Well, over the last few months, we have been using the Ligonier study. We've been kind of unpacking the truths that were contained in our own confession in chapter 22 and paragraph 7, a confessional statement that is in line with the Reformed tradition. And that statement reads this way, as it is the law of nature that in general a proportion of time by God's appointment be set apart for the worship of God, so by his word in a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's day, and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished. So if it is true that the law of nature commands that a general proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God, and if it is true that God, by his word, by way of a positive moral and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages, has appointed a day in which men should worship him, If it is true that the Sabbath has been made for man and his benefit, and that from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, the Lord's day, and if it is true that a Sabbath-keeping remains for the people of God and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, then the perpetuity of the Sabbath being firmly established leaves us with a very real and practical question of addressing how the Sabbath is to be kept. Now we kind of broke this question a little bit last week with the last lesson in the video series we were doing, but we want to return to it today and over the next several weeks making use of our confession in chapter 22, paragraph eight. So if you have a copy of the confession, great, pull that out and turn to chapter 22. If you don't, then you can grab that for next week, maybe, or if you have your phone, you can download an app. There are some very helpful apps for the confession, and you may have one of those already on your phone. Well, our confession in chapter 22, paragraph eight, Reads this way. The Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord when men, after a due preparing of their hearts and ordering of their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe and wholly rest all day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy." So in this particular paragraph is set forth, I think, sound wisdom. for the keeping of the day. And to kind of unfold this for us, we're gonna follow a twofold outline, all right? And that'll carry us through the whole remainder of our study. We wanna look at the manner and the means. The manner of keeping the Sabbath and the means of keeping the Sabbath. The first of these is very fundamental to the latter, all right? If we get the manner wrong, we're probably going to disagree with and discard of the means and choose some means of our own, the matter of the manner of the keeping of the Sabbath is laid out for us briefly in the opening line of the confession where it says, the Sabbath is then kept holy, and that is not W-H-O, it's H-O-L-Y, holy, in a holy manner. This becomes the guiding and the overarching directive of the confession in regard to how the day should be kept. It is the fundamental emphasis that needs to drive everything else about our practice of the Sabbath principle in our worship of the Lord on His day. In other words, above all else, and as the end goal in keeping the day, it is to be kept in a manner that is characterized as holy. As to why the Confession puts this up front in such prominent fashion, one might consult the authority of the Confession itself, which is Holy Scripture. Holy Scripture does the very same thing. For example, the Confession points us to Exodus chapter 20, verse eight, in regard to keeping the day holy, where it says in Exodus 28, remember the Sabbath day and keep it, how? Holy, keep it holy. But even more foundationally, as a creation ordinance, it's been a driving and moral principle for all mankind called to keep the Sabbath holy, being rooted in the very words and activity of God himself given in Genesis chapter two. The very close of the creation narrative in Genesis two, two to three says that by the seventh day God completed his work which he had done and he rested. on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. And thus the fundamental emphasis on the day of Christian worship is to be that of rejoicing, celebrating the holiness of the day. Now, when we often think about something holy, we often think about something pure. We think about things that are morally upright. We think of things that are righteous as opposed to things that are wicked. A more fundamental definition of the concept of holiness is separate, something distinct. Something other. Think, for example, Isaiah chapter 6. Remember that? Isaiah goes to the temple and he sees the Lord high and lifted up. The glory is filling the temple and he hears the angelic hosts saying what? Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty. The whole earth is full of his glory. Now surely he means that God is morally pure and upright and righteous. But even more fundamentally is the idea that God is other. God is distinct. God is what? He is creator and everything else is creature. Everything else is creaturely. Under the Old Covenant, this day was the seventh from the dawn of creation, but is to be for the people of God now remembered on the first day of the week. But does the New Testament bear this out? One might already be thinking of the response of the objector. Is it right to have a special day in the New Testament? I mean, didn't Paul talk about those people that regard every day alike, and each one should be convinced in his own mind, and it's really okay if we don't have a special day. Maybe one thinks of the words of Paul in Colossians chapter two, that we should not let anyone act as a judge in regard to food or drink, or in respect to a festival, or a new moon, or a Sabbath day. These things are the mere shadow, but the substance belongs to Christ. You can imagine the conversation