The Day Observed #3

Introduction to the Proper Observance of the Christian Sabbath

0:04 The following message was preached Sunday, January 31st, 1999 to Emanuel Reformed Baptist Church at Sea-Tac, Washington. The speaker is Pastor Robert Martin. This message is the 20th in a series of 24 titled, The Christian Sabbath. In this morning hour, we've been examining on and off now for some time the subject of the Christian Sabbath.

0:30 And so far, we've examined every major passage in the Bible that has direct bearing on this subject.

0:41 And from what we've seen, I hope indeed that your judgment is carried.

0:46 That under the new covenant, there yet remains a Sabbath day for the people of God and that we ought to observe the Lord's Day Sabbath.

0:55 That is, that we ought to observe a Sabbath on the first day of the week as a matter of conscience before God. Now, we're now in the final segment of this series. In a segment entitled, The Proper Observance of the Christian Sabbath.

1:13 And here, our concern is to try to make application of what we've seen in the biblical witness.

1:21 And our question is, how shall we use the hours of the Lord's Day in the way best suited to doing the revealed will of God? Now, last Lord's Day, I commended to you the answer of our Puritan forefathers. As in, In treating the question, how shall we use the hours of the Lord's Day in the way best suited to doing the revealed will of God? Our confession says, That the Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord when men, after a due preparing of their hearts and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe and wholly rest all day from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.

The Whole Day: Not Just a Sabbath Morning

2:27 Now, last Lord's Day morning, I argued both from common sense and from biblical precedent, that with a view to keeping the Sabbath day holy, we should use at least some portion of the Sabbath day as a way to keep the Sabbath day holy. Some portion of the day before the Sabbath, for a due preparing of our hearts and an ordering of our common affairs aforehand. And I hope that last Lord's Day, your judgment was carried, and where necessary, that the practical suggestions that were given are being implemented.

3:07 But today, we come to the use that we ought to make of the hours of the Sabbath day itself. Leading us to the Sabbath day itself, we are leaving behind now all that we've seen concerning the need to be prepared for the dawning of the day. Let's come now to how to use the Sabbath day itself.

3:32 And as we come to this part of our study, I sincerely hope that we are all persuaded that the scope of our theme is how we are going to use the whole day.

3:49 God did not say, God did not institute a Sabbath morning. He instituted a Sabbath day.

3:59 And our duty to keep the Sabbath holy does not apply only to a few hours of morning services, but to all the hours of the day.

4:11 So often, the mindset seems to be that, well, if I have been present in God's house in the morning in those services, that that discharges my duty. So, I want to come in to God on the Lord's day. But I want to come in to you of the very simple but revolutionary thought that God did not establish a Sabbath morning. He established a Sabbath day.

4:38 And by whatever method you may choose to reckon it, God claims the whole day as His own. And we need to take care, brethren, that we honor His claim by our practice.

4:55 Now, as for me in my house, in practical terms, we observe the day from the time that we retire on Saturday evening, usually well before midnight, until we awake on Monday morning. Now, I realize that's more than 24 hours. But on a practical basis, that's what we do. And I commend that practice to you.

5:20 I strongly advise against Sunday midnight-itis. Now, what I mean by that is planning work or planning recreation that begins at midnight on Sunday, at 12.01 Monday morning. 12.01 a.m.

5:41 You say, well, no one would ever do that. Well, of course people do.

5:45 I have known folk who have, they're by disposition and temperament, they're night owls, and they come to Sunday night, come to midnight, and suddenly out comes the Sunday paper, or on goes the television, or out goes the port, open the... the portfolio from work, and launching into the activities of an ordinary common day.

6:06 I would advise you against that.

6:09 Perhaps you will convince yourself that that is legitimate according to the letter of the law. But practically, unless you are capable of extraordinary focus,

6:24 your Lord's Day evening will be ruined by anticipation of imminent involvement in your own work, and pleasures. It's hard enough, brethren, with our remaining sin. It is hard enough to keep the mind and the heart focused when the business or recreation of the next day, or even the next week, is competing for spiritual thoughts on God's day. That's hard enough.

6:55 Knowing that Monday morning is coming, and what awaits at the office, or what we've planned for that day, or planned for that week, it's hard enough to keep those thoughts back, and to keep them from intruding on our use of the day. How much more is it difficult when the competition for our thoughts and hearts is not coming from the next day or the next week, but from the next hour?

7:19 I greatly caution you, brethren, against Sunday midnight idus. And for the same reason, I urge you not to follow. I urge you not to follow a Sabbath schedule patterned after that practiced in Judaism. That is, from sundown to sundown.

