Change of the Day - Part 1

In this part of the sermon: Martin illustrates the difference between natural and positive law using Adam's command not to eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and New Covenant ordinances like…

The command to Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil illustrates a positive law, as there was nothing inherently wrong with the tree itself, but the command tested Adam's submission to God's authority.

I've mentioned this already several times, so this is kind of a review. But when Adam was in the Garden of Eden, as created in the image of God, there was the law written upon his heart, an innate consciousness of his obligations to God within his heart. The work of the law was written in his heart. Adam understood that he must not lie, he must not murder or steal or take God's name in vain and so on.

12:07 - 12:33 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Natural law never changes, but positive laws can be changed and sometimes are.

Baptism and the Lord's Supper are used as examples of positive laws in the New Covenant, as they are not part of natural law and only became moral obligations because God instituted them.

And it was a test of Adam's submission to God's authority. It was a positive law in addition to the law of nature. Okay? Baptism and the Lord's Supper are also examples of positive law.

13:17 - 13:32 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces a second distinction: between the core commands of the Ten Commandments and the supplementary data or enforcements attached to them, illustrating how these…

The introduction to the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, using Israel's redemption from Egyptian bondage as motivation, illustrates supplementary data that is specific to the Old Covenant, contrasting it with the New Covenant's motivation of redemption from sin through Christ.

But the enforcements. Enforcements and supplementary data attached to them in the Old Testament may vary and even change. For example, how is the read the first two verses of Exodus 20, how the Ten Commandments are introduced in Exodus 20? Someone want to read that with a good loud voice?

20:12 - 20:35 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The command is perpetual. The enforcement is provisional.

The promise attached to the Fifth Commandment in Exodus, concerning long life in the land of Canaan, is used to show how supplementary data can change, as Paul re-applies it in Ephesians to a broader, eternal inheritance for New Covenant believers.

We have been redeemed from Egyptian bondage, but we have been redeemed from sin. You remember, we saw what we saw concerning the fifth command, the fifth commandment. Attached to the fifth commandment there in Exodus is the promise that your days may be long upon the land that the Lord your God gives you. Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land that the Lord your God gives you, which is a reference to the land of Canaan.

21:19 - 21:46 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The sermon explores the ambiguity in Hebrew ordinal numbers and historical difficulties in precisely determining the 'seventh day' in the Old Testament, suggesting that the exact…

An analogy of a camping trip starting on Tuesday, where 'first day' refers to Tuesday, illustrates how Hebrew ordinal numbers can refer to a sequence rather than a fixed named day, highlighting ambiguity in the Sabbath command's day specification.

In the Hebrew language, ordinal numbers, first, second, third, and so on, are used in two different ways. Sometimes as names for the days of the week, like our Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and so on. At other times, simply with reference to a sequence of days. For example, imagine that I take my boys camping.

24:01 - 24:25 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin highlights the human element in establishing calendars and the international date line, demonstrating that the precise day of Sabbath observance is not an absolute…

The international date line is used as an example of a human decision in calendar establishment, demonstrating that the precise determination of days, and thus the Sabbath, involves a human element and can lead to a day being the Sabbath on one side of the line but not the other.

For example, God is not revealed to us in the Bible. Where to put the international date line on the planet Earth? Human beings have made that decision. By the way, the international date line sits on the 180th line of longitude in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

29:23 - 29:46 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin highlights the human element in establishing calendars and the international date line, demonstrating that the precise day of Sabbath observance is not an absolute…

The hypothetical scenario of people lost on a desert island who have forgotten the day of the week but decide to observe a Sabbath illustrates that in the absence of precise historical knowledge, choosing a regular sequence of one day in seven is acceptable, underscoring the positive nature of the specific day.

There has to be some place where the time changes, and this is the date line that's been determined. Alright, now let's imagine a group of people lost on a desert island. That would be kind of a pretty desert island to be lost on. I don't know how you'd ever get any further than that spot right there, with that big mount behind you, but anyhow.

31:55 - 32:17 Read in full sermon