Remember the Sabbath #1

Introduction: The Fourth Commandment and its Disregard

0:00 This morning our attention is going to be fixed on verses 8 through 11 of Exodus 20.

0:15 Exodus 20, verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

0:22 Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy works. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.

0:52 Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

0:59 We come then this morning to the last of the commandments which summarize our duty to God.

1:06 It's only on the foundation of love to God that you're able to build the superstructure of love to your fellow men. Morality begins with duty, duty to God, and only secondarily does it encompass duties to our fellow men. And if you begin or set out to be a moral person by trying to do good works toward men, you will utterly fail, for that rests completely upon serving God first and foremost. The four great obligations which you have to God are summarized in the first four commandments.

1:44 The first commandment tells you that you have a duty to God, definite allegiance which you owe to God.

1:54 He demands a unique commitment to himself as your God, as your only God. You owe him worship, and only him. The second commandment tells you that there is a definite form of worship owed to him. Not the kind of worship that you devise with your own imagination, but that which he commands in his holy word.

2:20 The third commandment tells you that there is a definite attitude, that you owe to God. You are not to come to him with casual lightheartedness, but with a solemn fear of him within your heart. And the fourth commandment tells you that there is a definite time that you owe to him in worship. Every seventh day must be spent not as you choose, but as God chooses.

2:48 Now the great bulk of mankind totally ignore the fourth commandment. There is none of the ten commandments that is, more despised or scorned than the fourth commandment. There aren't too many people who reject all of the ten commandments. Almost everyone holds to one or two of them.

3:05 As a matter of fact, I think a majority would hold to most of them, that they are the obligations of men, the moral duties of man. But very few believe that the fourth commandment is relevant in 1969. If you today try to keep the Sabbath day, you're thought to be an antiquarian, some kind of a farce, a scuffle out of the past, the person who doesn't know what's going on today. For most people, Sunday belongs to the Baltimore cults and not to God.

3:40 Television and the highways are filled, but the churches are empty. No longer do people rest in the Lord on the seventh day or on the first day of the week. But it's a day of rest, not in order that men might delight themselves in God, but that men might delight themselves in the flesh. God said there is one day that must be set aside to me, and today in 1969, most of our society, most of the United States, is saying one day is going to be set aside for myself, to indulge myself in the things that I love to do the most, that I enjoy the most.

The Church's Culpability in Sabbath Disregard

4:20 The church is by far the one that is most to blame for this sad disregard of God's holy commandment in our generation. It's the church's fault, most of all, that people ignore the fourth commandment, because the church, to a large degree, itself has ignored the commandment and is ignoring this fourth commandment. And the church is teaching that it no longer does apply. The church has given to the world a cloak of approval for breaking this law and disregarding it altogether.

4:58 First, there are many in the church who have taught that all days are alike, all seven of them. There ought to be one in which a person rests for his own health and welfare, but all days are really alike and none of them are owed absolutely to God. They suggest that the Sabbath was a peculiar ceremonial idea of the old covenant that's now been disregarded because Jesus has come. And here the dispensationalists have done a great deal of damage because they, to a large extent in our generation, have fostered this particular sin of breaking a definite commandment of God by suggesting that it no longer obtains in 1969.

5:41 They say all days are alike. But not only has the church fostered disregard for the fourth commandment by its teaching, but also by its example. And there are far more people who have slipped into, as Christians, doing what the world does without any theological position. And many of you with sloppy teaching or thought with regard to this commandment have slipped into practices that gives the world the impression that all days are alike and there is no obligation to remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy.

6:15 The world has seen Christians playing on the Sabbath. Why shouldn't they play all day long? The world has seen Christians pursuing wealth on the Sabbath. Why shouldn't they?

6:25 The world looks at Christians who are careless about worship. If they want to spend a weekend in some other pursuit, they do it. So why shouldn't the world ignore all weekends and all of the Lord's days? Modern society is making it so easy to do business on God's day.

