The Sabbath Before the Command

If you have your bibles, please turn them once again to Exodus chapter sixteen. Exodus chapter sixteen today looking at Exodus sixteen, verses twenty two through thirty Exodus sixteen, beginning at verse twenty two, and as we are walking through this section of Exodus, as we are beginning these wilderness wanderings, we are concentrating on the fact that God is shaping his people Israel. But not only is he shaping his people Israel, but in doing so, he is also giving us a picture of how He shapes his covenant people in general. We have seen every step of the way, how what is happening in the life of Israel mirrors what is happening in the life of the covenant people of God today. And the whole point being, we are not as distinct from the people of Israel as we often think we are. We know, for example, in Romans, that we have been grafted in to that vine. We know from Galatians that we are the Israel of God. And we understand that all of those promises that have been made to Abraham and to his descendants are ours because of our spiritual connection to Him by faith. We get this and we see this but here in Exodus chapter sixteen, we've been able to sort of put flesh on that, and not just in any arbitrary sense. We're also doing this in the sense that we're connecting to what Jesus has made very clear. He made it clear that he is the bread from Heaven that Moses announced and God sent down. Jesus identified himself as the Manna from heaven, and so in Jesus identifying himself as that, it's incumbent upon us to see how God uses this manna in shaping Israel, because it is commensurate with the way God uses this manna in shaping us Christ himself being our bread from Heaven. Today we look more specifically and more closely at the Sabbath command. This is an important command, not just because Jesus, who identified himself as the Mana, also identified himself as the Lord of the Sabbath, but also because your understanding of the Sabbath and my understanding of the Sabbath is one of the most critical junctures in our theology. Let me say that again, our understanding of the Sabbath is one of the most critical junctures in our theology, and overwhelmingly today Christians in our culture assume what they believe about the Sabbath and are completely unable to define or defend what they believe about the Sabbath. You talk to ten Christians out there on the street, ten people who identify themselves as Christian out there on the street, and nine of them are going to tell you that there is no longer a Sabbath command. Nine out of ten are going to tell you that there's no longer a Sabbath command. Let me go, let me say eight out of ten. Eight out of ten are going to tell you that there's no longer a Sabbath command, that it's done away with now. There were also going to tell you that the rest of the commands haven't been done away with. So individuals are going to say, on the one hand, we're no longer obligated to keep the Sabbath. We're obligated to not have any other gods before God. We're obligated to not make graven image and worship idols. We're obligated not to take the Lord's name in vain. We're obligated to honor our mother and father. We're obligated not to murder, not to commit adultery, not to steal, not to bear false witness, and we're obligated not to covet. All of the other nine were obligated too, but Commandment number four is no longer an obligation for us. Eight out of ten are going to tell you that. Ask them why, and they won't be able to tell you why. Maybe they'll say, well, because the others are mentioned in the New Testament, and this one is not mentioned in the New Testament. Set aside for a moment that I would argue that's not true, that there are a number of places where the Sabbath command is reiterated in the New Testament. But the question that you then have to ask is, and what makes you say that the ten commandments are done away with unless they're mentioned in the New Testament? And then they're going to give you some explanation of their overarching theology. That's what it means to no longer be under law, but to be under grace. That's what it means to be in the New Covenant and not the Old Covenant. They'll give you some explanation of that. I said eight out of ten. Why did I say eight out of ten? Not because I've actually done this survey. I'm just trying to make a point, and the point fits better with eight out of ten. Of the other two who do believe that there's still a Sabbath command, one of those people is probably going to belong to a Sabbatarian cult. Amen, they're going to be Seventh Day something. They're going to be, you know, or they're going to be part of a you know, a Hebrew Roots movement or some other sort of thing. And their argument is going to be, not only do we believe in holding to the Sabbath, but we believe in holding to Israel's Sabbath, to a Jewish Sabbath on the seventh Day, with all of the rules that Israel had attached to the Sabbath. And there's only going to be that one other person who says, yes, I do believe that the Sabbath command is still intact. I don't believe that it's a Jewish Sabbath command. I don't believe that we have to meet on the seventh Day. I believe we need to meet on the first day. Those individuals are more than likely going to be part of a confessional Reformed church. They're going to be part of a church that holds to as we do Second London, or as our Presbyterian Brethren due Westminster, or our Dutch Reform brothers who hold to Belgic, they're going to be in one of those circles of Confessional Reformed churches. If it is not one of those two groups, you're generally not going to find people who believe that this command is still intact. Now, let me first explain what I'm doing and