment by working hard for six days, not necessarily a six day work week in the office or on the job, but those common labors of activities during the week, mowing your yard, shopping, working, yes, organized sports, those things that you can do during the commonality of life for six days that take up our life that we're always struggling to try to get done. Those are the things and activities that we work hard and for six days. This is the forgotten part of the fourth commandment, but it's necessary, the working part. Our God is a Lord over our time. And he's graciously given us a structure to our week. He wants us to honor him with well-ordered six days of labor and activities. So then when the Sabbath comes, it's something we can have set apart to him. And you can see then the Sabbath as a gracious goal for us as we're trying to arrange our days during the week. So then the Sabbath comes, we're freed to spend it with him. It's a goal that helps us to use our weeks wisely. It's always good to have goals that we can actually reach. And then we rest on the seventh day. And it applies to all. If you're a student, you ought to try to get your studies done in six days. So the seventh day is unto the Lord. If you're a housewife, If you're unemployed, if you're employed, if you're one who employs others, this has implications in how you spend your week. You got six out of seven to do what you want. God is very gracious and kind, but we spend those in a way that would be honoring to God so that seventh day is set apart to him. Your delight and blessing on Sunday is directly related to how you work on the other six in your common labors of life. So the positive is, do work six days. What do you think the negative will be? Do not labor on the Sabbath. That's the negative how, although it's really not negative, but it's a not, so we call it a negative. The common labors of business, of study, of work, of community affairs, of entertainment, those are the things, you've got six days for those, but not on Sunday. The Sabbath was implemented by God and exampled by God as a cessation of our labors, so we can be freed to delight in the greater things of God as we rest in Him and with Him on the Lord's Day. One thing you can't help but notice, nor your sons nor your daughters, there's a family aspect to the Lord's Day. Use it that way, there's a family aspect to the Lord's Day. And fathers take special note to this. There's a family aspect and try to be directing your day on a Sunday So it's for the spiritual benefit and obedience to the Lord on a Sunday, not as a burden. Again, we've talked about this over and over again. It should be a delight and plan it that way. One other thing here that's part of the not working, notice there's not employing others to work on this day either. Not even servants, not even cattle, not even strangers. And that gives us principles for buying and selling and Even eating out on Sunday. Are we employing others on a Sunday? Even those that could care less about God and care less about the Sabbath, but those are the strangers that are in our gates. And we're not to enable others to be avoiding the Sabbath as well. Be careful. It gives us principles. I'm not giving a rule of 10 things you do or don't do, but these are principles to be thinking about. Remembering that the Sabbath is for all men for all time. And so we think about these principles as we try to carry it out as we think is best. And then the why. We said the what. Will we remember it? Will we keep it holy? The how. Will we work for six days? We don't work on the seventh and we don't employ others as well and we take care of our family on those days. But then the why. This is what we covered last week. Verse 11. Why? Because that's what God did. And I'm not going to go into great detail because we did this last week. This is what God did. This gives us great incentive and motivation for us. God rested on the seventh day. He gave us his pattern, his example. We're made in his image. We're to reflect his glory. And so we glorify God by being like God in treating our seven days like he has done. He blessed the day for us, the scripture says. And so when we pursue rest and delight in God on that day, great blessings come. He's promised these things. And he hallowed the day for himself and for us. It means he set it apart as holy. for himself and for us. And in the high school slash college class, the last chapter made a very good point that this is the first time in all of Scripture in Genesis chapter 2 that the word holy is used. And it's used to describe the seventh day. That seventh day is raised to a higher plane than the other six days. There's something special about that. It's set apart as holy. And so we who love the Lord should desire to set it apart from our common use and unto Him. that should give us great incentive and motivation, the why, because God has done it. You can turn to Exodus chapter 31. We've looked at the remembrance of the Sabbath, the Sabbath written in stone, which should carry a lot of weight with us. But now I want us to briefly look at Exodus chapter 31, where we see the Sabbath as a witness. There's a lot of useful things about our Lord's day, using it as a delight and setting it apart to the Lord Now, the way we get here, by the way, as you're thumbing to Exodus chapter 31, we see from Exodus 16, there's a remembering of the Sabbath from creation and before the law was given, it's being utilized in that way. And in Exodus chapter 20, we saw that that Sabbath written in stone is part of the moral law of the Ten Commandments. But we'll see, and we saw some of that today when Tim was reading in Exodus chapter 22 and 23, that's an area where now God is giving the