The Sabbath in the Prophets #4

In this part of the sermon: Pastor Martin begins by acknowledging the warm weather and then reviews the series on the Christian Sabbath, reiterating the central question: Is there still a Christian Sabbath?…

Martin uses the presence or absence of air conditioning and his experience growing up in the South to relate to the audience about the heat, aiming to lighten the mood before serious study.

I can look out on your faces and probably predict who has air conditioning at home and who doesn't.

0:21 - 0:27 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Martin continues the historical survey of the Sabbath in the Old Testament prophets, touching on Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Nehemiah's emphasis on Sabbath-keeping. He then contrasts…

This metaphor illustrates the contrasting attitudes towards the Sabbath: one path of unrighteousness (doing one's own ways) and another of righteousness (delighting in the Sabbath).

and we saw there expressed in the attitude of the merchants that Amos denounced, we saw there an attitude which regarded the day as a burden, as a wearisome burden to be cast off, and to be done with as quickly as possible. And then coming to Isaiah chapter 58, we saw a contrasting attitude towards the day. A day in which the Sabbath day was not regarded as a burden, but a day in which it was regarded as a delight and honorable to the Lord. And we used the image, the illustration, of a gate opening onto two pathways.

5:00 - 5:42 Read in full sermon

Driving home: The significance of the words that verse 14 ends with, the significance of the words, for the mouth of Jehovah, or the mouth of the Lord hath spoken, the meaning, the importance of those words, is found in the security, …

Martin uses Jeremiah's commissioning (Jeremiah 1:12) to illustrate the certainty and authority of God's spoken word, reinforcing the infallibility of the promises in Isaiah 58.

When the Lord commissioned Jeremiah to be His prophet, the Lord told him that He would speak what He commanded him. Jeremiah, you will speak what I command you. The Lord told him that in speaking what He commanded him, to that end, He would put His words in his mouth. He says to Jeremiah, I will put My words in your mouth.

10:11 - 10:39 Read in full sermon

Driving home: Nothing could have been furthered. Nothing could have been furthered from the truth. The Puritans did not pass the Sabbath day in a joyless, barren, a wearying way. They found in it, as we saw in that quote from Swinnock…

Martin refutes the common criticism that Puritans viewed the Sabbath as joyless, asserting that they regarded it as a 'queen of days' and a 'haven of rest,' full of joy and delight.

Now, so often in hearing criticism of the Puritans who in church history since the time of the Apostles perhaps stand tallest in their appreciation for the Sabbath day, sometimes in hearing criticisms of the Puritans, very often you will hear the criticism leveled, oh, what a joyless, pleasureless bunch the Puritans were, especially in their doctrine of the Sabbath. Nothing could have been furthered. Nothing could have been furthered from the truth.

15:54 - 16:20 Read in full sermon

The point: Make the experiment sincerely to keep the Sabbath day with your hearts engaged as God appointed, with the attitude and commitment to honor the Lord throughout the day.

Martin challenges listeners to sincerely keep the Sabbath as God appointed, promising that they will experientially discover the truth of delighting in the Lord.

And the truth of the matter is, and I invite you to make the experiment sincerely to make the experiment, that no one has, that no one has ever properly kept the Sabbath day with their hearts engaged in keeping the day as God appointed. Not coming to the day saying, well, I'll make the experiment, but my heart is really somewhere else. But come sincerely. Come sincerely with the attitude and the commitment and the disposition, I want to honor the Lord throughout the day.

17:49 - 18:21 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: The second blessing, 'I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth,' is interpreted by tracing its origin to Deuteronomy 32. Martin explains this imagery as God's…

Moses' description of God's care for Jacob (Deuteronomy 32:11-12) uses the analogy of an eagle caring for its young to illustrate God's intimate and protective relationship with His people.

And then there's the description of how God has cared for his inheritance. How he has acquired it and how he has cared for it. He found him, that is Jacob, in a desert land and in the waste howling wilderness he compassed him about. He cared for him.

20:49 - 21:07 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: To further confirm the Sabbath's New Covenant relevance, Martin expounds Isaiah 56:1-5, highlighting the inclusion of eunuchs in God's assembly. He argues that since eunuchs were…

Martin quotes Daniel Wilson to support the interpretation of Isaiah 56 as referring to the gospel age, where ceremonial laws are abolished but Sabbath obligation remains for eunuchs.

Daniel Wilson, commenting on this text, says, the prophet is here speaking of the gospel age when the ceremonial law which prohibited eunuchs from coming into the congregation of the Lord should be abolished.

43:46 - 43:58 Read in full sermon