6:41 All the gas stations are open. That's the day they do the best business. All the Christians stop there on the way to church. All the stores make it available to pick up groceries and big business needs somebody to carry the work over until the next work week.

6:56 And modern society makes it so easy to pursue pleasure. We're a mobile society now. Traveling for a whole weekend, we can forget assembling with God's people on His day. And you can at least travel on God's day even if you're not having fun on that day.

7:13 And television makes it possible to have an entire day of entertainment. The world watch Christians, and Christians do spend two hours in the morning with Sunday school and church, but then they rush into the world's ways as quickly as they can shed their new clothes and get to the newspaper and the television. And then Christians who are hurrying away from the service of God to the ways of the world wonders why the world doesn't bother to spend any time in church. We observe the plain sense of the words in Exodus chapter 20, especially in verses 8 and 10, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

The Sabbath as God's Holy Day

7:53 What is to be kept holy? It is the day that belongs to the Lord. Not a token hour in the morning and a bonus hour at night, but a day. Remember the day to keep it holy.

8:06 And again, if you'll notice in verse 10, the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. It's a day that is separated by God unto Himself as being holy and sacred and belonging to Him. He says, in effect, in verse 9, look, I've given you six days to do what you want to do. Six whole days.

8:27 I'm saying give me one day. Not one hour, one day. The obligation to the Lord's day doesn't end when you attend Sunday school and church. The day is to be treated differently from all other days.

8:41 It's not yours to spend as you want to. The seventh belongs to Him. He staked the claim upon it. In Isaiah chapter 58 and verse 13 He calls it, my holy day.

8:53 It's mine. It's not yours, says God in His Word. And He indicates that here in Exodus 20. This morning I want to establish with you that the keeping of a Sabbath day is a perpetual obligation.

The Perpetual Obligation of Sabbath-Keeping

9:07 In weeks to come, we'll look at just how a Christian is to keep the Sabbath day. But this is important to establish. Most people do not keep the day holy unto God because they're not really sure that He's demanding that they do so. And many of the objections that are brought today against keeping a Sabbath are the very things that weaken a Christian in his determination to serve God on His holy day.

9:31 So we're going to look at the fact that it is a perpetual obligation. This is a moral requirement, absolutely essential to righteousness. It is not a peculiarity of the complex mosaic system of worship in another age. You've heard that learned and godly men have said that it's not necessary to keep the Sabbath today.

9:54 But beware of taking comfort from that. Because those who have been called learned and godly men have supported every error that the Church has ever heard of. Those who preach what the Word preaches are to be followed. And you are to search the Scriptures to see which ones are so.

10:15 According to the Ten Commandments, you are bound to spend a day serving the Lord, ceasing from your own ways, and doing what He requires. And this requirement will be brought before you in judgment. Just as much as God will judge men for being adulterers and thieves, He will judge them for breaking this commandment. It's as much a part of absolute morality as the commandment thou shalt not steal.

Argument 1: The Sabbath's Placement in the Decalogue

10:45 Well, how do we feel that it is a perpetual obligation, that you are obliged in 1969 to keep the commandment? First of all, you'll notice that this law is engraven on stone along with the other nine. Notice what the companions of this commandment are. And it will tell you something about this commandment itself.

11:10 Though some people dismiss this evidence lightly, I believe it's conclusive. The fourth commandment was written in the very midst of the other nine commandments. And it makes a great deal of difference that it was. God didn't save the commandment, remember the Sabbath day, for when He was dealing with the rules of sacrifice, later in Exodus.

11:30 He didn't merely record it when He was talking about the highly ceremonial building of the temple, or the tabernacle. But He thrust it right into the midst of the laws that are of the highest importance for every generation. It's joined to that list of rules that have the most durable character. The fourth commandment then draws dignity from the importance of its companions.

