In the sermon 'The Sabbath Week One' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on understanding the biblical concept of the Sabbath from its inception in Genesis through its evolution in the Old and New Testaments. The sermon begins with the creation account in Genesis, emphasizing God's pattern of work and rest as a model for humanity. The Sabbath predates Mosaic Law, established as a day of rest and sanctification by God. The sermon explores key Old Testament texts, highlighting the Sabbath as a day for rest, worship, and reflection on God's creation and redemption. It discusses the implications of the Sabbath in the Mosaic Law and contrasts it with the ceremonial laws that were fulfilled in Christ. Isaiah 56 is used to link the Sabbath with the New Covenant, indicating its continued relevance. The speaker calls for a deeper appreciation of the Sabbath as a means to increase delight in God, urging believers to embrace it as a gift rather than a burden. The overarching theme is that the Sabbath is a time for turning away from personal pursuits to focus on God, fostering a greater delight in Him.

Genesis 1, we're going to begin in verse 24, reading through Genesis 2 v. 3. Then God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind. Cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind. And it was so.

And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in his own image.

In the image of God, he created him. Male and female, he created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.' And God said, "'See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth.

And every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be for food. Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food, and it was so. Then God saw everything that He made and indeed, it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the hosts 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 and rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." Oh Lord, what a beautiful account that You've recorded of Your creation. Now I pray, Lord, by the power of Your hand of creation, You would also Allow the words that you've given to be boldly preached, that you would do the work that you do when you bring forth Your Word that never returns void. God, I pray that You would bless my brother as he's prepared and as he comes now that you would fill Him, Lord, with Your wisdom and Your power from heaven to preach these words today. Amen.

I have a Very elegant title for this morning's sermon. It's the Sabbath, week one. You can tell I spent a lot of my time pondering what the sermon title should be. We're beginning two weeks considering the Sabbath. We encountered The Sabbath, or really the violation of the Sabbath in Nehemiah chapter 13, Nehemiah comes back from serving the king to Jerusalem.

It's his second term of governorship in Jerusalem. And things are a mess on many fronts. One of those fronts was the Sabbath day. The producers were producing and the sellers were selling. And it's because buyers were willing to buy on that day.

And Nehemiah confronts the Sabbath breaking, and he brings things back into order. I wanted to spend more time on the Sabbath because that text deserved just a careful treatment of just what was in that text, aside from fully developing the Sabbath as a separate topic or category. So I wanted to return to it for a couple of weeks, Because I think of all of our confession, the Baptist confession of faith from the year 1689, it's over 300 years old now, of the things that are controversial in it, I think this is probably the thing that is most controversial, most out of step, even with real, live, born-again Christians in our day. I'm not talking about people who are professing but really are not in Christ. I'm talking about people who really are in Christ, but think differently about things than our confession.

I think this is probably the number one thing we would go to and say, wow, we are out of step with our brethren on this one. As an introductory remark, I want to say that's new. That's new. If we had a time machine and we went back a hundred years or a hundred and fifty years or two hundred years, we would not find ourselves very out of step at all. Especially if we went back two hundred years.

We would find ourselves rather with the majority report in the mainstream. And there really wouldn't be much need for a couple of extra weeks on the Sabbath because it would be much more preaching to the choir. And I want to say that I don't think in the next two weeks I'm necessarily preaching to the choir. I'm not sure I'm the choir. I mean, I know I believe it, but I also know that my practice doesn't really match my beliefs.

I remember, I think it's been seven years now, it's either six or seven years ago. We were still part of Hope Baptist, we were studying through the book of Deuteronomy, and we hit Deuteronomy chapter 5, and we hit the Sabbath. And the elders at that time, and I was not one of them at that time, I was actually a deacon at the time, so I didn't participate in doing any of this teaching, stopped. Like we're stopping now. And took five Sundays and titled the series, A Day for Delight.

And I remember how disruptive that was in the life of Hope Baptist Church. And so I think I'm more like preaching to the choir now, seven years later, after having been through that experience and kind of soaked in it for a while. But I do want to start by saying that I think we're comfortable. I think I'm comfortable. I think the domes are comfortable.

And I don't think we should be. In other words, I think we know that we are out of step with modern evangelicalism. People who are really born again love the Lord but don't understand as they should understand this thing. We know we are out in front of them. And so it's enough for us to be out in front.

And to have had a measure of reformation in our lives. But I just want to reset and say that if we get into the time machine and we go back 200 years, we're going to find ourselves not in front of the curve, but way behind the curve in our actual observance of these things. When I look at what I believe, according to our confession, which I think is dead on, I'll be teaching that this week and next. Rarely referencing it, but what I'm teaching is what our confession articulates. When I look at that, and when I look at how the Dohm family spends our Sundays, we're not ahead of the curve.