that's going on between you and a friend, and you begin to say, oh, we're studying about the Sabbath, the Christian Sabbath, the Lord's Day. It's a special day. It's a day that's different from any other day. Oh, brother. I feel sorry for you going to that church. Your church is Christ-covered, Reformed Baptist Church of the shadows. I mean, we go to a church of substance. We go to substance Baptist Church, and you go to shadowland Baptist Church. You're just walking around in the shadows. We hold to Christ, not the day. Well, in declaring such things, they feel quite victorious, and the argument seems to be settled. at least it does for them. Maybe you've made those arguments. Maybe you're sitting here right now making those arguments. I hope I can endure this church for four weeks and then we'll get on with something that I can actually agree with, all right? Well, we would contend that the New Testament, like the Old Testament behind it, does put a premium on a day. And that day is emphatically given the unique designator of the first day of the week. Now as to the priority and the obvious distinction of the first day of the week for the New Covenant people of God, several things in the New Testament set apart this day from all others of the week. And that's what I want us to look at today. I want us to examine how the New Testament presents the first day of the week as a day that's different from all the other days of the week. Now, I want to pause for just a few moments, maybe for some comments or interaction or questions or, you know, the bold objection. Hopefully the humbly bold objection, but what are your thoughts as we kind of get into this a little bit today? I can't wait, Pastor. I'm so delighted to sit at your feet and cry holy. I just want to know what you're, no, I'm just kidding. Andrew, talk to me, brother. Unless I just said what you wanted to say there. No. Yeah, that was it, right? Okay. Yeah, okay. That's a good question. I'm going to kind of defer questions, because if I just stop and pause and answer questions, I think we will touch on that lightly today, maybe more so next week. But like just a little preview for next week, what we're planning to do next week is look at how the earliest of what we often call the apostolic fathers and apologists and church fathers, late first century into the second century, how the early church reacted to the idea of the premium on a day. on the idea of the Lord's Day itself in particular, and the designator in Revelation 1.10 by John specifically, and they saw no discontent either. They saw that that was clearly the first day of the week. I think there are some indicators that we might see in the New Testament, thinking in terms of the meaning of the phrase the Lord's Day. It does not mean and should not be translated the day of the Lord. which is an eschatological end day of judgment, if you will, also parallels with the concept of the Lord's Supper, the only two things that are referred to with that designator, the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Day. So neither one of those is an explicit testimony. There's no verse you're going to find in Revelation or outside of Revelation that the first day of the week, which is the Lord's Day, not gonna be there, all right? But I think those implications in the New Testament itself, the lack of any other good explanation that's even plausible, and then the early testimony of the church worked together to come to encourage us to think in that way. So we'll talk about that more as we go over the next few weeks. Yeah, so sure. Gretchen. Oh, isn't that so good? No, that doesn't open a can of worms, that's great. Okay, yeah, we'll talk about that, all right? We will get to that indirectly, but I think we will, I'm hoping, in looking at the significance the New Testament places on the first day, some of those questions will be answered. Only the first day of the week could possibly carry the significance for the church. of a day, it, well, let me stop. We'll just kind of move that as we go. But yes, that's a very good question. A similar question would be like, why can't we just do this on Tuesday? Is this just, is it just, this restates your question, but is this first day thing just a matter of convenience? They just pick the first day, and some make this argument in church history, they just pick the first day for convenience sake. No day of the week was very convenient for a bunch of slaves converted out of Romanism or whatever. Not that Romanism, but the Roman Empire itself. Their masters weren't going to look at any day of the week as convenient. Oh, yeah, you have the first day of the week off. Why don't you do that? No, the first day of the week was a total workday in that regard. And the holiday aspect of the day doesn't come along until the fourth century with Constantine. And so the church does struggle, often meeting early in the morning, late Saturday night, even into Sunday evening if they can, because they have to find times to meet. But yeah, it's a good question. Other comments? Are you raising your baby up as a question, just to get a second question? Okay, all right. Oh, she did, all right. Tom. Yeah, good comments. Yeah, we'll touch on some of that again. All right. By the way, good to see you. Good to see you well. I don't think I've seen you well. Were you here last Sunday? Because I was finally back and you guys were not. And so nice to see you in the land of the living here. All right, Michael. Last one, buddy, better be good. Don't ruin this for us. Yeah, I don't know how that worked in France, but I would imagine today if you were to go to France, you'd find a seven-day week. There have been a variety of cultures throughout the history of the world. An interesting man from history, Hugo Grotius, who has some interesting theological issues, so I'm certainly not endorsing all of his theological issues. He did write