what I'm not doing this morning. We're going to have an entire series when we get to Exodus twenty on the ten Commandments, will probably take six months. On the ten Commandments, probably six months dealing with the Commandments. We'll deal with the idea of Baptist coming at theology, We'll deal with the different diferent views and ways that you approach the Decalogue, and then we'll deal with each of the commandments in turn, probably for a few weeks at a time. So we're going to have a long time dealing with the Ten Commandments. So my goal here today is not to give a full expression of our understanding and theology as it relates to the Fourth Commandment. That will come later. So I'm not going to answer all the questions. We've also had other discussions about this, and I'll just refer you to those. But today here's what the point that here's the point that I want to make that overwhelmingly, when Christians who are not part of a cultic group or a former cultic group, when those individuals say that they believe that this command is no longer in effect, one of the theological reasons that they give. Those who think about this theologically, those who have delved into this deeply, what they're going to argue is that the Fourth Commandment is no longer intact for us, because the Tin Commandments or the Decalogue is no longer intact for us, and that the only things that we're bound to obey are those things that we find in the New Testament. We're completely divorced from the Mosaic Covenant, and the Ten Commandments are part and parcel of the Mosaic Covenant. They are that's it. The Mosaic Covenant is summarized right there in those Tin Commandments. And because we are not part of the Mosaic Covenant, then we don't hold to the Tin Commandments as such. We don't believe that the moral law of God is summed up in the Tin Commandments. Okay, here's what I want you to see today. If I was going to title this message, it would be the Sabbath before the Sabbath Command, because the decalogue comes in Exodus twenty, but the Sabbath command is an Exodus sixteen, which means that the Sabbath command transcends the Mosaic Covenant. It is not just part of the Mosaic Covenant. First of all, it transcends the Mosaic Covenant because even in Exodus twenty, Moses points back to Genesis chapter two, and it's rooted and grounded in a creation ordinance because of the way God created the world in six days and then took the seventh day to rest. How many of you know God doesn't get tired a man. So whatever that rest was, it wasn't who I'm worn out, I need this. It was something else. And what Moses says in Exodus chapter twenty is that this is the pattern of life, the pattern of work and worship. Again, we'll get there. So number one, he points back to Genesis chapter two. Number two, Here we have this Sabbath command before the ten Commandments, which means it transcends the Mosaic Covenant. It's above and beyond that. Now, there are a lot more reasons that we'll give later on when we get to chapter twenty, but for now we'll just take these. Look at this. Let's read the text Genesis, I mean Exodus, chapter sixteen, beginning in verse twenty two. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each. And when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, he said to them, this is what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake, and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay aside, to be kept till morning. So they laid it aside till morning, as Moses commanded them, and it did not stink, and there were no worms in it. Moses said, eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord. Today you will not find it in the field. Six days you shall gather it. But on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none. On the seventh day, some of the people went out to gather. Lord, have mercy I know that's what you want to say, because that's what I want to say when I read this. When I read this, and as I've said before, it's only going to get worse. But every time you come to that place where you read about Israel doing something like this, please pause and insert your name, because when you read this, however you feel about them, that's you before God. If you can't say amen, you ought to say ouch. The same thing over and over and over again. This is us, This is me. Forget the generalities, this is me, over and over again. Okay, Lord, all right, here's this, Yes, here's that. Yes, got it. A little while later, Oh wait a minute, was it that? On the seventh some of the people went out together, but they found none. And the Lord said to Moses, how long will you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws. See, the Lord has given you the sabbath. Therefore on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Remain each of you in his place. Let no one go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day. There is so much grace and patience there. First, let's look at some implications of this pre Mosaic law. Sabbath Ian Campbell wrote a wonderful article. Now I'll reference the article a few times here. The title of Campbell's article, I believe, is why Eastern makes me a Sabbatarian. I'll reference the crux of that point later. Campbell writes, it is self evidently not true that it was not until the law was given by God to his redeemed people at Sinai, that they, and not the whole of humanity, were commanded to observe the Sabbath. The regulations governing the gathering of the manna in Exodus sixteen required Sabbath observance before the Sinai Law was given. Again, the fourth Commandment has not been given yet. The fourth Commandment is given in Exodus twenty. Now there are some who argue that what we have here is some sort of prolificist What we have