Keeping the Sabbath #1

Introduction and Review of Mark's Gospel Context

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, July 22nd, 1984 at the Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey. We return this morning to our expositions in the Gospel of Mark and I would ask you to follow as I read two paragraphs that have previously been read and expounded in your hearing but in keeping with the promise made several weeks ago we're going to go back to them now, having expounded them having highlighted their obvious thrust as they come to us in the context and seek to glean some of the larger principles from the passages which are vital to our thinking concerning God's appointed day of rest. I read now from Mark's Gospel, chapter 2, beginning with verse 23 and I'll conclude. I'll conclude the reading with verse 6 of chapter 3. This is one of those places where the division of the chapters is unfortunate.

1:09 There is a very natural and radical break that comes at verse 6 of chapter 3. And it came to pass that as he was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields and his disciples began as they went to pluck the ears and the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why are they doing? Behold, why are they doing on the Sabbath day that which is not lawful? And he said unto them, Did you never read what David did when he had need and was hungry, he and they that were with him?

1:44 How he entered into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest and ate the showbread which it is not lawful to eat, save for the priests, and gave also to them that were with him? And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made, for man and not man for the Sabbath even so the son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath. And he entered again into the synagogue and there was a man there who had his hand withered and they watched him whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day that they might accuse him. And he saith unto the man that had his hand withered stand forth. And he saith unto them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good or to do harm, to save a life or to kill? But they held their peace. And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their heart, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand.

2:57 And he stretched it forth, and his hand was restored. And the Pharisees went out and straightway with the Herodians took counsel against him how they might destroy him. Now let us once again seek the face of God in prayer asking that God the Holy Spirit will teach us through his word.

3:24 Our Father, we have sung our corporate prayer. Teach us your way. Give to us obedient minds. And we would now consciously come pleading once more open our eyes that we may behold wondrous things out of your law and beholding them may run in the way of your commandments.

3:52 O Lord, send the light of your Spirit upon our minds that we may perceive aright your will and send your Spirit into our hearts with grace. Give us the power that we may do the same. Hear us for the sake of your Son we plead. Amen.

4:13 Amen. Now in the providence of God several weeks have passed since we last studied together this section of the Gospel of Mark. And as we begin our consideration of this passage read in your hearing, let me briefly review the overall structure of this section and then, and then give to you the specific focus and concern of the passage that is before us. You'll remember that chapter one concentrates on the presentation of the mighty worker Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

4:55 And chapter one records his growing popularity particularly up in the northern part of Palestine in the region of Galilee. And again and again Mark emphasizes that after his mighty words and works his fame spread abroad throughout the entire area. Now there is a marked thematic contrast beginning with chapter two. For the four incidents of chapter two coupled with the first instance or incident of chapter three have this thematic element in common.

5:31 Mark has chosen by the guidance of the Spirit incidents in the life of our Lord which provoked a groundswell of hostility from the official religious leaders. And that hostility which began simply as questions in their minds in the first incident in chapter two comes to its climactic expression in chapter three and verse six where the Pharisees actually go into council with the Herodians and plot the death of the Son of God. So there is this rising crescendo from inward silent thoughts of irritation to outward unashamed plotting of the very extinction of Jesus of Nazareth. Now the opposition to the Lord Jesus that reaches this climax in verse six is opposition that was rooted in many things that disturbed the Pharisees. They were disturbed that he gave to a man forgiveness of sins in his own authority. Then they were disturbed that he was hobnobbing with the Palestinian mafia.

6:41 This man eats and drinks with sinners. But then the last two incidents which show that rising swell of hostility have to do with Jesus' Sabbath practice. He flew into the face not of God's law but of the hundreds of the silly regulations that had been established by the scribes and the Pharisees relative to God's appointed day of rest and worship. And in the course of expounding and applying these two final incidents I promised you that after expounding them we would go back to them and seek to highlight some of the very vital principles they contain with respect to this broad subject of God's appointed day of rest and worship. And so this morning and God willing next Lord's Day morning I plan to speak to you on this subject major principles pertaining to God's appointed day of rest and worship. And the majority of those principles will be extracted from these two incidents and their parallel passages in Matthew chapter 12 and in Luke chapter 6. Now this morning we'll have time to take up just two categories of concern.

