Let me invite you to turn back in your Bible to Deuteronomy chapter five. We are continuing this morning with our series on the subject of worship and the importance of Christian worship. And today we come to the subject, the Christian Sabbath, a day for Christian worship. And we're coming to the words of Deuteronomy chapter five and verse 12 down to verse 15. So let's just read those few verses again. The Lord says to his people, keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm. Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day." Now, Christian Sabbath. a day for Christian worship. So let's bow in prayer with our Bibles open there. Let me encourage you to keep your Bible open at that passage. It's a very key passage with this theme before us this morning, so let us pray. Father in heaven, we thank thee for thy grace and goodness that finds us here. We rejoice, Lord, that we're gathered in thy house. We thank thee for the benefit of that. We thank thee for the blessings we have to come around thy precious word. Lord, we pray thou that would come and teach us and help us and instruct us and Lord, show us the worth and the value again of thy day and of thy precious word. So, answer prayer. Fill me with thy spirit. Give help in the preaching and in the hearing of the truth today, we pray. We ask all of this in our savior's precious name. Amen. The text that we have come to this morning deals with one of the most for the church, for our families, and for us as individuals, the subject of the proper observance of the Sabbath day. Now, I realize that for many in our society, this really is a non-issue. For many years, there has been a sustained effort by those outside the church to make the Lord's day just like any other day of the week. We have come a long way, I think, not in a good sense, But we've come a long way in our province from the early 60s and 70s, when businesses were closed on a Sunday, to a situation now where the shops are open, the restaurants and pubs are busy, the sports stadiums are packed with people, and there's little or no concern in remembering the Sabbath day and keeping it holy. But sadly, it's not only those outside the church who have argued against the Sabbath day, There have been some inside the church who have added to that movement and to that momentum and see little or no relevance in the fourth commandment. Those who think like that usually say the law concerning the Sabbath day was only for the Israelites in the Old Testament, that it was part of the ceremonial law and not the moral law. Some argue that the fourth commandment is not directly quoted in the New Testament, and therefore it's not significant, it's not important in that era. There are others who come along and they will say that Christ did not keep the Sabbath day and therefore there is no point in us and no obligation upon us to keep the Sabbath day either. And then of course there are other professing Christians who would not go so far as to argue against the Sabbath day. They would never dare to speak against it. They recognize the Sabbath day is part of the law of God, it is relevant for today, but in practice, they don't really show much concern for it. They do their own thing, they set their own standards, they keep it as and when it suits them, and they fail to pay much attention to the teaching of God's word. Not just speaking of individual believers, this is also true in churches as well. But none of that momentum, none of that movement against the Lord's Day has been good for society. It hasn't been good for the church. It hasn't been good for families. And it hasn't been good for individuals. I was greatly struck in the last few days reading some tracts written by John Charles Ryle. He was an Anglican bishop living about 150 years ago And he dealt with the pressing issues of that time. It's in a book called Knots on Tide by J.C. Ryle. He wrote a tract entitled The Christian Sabbath or the Lord's Day. This is what he had to say. 150 years ago, he said, the subject is one which is of immense importance. It is not too much to say that the prosperity or decay of English Christianity depends on the maintenance of the Christian Sabbath. Break down the fence which now surrounds the Sunday, and our Sunday schools will soon come to an end. Let the flood of worldliness on the Lord's day come in without check or hindrance, and our congregations will soon dwindle away. He went on to say there's not too much religion in the land now. Destroy the sanctity of the Sabbath, and there will be soon far less. Nothing in short, he goes on to note, nothing in short, I believe, would so thoroughly advance the kingdom of Satan in England as to withdraw legal protection from the Lord's day. It would be a joy to the infidel, but it would be an insult and an offense to God. I can only imagine what that man of God would think of how the Lord's day is treated now in our generation. He's right, this was a matter of supreme importance. Now, when we come into the book of Deuteronomy, chapter five here, we discover the children of Israel preparing to cross over the river Jordan into the promised land. At that time, the land of Canaan, where they're going to enter into and take possession of that land, the land was filled with other nations, heathen nations. Nations that had no regard for the law of God, and there was a very real danger that when the children of Israel would go into that land, they would succumb to the temptations and begin to live like those other nations around them. Therefore, Moses was instructed by God to rehearse the law of God, to repeat that law, to give the law a second time. and to remind the people that the law was for them in their new land. And so we have the book of Deuteronomy, which means the second giving of the law. It's not a new law. It's just the 10 commandments