here is that this actually happened after Exodus twenty. But when Moses is writing it all out, he puts Exodus twenty after this moment. And the reason that they do this is simply because it's got to be that way. If we're going to argue that the only reason to observe the Sabbath is the Mosaic law. If the only reason is the Mosaic Covenant, which is summarized in the Decalogue, then you have to explain how you have what God is calling here commandment and law. Those are the words that he uses, commandment and law before the Decalogue. How do we have mandatory observance before the Decalogue if it wasn't a law until the Decalogue. So the Sabbath transcends the Mosaic Code. Secondly, the Sabbath Sabbath was not just for Israel. Again Kembel wrights. Nor is there any reason to think, indeed, there is much reason not to think that the Sabbath was given to Israel with significance for no one else. Are we really to believe that the Ten Commandments functioned in this way and that their ethical requirements were only for the redeemed people? Idolatry was practiced in the ancient world, and it is not only Israel who is judged for the practice. The first commandment demanding monotheism of Israel demands it not because it is a law for Israel alone, but a law that everyone everywhere is bound to keep. The Sabbath iiO built into the fabric of creation is a sign for Israel certainly, but has universal significance since it is built into the creation order. Because this is built into the creation order, it's for everybody. How often do we hear this? I hear this so frequently for peace people? Well, I mean the Ten Commandments, the law of God. That's only for God's people, even those who will say, even those who will say no, no, I'm a non commandment person. Granted, we've already established that eight out of ten Christians are going to say that they're only non commandment people. They don't believe in the fourth Commandment. But even those people who are non commandment people are going to argue that those non commandments are only commandments for people who voluntarily enter into covenant with God. In other words, they argue that nations who practice other religions, that people groups that practice other religions cannot possibly be judged by God for violating the Ten Commandments because they did not voluntarily enter into this covenant agreement with God. Therefore, how there we judge other nations, other peoples, other religions for not holding to these ten commandments? Therefore, how dare we, as Christian citizens, for example, in the US, sit in judgment on non Christian citizens in the US for not upholding this moral code to which we have voluntarily enjoined ourselves. Because after all, unless and until you've signed on the dotted line, it's not immoral for you. If the Fourth Commandment is a creation ordinance, then everyone is responsible to uphold it. If the Decalogue is an expression of God's righteousness and the righteousness that is required by our Holy God God, than everyone everywhere is responsible to uphold it. You see, folks, when people stand before God on the day of judgment, they're not going to stand before God and have God judge them based on what they have voluntarily agreed to uphold. God is not going degrade on the curve. God is not going to stand there and say, well, you only agreed that you would hold to this morality, So let's see how you did with what you chose. Folks. God is God. He determines what is righteous, He determines what is sinful. We don't get to determine that. God gets to determine that. So God's moral law is binding upon all men everywhere, all of it. And again, our Lord is Lord of the Sabbath. The implications here Luke Chapter six, verses three to five. Jesus answered them, have you not read what David did when he was hungry? He and those who were with him, How he entered the House of God and took and ate the bread of the presence, which is not lawful for any but the priest to eat, and also gave it to those with him. And he said to them, the son of Man is lord of the Sabbath. The son of Man is lord of the Sabbath. Now riddle me this batman. Would Jesus be lord of something that was going to be abolished? He didn't say I was lord of the Sabbath. But now I'm here, and so all of that stuff doesn't matter anymore, because you know we're in the grace. Now I know he says, I am lord of the Sabbath. He is lord of the Sabbath. And we read in Hebrews fourth there does now remain a sabbath rest for the people of God. So there does now remain a lord of the Sabbath. The Sabbath has not been abolished. It's interesting, But let me just see if this illustration helps you. I want to illustrate our inconsistency on this. My family. Now, you know, our house is on the market, and so every now and then we have to get out of the house, and sometimes it's at an awkward time, and so we have to go eat somewhere, and we want to eat at an establishment here locally. And we walked up to this establishment several days ago, and we walk up to the front door of the establishment and there's a big sign on the door, bright yellow sign, we will be closed on Easter Sunday so that our employees may go and celebrate our resurrected Lord. Amen. That's good, isn't it. Amie walking to the door and there's another sign in the foyer which says now reopening on Sundays. In other words, Easter Sunday is so significant that we need to give our employees off so on that Sunday they can go to the place where we celebrate our resurrected Lord. Folks, what that means is the other fifty one Sundays of the year are not dedicated to celebrating our resurrected Lord. How do we explain that? Because the fact that we celebrate on the first day of the week instead of the seventh day of the week is