The sermon, delivered by Eric Bechler, delves into the concept of religious worship and the Sabbath Day, drawing from the Second London Baptist Confession. It explains that God has appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy, transitioning from the seventh day in the Old Testament to the first day of the week, known as the Lord's Day, after Christ's resurrection. The sermon underscores the regulative principle of worship, which advocates worship practices strictly prescribed by scripture, such as reading the Word, preaching, prayer, and singing. It also explains the difference between general and special revelation, emphasizing that while nature calls us to worship God, scripture gives specific commandments about the Sabbath. The sermon explores the historical and theological aspects of the Sabbath, including its origins in creation, its moral and perpetual nature, and its observance in both the Old and New Testaments. It addresses controversies about the Sabbath's relevance in the New Covenant, presenting arguments from both sides, and concludes that the Sabbath remains a binding commandment for all people, signifying rest and worship of God.

A reading this morning from the Second London Baptist Confession comes again from chapter 22 of religious worship in the Sabbath Day, paragraph 7. As it is the law of nature that in general a proportion of time by God's appointment be set apart for the worship of God. So by his word, in a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment, binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto Him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's Day and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished. As we continue our focus on religious worship, let's look at what we've covered so far again. We follow, as a church, we follow the regulative principle of worship.

That is, we only worship in ways specifically prescribed by scripture. We worship only the triune God, and we recognize that Christ is our one and only mediator, which means that we don't pray to anyone else. Parts of our religious worship of God prescribed by Scripture include the reading of the Word, preaching, the hearing of the Word, prayer, singing Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, baptism in the Lord's Supper. We can worship God in spirit and truth anywhere. We no longer are tied to a specific place like Jerusalem to worship God.

Previously we focused on where. Today we'll focus on when. Our paragraph today addresses the establishment of a special day for the worship of God, a Sabbath day, and it's changed from the seventh day of the week to the first day of the week. As is the law of nature, that in general, a proportion of time by God's appointment be set apart for the worship of God so by his word in a positive moral and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for Sabbath to be kept holy unto Him. Our text starts with the law of nature which we term as general revelation.

Through general revelation God reveals his eternal power and deity leaving men without excuse. We read this from Romans 1, for what can be known about God is plain to them because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived ever since the creation of the world and the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. Verses 19 and 20.

Nature itself calls us to worship this powerful and divine Creator God to set aside some amount of time for the worship of Him, yet nothing here is specifically revealed and nothing specific is discernible. However, in special revelation in God's holy word, God tells us specifically that one day in seven is appointed for a day of rest, and it is to be kept holy unto him. The confession calls this a positive moral commandment. Positive as it is used here means added to the law of nature, to that which was written in the heart of man at creation. God set this pattern for us by resting on the seventh day.

Genesis 2, 2, and 3 tells us, and on the seventh day God ended his work which he hath made, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. This teaches us that we work six days and take a rest. Some would argue that the word Sabbath is not in this verse. Therefore, there's no command until Exodus 16 to keep a Sabbath.

But Sabbath is a word that means rest, to rest. A day of rest is a Sabbath day just like a fetus is still a baby, just a different word is used. But what else do we learn? God blessed that day, the seventh day, and he sanctified it. Noah Webster tells us that sanctified means made holy, consecrated, set apart for sacred services.

This one day out of seven is special. It's not like all the others. The seventh day was blessed by God and was consecrated. It was set apart for a sacred purpose. Because this was revealed with the work of creation, this is appointed and binding to all men in all ages.

For the older folks here, some may remember the Blue Laws. Some states enacted laws that restricted which businesses could operate on a Sunday. Only essential or necessary businesses would they allow to remain open. And this was done so that people could have rest from their labors each week. This was not just for Christians, this was for all people.

Furthermore, God in His holy word gives us a positive moral and perpetual commandment in the decalogue in the Ten Commandments. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son nor thy daughter thy manservant nor thy maidservant nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day.

Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." Exodus 20, 8 through 11. Some would argue the command to keep the Sabbath day was ceremonial. The ceremonial laws regulated sacrifices, temple ceremonies, festivals, and determinations of being clean or unclean. There are annual Sabbaths tied to feasts and festivals, but these are different than the seventh day Sabbath. Under the new covenant, the ceremonial laws have been abrogated, meaning we no longer need to keep these commands because they've been fulfilled by the work of Christ.

In English, we use the same word here for Sabbath, but we use different articles like we'll read the Sabbath and we'll read a Sabbath and it's the use of these articles that make differences. This is not the case in Hebrew. A different word is actually used. The Hebrew word Shabbat is used for the Sabbath, the seventh day Sabbath, and Shabbaton is used for a Sabbath tied to feasts and ceremonies. In Genesis 2 and Exodus 20, the Sabbath day is the seventh day, a day of rest, a day set apart for a sacred purpose.

And Leviticus 3 verse 3 is another example. You shall do no work therein. This is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. And that's Shabbat. These verses are examples of using Shabbat.

There are also uses of a Sabbath or Shabbaton. These are more tied to festivals such as the Feast of Trumpets, Leviticus 23 verse 24. Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, In the seventh month, in the first day of the month, shall ye have a Sabbath, a memorial of blowing trumpets, a holy convocation. In the feast of Booth, Leviticus 23.39, you shall keep a feast unto the Lord seven days, and on the first day shall be a Sabbath, and on the eighth day shall be a Sabbath. I found this also in my Interlinear Bible for Colossians 2.16, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath.

And it's actually interesting in different versions. This could say also on Sabbath days. So I see Shabbaton in my Intertellinear Bible for that particular phrase. So basically the seventh day, Sabbath, Shabbat, was given for man's rest and worship of God and his pattern after the creation week. Six days of work followed by a day of rest where we're not allowed to do any work.

On a Sabbath, Shabbaton, regular work was prohibited. You couldn't do any work except any work that was required to prepare for celebrating those feasts or festivals. Those were allowed. As we see with all the other ceremonial laws, any of these Shabbatons that are tied to feast would also be abrogated following the work of Christ. But with respect to the Sabbath or Shabbat, our confession states that it is a perpetual commandment.

It is not and will not be abrogated. As such, all people of all time are obligated to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy, which we'll go into a little more later. As we move on to the next part of our paragraph, the confession restates this point. God hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week, the seventh day. But now we get to more controversy.

After the resurrection of Christ, do we still keep the Sabbath day as prescribed by the Fourth Commandment? As it turns out, there are some pretty strong differences of opinion, even within the Reformed churches. Do we still worship on the seventh day like the Seventh-day Adventists do, or do we worship on the first day of the week like we actually see most churches today doing? We'll start with what the Confession states. God hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him which from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.

So this is stating that starting with the day of resurrection, our Sabbath day is Sunday, the first day of the week, not Saturday. The implication here is that our day of worship is also Sunday instead of Saturday. We'll address this implication first and then tackle the discussion on the Sabbath, day of rest, and the new covenant. Following the resurrection, the first day of the week had been given now a special name, the Lord's Day. Where does this come from?

In scripture, we hear it from John while he was on the Isle of Patmos. He said, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, Revelation 1 10. Whether he coined the phrase or if it was already in common usage amongst the Christians is uncertain. But what is certain is that it had already become the description of the day for Christian worship. From his gospel, John recalls the moment that it had been discovered that Jesus had risen indeed from the dead.

The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was dark under the sepulcher and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. John 20 verse 1. Subsequently we hear from Paul more about what is happening on the first day of the week. And upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow and continued his speech until midnight, Acts 20, verse 7. They broke bread together, sharing the Lord's Supper.

Paul also was preaching. Both of these are part of our acceptable religious worship of God. We also read of the collection of offerings on this same day, now concerning the collection of saints for the saints as I have given order to the churches of Galatia. Even so do ye upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him that there be no gatherings when I come." 1st Corinthians 16 1 & 2. Furthermore it was on the first day of the week that Christ appeared to his disciples.