repeated and emphasized and dealt with so people could understand as they go in to possess the land, this was how God wanted them to live. And so when you come to Deuteronomy chapter five, verse 12 to 15, what you discover is an exposition or an explanation of the fourth commandment that was given in Exodus chapter 20. Here, Moses outlines the precept of the law. He outlines the observance of that law. And of course, all of that will be good for the people in their new situation. But it's a crucial subject for us also. Over the past weeks, we have looked at the subject of Christian worship. And I'm convinced that the matter of the Lord's Day and the matter of Christian worship, I'm convinced that those two subjects are connected. It is said that for the Puritan John Owen, defending the continuity and the validity of the fourth commandment and the Christian Sabbath as the weekly day of spiritual rest was a hugely important aspect of his views on worship. So understanding the validity of the Sabbath day And the aspect of Christian worship, John Owen brought those two things together. He understood the significance of them together. And I have to agree with him. The Lord's Day is special. And it is special primarily, believer, because it affords us the time and the opportunity to gather together to worship God. That's what makes this day so special. This is why we should keep it. This is why we should remember the Sabbath day. So with that thought in mind, let me highlight three lines of study. First of all, let's think about the provision of the Sabbath day. The provision of the Sabbath day. If the Sabbath day was just a Jewish custom, as some would have us believe, or it was just a church tradition, as some would have us believe, Or if it's just a throwback to the days of the reformers and the Puritans, as some would have us understand, then it could well be argued that it has nothing to do with us. And therefore, it doesn't really matter what we do with it. If the Sabbath day was just for a certain people at a certain time, then we could ignore it. But that is not the case. In order to understand, in order to grasp the importance and the provision of the Sabbath day, we must go back to creation. After God finished his creative work in six days, we read in Genesis chapter two, verses two and three, on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work, which God created and made. There are some key words in those verses. And the key phrase is, God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. It was God who did that. He's put a special stamp upon the seventh day. By this time, he has given Adam a home in the Garden of Eden, he has given him work to do, he's to dress that garden, he has given him a commandment to obey, he's not to eat of the forbidden fruit, he has given him a wife to be his companion, and he also gives him a Sabbath day to keep. Now the fact that God established the Sabbath day back at the beginning of all time is clear from the terms of the fourth commandment. Exodus chapter 20, verse eight. remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Now why would he say in Exodus chapter 20, why would he say remember the Sabbath day? He's causing Moses and the people of Israel to look back to that time. And it suggests that they already had an awareness of the Sabbath day. They were already conscious that God had set this day apart and set this day special. And of course there was an awareness. Before the law was ever given in Exodus chapter 20, there was an awareness about the Sabbath day. If you think back four chapters before Exodus 20 into Exodus chapter 16, the Lord has set down rules for gathering manna in the wilderness. He tells the people he will have manna for them, this bread to sustain them, and they were to gather twice as much on the sixth day because there would be no manna on the seventh day. They were not to go out and gather up their food on the seventh day. It was to be a day of rest. And so there was already an awareness in the hearts and the minds of the nation before the law was ever given in the form it was in Exodus chapter 20. There was an awareness of the Sabbath day, an awareness that stretches right back to God's creative work and his resting on the seventh day. So God especially claimed this day as his own. It's interesting to read Exodus chapter 20 verse 10, Leviticus chapter 23 in verse three, and here in Deuteronomy chapter five in verse 14, notice how it's put. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. That means we're dealing with something very special. This is the day that God himself has set apart from the beginning of time. In a very real sense, we could say of every day that this is the day that the Lord has made, because he is the Lord of time. He is the one who gives us every day. But it's especially so when we come to think of the Sabbath day. In Nehemiah chapter 9 and verse 14, Nehemiah said of the Lord, Thy holy Sabbath. Thy holy Sabbath. There is a Sabbath day, believer, because God has appointed one or God has provided one for us. The provision of the Sabbath day. Now, there are two things here. The provision of the Sabbath day is for all people. It is for all people. There are some who argue that the Sabbath day was just for the Jews in the Old Testament. It's a Jewish thing. But that can't be so. Because in Mark chapter 2 and verse 27, Christ said the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Now, what did he mean by that? The Sabbath was made for man. But he's not referring to one group of people. He did not say the Sabbath was made for the Jews. He's not referring to one section of society or to one nationality. He says, no, the Sabbath was made for man, mankind in general, Jews and Gentiles, men and women, young and old. And thus Christ emphasized that the Sabbath day had been instituted