In the sermon 'A Day For Holy Rest,' Jason Dohm begins a detailed four-week exploration of the Fourth Commandment, focusing on the Sabbath. Dohm emphasizes the importance of dedicating more time to this commandment due to its complexity and controversial nature among Christians, particularly regarding its relevance to New Covenant believers. The sermon avoids providing immediate practical guidelines, instead focusing on an exposition of the text, highlighting the need to build understanding from the ground up. Dohm explains that the Fourth Commandment, which calls for the remembrance and consecration of the Sabbath day, is both a command and a gift from God, offering rest and spiritual refreshment. The sermon discusses the pattern set by God in creation, where He worked for six days and rested on the seventh, and contrasts this with the basis in Deuteronomy, which focuses on redemption from slavery in Egypt. Dohm urges believers to perceive the commandment as a tool to enhance love for God and to ensure rest for all under their authority, reflecting on the Sabbath as an opportunity for spiritual growth and increased happiness.

The title of the sermon today is the Day for Holy Rest. The Day for Holy Rest. Today we're beginning a four week series within a series. We'll have four weeks dedicated to the fourth commandment, the commandment about the Sabbath. I'll be preaching the first and the second, and then James will preach the third one, and then I'll come back and preach the fourth one.

I'm really glad we're spending extra time on this commandment because it means that I don't have to try to jam everything into today. I think by the end of the sermon you'll be glad too. I have plenty as it is, but I have plenty with a view to having more weeks to filling this out. Now why are we taking four weeks? We've been taking two weeks on every other commandment, and I expect it'll be that way through the rest of the town.

I'm actually not sure that four weeks is going to do it. If you saw a fifth week, don't be too shocked. We haven't had elder negotiations about that yet, but I'm planting that seed here at Hill Ridge today. So why longer? Well, it is a longer commandment.

It's actually four verses. I think the second commandment, you shall not make for yourself the carved image. Might have more words, but the fourth commandment about the Sabbath I think actually has more concepts that need to be developed. And, and probably more importantly, it's quite controversial. There's not much controversy outside of the Fourth Commandment, but the Fourth Commandment is actually a hotbed of controversy.

Among professing Christians, the overwhelming majority think that the Fourth Commandment has little or nothing to do with New Covenant, New Testament Christians. And so because it's controversial and because we actually, by confession, hold the minority view, most people don't believe what we believe on this, we're going to take extra time. So what we're going to do is resist skipping to the end. What would it mean to skip to the end? Hey, just tell me, what can I do and what Can't I do, and let's move on to honoring father and mother?

No, no, no, we're not going to skip to the end. A lot of us have that practical bent that have us just wanting to get down to the nubbies, get down to the brass tacks and just tell me what can New Testament Christians do and what can New Testament Christians not do, and then we'll just move on. Especially with something as controversial as the Fourth Commandment, what we want to do is to build from the ground up. So today is going to be what we're more normally used to than the last month or so, as we've been in the Ten Commandments. Today's just going to be a phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence exposition of what are the words in the text and what do the words in the text, the phrases in the text actually mean.

So I think today is largely without prickles. There's going to be a time for prickles. I'll step on my own toes, I'll step on your toes, but I'm saving that. I'm warming you up by building from the ground floor. Today is just to look at what is in this commandment.

So for today, we'll set aside what can I do, what can't I do, What does this have to do with New Testament believers? What's the same? What's different? We're going to address all those things, but not today. Today is just a bare exposition of the words and phrases in the text.

As we come to our text, Let's pray. Ask for the Lord's help. Our God, I pray that you would teach us to love your commandments. Not just to feel a sense of duty towards you or towards your commandments, but that you would actually give us an affection for your commandments in our hearts, that we would see the goodness and the rightness of them, and we would desire them. We would not want to run away from them, but that we would desire them because we've seen your beauty in what you've commanded.

I thank you for commanding us. I thank you you've not left us alone with our own thoughts and our own ways, but you're lifting us up to higher thoughts and higher ways through your commandments. You are good. You are good. Thank you, Lord, for commanding us.

In Jesus' name, amen. Well, I'm actually subdividing into four parts today, so we're going to start with just verse 8 which is quite short so hopefully your finger is in Exodus 20 and you'll read along verse 8 Exodus 20 verse 8 the fourth commandment. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Here in verse 8 we're given the command, remember the consecrated day. So if you actually printed out the handout, if you have a handout and you're filling in the blanks, consecrated fills in the blank.

