00:00
00:00
00:01
Transcript
1/0
And the sermon texts this afternoon,
there are one or two brief ones, are from the book of Deuteronomy,
chapter 12, verse 32. And then we are going to turn
to the book of Isaiah, chapter 1, and read a few verses there
from verse 10. Deuteronomy 12, verse 32. what things soever I command
you, observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish
from it and from the book of Isaiah chapter 1 reading from
verse 10 hear the word of the Lord ye rulers of Sodom give
ear unto the law of our God ye people of Gomorrah To what purpose
is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am
full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts,
and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or
of he goats. When ye come to appear before
me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my course? Bring no more vain oblations,
incense is an abomination to me, the new moon and sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies I cannot away with, it is iniquity, even
the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed
feasts my soul hateth, they are a trouble unto me, I am weary
to bear them. And when ye spread forth your
hands I will hide mine eyes from you, Yea, when ye make many prayers,
I will not hear, your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make
you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine
eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve
the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. And one verse from Paul's letter
to the Colossians chapter 2 verse 23 Colossians
2 verse 23 which things and these are referring
to ordinances introduced by men into the service and worship
of God which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship
and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honor to
the satisfying of the flesh. May God bless these short readings
of his word to us all. Now in our series on these Lord's
Day afternoons on basic Christian teaching and Christian doctrine
we have arrived as you can see from the worship bulletin today
at one of the great subjects of scripture, religious worship
and the place and observance of the Sabbath day. A subject
that you realize is dealt with very wonderfully and again very
scripturally in the 21st chapter of the Westminster Confession
of Faith, our subordinate standard of doctrine. Now let me say immediately
that this is again a vital subject it is also one which is much
controverted in the modern church I don't need to remind you my
dear friends that all kinds of worship practices are very common
in the modern evangelical church of our own day and loose views
as well of the doctrine of the Sabbath day Now this afternoon
we are going to deal with that subject of the true worship of
God and to a much briefer extent because our time will be limited
with the proper observance of the Sabbath day. The 21st chapter
of the Confession of Faith you may have noticed is one of the
longest chapters in that whole document and this reveals to
us the importance with which our Reformation Fathers held
this subject and as I considered it through this past week and
indeed the previous week I felt that I could preach a series
of sermons on almost every single division of the Westminster Confession
concerning the worship of God but since we are seeking on these
afternoons to cover these great subjects in one exposition alone
All that I will attempt to do this afternoon is to touch on
the basic but wonderful principles that are dealt with in our confession
and in scripture concerning these two subjects. Now let me say
first, by way of introduction, I wonder if you realize our English
word worship comes originally from the other word worth-ship. Worth follows by ship. In other words, it is a reference
of one's attitude and behavior towards someone who is of superior
worth to ourselves. Worship is worth-ship. And since God is infinitely superior
to us, it is incumbent for us to take a lowly place before
him. and that is what worship essentially
is all about recognizing the work of our supreme God and deity
you have this in Psalm 95 verse 6 the exhortation to bow down
before him and to worship him and therefore the other thing
I wanted to say in introduction is true worship presupposes an
experience of salvation why? because the natural man, the
unconverted man hates stooping low before a superior especially
the true and living and thriving God and it is therefore impossible
for the natural man in his own ability and right to worship
God in a biblically acceptable way to render to him the worth-ship
that belongs to him So we realize immediately as we come to this
subject that worship takes place when we are in a true relationship
to God in regard to what we are and in regard to what He is. Now in reference to the several