11:59 It's not found with ceremonial rules, but it's found with the most sacred moral laws that are to be observed in every generation. All of its fellows are of permanent obligation. All of the rest are essential to holiness. So that if you're going to rip the fourth commandment out of this code of conduct, you're going to have to have a good reason for doing it.

12:24 And you'll find that there are no good reasons for doing it. And those who have been honest and still have hated to admit that there is a moral obligation to keep a Sabbath day, have found themselves denying that the Ten Commandments are of any benefit in our generation at all. This law then is joined to nine other laws that are of perpetual obligation to you. A second thing that you'll notice is that this law has no mark of a Jewish or Mosaic uniqueness.

Argument 2: The Sabbath's Universal Foundation in Creation

12:55 This commandment has absolutely no mark whatsoever of being ceremonial law. You'll notice that in verse 11, a reason is given for God imposing this rule in His Ten Commandments. There's no reason given for why He imposes the other of His commandments, but there is a reason given here. And in the reason, there's no national reference.

13:17 There's absolutely nothing about the racial history of the Jews. It's grounded on the most universal consideration. In six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that in them is. And rested the seventh day.

13:33 Wherefore, because of God's cycle of conduct, in creation, He blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it for that reason. His pattern in creating the whole world must be imitated. So you see that the event which is cited to establish the requirement is not something from narrow Jewish history. It has equal significance for the heathen who never heard of God's covenant as it does for the Jew who has heard of His commandments.

14:05 The foundation of the Sabbath is laid in the original framework of nature in creation. The reason does not contract the significance of the Sabbath to a small time with a small nation, but it expands the significance of the commandment to all men in all time. Do you see that verse 11 becomes nonsense if it's meant to explain a ceremonial rule to the Jews as to why it should be limited to their nation? You Jews ought to remember the Sabbath day because God created all the world and then rested the seventh day.

14:41 The Jews were told to keep the Passover. A national event was cited because God delivered you out of Egypt. But here when God cites the reason for their keeping it, it isn't any narrow Jewish historical event. It's something that pertains to all men, something that pertains to you.

15:01 In six days God made everything in heaven and earth and the sea and all that is therein and rested the seventh day. And because that was His pattern of behavior, it is to become your pattern of behavior. It's of universal significance. Besides, there's absolutely nothing ceremonial about a Sabbath day.

15:20 What is the ceremonial law? The ceremonial law in the Old Testament was something that was picturesque of what Jesus Christ would do. And the ceremonial laws are abolished in the New Testament because they were fulfilled by Jesus Christ. For instance, in the Old Testament they sacrificed lambs and we no longer do it.

15:41 That was because the lamb was simply a picture of what Jesus was going to do when He died on the cross on Calvary. But now that He has shed His blood, there just isn't any sense any longer in shedding the blood of a lamb as a picture. We have the reality of Christ's blood. There's no need for the blood of a lamb.

16:00 But how can you fit the Sabbath into that? How did Christ fulfill the Sabbath? Well, the very commandment in Exodus 20 tells us that the Sabbath isn't looking forward to what Christ is going to do. It's looking back to what God has done at creation.

16:18 It's not ceremonial at all. It's moral. As God delighted in the finished work that He did at creation. Christians, those who believe on His name, are to delight in His works in one day of worship out of seven.

16:36 It's found with nine other laws that are not at all ceremonial. And the reason that's given here has no reference whatsoever to Jewish or Mosaic ceremony. And thirdly, if you look at the words of Exodus 20, you'll find that this law has a history more ancient than the law of Moses or Abraham. And you can't trace any ceremony of the Jews further back than Abraham.

Argument 3: The Sabbath's Ancient History (Pre-Mosaic)

16:58 You can trace circumcision back that far, but not any further. But you'll find that the history in the Old Testament of keeping this commandment goes beyond the time of Abraham going backward to the very beginning of time. You'll notice, if you will, that the commandment in verse 8 begins with remember. Nothing new being instituted here.