The command is this, remember the consecrated day. To consecrate something is to set it apart for a very specific purpose, a very specific use. And so God has done that. He's put His hand on a day and He's set it aside for a very specific use. He's called it his own and we're told to remember it.

That's the essence of the commandment. Verse 8 gives us the commandment and then the verses that come after it, verse 9, 10, 11, unfold and explain it. This commandment gives us a day to remember the Sabbath day. Now what in the world is the Sabbath day? If you didn't know anything about Scripture and you had no experience with this.

Sabbath is not a word that has a distinct and separate meaning in our language, so if you didn't have any pre-existing Bible knowledge you would say, what is that? Sabbath means to rest. It's a word that simply means to rest or to cease from work. God is telling us to Remember the rest day, the cease from work day. Good news, friends.

God wants you to rest. God hasn't put you on the gerbil wheel that never ends. You just run and run and run and run. You never get to the destination because you're always just supposed to keep running. God sets apart aside a day and he wants you to rest.

He wants you to cease from work. Slow way down. God wants to give you rest. He not only wants you to rest, He gives it to you. It is a command, but in another sense it's a gift.

God is actually giving you something good. Oh, friends, don't run away from this. You'd be running away from something good. Rest is good. You should want rest.

Why must I remember this day? The verse tells us to keep it holy so that it will be kept holy. You remember the Sabbath day so that it will be kept holy. Holy means separate, distinct, special, set apart. You remember this day so that it remains separate So that it stays special God wants this day to stay special To remain set apart and in a category by itself, like God isn't like anything else.

He wants this day not to be like the other days. He is holy. He wants the day to be holy. The holy, holy, holy God, by the way, God is never described by piling up and repeating an attribute like this, but in Isaiah 6 and Revelation 4, God is said to be holy, holy, holy. This holy God, this God who is in a separate category by himself has put a day of the week in a separate category by itself.

He is set apart, He has set a day apart unto Himself. So He's consecrated it. He's put it off to the side for a special purpose. He's consecrated it to Himself. This day is mine, says God.

This day is mine. God has laid claim to a day of the week. And just as he demands careful reverence, the third commandment, so these commandments are separate but they're also related, they have a relationship to one another And their order is on purpose. Just as God demands careful reverence, you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. He demands a careful keeping of this day.

Remember the day. Be careful to keep the day just as God is a God who deserves and demands our careful reverence. He's given us a day for careful observance. Remember my day. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Deuteronomy chapter 5, The second giving of the Ten Commandments has a few differences. And actually the fourth commandment is more different than any of the other commandments. Most of the other commandments are word for word the same in Exodus 20, and in Deuteronomy chapter 5 It's not even remotely true of the fourth commandment, so I'll be bringing you differences as we work through the text. Deuteronomy 5 says, observe the Sabbath day. Exodus 20, remember the Sabbath day.

Deuteronomy 5, observe the Sabbath day. Or if we go through the range of meaning of the word that's being translated in Deuteronomy 5, keep the Sabbath day or even guard the Sabbath day. That's within the range of meaning and I think that's a really helpful way to think about it. Guard the day! God claimed the day, He set apart the day, now guard it!

Because if you don't guard it, it'll be encroached upon, infringed upon, trampled on. Guard that day! Remember the Sabbath day, observe the Sabbath day, keep the Sabbath day, Guard the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And then in Deuteronomy 5, This is added, it's not in Exodus 20, it is in Deuteronomy 5, as the Lord your God commanded you. Moses in Deuteronomy 5 is pointing back and saying, remember He commanded you.

I mean it's the fourth commandment, we know it's a commandment, But Moses is making sure we doubly know God commanded you to keep this day holy. God commanded you to guard this day, to remember it. What does it mean to remember or to observe or to guard the rest day? Well, if we could define it by saying not the opposite, we would say, don't forget it. To remember it is to not forget it.

To remember the Sabbath day or to observe it or to guard it is to give it all that God has in mind for it. He separated it out. Now why did he do that? What did he have in mind for it? Give yourself to what he had in mind for it.

So, I don't miss it and I don't cheat it. That's what it means to remember the Sabbath day or to guard the Sabbath day. I don't miss it. I don't just, I'm not thinking about it so it just goes by and there's no observance of it and I don't cheat it. I guard it.