texts that I read to you from Deuteronomy 12 verse 32 and Isaiah
1 and Colossians 2, I just wanted to say a few things also briefly
you notice that in our reading from Deuteronomy 12.32 there
was an explicit command that the Israelites were not to add
anything to what God had said He required of them in His worship
it's a very clear prohibition an illustration of this is in
Isaiah chapter 1 and that's why we read those brief verses from
verse 10 to verse 17 where you have the picture in Isaiah 1
of an extraordinary activity by God's people in worship they
were offering abundance of sacrifices of all kinds in the temple in
Jerusalem and yet you notice through Isaiah God addressed
to them His word, hear the word of the Lord ye rulers of Sodom
and ye people of Gomorrah an outstanding condemnation of God's
own people and their worship and the reason that passage is
there is that all their worship for all the fullness and copiousness
of it it was not at all acceptable to Him their hearts were not
right with Him even though outwardly some of their sacrifices were
what He had commanded the whole worship was displeasing to Him
since clearly it was not being offered in spirit and in truth
and they themselves were people characterized by all kinds of
evil conduct and despising of God and direct contradiction
of his own requirements so all worship is not acceptable to
God because it is not biblical worship. Now in Colossians 2
verses 22-23, the end of the chapter there, Paul, you remember,
writing to the Colossians, is reminding them that any matter
of man's invention and intrusion into the worship and service
of God is unacceptable. It is called will-worship. In
other words, it is dictated by the will and inclination of men,
and not the requirements of God. Now that's just a brief exposition
of these texts. I want to come to the substance
of the Confession, which of course summarizes succinctly again so
much teaching of Scripture. I want to look at the first great
section there, section 1, which gives us the basis for the true
worship of God. What constitutes true religious
worship? and you notice the wording, the
light of nature showeth that there is a God who hath lordship
and sovereignty over all, is good and doeth good unto all
and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon,
trusted in and served with all the heart and with all the soul
and with all the might but the acceptable way of worshipping
the true God is instituted by himself and so limited by his
own revealed will but he may not be worshipped according to
the imaginations and devices of man or the suggestions of
Satan under any visible representation or any other way not prescribed
in the Holy Scripture now in my estimation that is the fullest
and yet most succinct and most perspicuous or clear statement
on the true worship of God that I have seen anywhere in any literature
or in any confession of faith scripture apart from this obviously. So let's look at this. There
are several things I want to say. First of all, you notice
the light of nature is mentioned there at the opening statement
and what the Westminster divines are reminding us of is the biblical
truth that God has revealed his existence through nature and
creation itself that's what the light of nature refers to in
Romans chapter 1 and verse 21 you may remember Paul reminds
even the Gentiles that that which may be known of God is what clearly
revealed his eternal deity and so forth so that men are without
excuse and Paul appeals to the revelation of God in nature,
and the fact that that revelation puts all men under obligation
to worship God. It renders fallen man inexcusable,
and even though he has lost the will to worship God through the
fall, as we recognize, God is still man's creator and sovereign
and even fallen man has the direct obligation to fear, love, praise,
trust and serve God concerning whom he may know even through,
as I say, the book of nature itself. Now that is a biblical
truth and we need to remember that. It's a very, very important
truth. Psalm 19 of course reaffirms
it, doesn't it? The heavens do what? They declare
the glory of God. And the earth does what? It shows
forth His handiwork to all men. Now the second thing you notice,
and this is very important, that the light of nature is insufficient
in itself to tell us fully how we should worship God acceptably
but the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by
himself, limited by his own revealed will prescribed in the Holy Scriptures
now, I wanted to tell you that it is these three words instituted,
limited and prescribed that finally brought me as your minister to
embrace the purity of worship principle. I'd always been sympathetic
to it, to biblical worship being, as we will see as we go through
the confession, limited to those things that scripture sets forth.