Then the same day at evening being the first day of the week when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews came Jesus and stood in the midst and saith unto them peace be unto you John 20 verse 19 and after eight days again as disciples were within and Thomas with them then came Jesus doors being shut and stood in the midst and he said peace be unto you John 20 verse 26 note that in both cases the disciples were assembled together on the first day of the week. It was then that Jesus came to them and perhaps to speak of things pertaining to the kingdom of God as alluded to in Acts 1 3. Some speculate that Jesus met with the disciples not only these two occasions but on each Lord's Day until the day in which he was taken up. Thomas Watson states, The grand reason for changing the Jewish Sabbath to the Lord's Day is that it puts us in the mind, in mind of the mystery of our redemption by Christ. The reason why God instituted the old Sabbath was to be a memorial for the creation, but he has now brought the first day of the week in its room in memory of a more glorious work than creation, which is redemption.

Great was the work of creation, but greater was the work of redemption. As it was said, the glory of his latter house shall be greater than of the former. Hegyei 2.9. So now let's speak about the Sabbath day of rest. Are we to continue to have a Sabbath day under the new covenant?

Should Christians remember the Sabbath and keep it holy? Christians are called to keep the other nine commandments, why not also the fourth? And I'll take a little extra time here to kind of jump in the weeds, so bear with me. Some would argue there is sufficient evidence throughout the New Testament that in Christ the Sabbath has found its fulfillment and that the Old Testament regulations governing the Sabbath observances are ceremonial, not moral, aspects of law and as such have passed away, are no longer in force. I'm including a list of reasons John MacArthur has offered for this position.

And I'll, as I go through them, throw a couple comments in as we go. Number one, in Colossians 2, 16, and 17, Paul explicitly refers to the Sabbath as a shadow of Christ, which is no longer binding since the substance, Christ, has come. It's quite clear in those verses that the weekly Sabbath is in view. The phrase a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day refers to the annual, monthly, and weekly holy days of the Jewish calendar. If Paul were referring to special ceremonial dates of rest in that passage, why would he have used the word Sabbath?

He had already mentioned the ceremonial dates when he had spoken of festivals and new moons. Actually, the Hebrew word here that's associated with this is Shabbaton which is speaking of special ceremonial dates of rest and these were abrogated. What we have here is not being spoken of the seventh-day Sabbath So it's interesting you'll find differences between the King James and other versions here, whether it's just a Sabbath or the Sabbath days. Anyway, it's tied to a different Hebrew word there in my interlinear Bible as referring to a rest day tied to a festival. Number two, the Sabbath was the sign to Israel of the Mosaic Covenant and since we are now under the new covenant we are no longer required to observe the sign of the Mosaic Covenant.

A quick comment here, the Sabbath serves as a sign and token between God and his people that he is the one who sets them apart, making them holy. He has given them the Sabbath as a sign that He is their God and they are his people. This in no way denigrates the abiding moral nature of the Sabbath. Number three, the New Testament never commands Christians to observe the Sabbath. Well, I would just say the obligations we're under from Scripture are not always formed in an explicit command or statement.

For example, you can't find anywhere in the Bible that commands a woman to take communion. So we also have inferences that we follow. Everything's not an explicit command. Number four, in our only glimpse of an early church worship service in the New Testament, the church met on the first day of the week. Number five, nowhere in the Old Testament are the Gentile nations commanded to observe the Sabbath or condemned for failing to do so.

That is certainly strange if the Sabbath observance were meant to be an eternal moral principle. I would just comment in Exodus 20 10 when we're commanded to obey the Sabbath, it talks about the sojourner, a stranger within your gates is called to observe the Sabbath and this stranger is also called not to be partaking of the feast or the temple worship. Number six, there's no evidence in the Bible of anyone keeping the Sabbath before the time of Moses, nor are there any commands in the Bible to keep the Sabbath before the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. There's some arguments about that, a number of passages that you could look at. I'll give one here, Exodus 16 23, commanded to observe a Sabbath day at the giving of manna in the wilderness of sin.

When the apostles met at Jerusalem, at the Jerusalem Council in Acts 15, they did not impose Sabbath-keeping on the Gentile believers. The apostle Paul warned the Gentiles about many different sins in his epistles, but breaking the Sabbath was never one of them. I would just say he probably didn't mention all of them. So it's a difficult argument. In Galatians 4, 10, and 11, Paul rebukes the Galatians for thinking God expected them to observe special days, including the Sabbath.