We're only ahead of the curve when we compare ourselves among ourselves, and we say an insensitive evangelicalism that we live in, We're ahead on that curve. But that is not the curve. The curve is always God's standard. So I hope that one of the results of our time is that we reset to the curve. We stop comparing ourselves among ourselves, and we lose the ability to be self-satisfied and content with our observance of the Lord's day.

Here's the big aim for these two weeks. Growth. Progress. Shaking off of any self-satisfaction and any comfort that we've mistakenly indulged in, in order to go the next length in growing and repenting and changing and in using this day in a mighty way to help us have more delight in God. That is the target.

More God less me is the target for these two weeks. And anyone who thinks They don't need that has lost their mind. If you think you don't need more God unless you, then you're not thinking about things rightly. And in the last text we're going to go to, which is Isaiah 58, we're going to see that is the promise associated with this day. More God, less me.

And I want it. So I want God to come and do something in me, my heart, and in the dome family, in our home, and in our church to help us go the next length and just to learn to obey better what the Lord has for His people. Alright, let's pray. Our God, everything we have is yours. Not just this day, but every day, not just a tenth of our money, but all of our money and our things.

They all belong to you. They have all been purchased by the precious blood of your Son, our Lord Jesus. And we do want you to have everything, but we also know that you've marked certain parts out to be your own in a special way. So it is for one day and seven, and I pray, O God, that you would come among us and You would use your word to pierce our hearts and help us think rightly in a day when almost no one believes the things that are being taught here this week and next. I pray that you would teach us these things and help us to love them, not to feel them as a great weight and an anchor around us, but something that yields beautiful fruit in our lives.

I do pray that you would keep us from the legalism that has encrusted this topic and this day throughout the history of the world. I hope us to be free from that, but to glean every bit of good we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. So the roadmap for the two weeks is this. Today we're going to embark on an impossible task which is to survey seven Old Testament texts that have a bearing on the Sabbath.

And so we'll have to go fast, we'll have to cheat every single one of the seven, every one of the seven deserves a full sermon, we're not doing that. But we're going to hit the highlights and go fast as a survey of what the Old Testament says about the Sabbath. Then next week we're going to be in the New Testament and we're going to deal with Jesus' glorious confrontations regarding the Sabbath. And we're also going to see what the New Testament pattern was regarding a day of week for worship. And then I'll try to apply all this as best as I can with the time that remains then.

So that's where we're headed today, Seven Old Testament Texts. Next week, Jesus' confrontations about the Sabbath and the New Testament patterns. Our first text for today is the one that Jim read as the sermon text. Genesis chapter 1 verse 24 through chapter 2 verse 3. These are the sixth and seventh days of creation.

I wanted to back up from the Sabbath day to the sixth day of creation so we get a little bit of the context of it. And then God is resting on the seventh day. Here is what we see in day one through five and we got a taste of it with day six. God creates a whole lot every day. He's creating a whole lot.

There's this span of things that are being created. And then He steps back and says, that was good. He sees that what he did on that day in creating that span of things is good. So that's what we have in the first five days. That was good, that was good, That was good, that was good, that was good, that was good, that was good.

Then on day six, he creates the living creatures, the cattle and the creeping things, things like that. And he says, that was good. And then he creates man, male and female, and he says, that was very good. And then he steps back and enjoys satisfaction in his work. If you just start in chapter 2 with the seventh day, you get the rest part, but you sort of lose sight that there is satisfaction that he has been taking in every day of his work.

This is before chapter 3, what's in chapter 3 of Genesis. It's the fall, it's sin entering the world. So there is no sin that has entered into the world at this point. There's only six days of work. Work isn't a penalty for sin.

Work precedes sin entering into the world. And God makes the pattern of it. God works six days and rests the next day in order to set a pattern for mankind. And it's Good. So not just the rest is good, but the work is good.

When God sings, things are good, it's on the work days. Good, good, good, good, good, good, very good. Those are the work days. And then we have the rest. So God looks with satisfaction on his work.

And I do think that God gives mankind much work to do in this world. We actually see this, the dominion mandate, a command to fill the earth and subdue it. What a big work to do. And he actually wants us to take satisfaction in our work as he took satisfaction in our work. But he doesn't want it to be all work all the time.

Then he observes a day of rest. This is exactly what we see in chapter 2 verse 2. God ended His work which He had done. God ceased from working. He's been working and getting more done than you've ever gotten done times a trillion, zillion, billion.

I don't even know what that number is. Think of the things that were created in six short days. He's done that work. And then he ceases from that work. He ended his work which he had done.

And then it says also in chapter 2 verse 2, he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. So, he ceased and he rested. You get that? This is the pattern. It's what he didn't do, he didn't do any more work, and what he did do, he rested.

So there's a passive part of this and an active part of the pattern that we see in creation week. The passive part is that he ceased from it. He went passive after an immensely active week. We don't know of a more active week than that. And then he went passive.

He ceased from his work. But he was active in another way. He was resting. He was doing something. It was a rest.