because of the resurrection of Christ. There are those who aren't what you are. You know, if you're gonna if you're gonna be sabbatarian, if you're gonna hold that the Fourth Commandment is still in place, well then you gotta go seventh day instead of first day. You No, you don't, Oh, you don't. The commandment is one day in seven. The commandment is one day in seven, And in the New Testament we find believers gathering on that first day of the week. And the resurrection of Christ is so significant that the New Testament Church did not say one day a year, we're going all out. We're gonna have helicopters and Easter bunnies and chocolate and eggs because Jesus rows from the Great No, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is so significant that this command that has been in place since the creation of the world is now going to be observed on the day that he rose from the grave. So it's not that we don't celebrate Easter here. We just call it Sunday. Every Lord's Day is a radical expression of our commitment to the worship of the resurrected Christ. Every time we gather on the first day of the week instead of the seventh day of the week, we are saying that the whole world has been radically rearranged because Christ died for sins, and on the first day of the week he rose again with all power in his hands. Now radical was that that we don't give him one out of fifty two. But every week of the year we gather to celebrate the resurrected Christ. And the fact that this timeless command, this timeless one day and seven belongs to me command, is observed by us on this day speaks volumes. It speaks volumes. This day is not like other days. So what is this observance and manner of observance? In Extodus sixteen tell us about Israel and about us a couple of things. First, the Sabbath was commend It was commanded. God did not say, listen, you know, I think it'd be a pretty good idea for you. Maybe the rest once in a while. It was commanded. It was very specific, very specific. Look at verse twenty two and twenty three. On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much bread, two omers each, and when all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses. He said to them, this is what the Lord has commanded. Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath. To the Lord, bake what you will bake, and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over last side, and keep it until morning. This is a command. This is not optional. This is not if you're super spiritual you can do this. This is not if the Lord so leads you, you can do this. This is as the people of God. This is what God commands of us. This one day and seven observance is not suggested. It's command. It's commanded. And I'm afraid that because we have moved into a time in our culture where again eight out of ten professing Christians do not believe that there is a Sabbath command, we also have this attitude that going to church is optional. I might show up, I might not. I might be there once a quarter. I might be there once a month i'm feeling really good, I might be there every week. If my kid is in a sports league that's demanding Sundays from me, you might not see me for three or four months. That's always interesting to me. The folks you will say, yeah, okay, you know, we gotta we gotta do this thing, and we gotta go. We got to be part of this sport league in the sports league plays on Sunday. Again, these are individuals who say, there is no Sabbath command. Okay, fine, there's a sports league and you've got to be a part of the sports league. And a sports league plays on Sunday, and there is no Sabbath command for you. But you're still you're fine. Oh, but don't worry. We have a devotional on the Sundays before we have our games come out. Wait, why do you do that? Because it seems like what you want to do is, on the one hand, acknowledge that this is the Lord's day and that he is to be remembered and worshiped on this day, but you're not willing to go as far as to say the whole day is his. So now what we've done is we've said, well, I still believe in a Sabbath command, but I believe that God has commanded of us a perfunctory service, not a day. And so as long as we go through our perfunctory service before we do whatever it is that we're going to do, then we've ticked the box and everything is okay. Folks, that dog won't hunt. If there is no Sabbath command and you don't believe that there is an obligation, just go do your league for three or four months, and then if you feel like it's start going back to church again. But if you believe that there is an obligation for God to be worshiped on this day so much so that you will create your own de facto church and have your worship before you do the other thing, then it seems like you're trying to have your cake and eat it too. It seems like you're trying to acknowledge the fact that there is something significant about this day and that we do owe God something on this day, while at the same time saying that we don't owe him much. Is the day he his or is it not? That's the question. Is the day his or is it not? It is a command. We cannot embrace the blessing of the Sabbath without embracing the fact that it is a command. Listen to this from BB Warfield. It's a little bit of an extended quote, but when I read it, I think you'll understand why it was important for me to have all this here. It was a lecture that he was giving on the Sabbath warfield. That great Princeton, theologian of days gone by, wrote, I am to speak to you today, not of the usefulness or the blessedness of the Sabbath, but of its obligation. And I am to speak to you of its obligation, not as that obligation naturally arises out of its usefulness or blessedness, but as it is in