for the good and the benefit of all mankind. It's not just a Jewish thing for an Old Testament time. It's for men and women, a worldwide application. God made no distinctions in the nations when he gave the moral law. those 10 commandments in Exodus 20. There's no distinction among the nations there. Why would there be a distinction when it comes to the fourth commandment? No, this applies to all people. It applies to every one of us this morning. It also applies, and this provision of the Sabbath day is for all time. It's for all time. This law has never been abolished. God has never repealed any of the Ten Commandments. And while some say it's only given in detail in the Old Testament and not the New, therefore it's not for us and not for now, we must remember that there is a unity between the two parts of the Scriptures. We talk about a New Testament, it's not a New Testament in the sense it's a different testament The Bible, the Old and New Testament is one. And didn't Christ say that he'd not come to destroy the law but to fulfill the law? Our Lord did not demolish the law of the Sabbath day, he fulfilled that law. And therefore the law of the Sabbath is just as relevant and just as important and just as significant this morning as it ever has been in the history of the world. It's for all people, and it's for all time. What about the change of the day? Well, the fourth commandment doesn't specify the seventh day of the week. The reference to the seventh day refers to the day after six days of labor. Six days shall thy labor, and the seventh shall be a day of rest. It should be remembered, too, that the word Sabbath simply means rest. It doesn't mean seventh. It means rest or it means to cease. And so the Jewish Sabbath fell on the seventh day of the week. It remembered God's rest from his work of creation. The Christian Sabbath is on the first day of the week and it remembers Christ's finished work of redemption. So the Jewish Sabbath, the Old Testament Sabbath on the seventh day reminds us of creation. The Christian Sabbath on the first day of the week reminds us of redemption. Christ rose on the first day of the week. He met his disciples on the first day of the week. First Corinthians 16 verse one and two reminds us that the New Testament church met on the first day of the week, which was a tremendous break from their tradition at that time, but they were Christians now. And when John talks in the book of Revelation from the Isle of Patmos, he says he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. This is the Sabbath. This is the Christian Sabbath, the first day of the week. And this is what the Lord has provided for us. The Westminster Confession of Faith. Puts it this way in chapter 21 in section seven, as it is the law of nature that in general a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God. So in his word, by 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. Man and woman, this day is different. This day is special. This day has been sanctified by God, set apart by him as a holy Sabbath. It is not the same. as every other day in the week. It has a spiritual significance. It points us to creation. But more than that, it points us to redemption and what Christ has done and the fact that Christ is alive and alive forevermore. In his mercy, God has appointed this day for us. In his mercy, he has provided this day for us. Remember, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. And so you have the provision of the Sabbath day. What about the purpose of the Sabbath day? Why does God command us to remember the Sabbath and to keep it holy? What are we to do in the Sabbath day? How are we to keep it? Well, there are two things here. And while they're different, they are connected. The Sabbath day is to be a day of rest, a day of rest. The Hebrew word Sabbath, as I've mentioned, means to cease or to rest. It has the idea of resting from work. We can understand that and discern that thought clearly from the example of creation. Exodus chapter 20, verse 10, 11, when the law is given there on Mount Sinai, this is what God said. The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. He rested. He rested and therefore he set this law in place and he, by example, emphasized the importance of the Sabbath as a day of rest. We are to rest from our normal work. We're not to continue with the usual duties of life, our employments, our sports. our shopping, our business, our recreation. These things are to be left to the side, except for those things that are acts of necessity and acts of mercy. And I should add here that as much as possible, we should not do things that force others to work unnecessarily on the Sabbath day. There's a reference here to, in Deuteronomy chapter five, to the manservant or the maidservant, and they were to be given time to rest as well on the Sabbath day. There's also a reference to the ass and to the ox and to the cattle. They were to rest. And of course, in those days, they used those animals as animals of work, plowing and all of those things. They used those things to work, but they were to have a day of rest as well. And so there's an obligation upon us to cease from our work, but we also have a duty to others to help them have a day of rest too, that they also would keep the Sabbath. And therefore we should do as much as we can, we should endeavor as much as God enables us to leave things to the side so we can rest. I know there are things that need to be done, acts of necessity and mercy. And those can be done without breaking God's law. Those things need to be done, they should be done, without breaking God's law. But a day of rest will be good for our bodies, it'll be good for our minds, it'll be good for our families, it'll be good for the nation. We're not made to work seven days a week without suffering from that