7:39 I've known good folk who began the Sabbath on Saturday evening at 7, 8, 9 p.m., and ended their Sabbath on Sunday evening as soon as they returned home from the evening services of the church. And in some cases, what followed was a time of family recreation.

7:58 I've known folk, they have, according to the letter of the law, they've kept a 24-hour Sabbath. But they've come home from the evening services of the church, to take up some kind of family recreation as a pattern. They've come to watch a video or to watch some television program or to play games of some sort.

8:18 Things legitimate on any other day of the week. And yet, because of their Sabbath schedule, they find themselves in quite a predicament. Again, the issue is one of focus. With that kind of schedule, the focus of Sunday is divided between sacred and common activities.

8:39 And I find it hard to believe, especially in the case of children.

8:47 I find it hard to believe that the anticipation of Sunday evening recreation will not intrude itself strongly into the other hours of the day.

9:00 And I suspect whatever impact the evening message might have had is lost, especially on the children, as soon as the television is turned on on Sunday night, as soon as the game board comes out.

9:16 I urge you to observe the whole of Sunday as the Lord's Day without the distraction of trying to keep sacred or keep separate, rather, a double use of the day.

Approaching Sabbath Observance: Negatively and Positively

9:33 Now again, today we come to the use that we ought to make of the hours of the Sabbath itself. And it seems to me, and this is nothing original, it seems to me that the most natural way to approach our topic, the most natural way to consider the subject of how am I to use the actual hours of the day, it seems to me the most natural way of approaching it is both negatively and positively. That is, with two questions in mind. First, what should I not do on the Lord's Day?

10:10 There's the negative approach.

10:14 What should I not do on the Lord's Day? And then the positive approach, what should I do on the Lord's Day? Now I believe that's the most natural way of dealing with the subject, not only because that's how the Bible tends to approach the subject, but that's how we approach the day psychologically. If we are sincere about keeping the day, then surely we earnestly want to know what we should and should not do on the Lord's Day.

10:48 Now the Puritan Lewis Bailey in a work called The Lord's Day, in a work that at one time was as familiar in Christian homes where the English language was spoken as Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, Bailey says, and here I quote, the sanctifying of the Sabbath consists in two things. First, in resting from all servile work and common business pertaining to our natural life. Secondly, in consecrating that rest wholly to the service of God and the use of those holy means which belong to our spiritual life. Now there are two words in that statement I want you to focus upon.

11:29 The words resting and consecrating. Resting and consecrating, these are helpful terms to sum up what use we ought to make of God's day. We are negatively to rest, that is to cease from doing some things, though those things may be legitimate on the other six days, and positively we are to consecrate or devote, or to devote rather the hours of the day to holy, devout, sacred uses. So there's a negative aspect to keeping the day, there's a positive aspect to keeping the day.

12:12 And it is necessary that we embrace both ideas in order to keep the day. It's not enough simply to decide I'm going to cease doing certain things. That does not produce a holy Sabbath day. It is not enough to say well I simply intend to add certain things to my ordinary patterns of life. That does not produce a holy Sabbath day. There must be a resting, a ceasing, a consecrating, a devoting. Now beginning today, we're going to take up this dual approach. Looking first of all at the negative aspect of Sabbath observance, that is resting or ceasing from the common use of God's day.

12:56 Uses of the day. And then only when we've completed that will we look at detail at the positive counterpart, that is the consecrating or the devoting of the day to holy uses. But before we come to that part of our study, I want again to commend to you a critical principle that we've seen in earlier messages.

The Governing Principle: The Lord's Day is God's Day

13:21 A principle that greatly helps us to answer the question, what should I or should I not? What should I not do on the Sabbath day? Remembering and applying this single principle won't resolve every case of conscience concerning the practical use of the Lord's day. It's not a panacea, it's not a cure-all, it's not a magic pill that's suddenly going to answer all of your questions and resolve all of your dilemmas. But it will resolve most cases. It has resolved most cases that I personally have had to face in my own personal and family life. It has been helpful in resolving most cases where I've been asked to give pastoral counsel on the proper use of the day. And the principle is this.

14:10 The Lord's day is God's day. It is not my day. The Lord's day is God's day. It is not my day. Now do you recall the language that we saw in several of the texts that we examined in the earlier part of this series? Let me ask that you turn first of all to Exodus 20.

14:41 Here in Exodus 20 we have of course the account of the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment begins in verse 8.

14:52 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

14:58 Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh is a Sabbath and here's the key phrase to the Lord your God. In other words what verse 8 is saying, what the fourth commandment is saying is that doing your work is the business of the six ordinary days. However the Sabbath day is to the Lord your God.

