YouTube video sermon
Exodus 20:8-11
As always, let me invite you to take your copy of God’s Word and turn with me to Exodus 20:8-11. As most of you know, I recently purchased a new/used truck. It’s new to me, but it most certainly didn’t roll off the showroom floor. Well, I’m going to begin this morning by reading something to you from my truck’s owner’s manual. For those of you that wonder who reads those things, well, I do. This is from the scheduled maintenance guide.
It begins this way: “Regular maintenance is essential to obtaining the highest level of performance, safety, and reliability from your vehicle. This booklet is designed to help you make sure that your vehicle receives proper and timely maintenance.”
That same section ends by saying, “Follow this booklet’s recommendations, and you will enjoy maximum reliability and peace of mind from your vehicle for many years to come.”
So, here’s the manual saying, read the book, and have regularly scheduled maintenance. Well, we have our personal owner’s manual right here. And the commandment we’re about to read, you might say, is God’s maintenance law for our lives, to ensure that we (too) live a peaceful life at maximum capacity. It’s the Designer’s Guide to our life.
8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
We pray, Lord, that our minds will be sharp and focused, that our hearts would be ready to receive, and that we wouldn’t be the cause of any distraction. Father, this is Your time, and we worship You. O God, we ask that You increase our hunger to know You and Your Word. The Bible says that You are a rewarder of those who diligently seek You (Hebrews 11:6). And I know, Lord, that You will reward Your people as we seek Your face. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
A number of people have spoken to me concerning the impact of these 10 Commandments as we’ve begun to study them together. In fact, one gentleman announced at the conclusion of last Sunday’s worship that he was 0 for 3 (of course, we’d only covered three up to that point). He went on to say that having read ahead, he felt that the best he might hope for was 1 for 9. Later in the week I received an e-mail from him, and he revised his estimate and said it appeared more likely to be 0-10.
Now, those observations are as helpful as they are honest. Because there isn’t one of us here this morning who’s going to be able to stand up and say that we’ve kept any of the first three commandments perfectly. We haven’t loved God exclusively. We haven’t worshipped God correctly. We haven’t been free of the misuse of His Name. And now, as we come to the fourth commandment, we’ve got a sneaking suspicion that we’re gonna have to bow beneath the weight of this one and acknowledge, yet again, that we’re guilty.
But that’s not a bad thing, in and of itself. In fact, that’s the entire point of the law – to reveal our inability to keep it perfectly. Once we recognize that, then we’re prepared to receive the grace that Jesus offers through His perfect sacrifice upon the cross of Calvary.
So, there are three points that I want us to consider this morning, as we come to this fourth commandment. Number one, we’re going to consider the principle as it’s stated. Secondly, we’re going to look at the pattern as it’s observed. And finally, we’ll see how the practice is applied.
The Principle Stated
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” In other words, sanctify the day; set it apart. That’s what it means to keep it holy; it
means to set it apart.
Well, in what way is the day set apart? Weren’t there seven days in the week that God made? Yes. Did He just call one of them holy? Yes. Was there to be one that had a peculiar, holy, sanctified dimension to it? Yes! So, in what way was it set apart? Well, it was a different day because God said it was, and He demonstrated this by His own example.
Now, the immediate reaction is to say, “Well, what about the fact that every day is the Lord’s Day?” Well, in a sense that’s true. We ought to serve the Lord every day, and we ought to serve the Lord every moment of every day. And the way that we do our work ought to be a service to the Lord. And there’s a realistic sense in which, whether we’re brushing up a factory floor, or whether we’re giving an injection or writing on a school blackboard or having somebody sign an insurance proposal form, or whatever else it is, that we recognize that God is in charge.
But the fact is, even when we acknowledge that (that God ordained all of our days), in no way does that set aside the distinctive element of this fourth commandment. This one day in seven remains distinctly different because God has ordained it as such. So, once we acknowledge that God is in charge of every day, it doesn’t set apart the fact that God said, “Remember this particular day in a peculiar way, and make it a different day.” That’s what the commandment is saying. That’s not an interpretation. It’s simply what it’s saying.
The late John Murray, professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, says, “To obliterate [the] difference between one day and the other six may appear pious. But it’s piosity, not piety. It’s not piety to be wiser than God; it is impiety of the darkest hue. The Sabbath day is different from every other day, and to obliterate this distinction … in thought or practice is to destroy what is the essence of the institution.”
Now, there’s a wealth contained in that statement. Let me summarize it for you: if you get rid of the distinction of the Sabbath day, then it’s impossible to observe it as it’s stated. Put another way, unless you and I are convinced that God has distinguished this day for all time, and that because He has distinguished it in this way, then any attempts at keeping the Sabbath day will simply be a result of either legalism, or some kind of time-honored tradition.