civil laws for Israel to be applied to Israel using the principles of the moral law, but then specifically applying it to Israel. And so even in chapter 23 of Exodus, we see the Sabbath is listed and implemented as part of the civil law. In Exodus chapter 31, this is part of the area where the ceremonial law is given to Israel, how to worship and how to do the things with ceremonies before God, but it's given specifically to Israel. But we see in Exodus chapter 31, in the midst of that, The Sabbath has some regulations and restrictions given within the ceremonial law. And I share these things because when we look at how the Sabbath was understood in the Old Testament and the Old Covenant, there's going to be some Jewish entrapments and regulations that are put upon it because of the nation of Israel that weren't part of the moral law, but it was something that God gave Israel specifically. And those things are not binding. but the principle that we see from creation and from the moral law still exist and those are binding on us and we're trying to understand then how do we celebrate this day in the new covenant under Christ. And we'll see more of that next week. But you get to Exodus chapter 31 and the first 11 verses, there are instructions given to the artisans on how to create, how to build the tabernacle. And right after that in verse 12, where we will start, It's interesting, the implication is, by the way, even those who are building the tabernacle, there's no greater job than that, even you need to rest one out of seven. And so now in the midst of that, now there's instructions about the Sabbath in the ceremonial law that's given, but it's giving us an indication that even the most important job, this holy job of creating the tabernacle, you need to rest as well. I want you to look in verse 12, as now there's, increased instruction on the Sabbath given to the Jews. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, verse 13, speak also to the children of Israel saying, surely my Sabbaths you shall keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. You should keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. It's not just holy to God, it's holy to you. Notice he says the Sabbath is a sign. A sign is something you can look at and point to. It's a witness. It's declaring something. This is a sign. It's a sign that says you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. This is a sign to all. The Sabbath day is. It sets you apart and all people will know you're my God is what he's saying. In verse 15, work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath, he shall surely be put to death. Again, we said earlier, in response to Exodus chapter 22, we're not calling to put people to death who disobey the Sabbath. This is what was implemented for the Jews to set them apart and show them the seriousness of this. Corresponding this would be in the church if one is going to willfully disobey God's law then there can be church discipline. Things have moved from a nation state to the church which now is where God is doing his ministry. I hope you understand that part. But in verse 17 he says, it is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth. On the seventh day he rested and he was refreshed. He sat back and he says glory. It's good, it's very good. So quickly, what can we learn from this witness of the Sabbath? Well, first of all, be careful about our reasons in choosing to do things on the Sabbath. If tabernacle building is something that needs to have a day off, one out of seven, then probably a lot of things could be as well. But I want us to understand this point that the Sabbath is a sign, it's a witness. The Sabbath itself promotes the knowledge of God. He says that you may know that I am the Lord. A Sabbath, a Lord's Day observance sets the people apart. It's a sign between me and you. When we keep the Sabbath, when we keep the Lord's Day, that day set apart, we proclaim to all that we are loved and owned by the God who created us and all things in six days and he rested on the seventh. When we delight in the Lord on the Sabbath is a day set apart on the Lord's day. We proclaim that this is the God we rest in and who is our Redeemer. We proclaim that this is the God who is our provider. We can afford to take time and be with him. In fact, we want to. The neighbor who complains that our yard needs mowing says, I got something better to do today. I can do that on Monday. Or we can say, Super Bowl? What Super Bowl? It's a fine thing if you want to watch the Super Bowl. I had something greater to do. You see, I'm not being mean. I'm being happy about it. When we observe the Lord's day in this way, we proclaim this God is a God of joy as we spend the day joyously with him and for him and with his people, especially as now in the new covenant understanding of the Sabbath, we remember the resurrection of our Lord each Sunday. Every Sunday is resurrection Sunday and the joy that flows from it. or observing Sunday should be a joyous witness to the world. Whenever Israel fell from the Sabbath, they fell greatly spiritually as well. Read the book of Nehemiah. And look what's happened with our culture, I think, and even the church, as we throw away this great blessing that God has given us and it means nothing. It pretty much minimizes everything. Everything's dumbed down when we do this. When we say that every day is holy unto the Lord, It basically means every day is not that big of a deal. We need the one day out of seven. It's a conviction to the world. It sets us apart. It shows us a difference. Those who are outside of Christ really want no part of a day alone with God. They got better things to do. That's why I said to you who are younger, we think, well, how do I know if I'm a Christian? Well, some of the commandments that help you, how hard is it for you to want to obey your parents? But where's your heart on a Lord's day when Maybe you can't do the things you really like to do. Where's your heart? Because the Lord's Day is a day to set your heart upon the Lord and delight in him. And so it should be a conviction to us how we celebrate the Lord's Day. Do we not desire to enjoy the Lord on his day, a day set apart to him and for us to delight in him? One final stop as we close. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter five. Here in Deuteronomy chapter five, we have a reissuing of the law of God. This is 40 years later. They've been in the wilderness. They couldn't enter. And there's this reissuing of the law of God. And before they can finally go in, he's trying to say, look, here's what God has said to us. We need to have these re-known, remembered again, And so we go through the Ten Commandments again. And look at verse 12. Look at verses 12 through 15 in Deuteronomy chapter 5. Here's the reissuing of the Ten Commandments. Verse 12 says, Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy as the Lord your God commanded you. Now do you see something different there? It doesn't say remember. He says observe. They've already remembered. It was already given to them once before. It's been remembered, now they know it, so now it's saying, now that I've commanded this to you, observe it. That's the one difference. The second difference is in verse 15, the why part. Why do we do this? Remember in the first issuing of the 10, the engraved in stone issuing of the 10, it was remember that the Lord, your God created all things in six days and he rested on the seventh. He goes back to creation, but now it's looking at redemption. That's why I'm calling us, Sabbath and redemption. This helps us to point ahead to how we celebrate it. Now in Christ, he says in verse 15, remember that you are a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Here, when he reissues this He changes the reason from creation to redemption. You were redeemed out of Egypt by my grace and by my power out of nothing you could do. He asks them to remember how he redeemed them from their hopeless slavery in Egypt and to himself, brought out by his mighty hand and by his outstretched arm personally and powerfully. And so as we close, for our observance, of a new covenant Sunday, Lord's Day set apart, we too not only look back at the finished work of creation of our God in honor of the day for his glory, but now we look to the finished work of Christ in his redeeming us from our hopeless slavery to our own sin. Our slavery to our sin which willingly transgressed God's moral law. Our slavery to the wrath we deserve as the penalty of sinning against God's perfect holiness. But as we've said today that Christ, though he is creator and lawgiver, he took on flesh and became like us. that he might live the perfect life according to God's law, never breaking it in one bit, loving the Lord his God with all his soul, strength, and might, and loving his neighbors himself perfectly. No one could do this but Christ, but that's what God demands. And he took on flesh that he might fulfill the law that way, but also that he might then die the perfect righteous death, suffering the penalty of wrath for all of those who would believe in him so that they would go free. so that because of Christ's mighty hand and outstretched arm, he has powerfully and personally redeemed the helpless slave to sin, who by God's grace repents and places his faith in Christ, and in Christ finished work alone. And so as we finish, if you're outside of Christ this morning, and you still are willfully condemned and enslaved in your sin, we ask you Be reconciled to God in Christ. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 5, we implore you, be reconciled to God in Christ. We ask you to know the redemption rest, the new creation that only Christ can provide. Come to the sinless one who became sin for sinners like you and me, that you might become the righteousness of God in Him. And if you are in Christ, then rejoice on this day, the Lord's day. Feast upon Him, as we said from Isaiah 58, and all the blessings of this day with His people and with your family in the remainder of the day. Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath, which we'll see next week. And so I ask you to honor Him and enjoy Him on His day, if you know Christ this day. Let us pray. Dearly Father, I do pray that all of this pedantic instruction from the Word of God about why the Lord's Day and how and the details. I pray that this teaching, which doesn't feel so much like preaching and exhortation on the Lord's Day, I pray you'd use the truth of your word and by your spirit, you would not let the Word of God fall to the ground. but it would be received by those who are here. You can give us ears to hear and hearts to be molded according to your word. We pray, Lord, that those who are outside of Christ, that they would know no rest. They would know no peace until you lead them to the Prince of Peace, who alone can give rest from sin, death, and hell. We pray Lord that those who know the joy of Christ would then know that joy on the Lord's day, pursuing humbly and sincerely without legalism, without guilt, but pursuing how can we best love and worship and honor you to know the greatest blessing and delight for us and our families on this day that you've graciously set aside for us. And Lord, we ask that you would be honored and glorified and Christ would be proclaimed on this Lord's Day as we continue to gather together in your name. It's in Jesus name we pray.