That's the pattern that he set for us. John 5 verse 17. This is a New Testament Sabbath text. Jesus says in John 5 verse 17, my father has been working until now and I have been working and that enrages the Pharisees and they want to kill him because they have been rebuking him for Sabbath breaking which he is not doing. We will talk about that next week.

But he says my father has been working until now and I have been working. What we should know from that is God didn't need rest on the seventh day. That's not why he rested on the seventh day. He didn't break a sweat with creating all these things. He was not diminished and made tired.

The whole other testimony of Scripture, if I had time to prove that and needed to prove that from Scripture, it would be easy to prove that from Scripture. He didn't need the rest. He's setting a pattern. The power of God was totally undiminished by creating the universe. You got that?

The power of God was Totally undiminished. He's not wiped out by day seven. And unable to continue in his labors. He's setting a pattern. Chapter 2 verse 3 says, Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.

There are two things he does to this seventh day in chapter 2 verse 3. He blesses it, He gives it a place of honor and he sanctified it. He set it apart. He claimed it for himself. He says, this is my day.

So now mankind is going to follow in the pattern. They are going to work for six days a week. We are going to see this so clearly when we get to Exodus chapter 20 and the Ten Commandments. That commandment is rooted in this being the pattern that God has set. Work for six weeks and then you rest because it's the day that God said, it's my day.

He blessed it, he gave it a place of honor, and he sanctified it. He set it apart to himself. He laid claim to that day. So a day of rest didn't originate with the Mosaic law. It preceded it by 2500 years.

Are you with me? The Day of Rest doesn't originate with Moses in Exodus 20 and Mount Sinai. It precedes it by 2500 years. Archbishop James Usher wrote the Annals of the World in which he tracks back history through the Bible accounts and he puts creation day in 4004 BC. Whether he is perfectly right about that exact year or that exact day, my guess is he's really, really close.

The law is given right around 1500 BC. So from 4000 BC to 1500 BC, The pattern for man has been one day of rest in seven, and it's codified but not introduced in the Law of Moses. This is incredibly important. God sanctifies this day in Genesis chapter 2. Who did he sanctify it for?

Moses? No, Moses isn't in Genesis chapter 2. Adam is in Genesis chapter 2. It is sanctified for Adam who will need to rest. Chapter 1 verse 28, fill the earth and subdue it.

Okay Adam, you have a wife, she's a helper comparable to you, now here's planet earth, fill it and subdue it. Is that enough work for you? You think your list is bad. If there's anyone who could work all the time, it's Adam with that to-do list. Fill the earth and subdue it.

God hadn't made it for man to work all the time. He had made it for him to work six days and rest one. And he had given him a rhythm of life that provides for rest. And mankind needs it. You can look around.

You don't actually need the Bible to prove that man needs rest. You just need two eyes in your head. And you can observe and know that mankind needs rest. Mark chapter 2 verse 27 will definitely be in Mark chapter 2 verse 27 next week. It's a New Testament Sabbath text.

I haven't decided exactly which text I'm looking at next week, but Mark 2 will absolutely make the cut and Jesus in Mark chapter 2 verse 27 says the Sabbath was made for man God doesn't need a day off. Jesus and his father had been working and were working. God is not taking today off. He doesn't need it. You need it.

That's why. The Sabbath was made for me and it wasn't made for God. It was made for you and me. It was a provision of rest that we need. It was established not at Mount Sinai, but in 4004 BC or something like that.

2500 years earlier. Ok, Our next text, Exodus chapter 16. Again, this is before the Mosaic Law. Exodus chapter 16 is, but not very long. Weeks or months probably.

We're going to get the Mosaic Law in Exodus chapter 20. So this precedes it by a little. I'd like to read verse 4 and then I'm going to pick up later in the chapter. So Exodus chapter 16 verse 4, Then the Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, That I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not.

And it shall be on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily." Now skip to verse 13 and I'll be reading verse 13 through 30. Exodus chapter 16 verse 13. So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it?

For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, This is the bread which the Lord has given you to eat. This is the thing which the Lord has commanded. Let every man gather it according to each one's need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons. Let every man take for those who are in his tent.

And the children of Israel did so and gathered some more, some less. So when they measured it by omers, He who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one's need. Moses said, Let no one leave any of it till morning. Notwithstanding They did not heed Moses, but some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank.

Moses was angry with them, so they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. When the sun became hot, It melted. So it was on the sixth day that they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Then he said to them, this is what the Lord has said, Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.

Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil, and lay up for yourself all that remains to be kept until morning. So they laid it up until morning as Moses commanded, and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. Then Moses said, Eat that 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 the Sabbath there will be none." Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none.

And the Lord said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws? See for the Lord has given you the Sabbath. Therefore, He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place. Let no man go out of his place on the seventh day." So the people rested on the seventh day.