15:43 It is, that is, it belongs to Him. It is to be devoted to Him. The six ordinary days those are days when you not only can but shall do your work. But the seventh day, the Sabbath day is to the Lord your God. It's His. It belongs to Him. It is to be devoted to Him. We see that principle again in Exodus 31. Exodus 31.

16:14 2 verses, verses 12 and 15.

16:19 And here the language the Lord chooses is much more explicit than even the fourth commandment in Exodus 20. Here in an expansion of the fourth commandment we read these words. Verily you shall keep my Sabbaths. Now this is the voice of the Lord.

16:39 Truly you shall keep my Sabbaths. Verse 15. Six days shall work. Work be done. But on the seventh day is the Sabbath of solemn rest holy to the Lord. That phrase to the Lord. We saw back in Exodus 20. Here is shown to embrace the concept the Lord says the Sabbath is my Sabbath. In like manner if you'll turn to Isaiah 58 in a pivotal text that we examined in some at some length and we'll return to in a later message. Isaiah 58 verses 13 and 14. The Lord says 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 of the Lord that is the holy day that belongs to 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. The Lord and I will make you to ride on the

17:52 high places of the earth.

17:57 If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day. You see though the day was created for our blessing as our Lord teaches us the Sabbath was made for man. They're taking us back to Genesis back to the principle that underlay the graciousness of God in blessing and sanctifying a day after the pattern of his own behavior. Though the Sabbath was created for our blessing we are to not lose sight of the fact that in the scriptures description of the Sabbath day the Sabbath is a special day set apart by God as a day belonging to him. My Sabbath Sabbath to the Lord. Now what does this mean? It means that the day belongs to God and that we are to treat the day not as our property though it's given to us for our blessing. It's not our property.

19:03 It is not our right to determine how we will be blessed in it. No it belongs to God. It is his property. We are to treat it as his property. And on his day we are to pass the hours of the day in the ways that God has appointed in his word. He's not left us to our own devices. He's not left us to determine for ourselves what is best. on his day of blessing.

19:33 No he has given us clear instruction. He has given us clear precept. He has illustrated these precepts in a variety of ways throughout the scriptures to help us to see how we ought to use the day.

19:47 But we must remember it's his day. It's God's day. And the way we pass the hours of the day in that way we are to testify to the fact that we recognize that we freely acknowledge that. And indeed much more than that. We are saying that not only does the day belong to you but we belong to you. So much so that we will honor you in the ways of your appointment. We will obey you. We will serve you as our Lord and our Master. Well the principle is that the Lord's day is God's day and not my day. Now if you consult that principle first when you come to a question concerning what you should or should not do on the Sabbath, it will resolve most questions without needing to go any further.

Applying the Principle: Resolving Practical Questions

20:45 If you'll consult that principle first and foremost, just ask the simple question. Does what I'm considering doing or does what I'm considering not doing does it accord with whose day this really is?

21:05 It's a simple question.

21:08 It's almost universally effective. In resolving our questions without needing to go a bit further. Does what I'm considering doing or what I'm considering not doing, if I'm considering omitting certain things from the day, does this accord with whose day it really is? Or to pose the question a different way, this is God's day. Will this activity, will my choice confirm and exhibit that fact or deny it? When I make a choice as to how to spend the hours of the day, do those choices confirm my conviction? Does it exhibit my conviction? This is God's day.

21:58 Does my choice, no matter what I may profess to believe, does my choice say I deny that this is God's day? That's a very simple question. Consider a few examples. The question is, should I stay in bed and get more sleep or get up and go to God's house in time to participate in all the services appointed for the day?

22:25 Now, is that a relevant question? Anyone here ever have to ask that question? Should I stay in bed and get more sleep or get up, prepare myself in time to be at God's house to participate in all the services of the day? Well, how are you going to answer that question?

22:47 Well, it's very simple. Thursday is it. Is it your day or is it God's day? If it's your day, then unless you're staying in bed, violates some other principle, causes you to back off from some commitments you've made to your wife or your husband or your children, whatever. If it's your day, sleep as long as you want.

23:14 As long as you're not going to be falling into a pattern of sluggardliness and laziness and squandering of precious time, if you can still take care of all your responsibilities, if you want to sleep to noon, if it's Saturday, sleep as long as you want.

23:32 But now if it's God's day, whose hours belong to Him, you need to get up and make your way to God's house. Simple question. The solution's not all that difficult.

