The Sabbath in the Prophets #3

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces Amos 8:4-10, denouncing merchants who resented the Sabbath as a lost business opportunity. He explains their wicked attitude, contrasting their outward…

Martin quotes John Trapp, who observed that the merchants of Amos's day complained the Sabbath sun moved slower, grudging God's claim on the day. This illustrates the resentful attitude toward the Sabbath as a burden.

John, John Trapp commenting on this text observes that these servants of Mammon complained that on the Sabbath that the sun proceeded at a slower pace than on other days.

20:07 - 20:18 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces Amos 8:4-10, denouncing merchants who resented the Sabbath as a lost business opportunity. He explains their wicked attitude, contrasting their outward…

Martin uses the metaphor of God's law being like a chain or shackles that kept the merchants from doing as they pleased, causing them to chafe under the Sabbath. This illustrates the feeling of the Sabbath as a grievous burden.

To these men, God's law was like a chain, or it was like shackles that kept them from doing as they pleased. And they chafed under the Sabbath day as though to keep the Sabbath were to bear a grievous chafing yoke.

20:37 - 20:53 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin introduces Amos 8:4-10, denouncing merchants who resented the Sabbath as a lost business opportunity. He explains their wicked attitude, contrasting their outward…

Martin gives the example of South Center Mall being full of cars on Sunday morning, illustrating how modern society uses the Sabbath as a day of commerce, recreation, and entertainment, mirroring the sins denounced by Amos.

Do you think that God cares what is happening right now in our community? It's a quarter to twelve.

22:39 - 22:49 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Using the metaphor of a gate and two pathways, Martin contrasts the sinful path of doing one's own pleasure on God's day with the righteous path of honoring God and delighting in…

Martin uses the analogy of a moral decision concerning the Sabbath as a gate separating two pathways: one of sin (doing one's own pleasure) and one of righteousness (honoring God). This helps visualize the moral choice involved in Sabbath observance.

Now, if we can imagine the moral decision that we make concerning the Sabbath as a gate, a gate separating two pathways, each leading away from the gate in opposite directions.

36:43 - 37:00 Read in full sermon

The point: Pray for grace to increasingly call the Sabbath a delight, acknowledging the struggle against the flesh and the devil.

Martin describes the struggle to keep the Sabbath as being in a river with a fast current, constantly swimming against it. The current represents the flesh and indwelling sin, illustrating the difficulty of maintaining delight in the Sabbath.

We find ourselves constantly being pulled constantly being pulled. It's like being in a river with a fast current and we find ourselves almost constantly swimming against the current in keeping the day. The current's the flesh. Indwelling sin, remaining sin still wants to draw us away from God's holy ordinance.

54:33 - 54:54 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin concludes with a quotation from Puritan George Swinnock, extolling the Sabbath as a 'map of heaven' and 'market day of souls,' emphasizing the joy and rest it brings. He…

Martin quotes Puritan George Swinnock's eloquent description of the Sabbath as 'the map of heaven,' 'market day of souls,' and 'queen of days,' to convey the profound delight and blessedness that believers should find in it.

I'll close this morning with the words of the Puritan George Swinnock.

60:47 - 60:50 Read in full sermon