Here we have the first occurrence of the word the Sabbath. It actually wasn't used. It's the same thing. And it's a day of rest like we saw in Genesis 2, but that word, the Sabbath, was not used there. Genesis 16 verse 23 is the first occurrence of the word.

And in this text, we have God promising to provide for the rest. This is very important. God says He will provide what is needed to have the rest. After sin entered the world, this is part of the curse. Listen to Genesis 3 verse 17.

Cursed is the ground for your sake. In toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life. The ground was cursed when sin entered the world. And it was going to take a lot to get the provisions that you need. There was going to be toil and sweat.

There were going to be thorns and thistles associated with getting your provision. It wasn't so before sin. It's going to be easy before sin, but once sin entered the world, then toil entered the world, and thorns and thistles, and difficulty in provision entered the world. So, it's not a given that six days work will provide for seven days. So it's wonderful to have a guarantee from God that He'll provide in six what's needed for seven.

Because As of Genesis 3 verse 17, that's not a given. It takes the goodness of God to provide in 6 what is required for 7. And we see so clearly in Exodus chapter 16 that this was and I would argue is an ongoing source of temptation. We see it twice in Exodus chapter 16. First there's the command to just gather for a day Because if you try to keep it overnight, it doesn't keep.

It's going to stink. It's going to have worms in the morning. So some people, they can't resist the temptation. They don't trust God to provide for tomorrow. They don't trust God to provide for tomorrow.

They don't trust God to provide tomorrow for tomorrow. They want tomorrow's provision today. And to go to bed knowing that it's there. So they keep it overnight. God said specifically don't keep it overnight.

When they wake up, it's what is that smell? What is crawling around in our manna? And not edible. God ruined it. When they succumb to the temptation not to trust God today, for provision today, to insist on having it there before you go to bed, because you really don't have confidence in God's goodness to provide tomorrow for tomorrow, then what you get is stinking wormy bread for that lack of faith.

And then we see it again in Exodus chapter 16. The seventh day comes, and God had said, you're not going to find any bread out there. What do they do? Some of them go outside. Where's our bread?

It was a temptation, an ongoing source of temptation. Would they trust God for their provision? Exodus chapter 20. Exodus chapter 20. Now this is the Mosaic Law.

And I want to read, this is the first giving of the Law, this is at Mount Sinai, and I want to read all of the Ten Commandments and then a little. So I'm going to begin in Exodus chapter 20 verse 1 and I'm going to read through verse 21. Exodus chapter 20 verse 1, and God spoke all these words saying, I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image, any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I the Lord am your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate me, showing mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to 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 cattle nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's house.

You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor's. Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking. And when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. And they said to Moses, You speak with us and we will hear, but let not God speak with us lest we die. And Moses said to the people, Do not fear, for God has come to test you, and that his fear may be before you, so that you may not sin." So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.

I wanted to read the whole thing because I think it's important that we not disconnect and isolate the Sabbath from the rest. It is part of a body of commandments and it is part of the whole. The moral law of God. In verse 8, We get the commandment outright, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. That word means remember or to call to mind or to think of.

And it's the opposite of what? Remember is the opposite of what? Forget. Forgetting. We're not to forget, to neglect the Sabbath day, but we are to call it to mind, we are to think of it, we are to remember it, to keep it holy.

Remember that in Genesis chapter 2, God laid claim to it. He blessed it and He sanctified it. And we are to keep it that way. It It's to remain sanctified by God. It is the Sabbath day.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. It's the Sabbath day, it's not the Sabbath hour or the Sabbath morning. It is one day in seven is the proportion of time that God always made it to be. So God has laid claim to the day, to all of the day. In verse 10 we see this phrase, the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

It's characterized by being God's. I'm just re-saying what I've said in other ways, but that's because it keeps being in the text coming from different angles. And it means that it's a holy rest, not just a rest. It is the ceasing from work, that's true. But it's not just a rest, it's a holy rest.

It is a Sabbath of the Lord your God. Not just a ceasing and giving that time over to whatever, but it is to be the Lord's. It is intended for worship. Verse 10 also makes it clear it's for everyone. It's for you, it's for your son, it's for your daughter, it's for your male servant, your female servant, it's for your cows.

It's for the stranger who is within your gates. Everyone within your sphere of authority or influence should get it. That is the whole point of the long list. Then in verse 11 we are given the basis for it. What is the grounds for the Sabbath?

Creation week. Creation week is this. God created for six days and then he rested and it's the grounds and the basis for man's day of rest. What God did is what we should do. What God did in the creation week is what we should do in the weeks after creation week.

Here's what J.C. Ryle says. By the way, it's from that article that I sent out by email. It's long, probably most of you haven't read it yet, please read it. It's got lots of typos in it, but you'll be able to fight through the typos and get 99.9% of the meaning, and it's really, really good and helpful.

Take the time. It probably will take you 45 minutes to read it if you're a slow reader like me. It's worth the time. J.C. Ryle says this, I turn to the giving of the law on Mount Sinai.