And I would just comment Paul's concern to the Galatians was falling back to pagan practices which is where they started from and maybe some of the Judaizers or heresies would say the pagan practice is more on what he had in mind. So anyway, it's not necessarily a strong verse for the abrogation of the Sabbath. Number 10, in Romans 14, 5, Paul forbids those who observe the Sabbath, these were no doubt Jewish believers, to condemn those who do not, to condemn those who do not, Gentile believers. I would just say the verse he references here refer to the Jewish feast and fast days still being observed by the weakened faith and thus the context is more ceremonial, laws not moral. 11.

The early church fathers from Ignatius to Augustine taught that the Old Testament Sabbath had been abolished and that the first day of the week Sunday was the day when Christians should meet for worship, contrary to the claim of many Seventh-day Sabbatarians who claim that Sunday worship was not instituted until the fourth century. Constantine introduced the Sabbath day to the empire on Sunday, so that was in the fourth century. Number 12, Sunday is not replaced Saturday as the Sabbath, rather the Lord's Day is a time when believers gather to commemorate His resurrection which occurred on the first day of the week. Every day to the believer is one of Sabbath rest since we have ceased from our spiritual labor and are resting in the salvation of the Lord, Hebrews 4, 9 through 11. And I'll touch on Hebrews 9 at the end.

Keeping the Sabbath day is part of the moral law. We are to keep it holy and set apart for sacred purpose. It's supposed to be a special day, not just like all the others. So that was kind of fast and maybe a little sloppy, not sure. But anyway, I want to present some of the thoughts that are going on from people who believe that the Sabbath day is no longer required in the New Covenant.

There may be other arguments out there, but I think this was a fair presentation. Now let's look at the other side. I'll offer some comments for remembering the Sabbath day and keeping it holy in the New Covenant. A lot of what I'm presenting here are comments from a commentary from Simon Martinians. He goes through it very thoroughly.

If anybody's interested in a thorough presentation, I can pass it on to them. Number one, and some of These are just comments and questions. It is argued that only nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament, and only these are binding. And I would ask, but why must God repeat things for them to be binding and still true? Is this the practice in the Bible, that God must repeat himself to make it true.

What about the unity of the Ten Commandments? Why would God place a ceremonial law in the middle of his moral laws? What about the writing of them on two tablets by the finger of God? Isn't this a picture of permanency? What about them being placed in the ark under the mercy seat of God Almighty?

Why would we expect God to place a temporary law, a law that would become abrogated in such a place as the Ark of the Covenant. Number two, why don't we see a Sabbath day in the New Testament? Few early Christians called Sunday the Sabbath or the Christian Sabbath because they associated the Sabbath with the Old Covenant and the legalistic observance of the Jews thereof. They rather called it the Lord's Day and contrasted the two. Therefore, by simply calling it the Lord's Day, they did not utterly disconnect it from the fourth commandment.

They wished to disconnect it from the Jewish observance and eliminate any confusion. This is speculation but it's reasonable. Number three, is it ceremonial and abrogated or moral and permanent? Number of points here. Joseph Pippa writes, along with work, Genesis 1, 28, and 2, 15, and marriage, Genesis 2, 18 through 25, God instituted the Sabbath in Genesis 2 to govern the lives of all mankind.

Just as the ordinance of work and marriage are permanent, so the ordinance of the Sabbath is permanent." That was A. B. The Lord Jesus exercises His Lordship over the Sabbath not by abolishing it, but by pointing to its original intent and by cleansing it from Phariseeism. We see that Jesus in the New Testament continually corrected the Pharisees about the Sabbath. Moreover, the claim that the Sabbath was only given to the Israelites, for the Lord does not only connect the making and the institution of the Sabbath to the creation, for that is when all things were made, but he also claims that the Sabbath was made for man in general, not for the Israelites in particular.