a book on the matter of the week in the Bible, and he chronicles a variety of cultures throughout history that have tried something different. And they all seem to fail, the eight-day week, the 10-day week, various ones, and they just don't seem to make it. Certainly in our global world or global economy today, if you tried to throw a nine-day weekend somewhere, that would probably be very complicated. And so, yeah, so the origin of the seven-day week is very interesting because it's not like the year or the month. You know, we have the sun and the moon and the stars and all these things to kind of be for times and seasons, as it says there in Genesis chapter one. But for the week, we've got no natural law reason, no light of nature reason for it to be. I think we touched on this a little bit in the video series. I think that came up a little bit. And the week seems to be something that God has established in creation. All right. Well, let's think about the priority given in the New Testament in particular to the first day of the week. And I think, Gretchen, this may even right out of the bat just kind of get a little bit at what you were talking about. Fundamentally, there is something that happens on the first day of the week that doesn't happen on any other day of the week, and it brings about an entire paradigm shift for the early church, and that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. This, we could literally say, changes everything, all right? It shifts everything. I want us to look at a couple of texts in the Bible Matthew chapter 28, let's start there. Matthew 28. And let's begin in verse one. Now after the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to look at the grave. And behold, a severe earthquake had occurred. For an angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled away the stone and sat upon it. And his appearance was like lightning and his clothing as white as snow. The guards shook for fear of him. and became like dead men. The angel said to the women, do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus who has been crucified. He is not here, he has risen. This is on the first day of the week. Turn over to Mark chapter 16. Mark chapter 16. And we'll start in verse one. When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Salome brought spices so that they might come and anoint him. Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. Mark chapter 16 verse nine, it says, now after he had risen on the first day of the week, he first appeared to Mary Magdalene from whom he had cast out seven demons. Luke chapter 24. Luke chapter 24, we're gonna exercise your fingers a little bit here, all right. Luke 24, verse one. Luke 24, one. But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb, bringing the spices which they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they entered, they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. Verse six, he is not here, but he has risen. Remember how he spoke to you while he was still in Galilee saying that the son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and the third day rise again. Interesting there, it points to the idea of the third day. Easily, the gospel writers could have said, and three days after he died, he rose again. They didn't say it that way. What they said was, on the first day of the week. John chapter 20. John chapter 20, verse one. John 20 verse one, now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb while it was still dark and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. Every gospel account of the resurrection stresses emphatically that this took place on the first day of the week. Like I said, they could have said on the third day after he was crucified, because the Jews count days inclusively, Friday, Saturday, Sunday. If anything touches on part of those days, it's counted as the whole of the day. We'll see this other places as well. Friday, Saturday, Sunday, three days. On the third day after he was crucified, Friday, on Sunday, he rose from the dead. They could have easily said, on the third day he rose from the dead. But they don't. They say, on the first day of the week. As I mentioned earlier, this shifts the entire paradigm. It shifts, if you will, the calendar for the early church. Everything for the Jewish religion is oriented on the seventh day of the week, the day that God completes the creation. He's done, now he rests, he sets apart, sanctifies, treats his holy this day. He doesn't do it for himself, he doesn't rest for himself. He does this, it sets up a pattern for man to follow. But everything now for the church will shift, and we'll see that as we move forward. It's all going to shift. Why? I believe very clearly it's because of the resurrection of Christ. John Stone, a 19th century Anglican, makes this comment. He said, at the introduction of the gospel, the whole state of the church underwent a revolution. Almost everything was changed in some way or to some extent. The mediator was changed from Moses for Christ. The priesthood was changed, the Aaronic for the Christian. The law was changed, the Levitical for the evangelical. The promises were changed, those which looked apparently to temporal blessings for those which looked expressly to the eternal. Sounds like we're reading the book of Hebrews, doesn't it? The worship was changed, the stately and solemn ceremonies of the temple for the simple and spiritual devotions of the Christian house of prayer. The sacraments were changed, the Passover for the Lord's Supper, and the bloody rite of circumcision for the unbloody labor of baptism. Now we'll talk about the labor if we want to debate that with the Anglicans there, but the whole dispensation was changed. The entire framework of the Jewish being taken down and laid aside and the whole structure of the Christian being constructed and set up in its stead. With all these