Now, I suspect that several of us grew up this way. “I don’t like this day, and I don’t want to do this, and I don’t want to worship. And I certainly don’t want to do it twice, and I’m not going in a choir, and I don’t like the Sunday school, and I’m sick and tired of the whole thing.” “That’s fine, honey. I heard you. I’ve been there. Now let’s go.” Does that sound familiar?
And unless or until the day dawns when God – by the Spirit – redeems that child, then that day will simply be the observance of custom. But, when God captures our heart, and it now becomes the conviction of our lives, then, from that day on everything changes. Once we’ve become convinced, once we’ve taken ownership of the principle in our lives, then we no longer do things simply as a result of custom, but rather we do them as a result of an internal conviction.
And that (my friends) is why many of us continue to buck the idea of the Lord’s Day. It’s still just the observance of a custom, and since we’ve never come to a conviction about its distinction, any time anyone suggests to us that this is what may comprise the Lord’s Day, our answer is “Who do they think they are to tell me what I’m going to do with my time?” But, you see, that’s precisely the point. The Sabbath day isn’t your time, and it’s not my time. This day is a day especially set aside to the Lord. He’s in charge. And He who created time and parceled it in that way intends for us to utilize this time (each week) to bear testimony to Him, and His creative handiwork, and to bear testimony to the fact that we’re His covenant children.
You see, the same thing is true of any commandment. For example, take the commandment not to commit adultery: if you and I are only going to keep the commandment because it’s pragmatically useful – “Well, that’s a good idea, you know, you’d get yourself in a lot of trouble” – but if we don’t keep it as a result of its rightness, not as a result of divine authority, not as a result of an internal conviction, then we’re left to the winds of circumstance to blow upon us. Then we’re on a business trip and find ourselves in the hotel lobby and an attractive person says, “Why not?” And since the commandment is simply a kind of practical tool and it’s not an internal conviction, then the smell of the perfume or the heat of the evening or the drive of the passion may be enough to take us right into sin, because we’ve never internalized the command.
We find out the hard way that God’s law was never really written upon our hearts. We never joined the psalmist in saying, “I delight to do your will, O Lord.” We never settled the issue. We never bowed there. We never internalized its truth. And so, as soon as the circumstances went against us, we were swept into chaos.
That’s exactly what’s happened with the Lord’s Day in the U.S., and in the Western world at large. We’ve got vast numbers of people who’ve never become convinced of the distinction of the day. They have no internal conviction about the day, about its abiding relevance. And so, when somebody says, “Why don’t we do this on Sunday? Why don’t we go there? Why don’t we do whatever it is?” the answer is “Yeah, why not?” Because, after all, the only lingering notion that we have of any abiding relevance of the command is that it has something to do with not cutting the grass and not riding our bicycle or not doing a bunch of stuff that we’ve picked up from somewhere along the line.
How else could Chariots of Fire sweep the Academy Awards, and sweep a nation of churchgoers and non-churchgoers and still completely miss the main point of the entire movie, at least in Liddell’s side of things? Remember him with the royalty, and the head of the Olympic committee, and that scene where they bring him in and sit him down? “Now, come on, Liddell. For the sake of your king and for your country, put aside these silly ideas of yours about the Sabbath and about the Lord’s Day.” Remember his reply? “I would never set aside my king or my country, save that there was a higher power, a higher authority, the one who sets up kings and the one who brings down kings. And I will not run.”
And there isn’t a person in the movie theater who didn’t find something inside of them saying, “Man do I love that kind of conviction!” What was it? It was a conviction about the distinction of the day. And once he settled that, then everything flowed from it. So, it’s not irksome. It’s not a punishment. Loved ones; it’s an awesome privilege for us to set aside a small portion of our weekly lives and worship the Lord God Almighty.
But here’s the thing: Does this strike you like something you would want to do? Spend a whole day without your TV and internet and recreation? The answer is “No, I don’t like the sound of that.” Do you know what? Can I tell you something? That’s what heaven will be like. You don’t like the sound of what it’s going to be like to be in the presence of Christ for all of eternity. And it’s not just you – I used to sit in those same pews before answering the call to pastor.
Listen… Think about this. Six of you go away to a cabin on the lake. You go away because you love one another and you’re glad of one another’s company. You’re there for three days, and suddenly, somebody says at a mealtime, “Do you wanna know something? We never turned the TV on. I don’t even know what’s happening in the world. I haven’t even called the office. You know what? I never called to check on my handicap.” Why? Because the context of fellowship and love and enjoyment is so all-consuming.