immediately imposed by God in his word. You naturally dwell on the joy of the Sabbath. This is the day of gladness and triumph on which the Lord broke the bonds of the grave, abolishing death and bringing life and immortality to light. As naturally you dwell on the value of the Sabbath. This is the day on which the tired body rests from its appointed labor, on which the worn spirit finds opportunity for recuperation, an oasis in the desert of earthly cares, when we can escape for a moment from the treadmill toil of daily life, and at leisure from ourselves, refresh, refresh our souls in God. I am to recall your minds. It may seem somewhat brusquely to the contemplation of the duty of the Sabbath, and to ask you to let them rest for a moment on the bald no of authority. I do not admit that in doing so, I am asking you to lower your eyes. Rather, I conceive myself to be inviting you to raise them, to raise them to the very pinnacle of the pinnacle. After all is said, there is no greater word than ought, and there is no higher reason for keeping the Sabbath than that I ought to keep it, that I owe it to God the Lord to keep it in accordance with his command. Is there blessing in the Sabbath? Yes, there is blessing in the Sabbath. There is much blessing in it. But what Warfield is alluding to here is this, if we only look at the blessing of it and not the aughtness of it, then the moment we believe that something else is maybe more of a blessing than we abandon it. His point here is, yes, there is all of that, But before all of that, there is thus saith the Lord. The fact that it is a command means that it is not optional. The fact that it is a command means that we cannot experience the fullness of what God has for us without it. The fact that it is command means that we are likely to neglect it to our own peril. This is why God commands things. God doesn't have to command us to do things, and it will be natural for us to do. He commands us to do those things that usually are going to be difficult for us to do and easy for us to forget and easy for us to walk away from. And this is one that's easy. When you look out there and the entire world is ignoring the fact that this is the Lord's day. When there are songs that are written about Sunday that says it's my day, when there's a cultural malaise that says this is the one day that's a day for me, it is hard to set your mind on the fact that this is God's day. That's why you need a command. That's why Israel needs a command. That's why we needed a command. And the fact that we are commanded means that our flesh will inevitably rebel, and so we do, and that rebellion comes easier and easier, especially when eight out of ten professing Christians don't even believe that it's a command. But it's the command that makes the blessing blessed commanded that which was for our good. It's not until you understand step back from it and understand that it's a command. It's only then that you understand the blessing of it. And it's only then that you understand who God is to us. This day that He is given is a day that's given for us. It's a day that's a blessing for us. It's a day for our good. God commands you to be blessed by him. That's just good. This is good for you and you don't even know it. This is a parent telling a child, do this. It's good for you, will bless you, and you don't even know it. But just obey me, obey me, obey me, because I'm your parent. It won't even be until later on that you understand the significance of the command that ain't giving you. It won't even be until later on that you understand. I was a child who didn't not even know what was good for him, and my parents demanded this of me, and I went grudgingly into it. But now that I am mature, I look back and I recognize that they were forcing a blessing on me. How foolish was I. This is you and me before a holy God, This is Israel before the God who gives them the Sabbath. And it's only when you understand it as a command that you get that the Lord commanded that which would remind us of him. An amazing thing happens when you walk away from regular attendance upon the ordinary means of grace, and it doesn't take long. Go on vacation for two three four weeks someplace where you can't go to church regularly, and in that short of a period of time, you will feel your own soul shrivel. You will sense the distance between you and your God. And I don't care how conscientious you are about those things that you can do. Failure to give God this day, failure to connect yourself to God on this day, failure to sit before those ordinary means of grace on this day for a repeated and extended period of time, is to your great harm and your great detriment. You can't not do this and be okay. It's like a marriage that walks away from intimacy for an extended period of time. Show me a couple that has walked away from intimacy between the two of them for an extended period of time, and I'll show you a couple that's in trouble. We need each other, and when we learn how to adapt to a new normal and be fine without our intimacy with one another, what we have done is accepted a destructive reality, and we've learned to be okay with the disintegration of our relationship. This is a picture of what happens when we divorce ourselves from the ordinary, regular attention to our gathering with God. The Lord commanded that which was used to sanctify his people. This is used to sanctify his people inwardly and outwardly. This command again to sanctify, to set apart, to make his own that this would set them apart outwardly. There are ancient writings that talk about the peculiarity of these people, the peculiarity of this land where on one day and seven no work was done. People who visited ancient Israel wrote