I there read one whole commandment out of ten devoted to the Sabbath day, and that the longest, fullest, and most minute of all." And then he quotes Exodus 20. Isn't that true? It's one out of ten, and it's the longest, the fullest, and the minutest. Go through the other of the Ten Commandments. Moore is sad about the Fourth Commandment, to remember the Sabbath day to keep holy than any of the others.

He goes on to say, I find the law of the Sabbath side by side with the law about idolatry, murder, adultery, theft, and the like. I am utterly unable to believe that it was meant to be of only temporary obligation." What J.C. Ryle is saying is you can't unhook it from the body. It's Ten Commandments and it sits right next to murder and adultery and theft and idolatry. What makes you think you can pluck this out and say, nine went forward, on what basis would you say, but this one did not go forward.

J.C. Ryle just looks at what's next to it, before it and after it, and he says, I'm utterly unable to think that we should pluck it out and say it doesn't really govern us now. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 5, this is the fourth. So Genesis 1, 24 through 2, 3 was the first. Exodus 16 verse 4 and then verses 13 through 30 were the second.

Then Exodus 20 verses 1 through 21 were the third. Now we're in the fourth. It's Deuteronomy chapter 5 verses 12 through 15. This is the second giving of the law. Almost every other of the Ten Commandments is exactly word for word what you find in Exodus 20, but that is not true of the commandment in view, the Fourth Commandment, the Sabbath commandment.

There are differences, so it's worth looking at this second giving of the Ten Commandments with respect to the Fourth Commandment. I'm going to be reading Deuteronomy 5, verses 12-15. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six 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, 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 your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you.

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." What are the distinctions here? Well, right off the bat, instead of remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, This says observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy. This Hebrew word means to keep or to guard, to observe, to give heed. It's a guarding of the Sabbath day.

It's an observance of it, but it has the connotations of keeping it, guarding it, making sure that it is held in esteem. Here's another distinction. Verse 14 adds ox and donkey to cattle. Genesis chapter 20 just said, make sure your cattle gets a rest. This adds more animals.

The ox gets a rest and the donkey gets a rest. Verse 14 also adds this, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. So it was implied in Exodus chapter 20, the first giving of the law, but it's explicit in Deuteronomy chapter 5, the second giving of the law. They need to rest too. It's not just you that needs a rest.

Your servants need a rest. Your children need a rest. Even your animals need a rest. Verse 15 is the most striking distinction between the first and second giving of the law. It's given a totally different basis.

The grounds for this commandment, which was creation week in the first giving of the law, is redemption from slavery here in Deuteronomy chapter 5. Redemption from slavery. Look at what it says, 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. It was going to be a day for this people where they could look back and see that they used to be slaves, and now they're free.

It was a day for rejoicing in the goodness and faithfulness of God, not to leave them bound up in slavery. He brought them out. It was a mighty hand and it was an outstretched arm. God did it from start to finish. He relieved them of their slavery and now they've been given a day to remember.

They wouldn't forget what they used to be before God was kind to them and was faithful to them. So there are two giving of the law and there are two bases for the law. The first was creation. The second is redemption. Romans chapter 1 to me is one of the most important chapters in all of the Bible because if you don't understand Romans chapter 1, you don't understand very much at all.

Romans chapter 1 begins by saying that looking around at creation is enough to tell you there is a God. Even if you don't have the specific revelation of the Word of God, you have the general Revelation which is looking around and seeing God made this and that's enough to condemn you. That's how the book of Romans starts. Paul just continues to build on that theological base. In Romans chapter 1 verse 21, Paul gets at the core sin of mankind.

So mankind is drowning in sins. Lots of different kinds of sins. No two men or women are guilty of exactly the same set of sins and the same amounts. But Paul gets beyond all that and goes right to the core and he says this in Romans 1 verse 21, because although they knew God, they could look around and see there is a God who made these things. They did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful.

If you want to know what is the root of man's condemnation, it's that we really know there is a God, and that in opposition to that knowledge, we don't glorify Him as God, and we're not thankful. So, sins, there are different categories and different names, but you can boil it all down to not glorifying God as God and not living thankful. Instead of thankfulness to God, we want to be God. We put ourselves in the place of God. We throw off the government of God.

These are the core sins of mankind. We don't glorify God as God, and we don't live thankful lives. The Sabbath was and is an opportunity to do just that. To glorify God as God, and to live thankful lives. That's what you have in the two bases for this commandment.

Creation and redemption. Creation, we're glorifying God as God. We're acknowledging that what we're doing today is rooted in God making everything that we see or know. And the second basis, redemption, freedom from slavery, we're living thankful lives. God has given us a day to save us from the core sins of mankind.

We acknowledge him as creator and we acknowledge him as redeemer. Now turn to Deuteronomy chapter 23. Deuteronomy chapter 23. This is not going to say one thing about the Sabbath, but it sets the context for the text I'm going to next. So we need it.

