Keeping the Sabbath #3

Introduction: The Abiding Authority of God's Appointed Day of Rest

0:02 This sermon was preached on Sunday morning, August 5th, 1984, at Trinity Baptist Church in Montville, New Jersey.

0:15 I'll give attention, please, to the reading of God's Word in the Gospel according to Mark.

0:22 I shall read just the last paragraph of Chapter 2 as we complete this morning, this bit of an excursus or expansion upon the broader subject that is treated in this passage, having already expounded it verse by verse and sought to draw out the emphasis of the immediate context, we have returned in order to gather some gleanings with reference to the whole subject of God's appointed day of rest. Mark 2, 23. And it came to pass. It came to pass that he, that is our Lord, was going on the Sabbath day through the grain

1:04 fields, and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears. And the Pharisees said to him, Behold, why do they 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, how he entered into the house of God when Abiathar went? And the Pharisees said unto him, Did you not know that David 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?

1:40 And he said unto them, The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath, so that the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. And then two other portions, Genesis chapter 2, verses 1. To three, Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 to 3.

2:07 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. And God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because that in it he rested from all his work which God made. God had created and made.

2:35 And then finally from Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8. Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8.

2:50 In that embodiment of God's changeless moral requirements for all men in all ages and in all places, we read, Remember the Sabbath day, that is, the appointed day of rest. Whether it's the first day in every cycle of seven, or the seventh day, the command is not to remember the seventh day, but remember the appointed day of rest, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all your work, but the seventh day, that is, the seventh in every cycle of seven days.

3:35 Whatever the peculiar day of God. appointment may be, is a Sabbath, an appointed day of rest unto 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. Wherefore the Lord blessed the appointed day of rest, and hallowed it. You see, the commandment begins with the

4:17 appointed day of rest, and the emphasis does not fall upon what particular day it is. The commandment is, remember the appointed day, and it concludes with this statement, the Lord blessed the appointed day, and hallowed or sanctified it. Now let us again seek the face of God for his blessing on the study of his word. Our Father, it is with joy that we come to you on this your appointed day of rest. We thank you for the Lord's day Sabbath. We thank you for this day

5:01 in which we not only drink in the wonder of the Lord, but we also drink in the wonder of the original creation. But in a far greater way, we drink in the glory of the new creation, bursting forth from the open tomb of our Lord Jesus. And we thank you for this, the Lord's day, and as we seek to honor you in it by our corporate worship and praise, so now, O Lord, we would honor you as we come to have our minds and hearts brought subject to your preached word. O may the Spirit attend the word with power, that knowing your

5:42 mind, we may be obedient to it in the strength of Christ, and out of love for him who loved us, and gave himself for us. Amen. Now as I've already intimated, we have completed our expositions of Mark chapter 3 through verse 6, in which, there is then a very marked transition into a new segment of the gospel, and God willing, we'll begin our exposition of that section next Lord's day. But having completed the exposition

6:24 of these two last incidents in this section of Mark's gospel, in which the organizing principle is the rising opposition to Jesus by the religious leaders, and having noted that the occasion of that opposition is the rising opposition to Jesus by the religious leaders, and having noted that the opposition was the Sabbath practice of Jesus and his disciples, I felt that it was an appropriate time to go back to these passages and parallel passages in order to glean some of the great principles with respect to God's appointed day of rest. And in the first of these gleanings, I established two principles from the word of God. First of all, the abiding authority

7:08 of God. Second of all, the abiding authority of God. Third of all, the abiding authority of God. We see it in chapter 2, verses 27 and 28, and by the use of a chart, I sought to demonstrate from the scriptures the living unity between the original Sabbath rest appointed by God in Genesis 2, and the eternal Sabbath, and all the various developments of God's appointed day of rest in between. Then having established the abiding authority of God, I sought to demonstrate the