The Abiding Authority of God's Appointed Day of Rest and Worship

8:06 First of all I want you to consider with me the abiding authority of God's appointed day of rest and worship. The abiding authority of God's appointed day of rest and of worship. Now in the two incidents we have already considered Mark 2, 23 to 24 and chapter 3, 1 to 6 in all of this Sabbath controversy with the scribes and Pharisees there is not the slightest suggestion by our Lord's words or actions that He has come to engage in a work of negation suspension cancellation or abrogation of God's appointed day of rest and worship. In fact Mark 2, 27 and 28 are in many ways the most strategic passage in all of the New Testament relative to the perpetual sanctity of God's appointed day of rest and worship. For in those words our Lord Jesus underscores on the one hand the essential nature and rationale for the appointed day. For the appointed day of rest and worship

9:33 and then points to Himself as the ultimate and only legitimate legislator of the appointed day of rest and worship. Verse 27 The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. The day of rest came into being for man. Hence as long as man is man in his present circumstances as man the appointed day has authority and relevance for it was made for man.

10:10 And the ultimate and only legitimate legislator the Lord Jesus describes Himself in verse 28 as the Son of Man that is God's mediatorial King who in the exercise of mediatorial kingship has come to deliver man from the tyranny of sin and as Lord over the Sabbath He does not deliver man from the obligation of the Sabbath for the Sabbath is not part of sin's tyranny. The Sabbath was made for man one of God's gifts and boons to man therefore the Son of Man does not come to abrogate to negate to suspend to cancel rather as Lord of the Sabbath He comes to strip away all that the scribes and Pharisees have done to bury the glory of the appointed day of rest amidst the rubble of human tradition and insufferable legalism. Now in summary of what we considered in that exposition I'm going to do something I don't think I've ever done before in a Lord's Day morning service but I'm doing this to help you I trust to grasp something of the overarching teaching of the Word of God that is here in seminal form in verses 27 and 28

Redemptive-Historical Trajectory of the Sabbath

11:38 with reference to the abiding authority of God's appointed day of rest and worship. What I'm going to do is I'm just going to pin this on top of the board and use a pointer I hope to move the board forward so more of you can see it and if you don't get everything I hope you'll at least catch something of the overall thrust of what I'm attempting to set before you. Now as we consider God's appointed day of rest ADR, the little red circle all the way across is God's appointed day of rest ADR equals appointed day of rest Jesus tells us that the Sabbath the appointed day of rest was made for man and when was it made for man? It was made for man as we have recorded in Genesis chapter 2 verses 1 through 3 so at creation the appointed day of rest comes and the little wording here God's action and word God sanctifies that day and sets it apart then the fall occurs man is plunged into sin and God's next focal point focal point of concentrated revelation

13:04 with regard to his appointed day of rest is just a bit before Sinai but I've used the word Sinai as a summary in which the original creation day of rest is now surrounded in the green block and that says mosaic legislation and then I've made dotted lines to show that that is a temporary arrangement by which the appointed day of rest is surrounded now that this is the same day of rest is clear from the fourth commandment in the Decalogue when God gives a reason why the Sabbath should be remembered and set apart as holy God says for it is his own pattern in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and rested on the seventh and then the mosaic legislation with the green block with its rules with its guidance as to penal sanctions offerings to be given on that particular day and all that was peculiar to that administration of God after the people came back from captivity and many of them later in subsequent years were scattered among the nations one of the things by which the Jews sought to maintain their identity when they were scattered among the nations was by a strict observance of the Sabbath since they no longer had a national life in one place