Deuteronomy 23 is the Mosaic law and it's particularly ceremonial law, which means we're very unfamiliar with it because it doesn't apply under the New Covenant. It's old covenant law that is a picture of something that is a reality in the new covenant. You'll see what I mean. We were here a couple of weeks ago. Deuteronomy 23 I'll be reading verses 1 through 8.

He who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. So this is temple worship. Eunuchs, those who are emasculated by crushing or mutilation, cannot come in with the Lord's people into the temple to participate in mosaic covenant worship in the temple. Verse 2, One of illegitimate births shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord.

An Ammonite or a Moabite shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation none of his descendants shall enter the assembly of the Lord forever because they did not meet you with bread and water on the road when you came out of Egypt, and because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia to curse you. Nevertheless, The Lord your God would not listen to Balaam, but the Lord your God turned the curse into a blessing for you, because the Lord your God loves you. You shall not seek their peace nor their prosperity all your days forever. You shall not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother.

You shall not abhor an Egyptian, because you are an alien in his land. The children of the third generation born to them may enter the assembly of the Lord." So this is ceremonial law. It's not inherently moral. It is moral in the sense that God has given a commandment and if you break the commandment that's immoral. But at its base is not something that is inherently immoral, like you shall not murder, which is true in every century under any covenant, you shall not murder is, you shall not murder, because it's inherently sinful to do that.

It's an inherent affront to the character and nature of God to kill someone who is made in that nature. It's inherent to it. But it's not inherently sinful to be a eunuch. To be in an accident where you're crushed and made into a eunuch is not inherently sinful. That doesn't go into your account as sin that you committed.

It's not inherently sinful to be born in a foreign land, to not be born Israelite. It was not inherently sinful for Ruth to be born a Moabitess. And yet though that's not inherently sinful, there's ceremonial law that says her offspring can't come into the temple for ten generations. Because It's a picture. It's a picture that communicates that God is holy and he cannot be approached by the defective or by those who were born out of sin or those who are the enemies of his or the children of his enemies.

You cannot approach God if you are those things. And so it's a picture. It's not inherently sinful that you'd be a eunuch or born illegitimate or born a Moabite or an Ammonite, but it's a picture that God is holy and his enemies cannot come before him. The defective cannot come before him. Sinners cannot come before him.

It's a picture that points to something that becomes reality when Jesus comes. And so it's a picture and it remains in force until the time where the thing pictured appears. And that's almost always the time of Christ. The time of Christ is almost always the fulfillment. It is the fulfillment of all the ceremonial law.

It's when the shadow gives way to the substance. That's the ceremonial law. So now that we've seen This ceremonial law, let's turn to Isaiah 56. This is our sixth text. Deuteronomy 23, 1-8 was our fifth.

Isaiah chapter 56 verses 1-8 is what I'll be reading is our sixth text. Now, you're going to see immediately the connections with Deuteronomy 23 and the ceremonial law that we just read. Isaiah 56 verse 1. Thus says the Lord, Keep justice and do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil.

Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, The Lord has utterly separated me from his people. Nor let the eunuch say, Here I am, a dry tree. For thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths and who choose what pleases me and hold fast my covenant, even to them I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Also, the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord to be His servants.

Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and holds fast My covenant, even them I will bring to My holy mountain and make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations. For the Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel says, Yet I will gather him others besides those who are gathered to him." Isaiah 56 speaks of the time of the Messiah and of the time of the grafting in of the Gentiles. If you have a book with headings, I have uninspired headings all over my Bible. That breaks up the inspired words, but here's the heading in mind.

Salvation for the Gentiles. I think it's a good, accurate heading. This is about the time of Jesus. So when we see in verse 1, for my salvation is about to come and my righteousness to be revealed. It's talking about things future and though it's a little veiled here if you're an Old Testament believer you can be forgiven a little bit of ignorance about this.

New Testament believers cannot be forgiven ignorance about this. Jesus is the righteousness of God revealed. Jesus is the salvation of God revealed. This is about Jesus. This is on the heels of Isaiah 53.

So if you want to know what salvation, what righteousness, Isaiah 53 is the answer to that question. A suffering servant who will come and his father will willingly crush him so that his people can be freed from the penalty of their sins. That's the salvation and the righteousness that is spoken of in verse one. It's Isaiah 53, salvation and righteousness. The point is of Isaiah 56, the picture of the ceremonial law, which we saw in Deuteronomy 23, is superseded by the reality.

In other words, the things we see in Isaiah 56 cannot happen under the Mosaic law. The eunuch can't come in to the house of the Lord under the Mosaic law. The foreigner cannot come in to the house of the Lord under Deuteronomy 23 and the Mosaic law. But Isaiah 56 isn't about that. It's about the time of the Messiah where there will be a new covenant.