7:39 the abiding authority of God's appointed day of rest, and those expositions, of course, are available on tape for those who may be visiting with us. I then sought to draw your attention to the lawful works to be performed on God's appointed day of rest. And we saw from Matthew 12 that works of piety are to be performed, the priests whose activity was greatly intensified on God's appointed day of rest, and the priests whose activity was greatly intensified on God's appointed day of rest, and the priests whose activity was greatly intensified on God's appointed day of rest, when who, on the Jewish Sabbath, were not guilty of breaking the fourth commandment, even with its peculiar mosaic strictures. And then we noted that works of necessity. This work, if we may call it

8:24 that, of plucking the ears of grain and rubbing them between the hands and blowing away the chaff and eating them on a Sabbath day was in no way a violation of God's precept, for it was a work of necessity. And so works of piety are legitimate on God's appointed day of rest, works of necessity, and then Jesus teaches again and again that works of mercy are proper on that day, for again and again our Lord is found healing on the appointed day of rest.

Positive Duties and Privileges: Marking Out and Preparing for the Day

9:02 Then we began last week to take up a third clump of gleanings, having established the abiding authority of the day of rest, the lawful works to be performed on the appointed day of rest, we began to consider the positive duties and privileges of God's appointed day of rest, and we had time only to develop two of them. Number one, the conscious marking out of the day. Exodus 13. 26 says, remember, Deuteronomy chapter 5 says, observe or mark out and guard God's appointed day.

9:44 And so the positive duty begins with the conscious, deliberate marking out of the day for what it is, God's sanctified day, that which is designated in Revelation 1.10 as, And then secondly, there must be deliberate preparation for the day, even as the children of Israel made preparations for their Mosaic Sabbath, so we must make preparations for our Lord's Day Sabbath, and that preparation breaks down into three simple and obvious categories,

10:28 physical and mental preparation, spiritual preparation, and material preparation. And I hope you will remember the silly, homey illustrations that no one calls anyone a legalist who prepares for his state holidays by planning a picnic, buying the hot dogs and hamburgers the day before. The serious fisherman is not called a legalist because he buys his bait the day before, lays out his fishing, tackles, fills up his gas tank in his car because he knows no filling stations will be open when he takes off at four in the morning. He is called a serious fisherman.

11:12 The housewife is called an efficient housewife in making preparations for ordinary days of pleasure and leisure, and therefore to call a Christian who marks out the day and makes preparation for the day a legalist is to conjure up, a false image of what true piety does with reference to the Lord's day. Now then, we come in the third place to consider this activity that is warranted, not only the marking out of the day, preparation for the day,

Wholehearted Engagement in Appropriate Activities Throughout the Entire Day

11:54 but wholehearted engagement in appropriate activities throughout the entire day. day. So you see the three things? The marking out of the day, preparation for the day, and now our study this morning, wholehearted engagement in appropriate activities throughout the entire day.

12:20 Now there are several ways in which we could seek to organize the specific categories which constitute appropriate activities, and under them to reign some of the biblical principles. However, I'll take my clue for organizing from our confession of faith, which in the section dealing with the Lord's Day Sabbath reads as follows. I'm reading from the Old London Confession, chapter 22 and paragraph 8. The Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord,

12:56 when after a due preparing of their hearts and ordering of their common affairs aforehand, they not only observe a holy 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. So then, wholehearted engagement

13:37 in appropriate activities throughout the entire day involves specifically a use of the public means of grace. A use of the public means of grace. Whatever other gatherings on other days, we should not be doing this. We should not be doing this. We should not be doing this. We should not be

13:57 doing this. We should not be doing this. We should not be doing this. We should not be doing this. We should not be doing this.