changes then, with everything that was made new, is it wonderful or is it like to be wondered at? that the day of the Sabbath was also changed. The mode of its observance was certainly altered. What reason then is there to wonder at the alteration in the time of its observance?" Everything here changes. Everything shifts. It becomes, in the words of another writer, this idea that it's something that they couldn't possibly forget. They couldn't possibly get this day out of their minds. One writer says, Do you think I say that they could ever possibly forget upon what day it was that there burst in upon their darkened souls the sudden and bewildering truth which turned their darkness into day, which kindled the new brightness that extinguished the flame, the extinguished flame of hope? which reawakened all the expectation of a promised rest, which opened up the very heavens to them of an infinite vista of glory. Could they forget what day had done this? Surely they could not forget. They could not forget that the Lord's day pointed backward to the resurrection of the Lord. One poet kind of captured this thinking about the birth of creation and the light that was shown forth and the reality of our salvation in Christ's resurrection and the very coming of the spirit on the day of Pentecost, which we'll talk about in a moment. And the poet said, on thee at the creation, the light first had its birth, on thee, that is on the first day of the week, on thee for our salvation, Christ rose from the depths of the earth This is not the first time in scripture that we hear about the first day of the week. In fact, we hear about the first day of the week when? Genesis chapter 1. Let there be what? Light. And there was darkness. Evening and morning. And there was what? There was the first day First day of what? Day one of what? Day one of seven, the first day of the week. The resurrection of Christ occurred on this day. This was totally shifting for the early church. Secondly, the appearances of Christ occurred on this day as well. Jesus wastes no time. to begin to appear to his church and present the reality of his resurrection life. Look back in Luke chapter 24. Luke 24. You're familiar with the story in Luke 24 verses 13 to 36? We have Jesus coming upon two men who are on their way walking on the road to Emmaus. Two of them, it says, were going that very day to a village named Emmaus, which was about seven miles from Jerusalem. And they were talking with each other about all these things which had taken place. While they were talking and discussing, Jesus himself approached and began traveling with them, but their eyes were prevented from recognizing him. And he said to them, what are these words that you are exchanging with one another as you are walking? And they stood still looking sad. One of them named Cleopas answered and said to him, are you the only one visiting Jerusalem and unaware of the things which have happened here in these days? And he said to them, what things? And they said to him the things about Jesus, the Nazarene, who was a prophet, mighty indeed and word in the sight of God and all the people, and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to the sentence of death and crucified him. But we were hoping that it was he who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, this is the what? This is the third day since these things happened. In other words, what day is this? This is the first day of the week. But also some women among us amazed us when they were at the tomb early in the morning and did not find his body. They came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who had said that he was alive. These are the same women that it speaks about at the first verse of chapter 24. on the first day of the week that had gone to the tomb. It said, some of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just exactly as the women had said, but him they did not see. And he said to them, O foolish men, slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken. Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into his glory? Then beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he explained to them the things concerning himself in all the scriptures. That goes on down. We could read all the way to verse 36, or even through the end of the chapter. But let's jump over to chapter 20 of the Gospel of John. John chapter 20. Now again, chapter 20 verse 1 gives us the context of what day we're talking about. It's on the first day of the week. And then coming down to verse 19, we find this. So when it was evening on that day, And again, there's no need to repeat the designator the first day of the week, except to what? To stress what day it is. It is the first day of the week. So when it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were shut where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, peace be with you. Jesus here makes his appearance to them on the first day of the week. Now, it's interesting, in verse 24 it says that Thomas wasn't there. Remember that? Doubting Thomas. He always gets that little moniker. Sorry, Tom, all right? But you're believing Thomas, not doubting Thomas. Thomas gets the moniker doubting Thomas for a reason. He wasn't there at that first appearance of Jesus to the disciples on that first day of the week. But then notice what happens in verse 26. After eight days, his disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst, and said, Peace be with you. Isn't this interesting? After eight days. Eight days from the first day of the week, counting like the Jews did inclusively, is what day? It's the next Sunday. It's the next first day of the week, and Jesus makes himself known to Thomas on this day. Verse 27. When he said to Thomas, reach here with your finger and see my hands, and reach here your hand and put it into my side, and do not be unbelieving, but believing, Thomas