Look in verse 4, the very end, and in verse 6, the very end. And holds fast my covenant. Which covenant? You're not doing those Isaiah 56 things in the old covenant. You have Deuteronomy 23 as the authority for that.

These people are not coming in. So which covenant is it? It's the new covenant. It's the new covenant in which the Gentiles are grafted in. And the picture gives way to the reality.

The shadow gives way to the substance. Listen to what Paul says in Ephesians chapter 6 verses 14 through 16. It's actually chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 14 through 16. Paul writes, For he himself is our peace, Jesus Christ is our peace, who has made both one, Jew and Gentile one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, that is the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace.

And that he might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross thereby putting to death the enmity." The Mosaic law was a law of enmity between Jew and Gentile in many ways, excluding the Gentiles. What Paul is saying in Ephesians chapter 2 is that's gone, that wall of separation is coming down. That ceremonial law which was useful as a picture is no longer useful when Jesus comes because he fulfills it. He is the substance that the shadow gives way to. And so We have the New Covenant in Isaiah 56.

And yet we have Sabbath keeping interwoven with it. Now this is very important to me. This is one of the most convincing proofs that the Sabbath continues in the New Covenant. Is that the things that don't continue, that would keep a eunuch out, and would keep a foreigner out, are swept away when Isaiah speaks of the time of the Messiah. But the Sabbath isn't swept away.

Sabbath keeping is interwoven every step of the way again and again in this text. The ceremonial disappears but the Sabbath is still there in Isaiah 56 Turn one page to Isaiah 58. This is our final text Then I want to draw some conclusions. Isaiah 58, it's what Taylor read during our singing time, verses 13 and 14, the last two verses of the chapter. And here is a great promise of delight.

We've been going rapid fire through six texts of Old Testament scripture right now, and you might be feeling a little nicked up, a little bruised, because this is about what we should do and what we must embrace, but Isaiah 58 in many ways is just a promise of delight and blessing. This is a great place to end. Isaiah 58 verse 13, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord. And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.

We have an if then statement. If, verse 13, then, verse 14. You see that? That's the first words of the two verses. If, and then you have the rest of verse 13.

Then, and you have the rest of 14. If you turn away from your ways, your pleasures, your words, if you turn away from you, and call the Sabbath a delight, You acknowledge the goodness that God has given us a day. And you call it honorable. You give it a place of honor. You recognize that it's worthy of honor.

Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord. You'll ride on the high hills. You'll be fed with the heritage of Jacob. You're promised an increase in delighting in God. You're promised to be favored by God.

You'll ride on the high hills. You'll promise to be provided for by God. You'll be fed with the inheritance of Jacob. You just have to turn away from yourself to God. And the blessings come out.

You delight in Him more. Who doesn't need to delight in God more? Who doesn't find they need to be weaned from the world more? I need to be weaned from the world more. God's giving us something here to help wean us off the world and help us stop being so caught up with our own ways and our own pleasures and our own words, me, me, me, all about me all the time.

And he gives us a day just to try to master God, God, God, all about God all the time for a day. It's a blessing. It has great potential to wean us off of the world, which is one of the major things we need after we're justified. If we're going to be sanctified, we have to be weaned off of the world. This is the exact opposite of Amos chapter 8 verse 5.

Listen to Amos chapter 8 verse 5 where God through the prophet is condemning the people. He's saying, you say, when will the new moon be passed that we may sow grain in the Sabbath that we may trade wheat? Like what? Will this day ever be over? So we can re-engage in our worldliness, in the normal affairs of life.

When will this great burden of the Sabbath be lifted? How many minutes till sundown? That happens at my house. How many minutes till sundown? That happens with me.

I'm counting the minutes many Sunday afternoons too. But we have a promise that if we fight that inclination, wage war against that inclination and actually call the Lord's day a delight and not a burden, that our delight in God will increase and he will favor us and he will provide for us. The whole text, Isaiah 58, 13 and 14, all of it implies something. It implies that it will be a struggle. You don't need an admonition like this and you don't need promises like this, great and precious promises, if it's not going to be a struggle.

That's all that's implied in the text is that this is going to be hard. We will want our own ways and our own pleasures and our own words. If we get some free time, some time ceasing from our labors, we'll want to fill it up with our own ways, and our own pleasures, and our own words. And if you don't find that in your heart, then you're way further down the sanctification trail than I am. Find all that in my own heart.

But we have a promise that if we wage war against that natural inclination that God will give us so many good things. Not going to be a lot of my ways, my pleasures, my words in heaven. The sooner we're weaned off of that, the fitter we are for heaven. The Apostle John at the end of Revelation, he's so weaned off of the world that when he gets the vision of these things, all he can think to say is, come quickly Lord Jesus. Like, let's get to the place where there's no more of my ways, my pleasures, my words.

Let's have all you all the time. He was a man fit for heaven. The Sabbath day can help make us fit for heaven. Seven conclusions. I'm going to try to...