I had always been sympathetic to this. But I was a hymn singer
for many years in my ministry, and it was late on I underlined
in my copy, and I underlined it again in the copy, my copy
that I've handed out to you, but three words, instituted,
limited, prescribed. I encourage you to do the same. This is what convinced me of
the regulative principle of worship. God has instituted Himself through
the revelation of Scripture, what He wants to be done. he's
not only instituted it, he's limited it to his own revealed
will so that anything additional to that which he has given to
us is out of order anything that falls short of his will is out
of order and then thirdly if there were any doubt about it
you notice the final statement or any other way not prescribed
in Holy Scripture interesting, at our presbytery meeting of
the WPCUS just a few days ago one of our ministers in the course
of a debate mentioned that the operative word in section 1 of
chapter 21 is the word prescribed in Holy Scripture and I corrected
him and I said my dear friend the three operative words are
instituted, limited and prescribed Well, I leave that for you to
think about. But the obvious principle, dear
friends, is this. Who but God Himself can tell
us how He is to be worshipped? Who but God Himself can tell
us how He is to be worshipped? And we have seen Deuteronomy
12.32 and Isaiah 1.10 which show that the acceptable
worship of God must be ordered by himself and the deviations
from it of any kind are not acceptable to God as worship so you see
divine institution must be our rule of worship because God in
scripture has given us an infallible, authoritative, complete and perspicuous,
that is clear, rule of faith and practice. Remember where
we began these studies. Do you remember? In the doctrine
of Scripture. Chapter 1 of the Westminster
Confession of Faith that teaches not only the infallibility of
Scripture and its inspiration, but its sufficiency as well. And one of the great weaknesses
in many evangelical and Reformed churches is that they do not
recognize the third aspect of Scripture they will receive its
infallibility and inspiration but not its sufficiency in other
words, but it prescribes in every area of our conduct and our worship
that which is pleasing to the Sovereign Lord now this is called
as many of you know the Regulative Principle of Worship or the RPW
for short and many of you realize it was rediscovered in the 16th
century reformation by the Calvinistic wing of the reformation and it
was practiced by the reformed churches listen for almost three
centuries now we are very quick to forget our own history in
the Reformed Churches and the strange thing is those who say
that congregations which practice the regulative principle of worship
with psalm singing and only those elements in worship prescribed
in Scripture well, you are an oddity is the attitude among
many today failing to remember the long history of the Reformed
Church because the boot is on the other foot those who practice
the use of hymns and other human innovations into worship they
are the ones who are out of accord with the great history of the
Reformed Church which up to the end of the 19th century was generally
and almost exclusively singing the Psalms without musical accompaniment
and abiding by the other biblical elements of the worship of God,
and it's only in the last 150 years at most that the Church
has begun to depart from that standard. We need to remember
that. Of course we recognize at the Reformation that Lutheranism
and Anglicanism said that if something is not directly forbidden,
it is permitted. It was the Calvinistic wing that
took the fully biblical position that nothing is permitted unless
it is actually prescribed in God's word. Now you may think
of course that this is only an Old Testament principle but there
are passages in the New Testament that make this very clear for
instance Jesus' own teaching against the Pharisees man-made
additions as in Mark chapter 7 where Jesus dealt with the
washing of hands and pots and vessels and so on and taught
very clearly that the Pharisees were invalidating the word and
law of God by their own human inventions and innovations and
Paul in Colossians 2, speaking of will-worship also gave the
same teaching there is abundant evidence that in the New Testament
the regulative principle of worship is still operative. Now, we'll
come to more of that, I think, just a little later this afternoon.
Now, do notice before we leave section 1 there, there are specific
restrictions mentioned. God may not be worshipped according
to the imaginations and devices of men. The wording here, of
course, rejects the Roman Catholic ceremonies, the use of choirs,
hymns of human composition and so on, because this indeed, if
it is not prescribed in scripture, is of human invention. The suggestions
of Satan is a strange phrase, it may refer for instance to
Aaron's making of the golden calf, you remember, after Moses
came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, the people
wanted to return to Egypt and Aaron had sinfully yielded and
made a molten cap and said, this is thy God, or these are thy
gods, O Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egypt.