answered and said, my Lord and my God. Thomas here is strengthened in faith, believing in the Lord who has manifested himself to him on this next first day of the week. John Owen. makes this comment, he says that Jesus left Thomas under his doubts a whole week before he gave him his gracious conviction, that he might do it in the assembly of the disciples on the first day of the week. Notice again there in verse 26 of John chapter 20, after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them. What are they doing? They're assembled together. This is an early picture of the believing church assembled together. Those who are faithful to Christ, looking for Christ, and here Christ manifests himself to the believing disciples in their assembled meeting. The resurrection of Christ occurred on the first day of the week. The appearances of Christ that we explicitly are told about are on the first day of the week. Now, does Jesus see his disciples on other days than the first day of the week? I would think probably so, all right? But we're never told explicitly that he appears to them on the second day of the week, the third day of the week. the fourth day of the week, or the seventh day of the week. We're only told he appears to them on the first day of the week. Now, it does say in Acts chapter one that he had been with them for 40 days, but we don't know exactly what he's been doing or how often his appearances were to them for those 40 days, but we do know that every explicit mention of Jesus appearing to the disciples when he manifests himself to them is on the first day of the week. And Tom mentioned something a little bit ago about the day of Pentecost. Let's think about the day of Pentecost for a moment. The church was born as the new covenant community on this day, the day of Pentecost, the first day of the week, which will later be called the Lord's Day, but that gets us a little bit ahead. Turn to Acts chapter two. Acts chapter two. The historical accounting of this event is recorded for us by Luke in the book of Acts. Keep in mind, Pentecost, penta, meaning 50, all right? So it's 50 days following the Passover, all right? But again, counting inclusively, we count the first day there of the Passover, 50 days later, becomes, again, the first day of the week. Look in Acts chapter two. When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place and suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as a fire distributing themselves and they rested on each one of them and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit was giving them utterance. an evangelical scholar from the 20th century by the name of P.K. Jewett, who was a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary. This is back when Fuller still believed the Bible, several years ago. P.K. Jewett makes this comment about the Spirit's descent at Pentecost occurring on Sunday. Jewett states that though the dating is sometimes disputed, he says, the dating or placing Pentecost on Sunday is in accordance with the dating practices of the Sadducees. Remember the Sadducees and the Pharisees were two of the main ruling religious leader groups in Judea, especially in Judea during this particular period. There was another group we think of, the Essenes, but the Essenes were kind of kind of a separatist type sect that mainly focused out of the Qumran near the Dead Sea. But it was the Sadducees, prior to the fall of the temple in AD 70, the Sadducees were the ones who regulated the observance of the Jewish festival of Pentecost, which would have placed the date for Pentecost most likely to be on the first day of the week as well. The church, a fourth reason here. The church, or a fourth bit of evidence that the first day of the week has that distinction. The church habitually gathered on this day for worship, which is seen in Troas in the breaking of bread. If you will, look over in Acts chapter 20. Paul, on his missionary journey, has come to a little town of Troas, and it says in Acts 20, verse 7, on the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day, and he prolonged his message until midnight. Most likely, this is the evening. It could be the Saturday evening before, it could be Sunday evening of that first day, but we'll kind of tackle that maybe some other time, but it's in the evening. They're having a service. They're coming together. Notice they come together not to hear Paul, although Paul is there, and they do allow Paul to preach and to speak, which would makes sense. I mean, if the Apostle Paul were to walk in the back of the room and it were Ryan's turn to preach or my turn to preach, we would probably say, well, okay, Paul, I guess you can preach today. I would not want to preach if Paul had come in the back room. But on the first day of the week when they were gathered together to do what? To break bread. which becomes a statement in the book of Acts in particular for the idea of the Lord's table. Think in terms of Luke chapter 24 where the two men, they come to eat with Jesus. Remember when it was that he was made known to them? When he did what? When he broke the bread. I mean what a reminder that must have been of him breaking the bread even there perhaps at the last supper if these two men had been present, or one of them. Only one is named, Cleopas. The other one is not named. But he's made known to them in the breaking of bread. There in Acts chapter 2, we find the church gathering together for the doctrine of the apostles, the breaking of bread, and prayer. This becomes a common phrase of the Lord's table. So here we have a church that has come together for the purpose of breaking bread. They're coming together for the purpose of this sacrament of worship, and they do it on the first day of the week. Paul being present seems incidental. In other words, if Paul had not come through Troas that day, it seems that the church still would have done what? They