17:20 They're calling to remembrance something that already was in existence. Really, none of these Ten Commandments was instituted at Sinai for the first time. God had already destroyed Sodom for breaking the seventh commandment. God had already held the entire world accountable for the first commandment and destroyed it in a flood because they broke it.

17:38 God had already punished Cain for breaking the sixth commandment. And so on we could go with all of the commandments. But especially written in here is this fact, remember the Sabbath day. There's something for the people to remember about it, to look backward to.

17:55 God's language takes for granted that the law had long before been instituted. And as you look back in the book of Exodus to chapter 16, you'll find the history of the Jews when they received manna from heaven. And much is said about the Sabbath day there, including in verse 23 this statement, that the Sabbath day is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. And the Jews were not told why it was the Sabbath of God.

18:24 It was said casually as if they knew that fact. For indeed, they did know that fact. The Sabbath was in existence long before the Jews ever came out of Egypt. It was set apart unto God, and God had demanded that men observe the day.

18:40 Well, if you'll notice in verse 11 of Exodus 20, it tells us when God instituted it. In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. He sanctified that day.

18:58 And when did He do that? Well, turn to Genesis chapter 2, and you'll find it at the very beginning of the Bible. In the second chapter of Genesis, the first three verses. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.

19:12 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it then, on that first of the seventh day, on that first holy Sabbath in which He Himself rested, He sanctified it, because He Himself had rested on that day. So you see the commandment goes back to the very beginning of human history. Back to the time before man had ever fallen.

19:43 Back to the time when Adam in his innocence was walking in the garden. And all ceremonial law has reference to redemption. But this commandment has not. It's referring to the time of innocence, before there was sin to be spoken to.

19:58 Adam was to keep one day and seven holy. Unto God. Well, the only biblical argument that is brought against the validity of the fourth commandment for 1969 is taken from three texts of the New Testament. Let me quote them for you.

Addressing New Testament Objections to Sabbath-Keeping

20:18 You can mark them down if you want to. Romans 14 and verse 5. Where Paul is talking about the subject of Christian liberty and he says this, One man esteemeth one day above another, another man esteemeth every day alike. This is what he persuaded in his own mind.

20:36 And people say, you see, you don't have to keep the Sabbath day. And they quote Colossians 2 verse 16. Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink or in respect of an holy day or of the new moon or of the Sabbath. They say, see, you don't have to keep the Sabbath day.

20:54 Or Galatians 4 verses 10 and 11. Where Paul says, ye observe days, I am afraid for you. You keep these special days. And that isn't right for Christians.

21:09 It's clear in the New Testament that all of these texts are dealing obviously with the Christians' observance of ceremonial feasts of the Jews. The word Sabbath in the Old Testament refers not only to one day in seven, but to every ceremonial feast of the Jews. And it's very plain in the context that Paul is trying to rid the Christians of any thought that they have obligation to keep the Old Testament ceremonies in order to be saved. That's the context in Colossians.

21:38 It's the context in Galatians. And Christian liberty is the context immediately in Romans chapter 14. But Paul could not rebuke Christians for observing days absolutely, because if you read the New Testament, you'll find that Paul taught the Christians to observe the Lord's day. You'll find that he had the Gentile churches gathered together on a day for the worship of the Lord.

22:01 And we'll mention this more specifically in a moment. So really, it's a misuse of New Testament texts. And any who look into it very carefully will not have any argument here to argue against the validity of the requirement in our generation. But there is a second argument, not biblical, but in reasoning, that's brought against us who say that you're required to keep one day in seven holy unto God.

The Shift from Seventh to First Day: Christ's New Creation

22:30 And the argument is this. You Christians have changed the day from the seventh to the first, and therefore you don't really believe that the fourth day is holy. We believe that the fourth commandment is to be obeyed in all generations. You've changed some part of it.