23:50 Another example. The question is, I want to go into work today and put in extra hours on a project that I'm working on. Perhaps you're an engineer, perhaps you're a computer analyst, whatever your career may be, but you wake up on a Sunday morning or you're planning your week and you say, well, I want to go into work on Sunday and put in extra hours on the project that I'm working on at work. There are so many distractions during the week that I'm not able to make as much headway as I want. There's all the time people coming by and wanting to know this and wanting to know that. The phone never stops ringing, etc. So on.

24:33 Is that a relevant question? Is that an example that somehow way out and a feel that no one ever has to wrestle with? No, it's a legitimate question.

24:45 Well, what's your decision? What choice are you going to make?

24:50 Well, apply the principle. Tuesday is it. If it's Saturday, that's your day. Feel free to use it to advance your career.

25:03 But if it's God's day,

25:07 if you're persuaded that the hours belong to Him,

25:12 will your conscience allow you to use God's hour to that end? Or another example.

25:23 The question is, it's Super Bowl Sunday. Is that a relevant question?

25:31 The question is, it's Super Bowl Sunday.

25:35 I'd like to watch the game on TV. After all, and here comes the rationalization, the Super Bowl only happens once a year. Surely that's okay. Is that okay?

25:51 Well, how are you going to solve that?

25:54 Now, I am as much a football fan as anyone in this room. Probably more so than most.

26:01 I'm what one friend called a fan addict. But now, if this is your day, go ahead, pop the popcorn, pull up the chairs, and I'll join you. If this is our day, that's legitimate. Use it. But since it's God's day, since it's God's day, should we use it to pursue our own pleasures? If it's God's day, what does the rarity of the event, have to do with it?

26:44 God didn't say, turn your foot from doing your pleasure on my day, except, of course, on Super Bowl Sunday, because I know that that's such a rare event. No, no.

26:59 It's God's day. The decision is made. If you want to set your VCR on Saturday and tape the thing and watch it Monday night, there's no argument with you. The Bible has no argument with you.

27:17 We live in an age of technology where such things are possible. Brethren, even if we didn't, better to not see a Super Bowl as long as you live than to violate God's day.

27:36 Now, I admit that it's something of an oversimplification, but if your question boils down to this, I know that it's the Lord's day, but I'd like to do this or that. You probably already have your answer already.

27:55 I know it's God's day. I know it's the Lord's day, but I would like, to do this or that. If that's what your question really boils down to, if that's what the dilemma really boils down to, frankly, you have your answer already. Usually the words, but I'd like to means that we will be treating the day not as God's day, but as our day. Usually.

28:26 Remembering the principle that the Lord's day is God's day and not our day will greatly help us to answer the question of what should I do or should I not do on the Lord's day? Applying that principle again, it won't resolve every question.

28:43 Frankly, brethren, it takes care of most of it.

Negative Observance: Resting from Ordinary Employment

28:47 Well, with that principle fresh in our minds, in the time remaining today, let's begin to answer the negative question. What should I not do on the Lord's day? From what things ought I, as a matter of conscience, to rest from?

29:07 And the answer is bringing together all that the scripture says on the subject, and we'll open this up bit by bit in coming weeks. The answer is that we should cease or we should rest from the works of our ordinary employment. Works of necessity and mercy excepting. We should rest from our recreations.

29:33 We should even try to rest, and here bringing in the principle from Isaiah 58, we should try to rest from allowing our minds and our lips to be occupied with the things and the business of this world.

29:50 Now, that's a broad statement, but I believe that statement encompasses what the scripture has to say on the negative side of the equation, and that's reflected fully in our confession of faith. We should cease or rest from the works of our ordinary employment, works of necessity and mercy excepting, from our recreations, and even from allowing our minds and lips to be occupied with the things and the business of this world. Now, that's only half our duty.

30:23 We need the positive counterpart in order to observe the day rightly, but we begin here. We begin here. Now, in opening this up, consider then the first category of things that God requires us to cease from. The first category of things that God requires us to cease on His day is our works, or the works of our ordinary employment. Works of necessity and mercy excepting. The first category of things that God requires us to cease on His day is the works of our ordinary employment. Works of necessity and mercy excluded. Now, we've seen that principle from the very beginning.

Scriptural Basis for Resting from Work

31:16 In fact, that principle lies at the very heart of the word Sabbath, which simply means rest. But please turn with me back to Genesis 2. You'll recall that we consulted this text, after examining what our Lord had to say when He said the Sabbath was made for man, we asked the question, well, when did God make the Sabbath for man? Did He make it at Sinai, as some would say?

31:42 Or is there another account of God's creating or making the Sabbath? And we saw, of course, there is in Genesis 2. On the seventh day, we have the account of the creation of the Sabbath. Well, consider what is said in verses 1 through 3 of Genesis 2.

31:59 And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day, God finished His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.