about what it was like to be in a place where one day and seven everything stopped it was out of the ordinary, it was not the way people lived. It set them apart outwardly, but it also set them apart inwardly. This one day and seven. You know, it's been interesting. I've heard comments from from a couple of folks in different settings recently about books that we've read here, one in the with the group with the women, and one in the group with the men, or at least at least one I think two or three over there and two or three over here, comments like this, This is great, but I wish I had the time to sit and think deeply about these kinds of things. I read books like this, and it just reminds me that I wish I had the time to just sit and contemplate deeply these truths about God. If that's your statement, then what are you doing with the Lord's day? God gives you one day in seven to sit and contemplate him deeply? Why on earth would we ever say I wish I had time to read something about the Lord, or to sit and think deeply and contemplate these greater truths about the Lord. What are you doing with the Lord's day? If that's the case, this is what the day is for this is the day when we commune with God. This is the day when we let everything else halt, everything else stop, and we remind ourselves that He is our God and we are his people. What are you doing on this day or have you succumbed to that idea that really all it's about is giving him that hour. It's not the Lord's day, it's the Lord's hour. So I'll give him worship, and then the rest of the day I'll go back and make that day just like every other day. I'll use that day to finish all my stuff that I didn't do during the week. Instead of making preparation on another day so that that day can be the Lord's day, I will use this day to make preparation for that which is important. I got something to do on Monday, That's okay, I got Sunday afternoon to do it, because after all, that's my day to make up my stuff. Actually, it's not, it's not. It's not you need a rest from your stuff. God is not saying give me that day because I I just need it. No, God is saying, here is that day because you need it, You need a rest from your labors. God has granted you this rest from your labors. You need an opportunity to sit and contemplate God on a deeper level, and God has granted you that opportunity on this day. This is a burden to you. Is it a burden to you that we gather at two fifteen on the Lord's Day to pray together for half an hour forty five minutes? Is that a burden to you? What pray tell is so important for you to get to on the Lord's Day that it's a burden to you that we pray together in the afternoon. Can you tell me that? Is it all those other areas that you're trying to run to so that you can go think more deeply about God? Or have you convinced yourself that this day is yours? And remember chiefly, this is the day when we rest in the resurrected Christ and in the glory of the work that He has completed on our behalf. He gives you six, He gives you six. Do you not believe that He can multiply your bread on the sixth? Finally, the Sabbath was meant to be a blessing, not a burden. Let's skip that. Let me give you this one. The Sabbath exposes our sin and our need for a savior who will give us rest. We'll just put these together. We see in twenty four to twenty six this idea of the blessing, and God does bless them. Notice also that he gives them a command, and the command is not to gather. He doesn't say that they can't cook their bread on that day. In fact, the structure of it. Current argues that the structure of it makes it pretty clear that he's not saying you got to cook it all on that day. You can cook it on the other day. See, that's where we get into legalism. That's when you don't understand what the Sabbath is. And here's the other reason why people run away from it, because the only way that we can con of observing the Sabbath is through legalism. And we want a list. Give me a list of the things that I can do, and a list of the things that I can't do. Again, I don't remember who said it, but I'll never forget it. Give me a list of the things you can do to keep the tenth commandment, and I'll give you a list of things to do to keep the fourth what's the tenth do not covet? Now? Put that into list form. Go ahead, put it, put it into list form. What things you need to do. And the immediately once you have the list of things you can do, there's a thousand other ways that you could covet, and all those become fair game. That's legalism. It's not about legalism. God says, don't gather on that day. You can cook your stuff on that day. It's not about how many steps you can take. This is where the Pharisees went with it. That's not what this is about. There are those people who are who are what I call sad face Sabbatarians, and the sad face Sabbatarians are the people who believe if anything happens on the Lord that makes you smile, God forbid, it makes you laugh. You just messed up. Because the Lord's day is to be spent like this. It's a blessing to us, and there are a lot of us who run from it because we don't understand that. And it does remind us that we need a savior. The people of God could not will themselves to obey this, and you and I cannot will ourselves to obey this, and we're not called to will ourselves to obey this. The beauty of this is that Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath, and so as we press into Christ, we press into the truth of the Sabbath as well. The Sabbath is also a type and shadow of the rest that is to come. Here's the thing. When you die, you will enter into this permanent sabbath rest. Amen. So if you can't take a day of it, now, Lord help us, Lord help us. And this is a confusion