The Day Observed #5

The point: Consider how to use the hours of the Lord's Day in the way best suited to doing the revealed will of God.

Martin quotes the confession of faith, borrowing from Westminster and Savoy, to provide a foundational framework for the proper observance of the Christian Sabbath, emphasizing rest and engagement in worship and duties of necessity/mercy.

Now, I have commended to you the answer to that question given by our Puritan forefathers. As embodied in our confession of faith, language borrowed from the Westminster Confession and from the Savoy Declaration.

1:16 - 1:29 Read in full sermon

The point: Cease from the works of ordinary employment (necessity and mercy excepted), recreations, and worldly thoughts/words on God's day.

Martin uses the historical context of Isaiah 58, where the Lord condemns Israel's outwardly religious but inwardly disobedient practices, to illustrate that mere external observance of the Sabbath is insufficient without a heart devoted to God's commands.

If you turn away 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, and shall honor it, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you will delight yourself in the Lord, and I will give you to ride upon the high, or I will make you to ride upon the high places of the earth, and I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. Now when we examined this text, we saw the importance of understanding the context and ...

6:08 - 7:36 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section argues that the Sabbath is not a day for recreation, distinguishing it from the legitimate need for recreation on the other six days. Martin refutes the slander…

Martin addresses the common slander that Puritans were gloomy and opposed to recreation, clarifying that they only opposed recreation on the Lord's Day, not on other days of the week, and even proposed a day for recreation for workers.

Now, the slander, and I'm sure many of you have heard it, the slander is frequently heard that the Puritans were sour, gloomy people who were opposed to recreation. That's not true. Nothing could be further from the truth. That is a lie.

20:45 - 21:04 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section argues that the Sabbath is not a day for recreation, distinguishing it from the legitimate need for recreation on the other six days. Martin refutes the slander…

Martin quotes William Burkett to show that Puritans understood the necessity and expediency of diversion and recreation for the mind and body, countering the false narrative that they were against it entirely.

I don't know how that began. I think it began because of the attitude to recreation on the Lord's Day. But they did not object to lawful recreations on the other days of the week. In fact, at one point during the Puritan Parliament in England, it was even proposed, though it did not pass into law, that every other Tuesday be set apart as a day of recreation for working people, so that there would be an opportunity for the refreshment of mind and body. But the slander is frequently heard that the Puritans were sour, gloomy people who didn't believe in recreation, who thought it was a waste of t...

21:04 - 22:18 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: This section argues that the Sabbath is not a day for recreation, distinguishing it from the legitimate need for recreation on the other six days. Martin refutes the slander…

Martin quotes Thomas Cartwright, who argued that neglecting honest recreation could be a breach of the Sixth Commandment (against murder), illustrating the Puritan recognition of the need for physical and mental refreshment.

I don't know how that began. I think it began because of the attitude to recreation on the Lord's Day. But they did not object to lawful recreations on the other days of the week. In fact, at one point during the Puritan Parliament in England, it was even proposed, though it did not pass into law, that every other Tuesday be set apart as a day of recreation for working people, so that there would be an opportunity for the refreshment of mind and body. But the slander is frequently heard that the Puritans were sour, gloomy people who didn't believe in recreation, who thought it was a waste of t...

21:04 - 22:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Regard watching television, engaging in sports, playing games, reading secular literature, attending plays/fairs, pursuing hobbies/crafts, shopping, fishing/hunting, hiking/boating/skiing, and using computers for interne…

Martin quotes Thomas Shepard advising his son to recreate himself to avoid weariness from study, further demonstrating that Puritans valued recreation on weekdays.

that the Sixth Commandment is broken when a person quote, uses not honest recreation wherewith his health may be maintained for we must not think that there are no more ways to kill oneself but with a knife. He understood we can work ourselves to death. There was a legitimate application of the Sixth Commandment which fell out in the recognition of the need of lawful recreations. Thomas Shepard, famous for his multi-volume work called the Thesis Sabbaticae, or Thesis, or Work on the Sabbath, advised his son at college, quote, weary not your body, mind, or eyes with long pouring on your books. ...

22:18 - 23:18 Read in full sermon

The point: Regard watching television, engaging in sports, playing games, reading secular literature, attending plays/fairs, pursuing hobbies/crafts, shopping, fishing/hunting, hiking/boating/skiing, and using computers for interne…

Martin lists specific recreational activities that Puritans deemed impermissible on the Lord's Day (e.g., cudgel throwing, Morris dancing) to illustrate the historical application of the principle of ceasing from worldly pleasures.