13:57 The Lord's appointed day of rest is the day when Christ is committed in a peculiar way to draw near to His people in regal splendor. And as John could say, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, Revelation 1 and verse 10. So it is that in a peculiar way, the Spirit comes to the people of God on that glorious day of resurrection. You will remember

14:35 it was on such a day that the Spirit was poured out from heaven on the day of Pentecost. It was a first day of the week. It was a Lord's Day upon which the Spirit, when the Spirit came upon the people of God. You'll remember in the post-resurrection, when the Spirit came upon the resurrection appearances, there was a peculiar emphasis given to the disciples being gathered on the first day and Jesus Himself coming and appearing in the midst. And so we welcome this

15:13 day as the day when we obey the command to forsake not the assembling of ourselves together. In the language of Acts 20, we gather on the first day of the week to break bread. In the language of 1 Corinthians 16, we gather on the first day of the week to lay by us in store as God has prospered us. We gather to be instructed in the Word. We gather to speak to one another,

15:42 to exhort one another, to provoke unto love and to good works. We welcome the day as the day when Christ, in a special way and to a special degree, comes and draws near to His gathered people. And therefore the activities appropriate for the day must begin with this gathering with the people of God to be exposed to the public means of grace. But a second appropriate activity is the private means of grace. And by the private means of grace,

16:26 I mean simply, the reading of the Word of God in a concentrated way. Giving oneself to prayer. Giving oneself to the reading of good Christian literature. To intensified periods of self-examination.

16:45 The day when the legitimate duties involved in the fourth commandment, in what we would call its secondary emphasis, can be put aside. Six days shalt thou labor. And if we take seriously that dimension of the command, a healthy soul longs for a day when it can put aside the legitimate dimensions of labor in conjunction with one's business, the life in conjunction with the normal functions of the home, and to have a day when we may give ourselves to the intensified cultivation of the inner man. It is not that we don't pray on Monday through Saturday, but that we

17:27 do not pray on Saturday, at least I trust it is not so with us. It is not that we do not read the Word of God. It is not that we do not offer up spiritual sacrifices to God acceptable to Him through Christ. But in a special way, on this day, we can engage in a concentrated use of the private means of grace, not only these that I have mentioned, but even with respect to the needed rest of the body of God. And so, I am going to begin with this. I am going to begin with this. I am going to

17:57 begin with this. I am going to begin with this. I am going to begin with this. I am going to begin withこの one of the few verses , and then a portion of this you will see the original story on Monday. in between him and me and I. Everybody has which I

18:05 have%, JesusMan who is a father of all children who is a father of children of Him, who goes to the cremation and preaches all things of the Holy Spirit, who is accelerator, the hymn of the Book, but JesusИm merely frequents in this copy of the whole Eucharist until he comes home. this whole preaching is going to be an teaching. I do not understand all this. Today when I им and my own spiritual life.

18:30 If God had not created one, I'd make one to keep my own sanity and to keep my own soul. And he went on to say how blessed it was to know that when he walked by the pile of work that needed to be done on the house, the shingle that was loose and needed to be fixed, the car that needed to be cleaned and waxed, and a host of other things, and felt during the week the pressure of the backlog of all kinds of duties crawling for attention to be able, as it were, to look them all in the face on the Lord's day and stick your tongue out at them. And just say, yeah, yeah, you have no claims over me today. What a wonderful privilege

19:12 to give ourselves to the private means of grace. But then thirdly, the third category of legitimate activities are the social means of grace. What a privilege to have a time when the shop and the office do not claim 8 and 10 and 12 hours of dad. When Ephesians 6, 4 in a unique way can be fulfilled, fathers nurture your children.

19:43 Throughout the week of necessity, often, particularly with preschool children, is the mother who does most of the actual work of nurturing. What a privilege for fathers to have a day of grace. A day when they can take their proper high profile as the priest and king under Christ in that home and catechize the children and talk to them about life and talk to them about the word of God. Quality time with families.

20:14 Quality times with one another. Yes, we do meet in our little natural groupings after our services, Lord's day and Wednesday. But how quickly, 45 minutes passes, and we must make our way to our homes and our other responsibilities. But oh, what a wonderful thing to seize the Lord's day for the social means of grace.

20:37 To open our homes to one another in obedience to the word of God which says, showing hospitality one to another without grudging. And we open our homes to each other and spend the whole of the Lord's day afternoon in blessed fellowship, sharing our struggles, and our progress in grace. These then are the legitimate activities for God's appointed day of rest. The public means of grace, the private means of grace, the social means of grace.