22:48 You've changed the seventh day to the first day. Now, first of all, it must be said that it's clear in the New Testament that Christians observe the first day instead of the seventh. On the first day, they were assembled together in worship when it was the day of Pentecost, and the Holy Spirit came upon the church for the first time. In Acts chapter 20, when Paul was in a hurry to get to Jerusalem, and in those days, shipping was not too reliable, the man who was in a hurry didn't usually stay around for slight reasons, Paul waited until the first day of the week, waiting a whole week, six days, until the first day would come and the Christians at Troas would be met together for worship, and he spent the entire day with them until midnight, opening the Word of God and breaking bread with them. This was the day of worship for the church. In 1 Corinthians chapter 16, when he's writing to the church at Corinth, he said, now, I want you to take a collection. For the poor people in Jerusalem.

23:48 When are they going to take the collection? Well, they're going to take it when they get together. On the first day of the week, when you come together, you take this collection, so that when I come, I don't have to take up an offering. It was on the first day when they met for worship.

24:01 In Revelation chapter 1, John said that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. And one of his contemporaries, whose writings we still have, said that he met by the Lord's day, the first day of the week, which was the day on which the Lord, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead. Well, so it's clear that the Christians did meet on the first day and not the seventh. Are they then breaking the moral law of God, as it's recorded in Exodus chapter 20?

24:30 Well, you have to notice in Exodus 20, in verse 11, that the particular day to be observed is incidental to the imitation of God. It's because God rested the seventh day that they were to rest on the seventh day. He entered into rest on the seventh day, delighting in his work on creation, so those who followed God were to enter into rest on the seventh day, delighting in God's works and in his ways. Now, if a new heaven and a new earth were to be created, and that work were to be finished on another day, and God were to enter into rest on another day in finishing a new heaven and a new earth, and we were to dwell in the new order, not in the old order, then we would be obligated to rest on the day that the Lord rested, in doing the work of making that new creation. And the New Testament tells us specifically that this is what has happened. We live in a totally new order of things, a new world. One that had groaned under sin, Romans 8 tells us.

25:35 The whole creation groaneth and travaileth until now. Why? Under sin, it's groaning and waiting for redemption. And the New Testament tells us that this world has been redeemed by Christ.

25:49 The grip of Satan over this world has been broken. He no longer has access to the heavens, and he no longer has control over the earth. But Christ has completely broken his grip by his death and resurrection. Now a new heaven and a new earth are certain to arrive.

26:09 No question about it. The foundation for the arrival of a new heaven and a new earth has been laid. The new order of creation was completed by Christ's death and burial. All of the work necessary to the new order was finished.

26:26 We read in Romans chapter 14 and verse 9 that when Jesus died on the cross, he purchased for himself the right to be Lord of the dead and of the living. He purchased absolute authority over all of the world, heaven and earth. When he cried, it is finished, he was talking about finishing the work of our redemption. But he also meant that it was finished all that was necessary to his new rule and new order, the new heaven and the new earth.

26:54 So that when the new heaven and the new earth does arrive, in fact, in history, it will be because Jesus Christ died on the cross and was buried. And it is absolutely certain to arrive because Jesus Christ has purchased the right to remake the heavens and the earth. And we, in effect, do live in a new order under the rule of Jesus Christ the King. And it was on the first day of the week that Jesus rose, entering into his rest.

27:23 After finishing the work of his new creation, just as God entered into his rest on the seventh day, having completed the work of the first creation. So that we are obliged to enter into the rest of Christ, not of the old order, which fell under sin, but of the new order which has been redeemed in Jesus Christ, involving all of creation, the heavens and the earth, and the redemption which is certain to be realized because he finished the work necessary to establish it. Not just any day, take your pick, whether it's the second or the fourth or the fifth, no, but a day on which the Lord himself entered into rest is commanded. In imitation of the Lord we are to rest.

28:05 We are citizens of a new order, with a newly crowned Lord, with a redeemed creation, and we must imitate his entry into rest. But I'm sure some people will say, well, this seems like rather lofty stuff and high theology and clever reasoning to get to that point. Why doesn't the New Testament specifically say so if that's what happened? Well, the New Testament does specifically say so.