incessant labor. And so the Sabbath day is to be a day of rest. But tragically, our nation has chosen to ignore that truth. And there are people who want to work and force others to work, whether it's to raise more money or to earn more money or to make more money. The sporting world has very happily for years now broken the Sabbath day. You may have followed the news recently where Lough Gall Football Club successfully appealed a ruling regarding Sunday football and thus in some way preserved the right of Christian players not to have to play on a Sunday. We're thankful for the leadership given in that area by David Johnston, the Reverend Johnston's son, in that matter. It is to be a day of rest, a day of rest, a rest from our work, a rest from our recreations, those normal employments that are very legitimate and ordinary and proper. On other days of the week, we are to take a day of rest. But there's a second purpose connected to that. The Sabbath is to be a day for worship. The resting on a Sabbath day is not an end in itself. We rest from work so that we are able to worship God. In Leviticus chapter 19, verse 30, we have this statement, ye shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. There's two statements there, keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. Our Lord Jesus Christ, during his earthly ministry, set an example, because in Luke chapter four and verse 16, we're told, he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. So Christ understood that the keeping of the Sabbath involved attending a place of worship. And the whole idea of a Sabbath and reverence for God, the Sabbath and coming to worship him, approaching him and honoring him for his grace and goodness is firmly established here in Deuteronomy chapter five. Look closely, look very closely at these words. Look at verse 14. Verse 13, six days thou shalt labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates, that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. Now, if the verse stopped there, the section stopped there, we might just think the Sabbath is a day of rest. Don't go to work. give your employees, give them time off, your maidservants, your manservants, the family rest from work. But it doesn't stop there. Look at verse 15. And remember, this is what we are to do on the Sabbath day. And remember that thou wast a servant on the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. and those two things are connected. The resting and the remembering, and what are we to remember there in verse 15? You're to remember the grace of God. You're to remember God who redeemed you out of Egypt. You're to remember him. You're to hallow his name. This Sabbath day involved a resting from work and a remembering of God's grace and God's goodness. You bring those two thoughts together. On one hand, the Sabbath day is a day that men can rest, but rest so that they can worship God. That's why I say the Christian Sabbath is a day for Christian worship. The day has been appointed by God, provided by God, so that men and women could, without distraction, without interruption, worship God. Relief from the normal works of life, Coming apart from those normal, legitimate duties that we have, those responsibilities, those employments that we have, coming apart from that allows us the time to worship God. And then, of course, you see when the Sabbath day is broken and the Sabbath day is not being honored, then you lose the time and the opportunity to worship God. This day that God has provided enables us to focus our hearts and minds on him. As one writer put it, the Sabbath day safeguards our worship. That's the thought behind the words of the shorter catechism. The Sabbath day is to be sanctified by a holy resting all that day, even from such worldly employments and recreations as are lawful on other days and spending the whole time in the public and private exercises of God's worship. Now, that doesn't mean, that doesn't mean that you've got to be in an attitude of prayer, you've got to be singing, you've got to be listening to messages and sermons and be in God's house the entire day, no. But we come for public worship and private exercises of God's worship. So on a Sabbath day, you can take the time away from the normal duties of life to think through the things of God, to ponder them. As your body rests, you can take time to do extra reading of scripture for an extra time in the afternoon or read some profitable book that's gonna be a benefit to you in the things of God. The resting enables us to worship him. And therefore, believer, a Sabbath day that ignores the house of God and a Sabbath day that ignores the worship of God is not in keeping with its great purpose. God deserves our worship. He has directed our worship. And in order to assist us and help us in our worship, he has appointed one day in seven so that we can come apart and worship him in spirit and in truth. It's all connected. The appointment of the Sabbath really is a token of God's grace. It's a token of God. The fact that he has given us this day is a token of his grace, his love for us, his care of us, and his desire that we would glorify and worship him. If there was no Sabbath day, our worship of God would be severely hindered. But there is a Sabbath day to help us worship him. But here's the question. Here's the question for us. Is this how we view the Sabbath day? Is this how we view the Lord's day? Is this how we think of the Christian Sabbath? Do we think of it as a day for ourselves? A day for our families? Or do we think of it as a day for God? Now, I've heard that over the years. I can't come to church because I go away with my family to the beach or to a restaurant or to visit other family members. Don't you know that this is the only day we have as a family together? Well, I say to that, bring your family