that we have. The sabbath rest is not about being useless. Here's a question that I get often, pastor when do you observe your Sabbath? That question is indicative of people who don't understand the doctrine. I observe my Sabbath today. Yeah, but you're working today and you're not supposed to work on the Sabbath. Two things wrong with that. Number One, we are supposed to do this work on the Sabbath. The work of worship we are to do on the Lord's day. Secondly, my work is preparing sermons, preaching them is worship, Amen, somebody I'm work in right now. I did my work so that I could be prepared to worship with you in this way right now. A day off for the rest of my body. Sure, but I would not dare call that a sabbath. Why because the Sabbath is the Lord's day, not mine. A day off so that I can go take care of my errands and all my other stuff that I need to do and not deal with stuff. Absolutely, yes, but I would not dare call it the sabbath. Why because the Sabbath is not my day to take care of my stuff and tie up my loose ends. The Sabbath is the Lord's day, not mine. So yes, another day off, another day away from ministry stuff. Amen, hallelujah, Praise the Lord. Yes, but that is not a sabbath. That's just a day off. This is the Sabbath. The Lord is not willing that we should give him less than ourselves, and you and I can't do that. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. You've never done that for a solid minute. Amen. In fact, you've never done it for thirty seconds. You've never done it at all. You're not capable of it. Do you know one of the things that the sabbath does It reminds us of our need to be conformed to the image of Christ, because you take this day, and I take this day, and guess what happens all day to day. What happens all day to day is I think of stuff that I could be doing, and don't you dare act like you're above that, because that's what happens. And you have to be reminded again and again. You know what that's a reminder of. That's a reminder that your sanctification is not complete. That's a reminder that the resurrected Christ has purchased your justification and your sanctification and your glorification. One of those is still in process and the other one you don't get till you die. We're not there yet. And the Lord's Day reminds us of that again and again. It reminds us of Christ when this one day of seven comes on the day that he rose from the dead, victorious over the grave. It reminds us of Jesus when one day of seven comes and we remind ourselves that this is the Lord's Day, this is not my day, this is not my catch up day. It reminds us of all of the things that compete with us for His centrality in our lives. When this day comes one day and seven, it reminds us that there is a Sabbath rest yet to come, and we anxiously anticipate the fullness thereof when Christ returns, so hear this. The fourth Commandment is not about you being good enough to save yourself. You can't. None of the commandments are about you being good enough to save yourself. The fourth Commandment, like every other commandment, is about reflecting the glory and righteousness and holiness of God and that which He builds into his people as he sanctifies them. The Fourth Commandment is not about legalism. It transcends the Mosaic code, goes all the way back to the creation order. The Fourth Commandment is about the pace of life that one day and seven that reminds you that we serve the God who is God of all. We serve the Lord who is Lord of all. And if you are here today and outside of Christ, this is not about you learning to observe this so that you can be right with God. This is about you meeting the Lord of the Sabbath. This is about you turning from self reliance and turning to Christ. This is about you recognizing and acknowledging your sinfulness and trusting in Christ to make you whole. This is about you repenting of your sin and embracing the forgiveness that we find in the One who rose again on the first day of the week. That's what this is about. This is how God shapes his people, and in shaping his people, there is this incredible blessing of rest. By the way, the only way we can have the rest is through God's gracious provision. I'll give you double before so that you can rest during. This is what we must believe, saints, that God will give us six days of provision or seven days of provision in the space of six days of work. He can, He does, he will. He loves us like that. Let's pray. Father, we confess to you that we are anxious. We are anxious about our life, anxious about our future, anxious about our personal affairs, anxious about providing, sustaining, surviving, anxious about all of these things. And we're always anxious about all of these things. And yet you have called us into your rest. You have called us as your people to believe in your sufficient provision. You've called us as your people, to mark out this one day and seven. And now, as your people, we mark it out in remembrance of your glorious provision in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who died for sin and rose again on the third day, which was indeed the first day of the week. And because of that, week in and week out, we gather on the first day of the week to celebrate the resurrected Christ, to commemorate the resurrected Christ, to worship the resurrected Christ, to adore the resurrected Christ, and to commune with the resurrected Christ. We rejoice in this. We thank you for this grant by your grace, that we might grow in our ability to rest in this reality, that we might be anxious for nothing, but that in all things we might trust You. We pray this because we believe it to be in accordance with the will and the nature and the authority of Jesus, who is the Christ. Amen