Against those in his day who would have limited God's grace and the Sabbath to Israel, the Lord Jesus used the broadest terms available, man and mankind, to designate those for whose benefit the Sabbath was established. And in speaking this way, Jesus would have been understood as viewing the Sabbath as an ordinance established at creation for all men and not just an ordinance in Sinai for Israel. See, there's nothing inherently moral in and of itself about the seventh or the first days of the week. What makes one day moral and obligatory is the command of God. Archibald Alexander observes, now it is admitted that all the other precepts of the decalogue are moral and would it not be an unaccountable thing that a ceremonial, temporary commandment should be inserted in the midst of these moral precepts?

This is the law which Christ says he came not to destroy, but to fulfill. None of these commandments have been abrogated and therefore the fourth as well as the others remain in full force. It is remarkable that the prophets in denouncing the sins of the people always mention the violation of the Sabbath in the same catalog with transgressions of the moral precepts. D. Note that the death penalty was attached to the desecration of the Sabbath day.

What other merely ceremonial command has the death penalty attached to it? None. Not only was the death penalty instituted for the Sabbath as part of the civil law of Israel, but even the non-Israelite sojourner was to observe the Sabbath day. I mentioned this earlier. What is the purpose of God in creating in six days?

Archibald Alexander again states, in doing this, God was thus setting an example to his creature, man, for he had not only rested on the seventh day, but sanctified it. That is, set it apart to a holy use, to be employed not in bodily labor or converse with the world but in the contemplations of the works and attributes of God and holding delightful communion with his maker. I would ask isn't this what we're doing on the Lord's Day under the new covenant? Number four, there's nothing special in any of the seven days. There's nothing, and I mentioned this a minute ago, there's nothing special until God distinguishes one above the other by blessing it and making it holy.

The holiness of the day again is not in the seventh day itself therefore a change could be made without offering violence to the essence of the Sabbath. The word Sabbath does not mean the seventh day of the week. It means rest. Five, Dr. Paul Martin writes concerning the significance of the Sabbath for the new covenant believer.

The Sabbath established at creation continues and it retains its function as a reminder of that great work. Now it also functions as a reminder of the works of Christ and of the sanctifying relationship that we have with God through Him. And it symbolizes, even giving us a foretaste of the promise remaining of entering in this rest. The Mosaic Sabbath was the creation Sabbath made into a reminder of Israel's redemption from Egypt and a symbol of the rest awaiting in Kenan. That Sabbath now has ceased but has been replaced by the Lord's Day, which is the creation Sabbath now made a reminder for the new Israel of God's redemption of his people from sin and a symbol of the heavenly rest that is yet to be entered into by us.

The last point here I'll bring up, is there any verse in the New Testament that specifically addresses the Sabbath keeping? The answer is yes. In Hebrew 9, There remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. The word used for Sabbath rest is actually, in this verse, is the only time it's mentioned in the Bible. And not to mention in the Greek language.

The word sabbathismos is only found here in the Bible. The meaning is keeping, a keeping Sabbath and a keeping of a Sabbath. The word sabbatismos is derived from the verb established, which is used in the LXX in Exodus 1630, kept Sabbath, and perhaps was coined by the author of Hebrews. Dr. Martin notes that the term does not denote a Sabbath rest as a state to be entered into, but a Sabbath keeping as a practice to be observed.

This of course corresponds to the word's morphology. The suffix, maybe that's an ooze, I don't read Greek so well, indicates an action not just a state. Therefore this conveys not merely the idea of rest, but the observance and keeping of rest. He could have used the word Sabbath, but that would have pointed merely to the old Sabbath, which is fulfilled by faith in Christ. No, that was not the intent of the author here.

Rather, by using the word sabbathismos, the author shows that the observance and the keeping of a day of rest is not abrogated for the new covenant people of God, but rather it belongs to and remains for them, for us. This of course is not exhaustive and probably could have been done a little more clearly, but If you're interested in a more detailed presentation, I can share that with you. God has commanded us to remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy. This command is given to all people and for all times. And we have an obligation to keep this command today just as those in the Old Testament.

Don't think of it as onerous or a burden. The Sabbath was made for man, is made for his good, was made for your good. Amen.