still would have gathered together to break bread. Paul just happened to be there on that day. Another point of emphasis in the New Testament for the significance of the first day of the week is seen in the collection of offerings. Look in 1 Corinthians 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Verse one says, now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week, each one of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper so that no collections be made when I come. Now, some take this text as if Paul is saying to the church in Corinth, you need to be setting aside money like at your house and save some money so that when I come, you'll have it and you'll have it for me that I can then take this collection back to the poor saints in Jerusalem. Paul mentions this kind of a collection often for the poor Jewish saints in Jerusalem who have gone through much suffering, that the Gentiles are indebted to the Jews because they have brought them the gospel, if you will. and they need to honor them and collect offerings for them. So some are saying that what Paul is indicating here is you should set aside some money on the first day of the week, and you should keep it by you, keep it in a jar at home, keep it safe. My take on this would be different. I understand what Paul is trying to tell them is that on the first day of every week, because, well, If that were the case, if it was the case that you could do this on your own at home, why specify what day it should be done? They could do it whenever they wanted to. Make sure you're setting aside money so that when I come, a collection won't need to be taken. It could have been left general. But specifically, he says, you should do this on the first day, and notice he doesn't say the first day of the week, he says the first day of what? Do you notice it? The first day of every week. This is a repeated first day activity of taking up a collection so that when Paul comes, you won't have to take up a collection. In other words, you're gonna accumulate an amount of money that's going to be on hand and ready to give me when I come. Had they just collected this at home and left it in a jar on the shelf? Then when Paul came, they would have to do what? They'd either have to all go home, they'd have to bring it and collect it. Paul would have to go around to everybody's house. You know, he's talking about there needs to be a central place to bring the money, put it together in the assembly when you gather together on the first day of the week. I don't have my things numbered. I think this may be number five. Is this number six? Six, okay, all right. No other day of the week, and this was quite striking to me. I hadn't thought about this until recently, but there is no other day of the week that is enumerated in relation to the other days of the week. Sometimes you'll see things like on the third day. The third day in relation to what? Well, if it's about the resurrection, then it's about the third day after the crucifixion, right? Sometimes you'll see other days mentioned, but you see no day mentioned as the blank day of the week, other than the first day of the week. You will not read the second day of the week. Now you might read about the Jewish Sabbath being the seventh day, right? But again, of the week, the first day of the week, this only happens in relation to the first day. That's the only place you get this kind of designator. Trying to find a particular statement that I had, and I think I put it down here. Let me pull it back. All right. Sam Waldron has written a little helpful book on the Lord's Day, and let me read to you what he has to say. Now, he's commenting here on the reoccurrence of the phrase the first day of the week that we see in the Gospels over and over again. He asks, is this five-fold reoccurrence of the phrase the first day of the week merely an interesting detail or is it of religious significance? The singular importance of this repeated reference for the first day of the week may be seen by asking the question, how many times are days of the week mentioned by their number in the New Testament? The answer is not once. The third day after Christ's death is mentioned. The Lord's day is also mentioned. The preparation day for the Sabbath is mentioned. Yet there is no other reference to a day of the week by its number in the entire New Testament. This being the case, it is difficult to think that the mention of the first day of the week five times by the evangelists is merely incidental. I alluded to this other statement earlier, but this is from D.A. Carson, which is interesting because D.A. Carson is no Sabbatarian. And I mentioned P.K. Jewett a moment ago. He is no Sabbatarian either, but his comments were helpful and we're going to see him again later on. But D.A. Carson makes this comment. He says, it is remarkable that all four Gospels introduce their respective resurrection accounts by specifying the first day of the week, rather than the third day after the crucifixion. Like, for example, Paul speaks about he was raised on the third day in 1 Corinthians 15. Despite Jesus's passion predictions. Remember when Jesus predicts, I'll be raised on the what? On the third day. Those have been great places. And the women go to the tomb and they find out that Jesus has been raised just like he said on the third day. He could have said that. And there are places where it does mention those kinds of things. Every one of the gospel writers wants to stress this phrase the first day of the week. The reason, Carson says, is disputed, but it may have to do with the desire to present the resurrection of Jesus as the beginning of something new. Now this goes back to what we were talking about, Gretchen, earlier about the shift in the day, the significance of the day. Something new is happening. Seven, let me give you a seventh reason here. We gotta kinda press to the end