The Nature of Engagement: Wholehearted and Entire Day

21:13 But now you'll notice I use two qualifying words. It is to be wholehearted engagement in appropriate activities throughout the...

21:26 ENTIRE day. Having named the activities, I want to underscore now these two qualifying descriptions. It is to be wholehearted engagement in these activities. How do we know that?

21:43 Well, the word of God says, whatever thy hand finds to do, do with all thy might, as unto the Lord, and not as unto men. We read in Isaiah 58, specifically with respect to the Sabbath, that that day is to be called the holy of the Lord and honorable. We shall honor it, not doing our own ways, nor finding our own pleasure, nor speaking our own words. You see, the whole motif of that verse is wholeheartedly giving over to the sanctity and to the privileges of God's appointed day of rest.

22:22 Oh, how God cried out against His ancient people, do you remember what He said to them? Yes, He says through Malachi, you bring me sacrifices, but you bring me the halt, and the lame, and the blemished. When I call for the unblemished sacrifice, and how we need to remind ourselves it's not enough that we're simply found in this place, and our mouths are barely opened when the hymns are sung. The Scripture says, in the language of the Psalmist, with my whole heart will I seek Thee.

23:00 Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name. May I say it this way, you ought to feel a sense of exhaustion after singing two or three hymns. You ought to sense that you've poured your whole soul into the praises of Almighty God.

23:22 There is to be wholehearted engagement in the public means of prayer, when the praises of God are sung. We do not offer Him the halt and the maim of half-voiced, half-lunged, half-hearted praise. Ah, but you say my voice doesn't get right. That's all right.

23:42 If everyone's praising as they ought, they'll drown out your squeaky voice. So you squeak with all your heart to the praise of God. It sounds like angels' voices in His ears. All of your heart, because God is worthy, is worthy of a whole sacrifice.

24:00 And when the Word is preached, you engage all of your mind. And any thought that would intrude in the preaching, innocent in itself, you treat it as an unholy intruder. Treat it like a thought of lust. Treat it like a thought of envy.

24:16 Anything that would keep you from giving your mind entirely to the Word of God, you come determined that with fixation of soul, you will hear the Word, those of us who preach to you seek to preach to you with every fiber of our being. You're never cursed with anyone standing in this pulpit and droning on in the monotone, talking like he hath believed, but he hopes that you fall asleep under that preaching. It's almost impossible. I mean, it's impossible not to.

24:51 The voice of the preacher becomes like a metronome. But God has given you earnest preachers, different preachers, different personalities, different levels of decibels and expressions of faces, but everyone earnest. And if they preach in earnest, you listen in earnest. And thank God for you parents that are seeking to cultivate that in your children.

25:16 You don't let them sit there and scribble little notes. You make them pay attention and you're training them that they are to wholeheartedly attend to the Word of the living God. And when we are led in prayer, prayer is a labor. It's called such in Scripture, that Greek word, agonizomai, to describe what is very vivid in our minds at Olympic time.

25:41 It describes what would happen when two well-trained athletes with oiled bodies would get in the arena and would grapple with one another in the old Grecian games. And Paul describes prayer as agonizomai, an agony, a spiritual intensity. And it should not only be so for the one who leads us, but for each one of us who is being led. And who knows what blessing God brings when a congregation with one heart lays hold of God with wholehearted engagement in the public means of grace.

26:21 And likewise with the private means of grace, the social means of grace. As we said last week, the appointed day of rest is not a day of inactivity, but it is a day of a different kind of activity. But it is activity that is directed to God and should have the engagement of the whole soul and, the second qualifying word, throughout the entire day. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

26:55 And God demands of us what we would consider an ordinary day, as surely as we work six days. And we don't measure that precisely from this hour to that hour, but you know what it is to say that guy gives you a day's work for a day's pay. I had a rough day. And we are not going to be legalistic and say, well the Jews marked their day from sundown to sundown and the Hebrews...