This is just rapid fire. I'm just trying to get through seven Old Testament texts. I hope I'll have some ability to tie up lots of loose ends. I know I'm leaving so many loose ends. That's why we're having a second week.

Plus there's another testament in the Bible. We should spend some time there. Seven conclusions. Number one, the day of holy rest preceded the Mosaic law by 2, 500 years. The day of holy rest preceded, came before, the Mosaic Law by 2500 years.

That's what we get from Genesis 2. It won't do to obsess over what Abraham knew or didn't know as a pre-Mosaic law believer. Or what Abraham did or didn't do. Or what Abraham was obligated or wasn't obligated to do in that period of time. It won't do to give our time to that.

We don't know. There's no mention of him observing the Sabbath or any other. But we just don't know. You would have to argue from silence either way. But the point isn't what did Abraham know or not know, do or not do.

The point is, now that we have a full Bible with not just what he knew, but then what Moses knew, and then what Christ knew, and then what Christ revealed through his apostles, what do we know or not know? What do we do or not do? That is the question. Number two, God promised to provide for the Sabbath. Exodus chapter 16.

Some people really wondered whether he would provide for the Sabbath and put him to the test. And God wasn't too patient with that in Exodus chapter 16. But he promised to provide for it, and he did provide for it. And you'd better be careful if you say, I can't make a living unless I work on the Sabbath. Because that sentiment exists in the Bible in Exodus 16 and it's not well spoken of.

God promises to provide for it. I haven't even touched on, are there legitimate Lord's Day occupations where it's lawful for you to work? I haven't even touched on that with that statement. I am saying on the basis of Exodus chapter 16, if your position is, I am not going to make it unless I work on the Lord's Day, then that doesn't fit well with Exodus 16. That mentality is not the right mentality.

And it has precedence in the Bible. Number three, it is part of the timeless moral law of God. The Sabbath is part of the timeless, not bounded to any point in time, any century, any millennia, any covenant. It's part of the timeless moral law of God. Our confession teaches that the things that exist in the Ten Commandments existed before the Ten Commandments.

It was codified, but it existed. It was always wrong to murder. You can go into Genesis and find that it was wrong to murder. It was always wrong to commit adultery. These things didn't become wrong at Mount Sinai.

The giving of the law at Mount Sinai in Exodus chapter 20 was a codifying of what was already written on the conscience of man. It's what our confession teaches and I believe it's well grounded. Number four, how we observe it has an impact on others. There's more than you at stake with the decisions that you make about how you'll observe the Sabbath. Your sons and your daughters, your male servants and your female servants, you say, well it's 2015, I don't have any male servants or female servants.

Well, think about it. Maybe you really do have people who serve you. Your animals, the stranger within your gates, how we observe it has an impact on others. Number five, when God codified the Sabbath, He gave two bases, creation and redemption. God has this two-fold claim on all mankind.

He made you, He gave you every breath you've ever breathed. He made all that you've ever seen or known. And if you're ever going to be redeemed and set free from the slavery of sin, He'll be the one who does it. He is the Creator and He is the Redeemer. There's not another Creator and there's not another Redeemer.

And these things are the basis of this commandment. When God codified the Sabbath he gave two bases, creation and redemption. Number six, Isaiah 56 makes it difficult to separate the Sabbath from the New Covenant. Isaiah 56 makes it really difficult to separate the Sabbath from the New Covenant. Most people who are saved under the New Covenant say, the Sabbath doesn't have anything to do with me.

We are now the minority report. One out of a hundred real live, born again, will be in heaven Christians doesn't believe that the Sabbath is binding on them. But all of us should go to Isaiah 56 and ask this question. When it says, my covenant, which covenant is it talking about? And good luck trying to get the answer to be anything other than the new covenant.

And there you will find ceremonial law swept away, done away with, so that eunuchs and the illegitimate and the sons of foreigners are welcome into the house of God, but the Sabbath standing. That's what you find in Isaiah 56. Number seven. And finally, we should embrace the Sabbath as a means of increasing our delight in God. We should embrace the Sabbath.

Run to the Sabbath, don't run away from the Sabbath as a means of increasing our delight in God. As Jesus will say next week, The Sabbath was made for man. It's good for you. Don't think of it as a burden. Don't wonder how you could possibly come under the weight of this.

See it as God intended it, as a blessing. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. And if we'll trust God and walk in His ways, I think we'll find that we're delighting in Him more, that we are enjoying His favor, that He is providing for us as His promise to those who call the Sabbath an honorable day, who call it a delight in Isaiah 58. Let's pray. God, I thank you for this first week to consider the Old Testament text.

I pray in advance that you would help me as I spend time in the New Testament text on the Sabbath this coming week to be able to teach it with clarity and faithfully. I wouldn't need to be ashamed of how I'm handling your Word, but I'd be rightly dividing it. I Pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.