What he has in mind for it is my will for it too, my desire for it also. Here's a comment from experience. If the Sabbath sneaks up on you, you're in trouble. To remember it, to observe it, to do it, to guard it, you're in trouble if it sneaks up on you. In other words, if it's been out of your mind until Saturday night like, your keeping of the Sabbath is, you're in trouble.

You're going to have a hard time doing the things that God had in mind. This is something that you think of, you remember it. The lead up to it matters. You can't afford for the Sabbath day to sneak up on you or you will miss it or you'll cheat it. You'll probably cheat it.

Most of us wouldn't miss it entirely. We just cheat it because it snuck up on us. We make ready for it. We remember it. Now listen to Exodus 34 verse 21.

This is one worth noting. Exodus 34 verse 21. Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest." So far, so much the same. Now listen to this. In plowing time and in harvest You shall rest.

Read it all again. Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. Now what's the significance of that? That is the busiest time for the farmer.

When does the farmer have no time for rest? In plowing time and in harvest, if any time on the calendar he would be tempted to say, I just can't spare the time, it's plowing time and harvest. So Exodus 34 verse 21 isn't saying to only rest then. You could say, oh, he's saying on the seventh day you should rest in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. So I should only rest in plowing time and harvest.

It's not saying only then, it's saying even then. Even then. Rest in plowing time, yes. Rest in plowing time. Rest in harvest, yes.

Not only then, even then or maybe even especially then. Prove that you know that the results of the farming are in God's hands by resting. Prove that you know that it isn't sneaking in an extra day of work that will get you there, you're more reliant on God. You're better off to rest, even in plowing time and in harvest, than you are to gut it out and to stay on the hamster wheel, running, running, running. It shows that you trust God to do what only He can do, which is provide.

So that even in the busiest times of the calendar, you don't miss it and you don't cheat it. You remember it. You guard it. So that is the command. Remember the consecrated day.

God consecrated it. That's mine. That's my day. And I'm setting it off to the side for a specific purpose. Verses 9 and the first part of 10.

So we're still in Exodus 20 just working through the words of the commandment. Now verses 9 and the first part of 10. Follow along. 6 days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

In it you shall do no work. In this section we're given the schedule. Verse 8 we're given the command. In this section we're given the schedule. Verse 8 we're given the command.

In this section we're given the schedule. Six days for all the work and one day that God claims for Himself. So if you're taking notes by filling in blanks on the handout, claims fills in the blank. The schedule is this, six days for all the work and one day that God claims for Himself. Some say that we have here a command to labor six days a week.

Six days you shall labor. Interestingly, I did not know that before this week. Matthew Poole and John Gill and John Calvin protest violently against that view. They say, no, no, no. It doesn't have to do with the sixth day.

This is about the Sabbath day. There are other places that you go to say we should be industrious in the other days of the week. But what belongs to this commandment is the Sabbath day. I don't feel quite as strongly as they do. I have to say I was taken back by what I found in Matthew Poole and John Gill and John Calvin.

But I mean they really go hard against that view. I don't feel quite as strongly but I do agree that the thrust of the meaning is in the contrast, but the seventh day. That's the thrust of the meaning that we have in this section. Essentially meaning, do all your work in the six days. Get it all done in the six days.

Get all that work done. Whatever is going to get done, get it done in the six days. And if it doesn't get done, then next week we'll have to take care of it. Get all your work done. Let me read it again.

Nine in the first part of ten. Six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. That's the day to be kept holy. In it you shall do no work. God does mean for us to labor.

Labor is pre-fall, not post-fall. What do I mean by that? Labor is given to us in Genesis 1 and 2, not after sin entering the world in Genesis 3. So, God wanted Adam and Eve working before sin came into the world. Work isn't just a payback for sin.

Work is good. Work is God given. God intended before sin even came into the world. Work is of God and He's given us six days for it. But He has also claimed a day for His own.

It's a keep out zone for your normal work, for your normal pursuits. The Sabbath of the Lord your God. The rest, right, Sabbath means rest, the ceasing from work of the Lord your God. So it's not just stop work, it is of the Lord. It is a rest of the Lord that's very important if if you strip that out then you just become like the animals who just get a day off and it's there's nothing given to you to do but it is a rest of the Lord.