Then under any visible representation, there's very clear teaching in
Deuteronomy 4 verses 15 and 16 where there is an express forbidding
of any image of God being made and of course in the second commandment
because God is a spirit invisible and incomprehensible and cannot
be represented by any image or picture the same with the Lord
Jesus Christ whereas of course you realize in the Roman Catholic
Church pictures and images abound you may know that in the Roman
Catholic Church it is very cleverly put the second commandment as
part of the first commandment and divided the tenth commandment
into two parts so that they still have ten commandments the reason
they've done this is so that any image for instance of Jesus
or the saints is supposed to be acceptable since in some way
it represents the true God and is not forbidden directly under
the second commandment it's been a very clever strategy of the
Roman Catholic Church to get round this prohibition. Now even
sadly in Protestant churches, as you know, pictures of Christ
have come in. Gordon Clarke in his commentary
on the Westminster Confession of Faith mentions a certain Baptist
seminary, I won't tell you its name, where in the prayer room
for the students there is a rail for them to kneel at and right
in front of them is a picture of Jesus in a Protestant Baptist
seminary. Also you notice, in any way not
prescribed in Holy Scripture. Now this is violated by the Roman
Catholic Church and sadly in many, many Protestant churches. For instance, the institution
of festival days, the requirement for ministers to wear vestments,
the use of altars, as in the High Anglican Church, which still
claims to be a Protestant church, the sign of the cross, kneeling
at communion, and various other innovations by men. Let me say in summary, we have
no other guardian, my friends, of the purity of true biblical
worship when this principle is abandoned. When we no longer
recognize that the acceptable worship of God is instituted,
limited, and prescribed by Him the gates are wide open to any
kind of human innovation and that's why you see true biblical
worship is indeed transgenerational and transnational so that if
a church is following true biblical worship whether I worship here
or in France or in Ethiopia or in the Sudan I should be perfectly
at home in a biblical church that is following the regulative
principle whereas, as you know, the very opposite usually obtains. It's a wonderful, uniting principle
when the church observes it fully and accurately. Now, the second
section, very brief, and on this also a very brief comment. Religious
worship is to be given to God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost
to him alone, not to angels, saints, or any other creature,
and since the fall, not without a mediator, nor in the mediation
of any but of Christ alone. And it deals with the object
of our worship, which is God in Trinity, and clearly we are
permitted to worship any of the three persons, Father, Son, or
Holy Spirit, though normally worship is addressed to the Father
through the Son by the aid of the Holy Spirit and this section
is clearly against the Roman Catholic erroneous teaching that
angels, saints and the Virgin Mary may be worshipped some of
you have Roman Catholic background you know that Latria is worship
offered to God distinguished from Dulia which is supposed
to be worship offered to saints and then distinguished again
from Hyperdulia which is the worship offered to the supposed
Virgin Mary, all without any scriptural validation, and in
the end, idolatry. Not without a mediator. You know,
Adam was in a different position from us, wasn't he? He didn't
need a mediator. He could hold communion directly
with God. Our state is different, and yet
in some ways more wonderful that we come before a holy God, sinners
as we are, in the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then,
if you look at section 3, it's devoted to prayer as a part of
worship. Very interesting that the Westminster
Divide singled out prayer and its importance as a separate
section. Two sections in fact, 3 and 4
you notice, Prayer with thanksgiving being one special part of religious
worship is by God required of all men and that it may be accepted
it is to be made in the name of the Son by the help of the
Spirit according to his will with understanding, reverence,
humility, fervency, faith, love and perseverance and if vocal
in a known tongue then it is to be made, section 4, for things
lawful all sorts of men living, or shall live hereafter, but
not for the dead, nor for those of whom it may be known that
they have sinned the sin unto death. Just a few brief comments,
if I may, on these two sections. It's singled out clearly the
subject of prayer is because of its importance. I wonder how