Folks, I’ve gotta say something: whenever our experience of worship is so devalued and our notion of the Lord’s Day is so small and anemic that our primary emphasis is to get things over and done with as fast as possible so that we may “get on with the day,” then we stand condemned before the fourth commandment. Actually, we ought to be getting down on our knees and thanking God for the privilege. And the fact that we don’t, and the fact that the Sabbath doesn’t appeal to us more speaks volumes about our spiritual appetites.
Alright, so that’s the principle as it’s stated: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” Now, let’s look at the pattern as it’s observed.
The Pattern Observed
The basis for the day is provided for us in verse 11: “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” In other words, God Himself, as Creator, distinguished between the days. He didn’t rest because He was tired. He rested and sanctified the day because He was finished with His work. All the days were His. All the days had a stamp of His creative power in them, and yet, on this particular day, God determined that it should be marked by this distinction: rest. So, the pattern of Sabbath begins in creation, but it doesn’t end there.
Some of you might know this; the 10 Commandments are recorded for us twice in the Bible. The first time is here in Exodus, and the second time is in Deuteronomy. In fact, that’s what the word “Deuteronomy” means in Greek: deuteros means “second,” and nomos means “law.” When Moses recounted the 10 Commandments (at God’s direction) in Deuteronomy 5, at the conclusion of this commandment God adds, “You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore, the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” So, not only was the day established as a creation reminder, but it was also a redemption reminder.
And since the Old Testament always prefigured and pointed towards God’s ultimate redemption through Jesus, when we get to the New Testament, the Lord’s Day memorializes the completion of the work of redemption at the resurrection of Jesus. And it was this fact which marked out and gave the first day of the week its distinctive religious significance. Acts 20:7 says, “On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.”
So, here it is: the deliverance from Egypt gave sanction to the Sabbath institution under the old covenant, and the resurrection, in its redemptive character, gives sanction to the sacredness of the first day of the week. So, the pattern is seen not simply in looking back but in looking forward. We look back and remember Jesus’ resurrection, which took place on the first day of the week (Matthew 28:1, Mark 16:2, Luke 24:1, John 20:1). We look forward to the day when we will enter into the fullness of Sabbath rest in heaven. Hebrews 4:9-10, “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His.” And, we look to the present and find God’s grace to meet us where we are today.
Finally, let’s quickly consider the practice as it’s applied.
The Practice Applied
First, there must be a deep and unshakeable conviction of the divine warrant for keeping the Lord’s Day. Until we come to that, all that I’ve said today will simply be cultural, or customary, or even legalistic. Once we’ve been convicted that this REALLY is the Lord’s Day, then all the “do’s” and “don’ts” fly out the window, because we’re genuinely focused on Christ. We’re desirous to spend time with Him.
Second, this is a supremely important day for our spiritual growth. This is an opportunity like no other. Think about it. If it was given in creation before the fall… If, in paradise, perfect men and women were to celebrate the Lord’s Day… If it was necessary for them to observe the Sabbath without sin, in the pristine nature of God’s creative order, then how much more necessary for us to have this day for the development of our spiritual nature?
Thirdly, it must be observed as a complete day of rest. Not necessarily sleep, and not necessarily inactivity, although both of those are in view. Rest your body, rest your mind, rest yourself completely by enjoying God and His handiwork. If you must work may it only be out of piety, necessity, and mercy.
Fourthly and finally, the Sabbath must be a day of spiritual improvement. That’s what it’s about: the improvement that comes in public worship, the improvement that comes in families having time not around the television, not around the local sporting event but time around the Lord Jesus, the Bible, and His purposes.
Isaiah 58 is an interesting chapter. Like many other places in the Old Testament, God is speaking through His prophets and trying to get the people to see the error(s) of their ways. In this particular chapter God is telling the people that they’ve misunderstood and misapplied what it truly means to worship. They had taken God’s command fulfilled the letter of the law, but lost the spirit of the law. And yet they didn’t know why God wasn’t blessing them.
So, Isaiah reminds them what a genuine and godly worship actually looks like. And at the conclusion of Isaiah’s reminder this is what he says (I’m reading from the New Living Translation), “Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly. Then the Lord will be your delight. [God] will give you great honor and satisfy you with the inheritance [He] promised to your ancestor Jacob. I, the Lord, have spoken!” (Isaiah 58:13-14, NLT).
Our Father, as we gaze into the mirror of Your law and see ourselves, we know we need a Savior. And I pray today that you will convict and convince of sin in the lives of some – that they may not be able to leave but to come and pray and settle the issue of faith, believing in Christ; that others of us who, by our disregard for Your law, live lives pragmatically, pleasing ourselves, that You will catch us, that You will consume us with Your grace and Your goodness, that You will create within us convictions for this day.
Remind us that we are a holy nation, a chosen people, a people belonging to God, that we might declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness into His marvelous light. Write Your Word upon our hearts, we pray, that we might live to Your glory. In Christ Jesus’ name, Amen.