14:33 they had to struggle to maintain their identity and one of the major means was their Sabbath keeping however in their zeal to maintain their identity there began to be built up orange circle a tradition that was rabbinic notice no arrow is coming down from God God had said all he intended to say about his Sabbath in the mosaic framework at Sinai now he underscored some of that through the prophets he reminded them of that through the prophets but there is no line of revelation this was man's circle this orange circle then the Lord Jesus came in the fullness of time and in his ministry the Lord Jesus began to dismantle the orange circle he attacked this terrible pharisaic and rabbinic tradition about the Sabbath and he deliberately and calculatingly did things that flew right into the face and then he showed them as he does in these two passages God never made the rules that they had made so in his ministry by word and by example Jesus was dismantling pharisaic and rabbinic tradition about the Sabbath furthermore in his life of perfect obedience lived under the law

16:02 not only the law of God but under the law of Moses by his death upon the cross Jesus took everything that was distinctly mosaic and you see I put some X's on the mosaic and he took that with him to his cross Colossians 2 and into his tomb and there it is buried furthermore everything in the Jewish Sabbath that was a type and shadow of the rest of a completed salvation in Christ was taken up in the death and resurrection of Christ and also is swallowed in Christ's tomb Colossians 2 and verse 16 now then what's happened to the appointed day of rest the appointed day of rest given in creation was surrounded with mosaic legislation at Sinai entrusted with rabbinic and pharisaic traditions attacked by the ministry of Christ all that is distinctly mosaic typical and shadowy fulfilled in his cross buried in his tomb then Christ brings out of his tomb and into the age of the spirit the appointed day of rest now brilliant and radiant with new covenant realities he changes the day

17:28 from the seventh to the first there is a new focus no longer the old creation but the new creation there are new dynamics the outpoured spirit and the liberty of the sons of God and that appointed day of rest which was instituted in the garden temporarily surrounded with mosaic legislation buried under pharisaic and rabbinic traditions has been dismantled of its outer circle of pharisaic it has been fulfilled in its mosaic in the person and work of Christ and that appointed day of rest now abides until the second coming when we will enter the eternal sabbath and since there will be no night or day there will be no sequence of days as we now know it and the sabbath will observe its purpose now there in a nutshell as I have understanding of the word of God and I claim no infallibility but as I understand the word of God this is what Jesus is saying when in his own day he says you stupid pharisees you act as though the appointed day of rest was a structure into which man must be poured you've got it backwards man was already made and the sabbath the appointed day of rest in worship was made for man and though it undergoes these various changes

18:56 and alterations in the history of redemption it is not another day of rest it is not a negation of the day of rest it is the day of rest now glorious with new covenant realities and though I almost put up here new name the Lord's day is not a new name because it's called that in Isaiah 58 so I decided against even calling it by a new name though it is the dominant name that is used in the New Testament now I hope that helps rather than confuses because in this there is set before us the abiding authority of God's appointed day of rest and worship now what can we say by way of summary under this heading I want to say these three things God's original intention remains unchanged the sabbath that is the appointed day of rest whatever that day may be and God is free to dictate what day it shall be the appointed day of rest was made for man man as man until the eternal state is to live his life in cycles of six days of God directed God honoring labor followed by

Summary of the Sabbath's Abiding Authority

20:22 worship one day of God like God appointed rest and specific worship do you hear me that's what God is teaching us at creation underscoring in the decalogue enforcing in mosaic legislation in the period of infancy and spiritual tutelage and in all the glory of the new covenant reality of the Lord's day man is still man and man under God is to live his life in cycles of six successive days of work and labor done as unto the Lord and one day set apart from his ordinary labors for specific religious and social worship and for holy rest in God both for soul and for body the second thing by way of conclusion is that God's moral law remains the same God's original intention remains the same the Sabbath was made for man as long as man is man the appointed day of rest and the need for it remains furthermore the fourth commandment is the fourth of ten commandments which set forth essential unalterable irreducible moral law