32:17 And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it, or sanctified it, because in it, He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Now, twice in those three verses, we find this recurring phrase, rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. In the creation week, God established a cycle which man as his image-bearer was to imitate.

32:51 A cycle of six days labor in which you are to do your work, followed by one day of holy and blessed rest.

33:02 And at the heart of God's example was a resting from all of one's works.

33:12 Now, we know that our Heavenly Father yet continues works of necessity and mercy on the Sabbath day. We know that He likewise is our example there. He does not cease to maintain the world that He has created on the Sabbath day. He does not cease to send forth His saving mercies on the Sabbath day. In fact, it is the day of the week that He mostly sends forth. His saving mercies. But the pattern, except for works of necessity and mercy, the pattern is that God rested from all His works, and that language is very explicit. Twice, we are told, He rested on the Sabbath day from all His work which He had made, all His work which He had created and made.

34:05 That's the pattern that is set at creation. That's the pattern that lay behind the creation of the Sabbath day.

34:15 Now, when we come to the fourth commandment, and again I ask you to turn to Exodus 20, when we come to the fourth commandment, we learn that because this is the pattern of God's behavior, it then becomes the pattern that we are to imitate.

34:32 It is not a pattern simply to be admired. It is not a pattern simply to be recognized and acknowledged. No, it is a pattern that the commandment says we are to imitate. Again, Exodus 20, verse 8.

34:48 Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy six days you shall labor and do all your work. Now, we know that the scripture goes on and clarifies the issue when it comes to works of necessity and mercy. The teaching of our Lord, the example of our Lord completely clarifies that issue.

35:11 But yet, the commandment still says six days shall you labor and do all your work. The seventh is the Sabbath to the Lord your God. In it, that is in the Sabbath day, you shall not do any work. You nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger within your gates for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth to see in all that in them is and rested the seventh day. The pattern of God's behavior, which was the foundation of the creation Sabbath, that pattern is set before us for our imitation. That we should not labor on that day. That we should do all our work on the other six days of the week. And we saw that consistently throughout the scripture, that principle is maintained. And here I'll simply

36:08 read the text very quickly. Exodus 31 verses 14 and 15. Exodus 31 verses 14 and 15. You shall keep the Sabbath therefore, for it is holy to you, everyone that profanes it shall surely be put to death. For whosoever does any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh is a Sabbath of solemn rest holy to the Lord. Whosoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Now we saw when we examined this passage, did we not? That there is an element in it that is of moral abiding validity. There is a repetition of the demand of the fourth commandment. We are to rest from our labors on God's day. There is added to it a specific civil penalty that held sway in that period of redemptive history when Israel was a covenant nation.

37:11 Alright? But the principle is still there. It's a day to rest from your labors. And we actually have an example in Numbers 15. We won't look at the text of a man who was executed for gathering sticks on the Sabbath. And profaning the day, contrary to the commandment. But now Exodus 34 and verse 21.

37:31 Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

37:43 Now we'll look at that text a bit later on. But here the indication is that we are not on pretense of providential necessity. On the pretense of providential necessity. To conclude, it is permissible to violate the fourth commandment. In the busiest seasons of a farmer's life, at planting time, at harvest time, he was to observe the Sabbath and not do any work therein. And then chapter 35, verses 1 through 3. Moses assembled the congregation of the children of Israel, said to them, these are the words that the Lord has commanded that you should do them. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh there shall be to you a holy day, a Sabbath of solemn rest to the Lord.

38:34 Whosoever does any work therein shall be put to death. You shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the Sabbath day. Again, we'll come back to that text and see the principle that comes down to us in terms of this idea of not kindling a fire in our habitations on the Sabbath. But the point is, the point today is that still that principle lies at the very heart of the instruction.

39:01 Rest from your ordinary labors. And then we looked at a couple of examples from the prophets and the other writings. I'll simply refer you to Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah 17 verses 24 and 25 excuse me, verse 21 and then verses 24 and 25.