Hebrews 4: The New Testament Basis for the Lord's Day

28:29 Turn to Hebrews 4. We read it this morning. The New Testament very clearly says that we are to imitate Christ who has entered into his rest just as God had entered into his. Hebrews 4, if you will, looking at verses 1 to 11.

28:49 The end of Hebrews 3 was urging us to perseverance. You must continue in holiness to enter into the future rest of God, the eternal rest of his kingdom. That's basically the argument in Hebrews chapter 3. And the first three verses of Hebrews 4 says the same thing.

29:07 Only those who have an active, persistent faith in Jesus Christ will enter into the future rest of God. And in verse 3, he indicates that we who have believed are now entering into that rest. It's the people of faith who enter the rest. People of unbelief will never enter that rest.

29:27 But at the end of verse 3, with the word although, Paul shifts his thoughts. And to the end of verse 10, he's talking about something else. In verse 11, he takes up on that theme. Saying really the major point to be established from the verses I've quoted is that we must labor to enter into rest.

29:48 Lest any man fall after the example of unbelief. You've got to fight. You've got to struggle. There's a warfare in this world.

29:55 But in verses 3 at the end, through verse 10, it's just as if the apostle Paul were saying, there are some other implications to this verse that I've been quoting over and over again. Psalm 95 verse 7. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation. And the implications are just these.

30:18 First, he begins to talk about the difference between the rest that he's talking about and the rest that the Jews thought about in the Old Testament. He's saying, there was indeed a rest that the Jews thought about as they looked back to the first creation. As God entered into his rest. In verse 4.

30:41 However, in verse 6 he says, there were some people who were to enter the rest. People to whom this promise was preached did not enter in. But he limited a certain day. Now he's talking about a day.

31:01 Saying today after so long a time. Today, if you will hear his voice, harden not your heart, and you will enter into the rest. So it's a rest that is different from the rest had in view by the first Sabbath or the seventh day rest of the Jews. It's a different rest.

31:19 It's talking about a different day. And then in verse 8 he gets on to say, and it's not talking about the rest that Joshua got for the Jews when he conquered the land of Canaan. And the Jews had the land to themselves, free from the domination of foreign powers. If Joshua had given them rest, then he wouldn't have talked about another day.

31:39 You see, there's a distinction. Paul is saying, I'm talking about a different kind of rest than they were talking about by the seventh day Sabbath. And it's talking about a different day as well as a different rest. Well, in verse 9 he says, But there does remain a rest to the people of God.

32:00 Since David was speaking in the future tense, there is going to be a rest for the people of God. Then there is a day of rest to the people of God. And it's interesting in verse 10, if you look at your marginal note, or rather verse 9, that word rest is a different word than is used in the rest of the verses of this argument. It's a word that indicates a day of rest.

32:31 It's a word unique to the New Testament because it's a word of extreme emphasis. There does remain a day of rest to the people of God is what it's saying in verse 9. There is a day of rest to the people of God. A rest more profound than the rest that the Jews thought about when they rested on the seventh day.

32:51 A rest more profound than the rest that they had when Joshua entered into Canaan. And a day that is different from the other day of which they were speaking. Well, how do you arrive at such a conclusion, Paul? Are you meddling with the Ten Commandments?

33:05 Are you dismembering the moral law? Well, with the whole context in Hebrews 4 talking about another day and another kind of rest, Paul in verse 10 gives his reason for saying that there is a day of rest for the people of God still. And it is this, For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own work, as God ceased from his. That's why there's a greater rest than the rest that the Jews had in God's finished creation.

33:37 That's why there's a different day than the Jews observed when they observed the seventh day. Because there is someone who has entered into his rest just like God entered into his and ceased from his works. Who is the he? Well, it can't be God because he's put in contrast with God.

