14 - Worship God Regularly
Worship In Spirit and Truth • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 34:31
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· 10 viewsMorning 27th June 2025
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7 But you, you are to be feared! Who can stand before you when once your anger is roused? 8 From the heavens you uttered judgment; the earth feared and was still, 9 when God arose to establish judgment, to save all the humble of the earth. Selah
6 “ ‘I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 7 “ ‘You shall have no other gods before me. 8 “ ‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 9 You shall not bow down to them or serve them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 10 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 11 “ ‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 12 “ ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 14 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 or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 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. 16 “ ‘Honour your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 17 “ ‘You shall not murder. 18 “ ‘And you shall not commit adultery. 19 “ ‘And you shall not steal. 20 “ ‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. 21 “ ‘And you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbour’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour’s.’
Introduction
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8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, 10 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. 11 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.
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12 “ ‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 14 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 or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 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.
We are commanded to worship God and give him the honour that is his due. Every moment of our lives are to be lived in an attitude of worship. But God has given us one day that is to be totally given over to him. The command is crystal clear Six days you shall labour and do all your work, 14 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 or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.
Steve made it very clear last week that proper observance of the Sabbath or, as it is now, Sunday is a glorious blessing from God for the benefit for the whole of creation, especially for all mankind and supremely for true believers.
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27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
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1. Creation Ordinances
1. Creation Ordinances
Creation ordinances are principles established by God at the beginning of creation to regulate all aspects of human life - John Murray
Dominion over creation. Subdue -
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
Marriage and procreation
28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. 25 And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
Work
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.
Sabbath
1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 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. 3 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.
One thing about the Ten Commandments upon which all Christians will agree is that the fourth is the most controversial. Yet this Commandment happens to be the one that offers the greatest blessing and is cast in the most positive way; it is one of only two Commandments that begin with a positive encouragement rather than a negative prohibition. Edwards, B. H. (2002). The Ten Commandments for today (2nd ed., p. 116). Day One Publications.
It is no surprise that world rejects the Sabbath principle. What is so hurtful to God is that so many professing Christians effectively reject it.
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2. The Sabbath Principle
2. The Sabbath Principle
It is clear that God has established the Sabbath for our benefit. We, however observe on the first day of the week, Sunday. I will be looking at the reasons in a future session. A number of Christians reject the principle of it being a binding law for them.
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a. God Rested
a. God Rested
2 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. 3 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.
Steve made it clear last week that if God rested from all of his work then none of us would be here. He rested from the work of creating.
God didn’t need six days to create he could have it all in a micro second.
Brian Edwards suggests if we created we would do it differently
Day One -Light
Day Two - Sky
Day Three - Dry ground
Day Four - Vegetation
Day Five - The Planets, Sun. Moon and Stars
Day Six - Water creatures
Day Seven - Flying creatures
Day Eight - Animals
Day Nine - Human Race
Day Ten - Day of Rest
One thing is certain, the seven-day cycle appears to fit human requirements perfectly. Verna Wright, (1928 - 1998) as Professor of Rheumatology at Leeds University and a Consultant Adviser to the Department of Health and Social Security, commented on the wisdom of this seven-day cycle of work and rest. He noted that just as the body requires its twenty-four hour cycle, so the one in seven rest day fits perfectly the needs of the body and mind in modern man. Edwards, B. H. (2002). The Ten Commandments for today (2nd ed., p. 121). Day One Publications.
The sabbath principle is seen throughout the Scriptures.
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23 he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside to be kept till the morning.’ ”
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13 “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 honourable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 14 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.”
3. When Christ Came
3. When Christ Came
27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
Steve dealt with this last week and you can listen to his sermon online. If you need details please ask.
I just want underline what was said,
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a. The Sabbath Was Made
a. The Sabbath Was Made
27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.
Made - ginomai - to come to pass
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
10 He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him.
Immediately this leads us back to the plan in creation. The Sabbath was one of God’s great acts of creation; its origin was not in Exodus 20. After his work in creation, the Sabbath came into being. God had no other creative act after he had made the Sabbath. Edwards, B. H. (2002). The Ten Commandments for today (2nd ed., p. 125). Day One Publications.
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b. Made for Mankind
b. Made for Mankind
Secondly, the Sabbath was made for man; ‘mankind’ is the word and it refers to the human race rather than to male gender. Our Lord did not say ‘for Israel’ and although it is argued that since he is talking to Jews the word is to be understood in that context, he at least implies that it was for all mankind. Edwards, B. H.
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c. Made for Man
c. Made for Man
Thirdly, we are told the Sabbath was made for man. That means it was made for the benefit and well-being of mankind. Edwards, B. H. (2002). The Ten Commandments for today (2nd ed., p. 125). Day One P
Significantly, Christ did not take his hearers back to Exodus but to Genesis. The day was made so that through it God could bless the whole of the human race and Christ endorsed that creation plan of God. Neither the action of the disciples nor the instruction of Christ in Mark 2 can be taken as a down-grading of the Sabbath. Edwards, B. H. (2002). The Ten Commandments for today (2nd ed., p. 125). Day One Publications.
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4. Paul and the Sabbath
4. Paul and the Sabbath
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a. Command
a. Command
5 One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
Paul is referring to the observance of both Jewish and Christian festival days which we are at perfect liberty to invent and observe if we wish—providing we do not make them mandatory for others. The celebration of a Harvest Sunday, Good Friday, Easter day, Pentecost and Christmas day, and any other Christian ‘holy-day’ is a matter of personal preference—and nothing more. We are neither wrong nor right to celebrate them, but we are certainly wrong to make them a rule for others, or to think less of those who choose to ignore such days altogether
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.
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b. Synagogue Attendance
b. Synagogue Attendance
The apostles used the synagogue meetings on the Sabbath day as an evangelistic opportunity but also because that was their custom.
14 but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down.
In Philippi
13 And on the Sabbath day we went outside the gate to the riverside, where we supposed there was a place of prayer, and we sat down and spoke to the women who had come together.
In Thessalonica
2 And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures,
Conclusion
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8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labour, and do all your work, 10 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.