and we'll see how we get. The seventh thing, there are strong indications that the spread of the significance of the first day of the week practice, meeting the first day of the week, is seen in the missionary enterprise of the church. Now, it is true that every place Paul goes doesn't mention that particular church doing something and they're gathered on the first day of the week. But nor is there any mention of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, or 7th day. The only indications we have explicitly are about churches beginning to practice something on the first day of the week. Think, for example, about things beginning in Judea and Jerusalem if we're right about the dating of the day of Pentecost being the first day of the week. Secondly, consider the churches of Galatia. Remember the book of Galatians? Sometimes we speak about the book of Galatians as if it was written to the church of Galatia. What's wrong with that? There is no church of Galatia. There is a letter written to the Galatian churches. It was a collection of churches there in what is today kind of southern and eastern regions of Turkey. But it mentions them in 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Now my Bible is still open to 1 Corinthians 16. I don't know where yours is. Let me just read this to you again. Now concerning the collection for the saints as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week, each one of you is to put aside and save as he may prosper. In other words, what Paul is saying there is that he's speaking to the Corinthians who are in Achaia over in the West, but he alludes to and specifically mentions that the direction he's given to the Western churches in Achaia is the same direction he's given to the Eastern churches there in the region of Galatia. So we see churches in Judea and Jerusalem and Galatia. What about Acts chapter 20 in verse seven? Northern Asia, Troas, they're meeting on the first day of the week for the breaking of the bread. Southern Asia in Revelation chapter one, verse 10, if we're correct in connecting Revelation 1.10, the Lord's day, with the first day of the week, and we'll try to make more of a case for that next time, But that would show that in Southern Asia as well, John is in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, worshiping God on the first day of the week, and he's writing this, keep this in mind, he's writing this to the seven churches of Asia Minor. Now, that would be strange. If the seven churches of Asia Minor, if Ephesus, and Pergamum, and Laodicea, and Thyatira, and Sardis, and you name the seven, I'm going to get lost. If those seven churches were to read Revelation chapter one, I was in the spirit of the Lord's day. I wonder what John is talking about there. What is that? What's the Lord's day? John writes it as if they what? As if they would have understood this time designator. What good does it tell someone about what time you're doing something if they have no indication? When you write somebody, do you ever say on the 24th day of the month of Nisan in 2024? You probably don't do that, right? You don't use like an old Jewish calendar to like tell people when and or where you are. But then also in 1 Corinthians 16, one to two, the explicit connection here is with Corinth, which is in the region of Achaia, which is just south of Macedonia and Greece. In other words, up to that point, as far as the gospel had spread, we see churches doing what? We see them engaging in assembly, sacramental, worship type activities, teaching, preaching on the first day of the week. And finally, we see in Revelation chapter one, verse 10, the church coming to call this day specifically the Lord's day. Now all of that together to hopefully, not with any one point, but with all things considered, to make a case, I hope a substantial case, for the fact that the New Testament does indeed put a premium on a day. And the only day the New Testament puts that premium on over and over and over again is the first day of the week. What we call Sunday, with our pagan heritage from the early period of Constantine or whatever, more specifically and more properly, I believe, or the Christian, we should refer to this day as the Lord's Day. Now, with that, it's two o'clock. And we're done. How safe is that for questions? All right. We need to wrap up and be done, because we want to give enough of a break. We really want to put emphasis on starting on time for worship. So let me encourage you to be back in here before 2.15, all right? So we can really get started. And Ryan and I are trying to be conscious on time. It's really hard for us because we could both preach for like, you know, three hours and be happy. and maybe not even notice what happened, and where'd everybody go? But we want to honor that time, so let's try to be back in here right before 2.15, and we'll try to get started. We probably didn't answer every question today. I'm sure we didn't. We may have generated more questions for you. Be patient with this. We have at least three more Sundays. Ryan's preaching for a while, and I'm doing Sunday school, so maybe we'll leak over into September. We'll see. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we bless your name. We thank you for the Lord's day. We thank you for this best of days, this first day of the week, this day that points us to the resurrection of Jesus, this day that the church has been worshiping on ever since our Lord rose from the dead. We ask, oh God, that you would help us to make much of Christ on this day. Maybe not glory in the day, maybe not glory in our ritual or our calendar, but indeed, may these things point us to the resurrected Lord Jesus, and may He be our praise. May He be the one we glory in. We ask, oh God, your blessing as we break for just a moment, and as we come back for the time of corporate worship, we ask God your blessing on our gathering today.