important we regard prayer as an element of biblical worship. Whether we regard it as almost
putting a penny in a slot rather than a living trade with heaven
itself the divines evidently viewed it as a living trade between
the redeemed soul and the powers of heaven itself you notice briefly
that all men have a duty to pray to God even though we recognize
they cannot pray the Lord's Prayer our Father who art in heaven
and so forth nevertheless, as we were reminded in section 1
because God is their Creator and their Preserver all men have
a duty to pray to Him even though they cannot pray acceptably in
their unregenerate state they can pray what is sometimes called
the sinner's prayer God have mercy upon me a sinner and there
is scriptural evidence both in the Old Testament and New Testament
that sinners can and ought to pray to God it is a greater sin
for them not to pray Now how are we to pray in the name of
the Son and by the help of the Spirit? We know that from Romans
8 verse 26 and verse 29 we are to pray according to God's will
with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love
and perseverance. Now all of those, one could spend
a single exposition on each one of those terms but you notice
also that we are to pray in a known language, contrary to the Roman
Catholic practice until relatively recent times of conducting all
of its services and its prayers in the Latin language which was
largely unknown. I think I reminded you in a previous
exposition that because the priest used the Latin language even
in the Mass, and as the priest elevated the host, as he called
it, in the Mass, what we would properly call the communion service,
he said, Hoc est corpus meum. And it sounded to English ears
like Hocus Pocus. Hoc est corpus meum. Hocus Pocus. And that's in fact where we get
the term Hocus Pocus from. the English misunderstanding
of the Latin term and of course it was hocus-pocus in a real
sense as well. Now what he does say to us of
course is the modern practice of syncretism is very unacceptable
where we have combined worship services as we do in this nation
unfortunately even at the level of our national civic leaders
calling for a Roman Catholic priest and a Protestant clergyman
and a Jewish rabbi and even a Muslim cleric to share in the same service
of prayer it is wrong, it is syncretism because we are to
pray in the name of the Son by the help of the Spirit and that
alone constitutes acceptable prayer before God for all things
lawful, you notice, that's wonderful, isn't it? not just for religious
needs but for all kinds of other needs that believers have for
men living now and hereafter but not for the dead I wonder
if we pray in our families not only for our children but for
our grandchildren who are not yet born Lord, may our witness,
may our life as Christian parents and the practice of our Christian
faith have such an effect not only on our children in our family
but through them for grandchildren and great-grandchildren prayer
is to be made not only for men living but for those who will
follow hereafter but in no way you notice for the dead again
a rejection of the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory And then
finally, a reference to sin unto death, we are not to pray for
those who are guilty of the sin that is unto death. It's a mysterious
reference and probably they meant those who are known persistently
and willfully to reject the gospel. 1 John 5 verse 16, they pass
beyond the point of no return in blasphemy against the Holy
Spirit and his work, and no prayer is to be offered. Well, the other
prescribed elements in section 5, the reading of scripture with
godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the
word in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith and reverence,
singing of psalms with grace in the heart, as also the due
administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted
by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of
God. besides religious oaths and vows, solemn fastings and
thanksgivings upon special occasions which are in their several times
and seasons to be used in a holy and religious manner. Now again, just some very brief
comments on this section. These and these only are the
authorised elements of worship. comment on each one of them if
I may. The reading of Scripture with
godly fear is a part of worship. That's why we have the regular
reading of the Old and New Testament Scriptures in our services. I
reminded you some time ago of the words of the great Puritan
John Owen. I want to quote them again to
you. In one of his writings, he says this, the Jews front
as peace, that's their forward, to their own great Bible is the
saying of Jacob upon the vision of God that he had at Bethel.