21:50 the fourth commandment declares remember the appointed day of rest to keep it holy for that's what Sabbath means rest remember the appointed day of rest to keep it holy for the nation of Israel that day was the seventh day for us it is the first day of the week but it is God's appointed day that is underscored in the opening statement of the fourth commandment and there are still ten commandments by which God epitomizes his moral requirements cannot nine and thirdly God's revelation of the change of day and the focus of rest and worship is fixed by apostolic word and practice and that's what I've written in so small you can't see it is by apostolic word and practice that the day is changed the focus is changed new dynamics are introduced but the decalogue remains inviolable under the new covenant there is but one expression of the summary of God's moral requirements that decalogue given to his people in the context of Sinai comes over into the new covenant now no longer a dead letter

Addressing Misinterpretations of Calvin and Bunyan on the Sabbath

23:18 but written upon our very hearts and we have the gift of the Spirit as the covenant community that we might out of love to Christ keep his holy law therefore to refuse to regard an appointed day of rest and worship under the Lordship of Christ is to oppose the authority of Christ himself he is Lord of the Sabbath he has every right to demand of us that we keep holy and appointed day of rest and there is no room for us to rationalize away his right to claim that day for himself now it's very interesting that in church history there's been a great debate on this very statement that I've made the abiding authority of God's appointed day of rest and worship and two names are always brought forth in this debate to try to justify throwing off the moral obligations of the Christian Sabbath and those names are Calvin and John Bunyan now I want to quote from both to show that any attempt to use these men to support that view is at best careless scholarship and at worst downright deception now Bunyan was not fighting the notion

24:45 that God has ten commandments to this very day that it is a moral and ethical obligation to keep the first day of the week as a Christian Sabbath listen to his treatise the seventh day Sabbath subtitle proof that the first day of the week is the Christian Sabbath his text the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath day there it is right there what was he fighting he was fighting the battle with seventh day Baptists there was a group of Baptists who said the only way to keep the appointed day of rest was to keep it on the day specified in the Mosaic legislation and Bunyan was fighting seventh day Baptists who said there is no keeping of an appointed day unless you keep the seventh day and he's out to show no our Sabbath day is the first day of the week now granted he uses some argumentation that the historic reform community has rejected I reject much of it I don't believe it stands up to the test of a comprehensive exegetical and biblical theological handling of the materials but whether we accept Bunyan's arguments or not it is sheer carelessness

26:10 and sometimes downright dishonesty to use the name of John Bunyan to justify getting out from under the obligation of God's appointed day of rest furthermore John Bunyan wrote a catechism and in Bunyan's catechism he asked the question what is sin and he answers a transgression of the law question a transgression of what law answer of the law of our nature and of the law of God of the Ten Commandments as written in the Holy Scriptures Romans 2 Exodus 20 now then when do we sin against the law as written in the Ten Commandments Bunyan writes when you do anything they forbid although you be ignorant of it and then he asks what if we sin against but one of the Ten Commandments his answer whosoever shall keep the whole law and yet offend in one point he is guilty of all James 2 10 and 11 now let's go further Bunyan says in his own treatment of this subject I doubt not but some unto whom this book may come have had sealed from God that the first day of the week is to be sanctified by the church to Jesus Christ not only from his testimony which is and should be the ground of our practice

27:39 but also now listen for that the first conviction that the Holy Ghost made upon their consciences to make them know they were sinners began with them for the breaking this Sabbath day which day by that same Spirit was told them was that now called the first day and not the day before and the Holy Ghost does not use to begin this work with a lie which first conviction the Spirit has followed so close with other things tending to complete the work you see what he's saying many a person can testify their first conviction of sin came from the fourth commandment and it came in terms not of violating that commandment on Saturday but what they did on Sunday and you know what Bunyan was doing he was giving his own testimony you know when his first conviction of sin came grace abounding to the chief of sinners paragraph 20 I read but one day amongst all the sermons our parson made that's his preacher parsons were preachers his subject was to treat of the Sabbath day and of the evil of breaking that either with labor sports or otherwise now I was notwithstanding my religion one that took much delight in all manner of vice and especially that was the day that I did solace myself therewith wherefore I fell in my conscience under his sermon