It is the Lord's rest. That's why the sermon is titled, The Day of Holy Rest. It is rest, but it is a holy rest. It is a set-apart rest for God's purposes. Notice God has given us a schedule for all of our time.

Every day of the week is pinned to something. All seven days. And the consecrated day, the Sabbath day, which is to be kept holy, is a day. Not an hour or a portion of a day it is a full day And is that a burden Has Has no one but me ever felt like the Sabbath was a burden? But ask yourself the question, is it a burden?

Well, it is rest and it is hard to say that rest is a burden. And God has given us six other days for our other pursuits. He gave you six other days for your other pursuits. So who can say that he has kept too much to himself? This God has kept too much for himself.

One in seven days is unreasonable, outrageous. No, it's a reasonable service. It's a very reasonable service. He's given us the bulk of the week for our other pursuits, but one day He's claimed to Himself. Don't miss it.

Don't cheat it. Work for six days, then a separated day. In it you shall do no work. It is the Sabbath, the rest of the Lord your God, with all that comes with God being your God. Remember we keep saying this, we keep heating, your God.

Okay stop, don't just read over the top of that. It cost him the blood of his son to be your God. It's the Sabbath of the Lord your God. You have a claim to him because Jesus shed his blood. The overriding idea is that the regular occupations of the rest of the week are laid aside to give God His due." Let me say that again.

The overriding idea, the Fourth Commandment, the Sabbath Day Commandment, is that the regular occupations of the rest of the week, and they are many are laid aside and as best as we can forgotten to give God his due. His people are to give him careful reverence and so that he remains present in their thoughts so that they don't forget him. They remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It breaks. It breaks into their other occupations and resets our minds on God.

Our minds are on a thousand other things that are related to food, clothing, entertainments, Good clothing, entertainments, hobbies, provision, housework, schoolwork, paycheck work. And if you don't break that cycle, you'll never think about God. So it actually, it allows us, this breaking of that cycle allows us to think more of God on the other six days. So certainly this commandment isn't saying that we set apart one day and then God doesn't need to be in any of our thoughts any of the rest of the week. Of course the commandment is not saying that.

It keeps God in our thoughts the rest of the week. If you don't break the cycle of your normal occupations and say, this is a special day, a separate day, a distinct day, I feed my soul on God this day, you'll be lost the other days. If you skip this day or cheat this day, the other six days, the upcoming week, are different. They're different. You know that's true.

So six days are given to us for our other occupations. What would keep God in our thoughts? That we've broken the cycle and gone and fed our souls with God on this day. Okay, the second part of verse 10. We're moving into our third section here.

The second part of verse 10. You, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, Nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates." In the second part of verse 10, we're given the scope. Verse 8, the command, then the next portion is, what was it? The schedule, 6 and 1. Now we're given the scope.

You and all under your direction. So if you're taking notes on the handout by filling in the blanks, direction fills in the blank. The scope. You and all under your direction. There is a list who is first on the list.

You are first person singular. You and you and you. Not y'all. Not y'all, but you. You.

And then it is a list of those who might be under your direction. Your children, whether male or female, whether it's a son or daughter, under your direction, secure rest for them. We're actually being taught that it is our duty wherever we're the authority to secure rest for those who are under our authority. You and your son and your daughter go secure rest for them. Those who serve you, whether male or female, secure rest for them.

Think, well I don't have servants. Oh really, you don't have anyone who serves you? Anything? Yeah you do, think about it. For a minute, just for a second, it'll dawn on you.

Secure, rest for them. Don't make them work so you can rest. Don't do that to your son or your daughter. Don't do that for people who would serve you those other six days. Secure rest for them as much as it depends on you.

Even your animals, your cattle. Secure rest for them. And Deuteronomy 5, the second giving, Deuteronomy 5 expands it. Nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle. So in Exodus 20, it's just cattle.

There's an expanded list in Deuteronomy 5. Your ox, your donkey, any of your cattle. These are work animals. We would call them beasts of burden. Well, not on this separate day.

These two things are probably in mind. One, God cares for all His creatures and wants them to have rest. And two, it takes a person working for a beast of burden to work. Probably both of those things are wrapped up here. Give your animals a rest.

Because if you don't give them a rest, you're not getting a rest either. And God cares about them too. Even your stranger who is within your gates, secure a rest for them. But they're not of us. Secure rest for them.