27:26 That's not the issue. If some of us ended up on an island somewhere and all had amnesia and no clock, and we didn't know what day it was in terms of the calendar of the world, God could care less. So long as we began to structure our days with six days of labor followed by a seventh day of rest, and we did our reckoning so that the first day was our appointed day of rest. And if that was Wednesday for the rest of the world, God could care less.

27:57 The issue is that we give an entire day to Him. Now it's very interesting. When I was a boy, you could always tell the difference between Christians and Roman Catholics in many ways, but here was one way. In the summertime, the Roman Catholics would all go to early Mass and then count the rest of Sunday Funday.

28:20 Sunday was Funday after you got fixed up with 50 minutes at Mass. And do you know what's happened? Evangelical Christians have become just like Roman Catholics. A lot of churches have double services or early services Sunday in the summer.

28:39 Why? So people can go to Evangelical Mass and spend the rest of the day at the beach, in their backyard pools, and no difference whatsoever from 10 o'clock onward. Go out in their boats, lie and lounge around in their pools, engage in Sunday sports, go to the golf links. My Bible says, remember the Sabbath day to keep not the first one quarter, not the first one half, but to keep.

Critique of Sabbath Breaking and the Carnal Mind

29:15 There is to be not only the marking out of the day, preparation for the day, but wholehearted engagement in appropriate activities throughout the entirety of the day. Now, in the light of these Biblical principles, can there be any Biblical warrant for Sunday sports? For the Devil's Sunday Bible? That's what the Sunday paper is.

29:53 We could go on and name a thousand and one practices that are indications that as surely as this generation says to God, I don't care what you say in the fifth commandment, honor thy father and thy mother, I'll treat my old man and my old lady the way I want to. This generation that says with regard to the seventh commandment, my body is my own, I'll do with it what I please, and with respect to the command, thou shall do no murder, it's just fetal tissue, I'll kill it if I want to, my body is my own. This is the generation that says, my days are my own, and Almighty God has no right to tell me that a day is to be especially His.

30:37 And listen, there'll be people burning in hell who have kept externally all the other commandments, but will be there primarily because they were determined Sabbath breakers. For whoso shall keep the whole law and offend in one point, the same is guilty of all. James 2 and verse 10. Now no doubt someone objects and says, I don't like this kind of preaching.

31:10 I'm not surprised, for the carnal mind is enmity against God. It is not subject to the law of God. And your rejection of what I have preached simply lays bare that you've got a carnal mind. Calvin experienced it in his day when he preached on the fourth commandment and he did sermons on Deuteronomy.

31:39 John Calvin, so-called non-sabbatarian. Listen to what he says to the professing Christians who believe. Now let us consider whether those who call themselves Christians require of themselves what they should. There's a large group that thinks Sunday exists for the purpose of enabling them to attend to their own affairs and who reserve this day for that purpose as if there were no others throughout the week for deliberating their business.

32:12 For though the bell tolls for the sermon, they seem only to have time for their own affairs and for one thing and another. The rest glut themselves and are shut up in their houses because they dare not display a manifest scorn in the streets in any case. You see what he's saying? They wouldn't go out and play in their games and show up at Giant Stadium.

32:36 They just sit at home and fail to keep the day holy unto the Lord. Sunday's nothing more than a retreat for them in which they stand aloof from the church of God. Now from the foregoing we see in what attitude we hold all Christianity and the service of God. You hear what he's saying?

32:56 How you regard the Sabbath is an index of how you regard the whole of Christianity. For what was given to us in order to help us approach God, we use as an occasion for alienating ourselves from Him even more. And as a result we are led astray. We must recover it all.

33:16 Is not such a diabolical malice in men? That's what he calls a rejection of the Sabbath. Diabolical malice. Not Christian liberty.

33:27 Shame on those who have abused the worthy name of Calvin in misrepresenting his teaching. Would to God that we had to look hard for examples and that they were more rare. But as everything is profaned we see that the majority hardly care about the usage of this day which has been instituted in order that we might withdraw from all earthly anxieties, from all business affairs to the end that we might surrender everything to God. And then he goes on to say, just coming to hear the sermon in the Nuff, and in the next paragraph he goes on to amplify keeping the whole day unto the Lord.