39:21 Verse 21, thus says the Lord, take heed to yourselves and bear no burden on the Sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem. The reference is to the conducting of commerce on God's day. Verses 24 and 25 it shall come to pass if you diligently hearken to me, says the Lord, to bring in no burden to the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but to hallow the Sabbath day, to do no work therein, then shall there enter in by the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David. And he goes on to speak of all the blessings that will come upon God's people by virtue of their obedience to the fourth commandment. And then we know in Nehemiah chapter 13 Nehemiah chapter 13 we have again an account having to do with work on the Sabbath, verses 15 to 18. Nehemiah says, in those days I saw in Judah some men treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in sheaves, that is engaging in harvesting and lading donkeys with it as also wine and grapes and figs and all manner of burdens which they brought to Jerusalem on the Sabbath day and I testified against them in the day wherein they sold their provisions there dwelt men of Tyre also therein who brought in

40:44 fish and all manner of wares and sold unto the Sabbath to the children of Judah and in Jerusalem, then I contended with the nobles of Judah, said to them what evil thing is this that you do and profane the Sabbath day did not your fathers do this? Did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city, yet you bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath? Now we're hundreds of years from Sinai and yet the principle's the same and Nehemiah knows that if the people of the nation ignore that principle God's judgment's going to come upon them it's not going to be the pathway of blessing, it's not going to be the pathway to success, it's going to be the pathway to a cursing from God well these texts confirm and illustrate the principle that on God's day he requires us to cease from our works, the works of our ordinary employment now from all that we've seen surely what we must believe that this is a moral commandment relevant in our day six days you shall labor and do all your work, the seventh is the Sabbath to the Lord, in it you shall not do any work now surely that's a moral commandment everything that we saw in those opening 17 messages where we examined every relevant passage of scripture coming to

Works of Necessity and Mercy: Legitimate Exceptions

42:12 bear on the subject of the Sabbath, we saw not a hint to say that the Sabbath is a mere ceremonial injunction, what we saw was time after time after time that it was very clear this was a moral issue a moral issue that even transcended the nation of Israel life in the land of Israel transcended the presence of all the ceremonial institutions of the Mosaic Covenant, this is a moral duty, how then are we to do it? how then are we to do our duty? well the answer is we must rest and cease from our ordinary employments unless our vocation is one of those relatively few callings which involves works of necessity and mercy which cannot be neglected on God's day we ought to cease from our ordinary labors there's no way to sugar coat that brethren, there's no way to take the sharp edges off of that and to still be faithful to God's word unless our vocation, unless our calling is one of those relatively few callings which involve works of necessity and mercy which cannot be neglected on the Lord's day we ought to cease, we ought to rest from our ordinary labors

43:40 if for example you are a nurse working in a hospital who must give nursing care on the Lord's day that work is not profaning the Sabbath we can't shut down our hospitals and eject all the patients on Saturday night say we'll let you back in on Sunday morning or we can't go by the rooms of the hospital and leave enough meals for them to eat we hope this gets you through until Monday morning and leave enough medicines and syringes and whatever is needed for their personal care and we hope you get by but it's the Lord's day we're not going to be able to take care of you no nurses working in a hospital in that kind of setting are involved in a work of necessity you can't shut down the hospitals that's a work of necessity if for example you're a policeman we have three policemen in our congregation if you are a policeman if your duties as an officer of the law require you to work on the Lord's day that work is not a profaning of the day it's a work of necessity we can't send all of our policemen home on Saturday night and leave society to the criminals until Monday morning I wouldn't want to live you wouldn't see me out of my house on Sunday morning if that was the way that the Seattle and Tukwila and SeaTac etc. police departments

45:09 ran their business no reality is that we need policing seven days a week it's a work of necessity likewise firemen firemen you can't simply have the firehouses unmanned on Sunday things burn down on Sunday I have a clipping I've had this for about seven years this was clipped out of the Newark Star Ledger in 1992 and the heading says homes burn as tenants honor Sabbath tenant I'd like to read this brief paragraph to you the news line is from Jerusalem Associated Press tenants let their apartments burn yesterday while they asked a rabbi whether a call to the fire department on the Sabbath would violate Jewish law three apartments were gutted in the fire in the predominantly ultra-orthodox city of Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv though no one was hurt observant Jews are forbidden from using telephones on the Sabbath because to do so would involve breaking an electric current which is considered a form of work they are however permitted to break the Sabbath in case of an emergency yesterday the owner of the apartment

46:39 that caught fire first excuse me yesterday the owner of the apartment that caught fire first was out of town but neighbors asked a rabbi whether the fire constituted an emergency thirty minutes later the rabbi said yes in the meantime the fire spread to two neighboring apartments they should not have needed to ask the rabbi and it shouldn't have taken the rabbi thirty minutes to come up with a conclusion if there's a fire in your house call the fire department it's right for those firemen to be there it's right for them to come it's a work of art it's a work of necessity it doesn't violate the Sabbath day now there are occupations that fit that kind of scenario works of necessity works of mercy but there aren't frankly many occupations like nursing there aren't many occupations like policing there aren't many occupations like that of fire control that require works of absolute necessity most work done on Sunday falls short of necessity falls in a different category altogether it's either for someone's convenience or someone's profit it's either for the convenience and profit of the worker