But they haven't asked for it. Secure rest for them. They need it. God made them. The non-Israelite who is part of your household or part of your community, if you're a community leader, you should be working to secure rest for them.

Even if they didn't ask for it, even if they're not part of you, in the sense that they share our faith. They need it. Listen to Exodus 23-12. This is another one worth noting. Exodus 23 verse 12.

Six days you shall do your work and on the seventh day you shall rest, that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female servant and the stranger may be refreshed." So this isn't just about worship. Well they don't worship. Let them work. That they may be refreshed. In Exodus 23-12, He's saying, make sure that the son of your female servant, see, it keeps expanding outwards.

Well you, yeah, you rest, okay, you worship, okay. Well, your son and your daughter, and your servants, and your animals, and the stranger, and the children of your servants now, we're out to the children of your servants now. Well, why? They're not Christians, that they may be refreshed. Who is missing here?

You notice who's missing here? Mama! Where's mama? Look at the list. You, your son, your male servant, your female servant, your cattle, the stranger who is within your gates.

Where's mama? Why aren't wives and mothers mentioned? This is a real question. You have to answer this question, why aren't they mentioned? It could be that they just aren't important.

But wait, but wait, I hope it didn't cut off right there. I hope this simulcast is still going. But wait! The elect are the ultimate bride. Human marriages are approximating the heavenly marriage and Jesus died for her Jesus died for us, so it can't be that It's easier to argue that mama is most important than it is to argue that she's unimportant, give me that side of the debate on the debate team.

I want to argue that she's most important, not that she's unimportant. I don't know how to win that argument coming from the other side. It could be that they don't need rest. But wait! That's just dumb.

In most healthy family that I know, most family that I know, mom's day starts earlier and ends later in terms of like she's working first and she's working last. It can't be that. It can't be that mama doesn't need rest. It could be that the Bible sets forth the head of the household as one with his bride so that they are expected to act together to carefully keep the Sabbath in their household. That's it.

I say that's it. Mama is actually here. She's One with the head of the household and God is saying I expect you to act together to carefully keep the Sabbath in your household to secure Rest in your household. He's an authority and She's one with him and an authority in her household as well as one with her husband, and they are to act together to see that rest is secured where they have authority. Now Think of how significant that is.

That God views oneness in marriage so much so that mama isn't even listed here. She's captured in you. You, you, you together, you. Blundquist marriage math, one plus one equals one. The point is, not only are authorities not to be the cause of those under their authority doing work, authorities are actually to take measures to secure rest for them.

In other words, it goes way beyond just a, don't be the cause of them having to work. Don't make your sons and daughters work. Don't make your servants work, or their children. Don't make your animals work. Don't make the strangers work.

You're actually to take measures to secure rest for them. This commandment applies to them. And if they're under your direction, you need to direct them to that. All authority is derived from God, right? And God intends it to be a blessing to those who are under your authority.

If you have authority, that's why God gave you authority, to be a blessing. Not so that the people under your authority serve you hand and foot. You actually serve them and you bless them. That's why God put you there. If you don't believe that, you don't believe what the Bible teaches on authority.

Authorities are put in place for the blessing of those under their authority. Doesn't mean that authority is not real. Doesn't mean that we shouldn't submit to our authorities, but what is in the mind of God when He puts an authority in place? It is to bless those under, to provide for, to care for those under his authority. Is that true of a father?

Yes. Is that true of church leaders? Yes. Is that true of government civil magistrates? Yes.

God put them there for the blessing of the people under their authority. It was for their care, not for their subjugation, for their care. Leaders are to say, as Joshua in Joshua 24, 15, And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the river or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I don't have influence everywhere, but where I have influence, we serve the Lord.

I serve the Lord, my children serve the Lord while they're under my roof. The people who serve us will do whatever we can to secure their rest. We're not working our animals on this on the separate day. We're not working the strangers on the separate day. Dads and moms, this should be your official position.

It should be the official position of your household. We can't control everything in the world. I can't control the people at Speedway, but as for me and my house, we serve the Lord. This is a special day to us. If it's not a special day to anyone else on planet Earth, it is a special day at our house.

Because God is a special God. He is a holy, holy, holy God. He's given us a holy day And we don't want to miss it and we don't want to cheat it. And I can't control what happens in a lot of other places, but where I have control, we rest. We have a holy rest.