33:56 And it can't be David and it can't be Joshua and it can't be the people. The only he that makes sense is Jesus Christ. Jesus that has entered into his rest, Jesus also has ceased from Jesus' works as God ceased from his works. That's the meaning of the place.

34:16 The language of the tenth verse calls to mind then Exodus 20. Exodus 20 says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore he blessed the seventh day, and held it.

34:35 Paul says there's a different kind of rest for the Christian and there's a different day for the Christian. For, same argument almost, is verse 11 of Exodus 20. Jesus has entered into his rest and ceased from his works just as God did in the first creation. Well, there just is no way to wiggle free from the requirements of the fourth commandment.

35:01 It is a perpetual obligation. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. The obligation still obtains. The day is changed because we live in a new order with Christ having risen from the dead.

Conclusion: The Heinousness of Sabbath-Breaking and its Consequences

35:14 I believe that you'll find that most people who say that it's not necessary for a Christian to keep the Sabbath day any longer or say that it was merely ceremonial law done away in Christ are those who've thought very little on the subject and who are willing to grasp at any straw to support their habits of doing what they please on the Lord's day. And usually it smacks of insincerity or a lack of, or a lack of real interest in the subject. Don't be guilty of that, Christian. Exodus chapter 20 is speaking of your moral obligation to God.

35:52 And notice verse 9 again, will you, of Exodus 20. Six days you can do all your labor, do all your work, but the seventh day belongs to the Lord. He's only asking you for one day in seven. You know what was the great aggravation, the great thing that condemns Adam in his sin in the garden?

36:17 It was that God said, Adam, you can have all the trees in the garden, except one. There's one in the middle of the garden you're not supposed to eat on. And Adam said, with all the trees in the garden, more fruit than he could possibly eat, I still want that one that God kept for himself. And it's precisely this that is so heinous in God's eyes in breaking the Sabbath day.

36:39 God said, look, I've given you six days to order as you want to, to raise the money to support your family, to have as much fun and relaxation and recreation as you need. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. It is not thy day. And men are saying today, I want that one too.

36:56 And I'm going to use it for my lusts as I use no other day for myself. In Jeremiah 17 and verse 27, the prophet said this to the Jews, If you will not hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath day and not to bear a burden, even entering into the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in you. And it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it shall not be quenched. And I think what the prophet was saying is this.

37:32 If you insist upon having every day for your own work so that you will not cease from your own labors long enough to give me my holy day, then I will kindle a fire in Jerusalem that will never go out. There will be no rest from the punishment that you receive when you refuse to rest in the Sabbath day. I will give you my honor and give me my holy day. If you will be endless and self-pleasing, then you will find that my punishment is endless and without Sabbath.

38:11 Hell doesn't have any Sabbath. The man who is cast into hellfire is the man who suffers eternally and without rest. There aren't days in which he is relieved from his torment. For the man who will not give God what is due to him, a Sabbath, a day devoted to his honor, God will give him no Sabbath from his just reward of eternal misery.

38:41 Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we do indeed live in a time when people despise this commandment and Christians treat it lightly. And our Father, as Thou hast given it such a sacred place in the midst of Thy holy law and hast reiterated from cover to cover in Thy holy book, grant that we might honor Thy day and devote it to Thee, not doing our own work or thinking our own thoughts nor seeking our own pleasures, but seeking to do that which pleases Thee. With the entire day we ask it for Thy name's sake. The preceding lecture or message was recorded by the Banner of Truth Trust in Carlisle, Pennsylvania for the Reformed Baptist Family Conference or the Reformed Baptist Pastors Conference held each year in New Jersey and Pennsylvania and distributed through the Mount Olive Presbyterian Church tape library at Bashfield, Mississippi with permission. Permission for the reproduction of this program is provided by the U.S. Department of Justice

39:55 and the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Justice Commission. Permission for the reproduction of this tape for the outputs of distribution should be requested from the sponsors of these comparable segments. The Grace Baptist Church Pastor Walter Chantry Carlisle Pennsylvania