How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house
of God. This is the gate of heaven. if
you understand what John Owen is saying in the front of the
great Jewish Bible is this quotation from the book of Genesis when
God revealed himself to Jacob at Bethel how dreadful is this
place it is none other than the house of God it is the gate of
heaven and John Owen adds so ought we to look upon the word
of God with a holy awe and reverence of the presence of God in it Let me ask you, is this your
response and attitude in heart? Is it mine? As we open the scriptures
and we read them in our public services of worship, how dreadful
is this place? How awesome is this place as
we open the book? This is none other than the house
of God, the very gate of heaven. Wonderful when you think of it,
the reading of scripture with godly fear, the sound preaching
and conscionable hearing, of the Word. And we need to remember
that preaching is of a very high authority. Calvin said that preaching
as a faithful exposition and interpretation of God's Word
is as much the Word of God as if men heard the very words pronounced
by God Himself. That's a tremendously high view
of preaching, isn't it? If it's faithful to Scripture
and a faithful exposition Calvin says it's equivalent to men hearing
the very pronouncement of God himself and when you think for
instance of Peter's address in Acts 10 to Cornelius it says
while Peter spoke these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them
that heard the words you notice that, his words, Peter's words
and the word in other words, God was speaking through the
words of Peter and it confirms Calvin's very high view of the
preaching office and you notice that conscionable hearing is
part of the worship of God in other words, our own response
to the reading of scripture you know often a minister can tell
by the very vibes that come back from a congregation when scripture
is being read or preached but a congregation is either hearing
that word conscionably or they're rejecting it and resenting it
conscionable hearing, part of worship the singing of psalms
with grace in the heart There's no mention of hymns, you notice
that, hymns of human composition, and there's no question whatever
that in writing the Westminster Standards, the Westminster Divines
did mean literally the Psalter, the 150 inspired Psalms. They are true to Christian experience,
they are faithful to God's revelation, they are full of Christ. and
they were enjoined in the Old Testament as part of the ordinary
worship of God distinguished from the ceremonial worship of
God and under the New Testament far from being abrogated and
set aside they were confirmed for the church's use. How do
we know this? Ephesians 5 verse 19 and Colossians
3 verse 60 where in both passages it speaks of singing to the Lord
with grace in the heart, you remember Psalms and Hymns and
Spiritual Songs and that division, Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs
is a reference to the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as
the Septuagint where the title over the Book of Psalms is Psalms,
Hymns and Spiritual Songs so Paul was not mentioning hymns
of human composition in any sense he was mentioning the threefold
division of the inspired Psalter as being the praise book of the
New Testament Church and many scholars if you read commentaries
on these passages are forced to admit that this is indeed
what Paul was instructing moreover it's confirmed by the example
of the Lord Jesus remember on the way to the Garden of the
Agony, the Garden of Gethsemane Matthew 26 verse 30, they sang
a psalm and we all believe that this was part of the Hallel Psalms
that would be sung immediately before the Passover observation.
In Acts 16 this morning I reminded you verse 25 that when Paul and
Silas sang praises in the prison in Philippi without any question
they sang psalms that they had memorized and used regularly
in their previous synagogue worship. So, in summary, the Psalms were
originally intended by God for His Old Testament public worship
but they're equally adapted to the church now and there is no
indication in the New Testament of their abolition. Far further
than that, there is every evidence of their continuance. Matthew Henry, interestingly
enough, commenting on Psalm 145 verse 1 I will extol thee and
bless thy name forever says this that what is indicated here is
the Psalms are to be made use of in the church for praising
God to the very end of time I will extol thee and bless thy name
forever and ever they are to be used in the church for praising
God to the very end of time. Now you notice the other element
is the sacraments instituted by Christ. These are dealt with
in later chapters, we pass over them. Religious oaths and vows,
part of religious worship, they're dealt with later, we pass over
them. Solemn fastings and thanksgivings, these are occasional, you notice,
not regular. So while stated holy days should
not be instituted in the church, since there is no warrant in
scripture, for instance Easter is a human innovation there is
no requirement in the New Testament or indication that this should
