Exodus 20:8-11 - The Fourth Commandment
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“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Introduction
Introduction
We are busy people.
This commandment commands us to rest.
A welcomed message.
A pattern set by God (20:11)
Points back to the creation
We are to remember God’s work in creation
Not because God needed rest
Rather it is the rest of joy in purposeful creation. In a job well done.
The sabbath is the first thing recorded in the Bible that God blessed (Gen. 2:3)
A. Blessing of rest
The Sabbath was for freedom and rest, unlike slavery in Egypt.
They worked every day in Egypt as slaves.
God is giving them a time for rest and worship.
It was a gift given for their benefit.
Jesus said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mark 2:27)
Compared to Pharoah, God is caring and compassionate of His people.
Through the Sabbath they were to remember their salvation as well as the creation.
You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.
The Importance and Relevance
The Importance and Relevance
Perpetuity
The Sabbath was given before the 10 Commandments, creation.
Creation ordinance
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.
Part of what it means to be a man.
We alone of the creation follow God in this pattern of rest.
“Remember the Sabbath” (20:8)
Universality
For everyone to observe - 20:10
Gentiles as well.
Sunday instead of Saturday –
Phil Ryken, “We no longer look back to the old exodus for our salvation; we look to Jesus Christ, who accomplished a greater exodus by dying for our sins and rising again. Jesus is the fulfillment of the fourth commandment, as he is of all the others. The Old Testament Sabbath pointed to the full and final rest that can only be found in him.”
The apostles made the change from the seventh to the first day for worship because it was the day that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead
On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.
On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.
The outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost occured when the church was gathered on the first day of the week. (Acts 2:1-36)
The Lord’s Day – Rev. 1:10, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day”
The Lordship of Christ was proven and affirmed by the Father at the resurrection.
The Early Church
The Didache (70-100 AD) gives instructions to gather together on the Lord’s day and worship. (14.1)
Ignatius wrote a letter to the Magnesians shortly before his martyrdom in 107-108 A.D.
Christians “no longer observe the Sabbath, but direct their lives toward the Lord’s day, on which our life is refreshed by Him and by His death.”
“Sunday is the day on which we all hold our common assembly” - Justin Martyr, First Apology (155-157 A.D.)
Spurgeon viewed this as a change from law to gospel. We rest first and then work in the strength God supplies.
Duties Required - Worship and Rest
Duties Required - Worship and Rest
Remember the past
continue to remember weekly
Remember His work and His name and praise Him.
Creation and Salvation (Christ - the Lord’s Day)
To keep it holy, is to sanctify it and set it apart.
It is different than every other day.
Give the day, as much as possible, to the Lord.
We are to work 6 days (9)
“Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places.
Work is a blessing. God gave work before the fall, in the garden of Eden (Gen. 2:15).
Work is now cursed Gen. 3:17, “cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;”
He has given us six days to fulfill our calling
He does not force on us the restless work of slavery that Israel experienced in Egypt.
He is merciful and gracious.
We begrudge God the one day that belongs to Him.
Applies to all regardless of paid employment (kids/students, home-maker, retired)
Preparing in advance
It is a day for worship.
Setting it apart for his glory and worship
Public and private
Works of necessity and mercy.
By resting from our work
Even from things that are permissible on other days.
Time with family (Teaching them - 20:10)
Employers are to care for their workers (20:10)
even their animals
Sins Forbidden
Sins Forbidden
Working (20:10)
“unnecessary thoughts, words, or works, about worldly employments or recreations” (Baptist Catechism 66)
Doing business
In those days I saw in Judah people treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in heaps of grain and loading them on donkeys, and also wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of loads, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them on the day when they sold food. Tyrians also, who lived in the city, brought in fish and all kinds of goods and sold them on the Sabbath to the people of Judah, in Jerusalem itself!
The seriousness of this sin - Numbers 15:32-36
While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. And the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.
Application
Application
Doing good does not break the Sabbath even if it is hard work.
Mt. 12:12 “Of how much more value is a man than a sheep! So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
Works of necessity and mercy - the church, hospitals, nursing homes, etc.
Trust and obey God’s Word.
Resting is one expression of our trust in God – We believe His Word and trust that He will provide for us.
We are better off for obeying.
God is the Lord of our schedules.
Sabbath is not observed by our culture anymore and the individualistic nature causes us to believe we are the ones who determine our schedule.
Imagine if the entire world lived this out.
Legalism – set of rules.
Our standing before God is not determined by our sabbath-keeping.
Their is room for freedom and Christian wisdom in the application of this.
Not looking for loopholes.
Our objective is to honor God in our observance of the Lord’s Day, not to see how much we can get away with.
Not judging others who apply the specifics differently.
Our ultimate rest is in the finished work of Jesus Christ.
This does not mean that the sabbath is abolished, it means it points us (reminds us) to look to Christ for our provision and rest.
Jesus said in Mt. 11:28-29, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
He came to do the work of the Father John 4:34
Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.
We give up our works when we come to Jesus and rest in Him and His finished work.
We find rest by trusting in Christ alone for our salvation. We find rest by no longer depending on our works, but rather on the finished work of our Savior, Jesus Christ.
Looking forward to that future eternal rest in Christ.
So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.
The weekly Lord’s Day is a foretaste of Heaven (or it should be)
The Sabbath is a blessing for us today.
We are busy and should be thankful for the rest God has given.
He has set aside one day a week for us to rest and worship Him together.
It is a day to express to the world that our treasure is in Christ and not the world.
If we do not like the Lord’s Day, it may be because we do not find joy in God, or His worship.
We find many other things to be more enjoyable.
“If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Closing Hymn:
Benediction: The God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.