to the house of God and worship him together. That's what the Sabbath is for. And not just part of the day, but the whole day. And I fear we're in danger of losing that. You know, there is a reason for morning and evening services. They provide a structure to the day. In Old Testament times, there was a morning sacrifice and an evening sacrifice. In New Testament times, you discover the saints of God gathering together into the evening and meeting with Christ. The whole day, the whole day belongs to him. The whole day is to help us worship God. The Christian Sabbath, a day for Christian worship. And I wonder, do we think through the importance of this day? This is the Lord's day. This is the Lord's day, and we should strive by His grace to be in the Spirit on the Lord's day and to, as He enables us, I know it's not always possible, but as he enables us to be in the place of worship. And so you have the provision of the Lord's Day and the purpose of the Lord's Day. Let me say something lastly about the pleasure of the Sabbath day. The pleasure of the Sabbath day. I have two verses in mind here. Let me ask you to turn to Isaiah 58 and verse 13 and 14. The laws of God are for our benefit. All the laws of God are for our benefit and this law is no exception. And then Isaiah 58 and verses 13 and 14, we have some words about the Sabbath day. And this is what Isaiah says, or what the Lord says in regard to that. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, and some commentators suggest you turn away your foot from doing your own thing, and that's followed up in the next phrase. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. See what he says there. Verse 14, then thou shalt delight thyself in the Lord. So keep in the Sabbath. should never be viewed as something of a drudgery, something to be dreaded on a Saturday night, something that we just wish would pass by and get us into Monday morning again. No, he says, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your own thing, your own pleasure on my day, and you call the Sabbath the delight, the holy of the Lord, then thou shalt delight thyself in the Lord. Believer, there's tremendous blessing in keeping the Sabbath, a tremendous blessing. I realize that about the week things are busy and people are tied up with so many things in life. And while the daily reading of scripture and the daily seeking of God's face and prayer is important and vital, and we should strive by his grace to maintain that, The Sabbath day affords us an opportunity to come under the sound of his word, to fellowship with his people, to take time uninterrupted by the things of the world, to meet with God, and to recharge our spiritual batteries, if you like, and to be still and to know that he is God. And when we do that, when we do that as he enables us to do it, there is a pleasure in keeping the Sabbath day. Some of the older Puritans would have wakened earlier on a Sabbath day to make as much use of the Sabbath day as they possibly could. They wanted as long a Sabbath as they could have, and so they would waken early and rise earlier on a Sabbath morning so that they could use that day to its fullest benefit for their souls. But there's a benefit. a pleasure, a joy. This is why David testifies in Psalm 122, he was glad when they said unto him, let us go up into the house of God. There's a joy, a joy in keeping the Sabbath holy. The laws of God are good for us. And I know we look around us and we see the Sabbath so horribly broken and things taking place that A few years ago, it seems, would never have taken place and seem to contradict all that scripture teaches on this subject. Temptation can be, well, we'll just follow suit. We'll just do what the world does. Well, it's not that important. We can come to God's house, and we can leave God's house, and then, well, the rest of the day is my own to do what I please. That's not what the scriptures say. And we rob ourselves. We rob ourselves of the blessing of God. We rob ourselves of the benefit of a well-kept Sabbath. So we look to God and we ask him for grace, grace to keep the Sabbath, grace to rest, but also grace to worship, grace to worship him on the day that he has given us. and there is a blessing for that. Then thou shalt delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken." One commentator said, keeping the Sabbath day should be a delightful experience. And so it should. So let's pray. Let's pray that that will be the case. We would enjoy God's provision for us in the Sabbath and enjoy our worship of him. at this time. Maybe you're not saved in the meeting. You think the Sabbath day is a throwback to an older time, not that important. My dear friend, this is the law of God, and we will be held accountable for our breaking off the law of God. And someday, every man, every woman will stand before God, give an account of what they've done with this law. And therefore, we need salvation, we need grace, And if you're not saved, I pray that you'll come today to know Christ as your Savior, too. May the Lord help us. May the Lord write these things upon our hearts for his own name's sake. Let's bow in prayer. Let's seek him together. Our Heavenly Father, we thank thee for thy word. We bless thee for the instruction in these verses. We thank thee for thy mercies to us in giving us the Sabbath. Help us to keep it holy. Help us to remember it. Help us to reverence thy sanctuary. Help us to worship as we are able to do so by thy grace and strength. And Lord, encourage our hearts in a day when the Sabbath is so widely broken. Lord, help us to remember the Sabbath, to keep it holy, to keep Sunday special. Lord, draw near to us and grant us grace and wisdom, we pray. We ask all of this. Part us now in thy fear and with thy favor. We ask all of this in our Savior's precious and worthy name. Amen.