48:07 or the employer or the customer or the public or somebody it's not a work of absolute necessity it's for someone's convenience and someone's profit but it isn't necessary in the absolute sense in most occupations the nature of the work itself does not warrant profaning the Sabbath that's reality isn't it that work ought it can be finished in the six ordinary days without carrying it over into the Lord's day we have a neighbor just across the fence who's building a new house and you hear the saws you hear the hammers you hear the workmen seven days a week I don't know all that lies behind my neighbor's decision I don't know all that lies behind the contractor's decision but I don't know all that lies behind my neighbor's decision that schedule has been set for someone's convenience or profit it has nothing to do with absolute necessity it's not a work of necessity it's not a work of mercy and the principle I want to urge on you today is that unless you are engaged in a vocation in which absolute necessity warrants your laboring

Commitment to Sabbath Rest in a Hostile Culture

49:35 on the Lord's day then make conscience of ceasing on God's day from the works of your ordinary calling surely God's day brethren no small part of the battle to keep the day in the way of God's appointment is won or lost right here and that is why that repeatedly over and over and over and over and over again in the scriptures virtually in every text that deals with the Sabbath that principle comes through loud and clear again six days you shall labor the seventh is a Sabbath in that day don't do your work now next Lord's day God willing I intend to open that principle further and to take up three categories of workers I talk about breadwinners homemakers and students each of those categories and that covers everyone I think except the very smallest of the children each of those categories is an occupation and each one of you in this room are in one of those categories you're either a breadwinner or you're a homemaker

50:58 or you're a student and there are specific issues that you have to deal with that come up of a very practical nature there are honest questions that need to be addressed questions that I'm asked as your pastor a brother or a sister or a student will come and say I've got this question I've got this dilemma this is what is being required of me this is the pressure that's on me how do I respond what do I do it's not enough simply to stop and say well we ought to rest from our employment on God's day we need to come closer and look at those categories that have clear relevance for us but that's for next Lord's day in closing this morning I want to ask you a question and the question is this are you clear in your thinking and clear in your commitments that the Sabbath is God's day and not your day now that commitment that conviction may raise a dozen other questions as to how do I implement that commitment but my question is this before we get to the end of the sermon is that where you're at this is God's day it's not my day is that where you're thinking is that where your commitment is is there yet remaining any question

52:27 any nagging doubt at that point well brethren if the text that we examined earlier in the hour have any meaning for us whatsoever unless they are totally irrelevant to the Christian experience if they have any meaning for us surely they are not surely they ought to convince us that the Lord's day is the Lord's day it's God's day it's not ours to use as we please and if the text that we've just read if they have any meaning to us then surely they ought to convince us that the Lord's day is to be used not for our own works but for those ends for which God has appointed the day if language has any meaning if the word of God on this subject has any relevance to us brethren then are these not logical conclusions this is God's day it's not my day I can't treat it like it's mine God's given me six days and I have to order those six days according to His holy word I'm not left to drift on the other six days of the week I can't go about on the other six days of the week simply doing as I please there are even on days that are more clearly mine

53:55 I have to obey God's word then I can't do my work on those six days in violation of certain principles I can't do my work if it involves lying or stealing or other such things no there are rules there are principles there are duties even on those days how much more then when we come to God's day should we not then recognize we have to order the day in the way that God has appointed and very plainly He said this day is different you're to use it differently and high up number one on the list is that you are to rest you are to cease from the works of your ordinary employment in his masterful treatise on the Sabbath John Owen begins his chapter on the practical observance of the Lord's day by citing our Lord's words in John 13 17 there Jesus said if you know these things blessed are you if you do them if you know these things if you understand these things then blessed are you if you do them and commenting on these words Owen goes on to say the end then of our learning scripture truths is to obtain such an idea of them in our minds as may direct us unto a suitable

55:22 or a proper practice the end of learning things from the scriptures the end of embracing principles from the scripture is not simply to fill our heads with ideas it's not just to furnish our minds with certain truths and arrange those truths in a certain order so that we have a well furnished mind or intellect or understanding no the purpose he says the end of our learning scripture truths is to obtain such an idea of them in our minds as may direct us unto a suitable or a proper practice without this he says they are of no use to us or of none that is good to have a conviction about the Sabbath this is God's day and I am to cease from the works of my ordinary employment to have that idea in the mind and then never have it to filter down into our lives that truth does us no good it only becomes testimony against us for our disobedience next Lord's day I'm going to try to address more specifically practical issues that arise in our efforts to wrest from our ordinary labors on the Sabbath but today I ask you to seriously ponder