Finally, verse 11. Last section. Finally, verse 11, last section. Verse 11. For in six days the Lord made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." So God, when He wrote these commandments with His own finger on the tablets of stone, points it to creation week and actually uses, not comprehensively but a lot, the words from the end of Genesis 1 and Genesis 2. So turn there, turn there. The very end of Genesis 1, the last verse of Genesis 1 is Genesis 131 through verse 3 in chapter 2. Here in verse 11 we are given the basis of the command, a pattern set by God Himself. So if you're taking notes on the handout, filling in blanks, pattern fills in the blanks.

The basis of the commandment is a pattern set by God Himself in creation week. I say a basis and not the basis because this is the biggest source of difference between Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy chapter 5. The basis in Deuteronomy chapter 5 is completely different than in Exodus chapter 20. So this is a surprising difference, but a massive difference. We'll go look at Deuteronomy 5 in a minute.

That's the reason why it is a basis and not the basis. Alright, Genesis 1 31 through 2 verse 3 This is right at the end six days of creation have just happened Then God saw everything that He had made and indeed it was very good. Each day He's creating something and saying it's good, it's good, it's good, it's good. He gets to day six, He creates mankind and He looks back across all of it and he says it's very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day, chapter 2.

Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done and rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it Because in it he rested from all his work which he had created and made. This is what God did in creation. It's six days, he created everything that we know or know of, and then at the end of that day, He looked and he declared it all very good and then the seventh day he rested and he blessed that rest day and he sanctified it. So here is God blessing and setting apart the seventh day.

It's the same word as in our text in Exodus 20. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. That's the same word here where it says he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. If you were trying to make them match up, you could say he holied it. He blessed the seventh day and holied it.

He sanctified it. He set it apart. Remember the Sabbath day and keep it sanctified. I guess we could go either direction. Take this rendering into Exodus 20 or Exodus 20 rendering here.

But no, it's the same word. So the Sabbath day is not set apart in Exodus 20 in the Ten Commandments. It is set apart in Genesis 2, I just quoted it to you, Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. So when we read the commandment it says remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It means just that.

Keep it holy. It was holy because of God's pattern in Genesis 2. He created the universe in six days, saw that it was very good, then rested. So you get this sense that he's looking back on the work of his hands, he's just satisfied in the work of his hands. He rests for a day.

And because of this, God separated that day out, Because that was his pattern in creation week, he separates that day out, sets it aside, and blesses it. This is a blessed day. It is a day that enjoys God's favor. Next time somebody says, have a blessed day, you just tell them, oh, I have a blessed day. You do too.

We all have a blessed day. God did bless a day. No, never mind. They won't appreciate that. But it's true.

You do have a blessed day. God blessed that day. At least Janet thought it was funny. God did bless a day. There's a day that enjoys His favor.

There's a day in which his people enjoy his favor. They're blessed by him, especially on a day. The Puritans called it the market day of the soul. Oh, go do the acquiring for your soul. You go out to the market for your body the other six days, but on the seventh day go acquire what your soul needs go to the market Go to the blessed day So this is the basis given in Exodus 20 do what God did He worked for six days and then he rested for a day.

As an aside a great occupation for the day of holy rest is to look with satisfaction on God's creation. It's a great occupation for the day. Are you looking for good ideas? For if it is a whole day and not just the sacred hour but it's a consecrated day and we're looking for ways to fill it up with good things, Here's a good thing. Do what God did.

Look with satisfaction on the works of His hands. I should note that God doesn't need rest. I need rest. You need rest. God wasn't exhausted at the end of creation week.

Wow, I need a breather. That is not God. That's you. That's me. He isn't like us.

He's giving a pattern. He's setting a pattern. But listen to this, listen to this, Exodus 31, 17. This is wonderful actually. Exodus 31, 17.

For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed." Now earlier I quoted another verse in Exodus that said, Give your maidservant's son a rest so that he may be refreshed. Here it says that in creation week, God made in six days the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." Are you going to contradict Scripture to say that means he needed rest? He didn't need rest. The rest of Scripture, many other places in Scripture make it perfectly clear that he's never diminished in power. That's what it means to be almighty.

There's a never-ending reservoir. But even God was refreshed by that day after his labors ceasing. He was refreshed. God was refreshed. And God wants us to follow in his patterns and be refreshed.

It's a blessing. Oh If nothing else happens over the next four four weeks may the Sabbath May may this day never be a boat anchor to us. The Sabbath was made for man. It is the blessed day. God blesses this day.