The Lordship of Christ Over the Sabbath and Historical Witness

34:11 Pages 109 and 110. Calvin's sermons on the Ten Commandments translated by Benjamin Farley. My dear people, there is no loyalty to the God of creation and redemption without having conscience about the fourth commandment. The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

34:36 Not Lord to destroy it, but Lord to strip it of all of its peculiar mosaic elements, to pull away all the pharisaic and rabbinic encrossments, and then to adorn it with all the glory and the dynamics of the new covenant and the outpoured spirit and an accomplished redemption that we might have a day of spiritual rest unto God in which we bring Him the glory due to His name and find blessing to ourselves. Now there was a time, you see, when I wouldn't have had to preach this way and one of our dear members did me great service.

35:18 I love it when people send helpful notes. And when I got home from the conference in Memphis Friday afternoon, this was one of the letters waiting for me. Greetings. In conjunction with your sermons on our studies on the Sabbath day and the holiness of the Lord's day, I thought you might find the following bit of trivia interesting, perhaps even a bit saddening.

35:43 At one time our nation held such a high regard for the sanctity of the Lord's day that on two occasions in our history the office of the President of the United States was vacant. Boy, that caught my eye. I said, I've got to read home. Both Presidents Polk and Grant, their terms of office officially ended on Saturdays.

36:07 Presidents Zachary Taylor and Rutherford Hayes would not take the oath of office on a Sunday. It would have been March 4, 1849 and March 4, 1876. Both men waited till the following Monday. Evidently, it was felt that observance of the Lord's day was more important than the assumption of leadership of a nation.

36:30 Was this reverence a bit misplaced or overstated? Was it dangerous to the safety and security of the nation? Were they neglecting a duty of necessity? Hardly.

36:42 In such an instance, the President pro tem of the Senate becomes the nation's chief executive. On March 3, 1849, the U.S. Senate worked late into Saturday night in debate.

36:55 President pro tem David Rice Atchison, exhausted from his duties the previous night, slept through his day in the sun. 3-4-1849. Likewise, on March 4, 1877, nothing of importance or historical significance occurred. However, Thomas W. Ferry

37:14 was available if necessary and awake too. I'm sorry. I might add. It is regrettable and saddening that our nation has degenerated to the point wherein explicit sermons have to be delivered from the pulpit to dispel the mass confusion on what constitutes proper activity for the Lord's day, especially so when one considers that reverence for the Lord's day used to abound even among the unsaved.

37:43 It would appear that our forefathers, as a matter of national witness, held us scrupulously in regard for the Lord's day. They also do not appear to have been ashamed to define a legitimate work of necessity in the most narrow of terms without being afraid of being called legalists. I hope this tiny bit of trivia is of interest to you. My dear brother who wrote the letter, you see of how much interest it is to me.

38:14 It's forever embalmed on tape. Why? Because there was a time when the conscience of this nation felt the impress of the law of God. And now it is in the professing church to establish the sanctity of the Lord's day.

Sanctifying Christ as Lord by Honoring His Day

38:41 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, wherewith shall the ungodly and sinner appear? My dear people, hear me. God says, and these are the two texts with which I want to close this morning. God says in 1 Peter 3 and verse 15, Sanctify Jesus Christ as Lord.

39:05 Sanctify, set apart Jesus Christ as Lord in your hearts, ready always to give answer to every man who asks you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness, and fear, having a good conscience. Now let me tell you something that happened yesterday. A number of people met at a restaurant, and I'm sure the barkers would not mind me saying they wish they had a restaurant big enough and enough money to have invited the entire church family and I hope no one has a bent nose

39:48 or a spirit contrary to grace in that matter. It was such a blessed and happy time, so much so, that one of the waitresses commented to one of our men saying she never saw anything like this. There was a bar in that particular hall that obviously would have been the open bar at the average wedding reception. It was a closed bar yesterday, not a drop of alcohol, sir.