be observed so is Christmas as one of the Puritans said when
he was asked do you celebrate Christmas he said we do not celebrate
Christ mass nor any other kind of mass and of course he was
biblically correct So, while stated festivals have no warrant
in scripture, they may be set aside by lawful authority for
fasting or thanksgiving when extraordinary dispensations of
God's providence require this. But you notice these are occasional,
they're not regular. Now, very quickly, as I finish,
Oh, we have section 6, it briefly finishes, I'm sorry, the subject
of worship. If you look at section 6 without
my reading it there, you notice it really deals with buildings
as well as with family worship and private worship. There we're
reminded that no buildings are sacred or should be consecrated
as sacred, because there's nothing edifying about wood or glass. or pews, or architectural design,
that these should not be depended upon to create an atmosphere
for worship. Of course, the Roman Catholic
Church goes haywire on things like this. You notice family
worship is mentioned there. and it has great blessings of
both temporal and spiritual prosperity for those who follow it, and
all families should follow it. It's also the most effective
means of propagating the gospel. For our families, hopefully for
their children, our grandchildren, and then their children, great-grandchildren. Most effective means of propagating
the true religion from generation to generation. Now that's not
ruling out evangelism in other ways but it is so important. Private worship is mentioned
and then also public worship that God is eminently honoured
and he delights to honour his ordinances of worship when they
are rightly used. Now section 7 and 8, on the Sabbath
day it's the law of nature that in general a due proportion of
time be set apart for the worship of God and so forth and there
is a perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages concerning
the Sabbath day to be kept holy to him from the beginning of
the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of
the week from the resurrection of Christ onward you notice it
has been changed to the Lord's day the first day of the week
to be continued to the end of the world. And then section 8
gives some direction as to how to keep the Sabbath day. I'm
just going to say a few sentences on this and then we're through.
You notice that section 7 there tells us it was a creation ordinance. It wasn't something that arose
at Mount Sinai in the Ten Commandments that goes back to creation itself.
Under the Old Testament it was the seventh day and under the
New Testament by the example of the Apostles and so forth,
it has been changed to the first day for instance in Revelation
1 verse 10 remember John the Apostle is in the Spirit on the
Lord's Day and the word Lords there is the same word that is
used to describe the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 so clearly
the New Testament church recognized it was by the authority of the
Lord Jesus through his apostles the day was changed and the final
section there tells us instructions on the observation of the Sabbath
not the loose view in the Lutheran church and the Roman Catholic
church and some continental reformed churches but we should prepare
by due preparation of heart ordering our common affairs beforehand
so we can be free to give much of our time and our whole attention
to the things of God on His day and a holy rest from works, words,
thoughts about our worldly employments and giving our whole time in
public and private exercise of His worship. Well, it's a very
high standard and I think we all feel we fall short of that
full and biblical observation of the Lord's Day. it's not legalistic,
it's something we should observe with joy and with wonder and
recognize that the use of that day implies that all our days
belong to the Lord as someone has said, it's an opportunity
every week to put our foot back into paradise to enter that blessing
that God gave to Adam in his innocence and if Adam in his
innocence needed the Sabbath day, to remind him of his obligation
to the Lord and to worship the Lord in fullness, how much more
do we need that in our fallen condition? The great privilege
of putting our foot, as it were, back into Paradise itself. Well,
it's a great subject, I'm sorry that we can't go into it in greater
detail, but there are many things, I think, to instruct us and to
encourage us. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank
Thee again for this great subject that is dealt with so fully in
many parts of the Scriptures, and which we need so much to
be committed to, since Thine honour is involved. Help us,
Our Father, to be more consistent in our understanding of these
principles, and in the principles of the privilege and observance
of the Lord's Day, that Thy name may be honoured and glorified
more and more. by our godly and Christ-centred
living, in Jesus' name.
(22) - Worship and the Sabbath
Series What Presbyterians Believe
| Sermon ID | 9922212438540 |
| Duration | 47:58 |
| Date | |
| Category | Sunday Service |
| Language | English |
Documents
Add a Comment
Comments
No Comments
© Copyright
2026 SermonAudio.