29:08 thinking and believing he made that sermon on purpose to show me my evil doing and at the time I felt what guilt was though never before that I can remember for then I was for the present greatly laden with it and so went home when the sermon was ended with a great burden upon my spirit what brought him under conviction of sin a sermon on the fourth commandment now what did he do listen as Bunyan writes this for that instant did benumb the sinews of my best delights it did him bitter my former pleasures to me but behold it didn't last before I had well dined in other words before he finished his Sunday noon dinner the trouble began to go off my mind and my heart returned to its old course but oh how glad was I this trouble was gone from me and that the fire was put out that I might sin again without control wherefore when I had satisfied my nature with my food I shook the sermon out of my mind said to my customs and sorry and to my old customs of sports and gaming I returned with great delight so you see what he did he came under conviction from the fourth commandment by the time the meal was over conviction was all gone would God it only happened with Bunyan but the same day as I was in the midst of a game of cat and I went to work asking my English friends what's a game of cat and I found out

30:38 the game of cat is a game which you have a little stick that's pointed and then with something that would be like a shillelagh like a baseball bat you hit that stick and it tips and flips up in the air and while it's in the air you try to hit it again now listen to what Bunyan says as I was in the midst of a game of cat and having struck it one blow from the hole just as I was about to strike it the second time between the time it went up in the air and he was about to hit it a voice did suddenly dart from heaven in my soul which said wilt thou leave thy sins and go to heaven or have thy sins and go to hell and this I was put to an exceeding maze wherefore leaving my cat upon the ground I looked up to heaven and was as if I had with the eyes of my understanding seen the Lord Jesus looking down upon me as being hotly displeased with me and as if he did severely threaten me with some grievous punishment for these and my other ungodly practices and I said how did Bunyan come to faith old Alexander White said we owe Paul to a sermon preached to him by the Holy Ghost on the tenth commandment Romans 7 I had not known sin except the law said thou shalt not covet he said we owe Augustine to a sermon on the seventh commandment we owe John Bunyan to a sermon on the fourth commandment

32:06 he testifies it was the moral law of God impinging upon his conscience and he never repudiated those actings of the Holy Ghost and in all of his rather distinct views on the relationship between this appointed day of rest and this appointed day of rest and this there was absolutely no question that it was a divinely mandated day and that there were and are ten commandments one of which is remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy and our Lord Jesus Christ has forever enshrined the abiding authority of God's appointed day of rest and worship when he says in Mark chapter 2 the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath well then I must hasten to our second point this morning and it is this having established the authority of God's appointed day of rest now we consider the lawful works to be performed on God's appointed day of rest the lawful works to be performed on God's appointed day of rest from these two incidents in Mark's Gospel

Lawful Works on the Sabbath: Works of Piety

33:33 and the parallel passages in Matthew 12 and Luke 6 we learn that there are three major categories of work or labor that are in no way inconsistent with the command remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy in fact such works are not only permitted they are warranted on God's holy day and what are they? works of piety works of necessity works of mercy alright works of piety turn to Matthew 12 if you will please here in the parallel passage to Luke chapter 2 verses 23 to the end notice what our Lord says when the Pharisees get upset with Him particularly with His disciples for plucking off those grains of oats or barley or wheat and rubbing them between their hands blowing the chaff away and as we said having a good organically grown high fiber health food snack in the middle of the Sabbath and when the Lord answers them Matthew records a detail that Mark does not and here we have it verse 5 have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath day