40:17 And she commented, I've never seen anything like this. People so happy, people so outgoing, people so joyful. What church do you people go to? Maybe I need to get a little religion.

40:32 And so this individual had a chance to bear direct witness to this person and link her up with a pastor nearby where she lives because of 1 Peter 3.15. In all the joyful abandonment of a wedding reception, Jesus Christ was marked out as Lord in the hearts of his people. There were no ribald, double innuendo jokes about the bride and groom, anything that said and smacked of the sanctity of the relationship.

41:08 Oh, there was laughter, there was some jesting, there was telling of little incidents that created laughter and occasionally innocent embarrassment, but not a tinge of double innuendo, not a tinge of anything risqué. There was holy laughter. Why? Christ was set apart as Lord in the hearts of his people and someone had to ask a question.

41:36 What makes this people pick? My friend, if you set apart Christ as Lord, one of the proofs is you set him apart as Lord with his day, for it is the Lord's day. And just as you can't set him apart without his book, you can't have him without his word, you can't have him without his day. It's his day.

42:02 He claims it as his own. On that day he burst the bands of death. On that day he sent his spirit in power. And he says, if you have me, you'll have me not only with my book, but with my day.

42:19 So you set him apart as Lord, then you'll set apart his day. And when you set apart his day, and the neighbors see, that every Lord's day morning out you go with your family, you come back and out you go again. I can remember when our children were younger, our backyard was the Meadowbrook Lane playground. But after being there only two or three weeks, they knew that the playground was empty on Sunday.

42:47 We welcomed all the neighbors' kids in throughout the week, but they soon knew that Sunday was a different day. And it has come back indirectly, to us, that this has opened the door of witness for others, just observing the manner in which the Martins kept God's day. Oh, my dear people, as I trust you long, that Christ will have the fruit of his sufferings, according to Titus 1, Titus 2, 11 to 14, that you would be a people denying ungodliness and worldly lust, living soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. As you long for that,

Resisting Worldly Accommodation and Upholding God's Commands

43:31 with reference to your marital relationships, your business dealings, all of your ethics, so with respect to his day, oh, sanctify him as Lord with respect to his day. But you say, Pastor, I mean, this is the complex, mechanistic society, and the world is so encroached upon the day, there's no way we can. Ah, listen to John Owen, the world indeed seems to be weary of the just, righteous, holy ways of God, and that exactness in walking according to his institutions and commands, which it will be one day known that he doth require.

44:16 But the way to put a stop to this declension is not by accommodating the commands of God to the corrupt courses and ways of men. The truths of God, and the holiness of his precepts, must be pleaded and defended, though the world dislike them here, and perish hereafter. His law must not be made to lackey after the wills of men, nor be dissolved by vain interpretations, a la Robert Morey and his drivel. And that's all it is, is drivel.

44:52 Exegetical, theological, and historical drivel. Vain interpretations, because they complain they cannot indeed, because they will not comply with it. And to that I say Amen, Dr. Owen.

45:09 And if Trinity Church is marked by a commitment to the pure, unmixed worship of God according to his word, it's committed to the sanctity of God's holy day. How can you say with the hymn writer, day of all the weeks, the best emblem of eternal rest? Oh, may God grant that you will. Let us pray.

Prayer for Grace and Purification

45:40 Holy Father, we thank you for your word. Thank you for its instruction. Thank you for your precepts. Thank you for your grace that gives us a heart to love them and power to keep them.

46:04 And yet we acknowledge that our obedience at best must be washed in the blood of Christ. Wash us then and help us to be cleansed even of the sins of this past hour that we have not with the whole heart praised you as we ought, sought you as we ought, loved you as we ought, attended to your word as we ought. We've allowed the world to dictate how we keep your day. This age has exerted its pressure upon your church.

46:34 Oh Lord, purify us and may we be molded by the word and by the word alone. Write this word upon our hearts and to your name be praise and honor and glory through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.