He wants us to be refreshed. He gives us rest. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 5. Let's go look at that difference and then we'll be mostly done. All right.

I'm on track to be under an hour and that was engraved out. So, we're doing good. Deuteronomy chapter 5. I'm going to start with 14. What I really need to get to is 15, but I want to show you one other difference that I haven't talked about yet.

Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 14, I'll probably comment there and then we'll go into 15. Deuteronomy 5, 14, But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that, " now this is the new part, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. Meaning you could secure your rest at the expense of your servants. True?

You serve me, I'll rest. You work for me, I'll rest. God's saying don't do that. Your male servant and female servant are supposed to be able to rest as well as you, not just rest for you. Verse 15.

And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt. So in Exodus 20 it was, look back to creation week. God created for six days then He rested. The commandment sits on that. There's not a word of that here.

It's totally different. Verse 15, and remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath." In Deuteronomy chapter 5, the basis is redemption. You were a slave, but you're not a slave now. Why is that?

Well, God came and got you with a mighty hand. He worked wonders to get you. Now you have a day to think about your redemption. Now you have a day to reflect on the goodness of God that you're not still back there languishing in Egypt. You're free.

Take a day to think about that. That doesn't sound like a burden. Moses didn't forget between Mount Sinai And now it was written on stone by the finger of God, look back to creation week, six days labor, one day rest, that's what God's did, that's what His people should do. It's different in Deuteronomy chapter 5 because God wanted us to have both in view on his day of holy rest. So we have Exodus 20, look back and do what God did in creation week.

And Deuteronomy 5, remember when you were slaves languishing in Egypt and all that God did to bring you out. Think about that. Take a day and think about God's goodness in that. He wants us to do both. He wants us to reflect on the work of his hands and to remember our redemption.

God, Moses didn't forget, God wants us to have both of those, this command sitting on both of those pillars. One closing thought. Beginning to apply in the most general way. I promise this won't step on any toes. Now, it won't be particularly sharp.

We'll save the sharp tax for future weeks. Back to Matthew 22, Jesus and the Great Commandment. Jesus, which is the Great Commandment? The Great Commandment is this, to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, with all your strength, and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets, all the law anywhere in scripture has to do with loving God or loving neighbor or loving both.

You don't understand any law of Scripture until you understand its relationship to love. The commands are about love. Love is the fulfillment of the commandment. Yes, this is a commandment about loving our neighbor. I am to be concerned for my neighbor getting rest as well as me.

But more fundamentally this is a commandment about loving our God. Is it possible that Is it possible that this is a gift and a tool to help us fan the flames of love for God? And that to whatever degree we find ourselves cold and hard, part of the answer is a neglected tool. Let me read that again. Is it possible that this commandment is a thinly veiled gift or tool, something given to us actually, to help us fan the flames of love for God.

And that to whatever degree we find ourselves cold and hard, part of the answer to that is a neglected tool. Pick up the tool. I don't want to be this cold. I want to run hot. Pick up the tool.

I find hardness in my heart, pick up the tool. You might find you neglected a tool. God gave it to you to fan the flames of love for God in your heart. But you're either missing it or cheating it. This day that God once kept holy, a rest day, but a holy rest day.

Not just not doing something, but doing something. It is an opportunity to fan the flames of love for God in your heart. If you're finding coldness or hardness in your heart, I want you to start here. Start here. Here is my objective in the weeks to come, then I'll pray.

To convince you that if this commandment is no longer force under the new covenant, you should be sorry. I've been telling you what I'm going to try to accomplish in the next few weeks. I'm going to try to convince you that if the other nine commandments are enforced but this one was fulfilled by Christ and is no longer for the New Testament people of God, you ought to be sorry about it. I think we need a mind shift where we begin to think of the fourth commandment as a gift to fan into flame our hearts with love for God. And that as we love God more hot-heartedly, that it will actually increase our happiness.

It will increase our happiness. God, I pray that you would give James and I great success. That our hearts would be turned towards this commandment. That our minds would shift and see opportunities stretching before us. Great opportunities stretching before us for our own joy that we would use this gift and tool like never before to fan into flame our hearts with love knowing that it will increase our happiness, our joy will be fulfilled and finding such satisfaction in just knowing you being yours, seeing you as you are.

Oh God, do this among us in Jesus name. Amen