35:00 the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless he says now you people are getting upset with my disciples who have legitimate physical needs they are hungry they are attached to me in my service as David's men were attached to him in the service of the kingdom of Jehovah under the kingdom and dynasty of David now he says don't you understand that the very God who said from Sinai remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy in it you shall do no work neither your servants the stranger within your gate is the very God who in that legislation made requirements of the priests which increased their work on the Sabbath day God required that on every weekly Sabbath there should be double sacrifices furthermore it was on the Sabbath day that many of the people would come with their own personal sacrifices so the busiest day in the week for priestly labor for a priest was the Sabbath day now did God say that they were sinning and violating his appointed day of rest Jesus said no nowhere is there any record that a prophet ever came to a priest and said you're profaning the day of rest

36:26 by offering up double sacrifices so Jesus shows them it was never God's intention in instituting that day of rest to undermine works of piety on his appointed and special day furthermore it was on the Sabbath that they changed the show bread those twelve loaves fresh ones were baked and changed on the Sabbath so the doubling of the sacrifices the changing of the show bread the intensification of serving the people of God what were they? they were works not of recreation self indulgence they were works of piety that is labors connected with the specific worship of God on his appointed day in his appointed place and you and I should understand that when we engage in such works of piety we are in no way profaning God's day the driving to church the fixing a flat tire upon the way the labors of Sunday school teachers and preachers these are works of piety and lawful and pleasing to God Jesus who perfectly obeyed the law in its mosaic legislation for he was made under the law that is the law of Moses

37:52 his Sabbath days were his most busy days he was in the synagogues preaching casting out demons and healing and this is what disturbed the Pharisees they said you're working on the Sabbath he says my father worketh hitherto and I work there is a kind of work that is proper on this day and that is works of piety all that is necessary to preach the word to open and prepare and make comfortable places of worship is certainly in keeping with the letter and the spirit of the fourth commandment we do not violate the appointed day of rest by works of piety secondly works of necessity and here we go back to Mark chapter 2 works of necessity now you see if you have no conscience about the Lord's day this will be a boring exercise but if you want to have a good conscience before God I hope you're finding it helpful to get your teeth into these specific principles Mark chapter 2 verse 23 came to pass he was going through the Sabbath day growing through the grain fields on the Sabbath day his disciples began as they went to pluck the ears the Pharisees get upset verse 25 he said unto them did you never read what David did now here are the key words when he had need

Lawful Works on the Sabbath: Works of Necessity

39:19 and was hungry now what was David doing had David already had his three squares and then happened to come by the temple said hey here's a nice place for a little Sunday evening snack oh yeah I've had plenty to eat but it sort of be nice to just have a little snack here at the temple no no he had need real need some of the commentators estimate the amount of travel he may have done on that very given day that Sabbath day there was need that is to sustain physical life he needed food and he was in the service of God this was a work of necessity if you dare even call what the disciples did work when they just grabbed a few of the ripened grains of oats or barley or whatever it was and rubbed them but even if more work were needed in order to meet basic physical needs our Lord says that works of necessity are proper on God's appointed day of rest therefore moderate involvement in the cooking of meals the changing of diapers taking showers and other matters of personal cleanliness and hygiene perfectly appropriate those who are involved in such institutions as hospitals

40:47 hospitals and the maintenance of power companies communication systems the milking of cows the feeding of livestock and animals all of this comes under that heading works of necessity so the day of rest was made for man man in his real world a real world in which you can't go to a cow and push a two day button on it and say hold your milk till Monday morning God didn't make cows that way now he could have he made the manifold in double portion the day before the Sabbath didn't he? didn't he? two days worth and it didn't breed worms any other day they tried to get two days worth and had worms by morning now God could have made cows so they had a button you could push and they hold their milk for the Lord's appointed day of rest but he didn't do it so it is a necessity to milk one's cows it is a necessity to prepare our meals now it's not a necessity to spread a banquet that erodes time that could be better used and that's why I use the term the moderate preparation or perhaps I should say the preparation of moderate food that meets our need it may not meet the full spectrum of our culinary abilities and of our appetites and our gourmet tastes but to have food to be strengthened to come and worship and listen to the word of God especially to some of the long winded preachers here at Trinity that's a work