The Puritans were quite open about the things they did not believe were permissible on the Lord's Day when it came to recreations. They have long lists in some of their works. When it came to use of the Lord's Day, they were not doing it. When it came to use of the Sabbath, for example, they spoke against such things as cudgel throwing and stool ball and Morris dancing and maypoles and cock fighting and fouling and such things.

24:04 - 24:28 Read in full sermon

The point: Guard against excessive sleeping on the Sabbath to the neglect of positive duties, as it can lead to a degrading of the day.

Martin quotes F.W. Farrar to emphasize the danger of degrading the Sabbath through excessive sleep and gluttony, arguing that such idleness is worse than continuous labor.

F.W. Farrar expresses better than I can the danger that I'm urging you to guard against. If, he says, Sunday only means a heavier sleep and a more gluttonous dinner than usual, it is not only wasted but degraded. If that's all the day is, if your practical use of the day is one in which all it means is that I'm going to sleep more and eat more. He says, if that is reality, if Sunday only means a heavier sleep and a more gluttonous dinner than usual, it is not only wasted but degraded. It becomes less holy and more deleterious than even continuous labor.

36:57 - 37:42 Read in full sermon

The point: Resist pressure from unconverted relatives to spend the Lord's Day in activities contrary to God's will, even if it means avoiding family functions.

Martin uses the example of succumbing to pressure from unconverted relatives for family functions (birthdays, anniversaries, picnics) on Sundays to illustrate how following inclinations can lead to profaning the Sabbath and losing its benefits.

As another example of how following our inclinations can lead us to degrade the day, consider what happens on a practical level when we cave into pressure from unconverted relatives and spend a good portion if not all of God's day basically doing what they want us to do.

38:23 - 38:45 Read in full sermon

The point: Be especially careful of passing comments immediately after the preaching of the Word, as they can cut off the impressions of the Spirit.

Martin shares his personal experience of brothers making innocent comments after a sermon that 'cut off the cord of the impressions of the Spirit,' illustrating the need for careful speech even after worship services.

At that point, especially when such conversations take place close to services of worship, their tendency is to move our minds away from sacred things to our own business, to our own pleasures, to our own worldly concerns. And I would guard you to be especially careful even of passing comments immediately after the preaching of the Word.

46:26 - 46:50 Read in full sermon

The point: Banish thoughts about business, recreation, or other worldly concerns from your mind on God's Day, seeking to give your mind and heart completely to the things of God.

Martin recounts that Professor John Murray, an avid sports fan, would not speak of sports on God's day, serving as an example of a high standard of Sabbath observance regarding thoughts and words.

It is said of Professor John Murray that although he was an avid sports fan, he would not think God helping him. He would not speak of sports on God's day. Now, perhaps we hear such a thing, and we're tempted to think that Professor Murray was too strict with himself. Perhaps we're tempted to think that he was some kind of relic from a bygone age.

49:07 - 49:34 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Two powerful examples, Eric Liddell and India Hayes, are presented to illustrate the commitment to Sabbath keeping even at the cost of worldly achievement, emphasizing the greater…

Martin references Eric Liddell's famous decision to forgo an Olympic medal event because it fell on the Lord's Day, illustrating self-denial and commitment to Sabbath observance.

Now many of you will have seen the movie Chariots of Fire, will know the name of Eric Little, and how Little passed by a gold medal in one event because it would have required him to compete on the Lord's day. You will not know the name of India Hayes, but were it not for her commitment to keeping God's Sabbath, perhaps her name would be as familiar to you as that of Eric Little.

51:53 - 52:17 Read in full sermon

In this part of the sermon: Two powerful examples, Eric Liddell and India Hayes, are presented to illustrate the commitment to Sabbath keeping even at the cost of worldly achievement, emphasizing the greater…

Martin tells the story of India Hayes, a top-ranked Olympic fencer who resigned from the U.S. team rather than compete on Sundays, providing a contemporary example of sacrificing worldly success for Sabbath keeping and a good conscience.

When I first met India, she was a member of the U.S. Olympic fencing team. She was ranked very high in the world, and likely would have meddled at the next Olympics.

52:18 - 52:28 Read in full sermon