56:45 whether your heart is fixed God has a plan God helping you that you will keep the Lord's day as God's day and not carry on your ordinary labors and it is your heart fixed there there are going to be obstacles to be overcome there may be a price to be paid but are we there are we there at least at the point that God helping you this is my rule and my principle in your particular case such commitment may give rise to a new and a new life and I'm going to ask you a dozen honest questions about how to keep the Sabbath in a work culture increasingly hostile to Sabbath convictions I'll have a quote for you next week from a man writing 150 years ago here in America and the prophecy he made grievously fulfilled in our day we live in an environment that is increasingly hostile to Sabbath convictions I was speaking with my wife last night we were talking about what does a brother do who finds himself in an occupation that requires him to work on the Lord's day where does he go

58:14 for his alternatives we spoke in terms of prayer we spoke in terms of dependence on God we spoke in terms of courage we spoke in terms of stepping out on faith we spoke of all those things but then we decided to turn to the what-ifs and the sad truth is there were very very very few places for a man of conviction to be able to do that and still be able to do that and still be able to do that and still get his Lord's day off when I was growing up in the 1950's if you went into retailing you would have Sunday off it wasn't a problem everybody was closed on Sunday those doors were shut to a man with Sabbath principles there was a time if you worked for a multinational company and you were an engineer or you were an analyst or you were some kind of some kind of white collar worker there was a time when you could almost be guaranteed well you're not going to have to work on Sunday but there are very few places in America anymore where you're at least not exposed to the possibility of being acquired food service industry same thing we live in an environment increasingly hostile

59:42 to our convictions but brethren that does not give us warrant to back off our convictions and it ought to cause us to redouble our prayers and redouble our efforts to stand by the truth and to walk in the truth believing that God honors those who honor Him are you committed God helping you to doing what you can do to rest from your ordinary labors on God's day I hope so brethren I cannot believe that God will bless us if in spite of the life that we've received from the scriptures we use the day of our own as our own to pursue our callings contrary to His command if we with light go forward it's one thing to not have light and to go forward we have made an acquaintance of a dear Christian I believe a genuine Christian man who has who's representing our house on the market right now a Christian realtor I believe he's a true man a true Christian a true brother and when we said to him we appreciate where the real estate business is but we'll not be showing our house on the Lord's day

61:08 we'll not be receiving any calls on the Lord's day on this business if there's an offer that is made we'll take it up Monday and if they can't wait till Monday well we'll take it up Monday and if they can't wait till Monday we're sorry he was very gracious but he was shocked and the reason he was shocked is he's never heard there is such a thing as the Lord's day all of his Christian life he's been in a setting where he's been taught oh Christ set aside the Sabbath don't worry about it well that man's operating with a good conscience but what of us we have light from the word of God we can't claim ignorance what are we going to do with that light the Lord commands us to rest in the Sabbath from our ordinary labors and that command is not meant to deprive us of good things so often we read commands like this in the scripture and we think what a stingy God our Lord is oh no brother the command is not meant to deprive us of any good things it's meant to free us to give ourselves to better things on God's day the Sabbath is as the Puritans called it the market day

The Sabbath as the Soul's Market Day

62:36 of the soul the other six days they said that's the market day for the body but the Sabbath is the market day of the soul it's the day when we are bidden to set aside our ordinary business in favor of the soul's business and whatever may be lost in terms of material gain by keeping the day is more than made up by the spiritual gain of the soul brethren let the soul's day be used for material gain let the soul's business be neglected on God's day as one old man a writer has said what e'er may be gained is a certain forerunner of sorrow you will gain nothing by your labors on God's day that will make up for what you will lose nothing may God give us a resolve to keep God's day for God's business which is the soul's business that we might serve Him our Father as we bow our heads before you again this morning it is to acknowledge that you are our God and that you are our God and that our loyalty is to you

64:05 and that whatever there may be in the path of duty of denial to self whatever there may be in terms of the mortification of our remaining sin whatever there may be oh Lord of the cost of keeping your word Lord we ask that you would give us courage and grace to do it we pray Father that you will bless us in keeping your ways and keeping your word we know that your word teaches our experience teaches us as well Lord that no man is ever the poorer for walking with you no man is ever the worst for keeping your ways we pray Lord that you would give us faith to walk in obedience to you and that Lord though many doors may seem closed to us yet Lord we know that you are able to open where no man can open to shut where no man can shut that you have the hearts of kings in your hand how much the hearts of employers we ask that you would come forth with power and help your believing people to do your holy will on your holy day forgive us our sins of breaking the fourth commandment grant us grace to go forward in faith and obedience

Prayer for Grace and Obedience

65:35 in Jesus name