42:14 that's a work for which you need strength it's a work but it's a work of necessity and since the Sabbath was made for man how could God make illegal what man needs in order to be strengthened to do what God tells him to do on his day now fully realizing that people can rationalize I'm fully conscious but surely dear people is there anyone prepared to say that 18 grown men out on a ball field in front of 35,000 hitting a little white ball on the Lord's day is a work of necessity anyone prepared to say when 22 overgrown bullies butt one another's heads for 3 hours on Sunday afternoon 11 months out of the year that that's a work of necessity anyone prepared to say that people lying by the thousands and millions on our beaches today half naked listening to their jungle music is a work of necessity I leave it to your conscience to answer but then not only works of piety works of necessity but works of mercy and with this point I close this morning works of necessity

Lawful Works on the Sabbath: Works of Mercy

43:41 are perfectly lawful on God's day that was the burning question in Mark 3 and verse 4 he said unto them you answer me you Pharisees is it lawful on the appointed day of rest to do good or to do harm to save a life or to kill here is a man with a shriveled up withered hand all the life has gone out of it I ask you Pharisees what can there be in the nature of this day made for man's well being abiding the radical intrusion of sin surrounded with specific mosaic legislation even now being stripped of pharisaic and rabbinic tradition even now its types and shadows being fulfilled in my own saving work on behalf of sinners I ask you Pharisees can it be a violation of the whole spirit and intention of that day that I should take a man's shriveled hand and make it whole that in this very synagogue when holy hands are raised to pray he won't have to be ashamed of his withered hand but he can praise his God without distraction I ask you Pharisees can there be anything illegal with that it was a work of mercy and Jesus said you Pharisees you even have sense enough to do this with your animals when one of them falls in the ditch what do you do go over and say sorry poor boy

45:09 have to wait till he said if your animal falls in the ditch on a sabbath day you pull it out what's worse an animal in the ditch with a busted rib or a creature made in the image of God with all of the trauma and you remember what tradition says that that man was probably a stone mason and Luke says it was his right hand I naturally stretch forth my left being left handed can there be anything dishonoring to God that mercy should be shown to make a man more of a man by healing him and you see most of Christ's works of healing done on the sabbath day were underscoring that principle it is lawful to do works of mercy well let me say by application if pure religion and undefiled is to visit the fatherless and the widows then surely this day it's right and lawful to be engaged in social interaction with the needy seeking to minister to them to minister comfort to go to them in their loneliness surely it's lawful for physicians and nurses to care for the hospitalized and for emergency needs anything that reflects God's heart of pity to the people in need works of mercy surely they are lawful on that day and so the old formula of the old writers is good and it sticks doesn't it

46:37 works of piety works of necessity works of mercy according to the Lord Jesus who is stripping away pharisaic and rabbinic tradition who is about to bury even mosaic legislation and bring out the appointed day of rest in all the glory of new covenant realities teaches us that on his day all of those works of piety necessity and mercy that we do out of obedience to his holy law are pleasing in his sight now then what have I attempted to do this morning well I've attempted first of all to underscore the abiding authority of God's appointed day of rest and worship it is God's gracious provision for man the Sabbath was made for man now notice carefully keeping it as given is God's authoritative command to man it is God's gracious provision for man now what is man to do with it God says remember it to keep it as I've given it to you I've given it as a day set apart keep it for what it is remember the Sabbath to keep it made it holy at creation

Conclusion: Abiding Authority and Call to Repentance

48:04 I sanctified the seventh in every cycle of seven days it is my creative activity that did it and in all the glory of new covenant provision though I've changed the day from the seventh to the first I have marked out that day it is my day it is the Lord's day he has set it apart as holy you and I are under obligation to keep it for what he has made it and oh that some of you today would be like Bunyan perhaps before today you've never known the sting and the bite of Holy Ghost conviction I hope you will testify I never knew conviction until I heard a parson preach on the fourth commandment then I did go home with a smiting conscience what have you done with your Sabbaths over the years squandered them upon your flesh looked upon that day as your day to do your thing to fulfill your pleasures oh God has a controversy with you you'll go to hell if you go on impenitent in the face of the fourth commandment as much as the lecture goes on impenitent in the face of the seventh and the murderer in the face of the command thou shall do no murder may God send you home sinner with a stinging conscience

49:33 better yet may you before you go home face the glorious truth that Jesus Christ perfectly kept the fourth commandment along with the other nine and he kept it as the representative man he kept that law on our behalf and then to his cross the scripture says there he took the curse of the broken law and Christ then buried in his tomb all of the types and shadows he took to his cross and buried in his tomb all of our violations of that law my friend what's it mean to be a Christian it means that you've turned from ever hoping to rid yourself of your own sins either their guilt or their power and you've thrown yourself upon the mercy of Jesus Christ who lived the life you should live and died the death you should die and now lives to offer himself and all of his saving mercy in himself to every sinner better better better that here and now turn from your sin of Sabbath breaking turn from your sins of pride and uncleanness and jealousy and covetousness and flee to Christ and find the mercy that God has promised this promise is there for every and any sinner

50:59 who will simply look away from himself and look unto him child of God do you see the place of this blessed day yes it is God's gracious provision for man but it is also God's authoritative command to us to remember it to keep it holy now listen if you have a new heart let me ask you this question are the keeping of God's commandments grievous to you are they John said his commands are not grievous if you love me you will keep my commands David could say I will walk at liberty when I have respect unto all thy commandments what is it in you that feels irritation when you hear remember the appointed day of rest to keep it holy listen there will be no God honoring keeping of that day unless you regard it as a moral obligation if you simply look upon it as a tradition as a convenience no your conscience needs to be bound by whatever theological and exegetical materials it needs to be bound with the sense of duty that as we shall see next week

52:28 in the positive perspectives on the keeping of the law is on the keeping of the Lord's day it is only when I look upon that day and think about that day and prepare for that day under the framework of divine mandate that I shall begin to keep it in a way that is pleasing to God I sought to establish the abiding authority for God's appointed day and I sought to describe from scripture the lawful works to be performed on God's day works of piety works of necessity works of mercy nothing pleases God more than when his day is looked upon not as a day to come to church and then sleep the rest of the afternoon and stagger half awake to the evening service yes we may need that nap and isn't it amazing how some of us who can't sleep too well on any other afternoon it's like there's a built in clock that Sunday afternoon we're able to rest I think it's one of the secondary proofs that God made us to live in the same day cycles but oh let's also use the time to read the word of God spend time quality time with our families teaching them catechizing our children taking walks in God's creation trying to get them to think biblically about God's world in themselves you see we're not going to hand you a manual

53:56 this thick on how to keep the Lord's day God hasn't given us such a manual he's given us the broad principles and he's left us shut up to his holy law and to these marked pillars no it is not unlawful to do works of piety works of necessity works of mercy may God help us that out of love for him and regard for his word we shall honor him on his holy day to our prophet and to his praise let us pray our Father we thank you for your word which is a lamp to our feet a lamp to our pathway and we pray that what we have considered today concerning your appointed day of rest would be written upon our hearts that it will sink deeply into the fleshly tables of heart and conscience and oh God from this place may there be not only a recurring cycle of enthusiastic spiritual worship but oh may there be a wholehearted keeping of the whole of the day as you have given it a day sanctified and made holy pray for those whose consciences smite them

55:23 oh that they may flee to the only place where a smitten conscience can find true and just relief even the blood of your son write the word upon our hearts and may it prove effectual to the salvation of some and to the sanctification of your people hear our cry as we plead these mercies through the Lord Jesus Christ Amen