In the sermon titled 'The Lord's Day,' Jason Dohm explores the significance of Sunday as a day dedicated to rest and worship, known historically as the Lord's Day. He traces its roots back to the Old Testament Sabbath, emphasizing that the practice of setting aside a day for the Lord is not a new concept but one deeply embedded in Christian tradition. Dohm highlights that historically, the observance of the Sabbath was a mainstream belief, supported by Reformation-era confessions. However, in modern times, this view has become less common. He argues that the observance of a day of rest is not only a biblical mandate but also beneficial for believers' physical, mental, and spiritual well-being. Dohm connects the concept of the Sabbath from Creation, through the Old Testament, and into the New Testament, where the first day of the week, Sunday, becomes the day of rest and worship post-resurrection. He stresses the importance of preparation for the Lord's Day to ensure it is a time of true rest and spiritual nourishment. Moreover, Dohm challenges believers to reclaim the observance of the Lord's Day as a delight rather than a burden, emphasizing that it is a gift from God intended for human benefit and spiritual growth.

The title of the message is the topic of the message, the Lord's Day. I've preached on this topic a number of times, and I usually say this line, rejoice that you're in a mainstream church. You were just born in the wrong century. What do I mean by that? I mean that if we'd have been in church 200 years ago, 300 years ago, 400 years ago, 500 years ago, back to the New Testament era.

The mainstream view would be that Sunday is the Lord's Day, and it ought to be given over to the Lord, and You should cease from your normal activities, from buying and selling, and spend the day resting and worshiping. It really wouldn't have been controversial. You probably wouldn't have discussed it. Almost everybody thought that, believed that. So, you are in a mainstream church if you can teleport back 200 years or further.

In a couple of weeks, James is going to preach on Reformed Theology and Confessionalism. We hold to the 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith. This is actually related to both. The Reformers universally, essentially universally held the view that will be taught today. This view is enshrined in the Reformation era confessions, whether you're Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist, this would be part of your confession.

But it's now very controversial. But I just want you to know that's new. Actually, that's probably not true. It's not very controversial anymore. It's just been given up.

And so few people hold to this. Few people believe it anymore. There was a transition period where it was controversial. And I hope to make it controversial again. How about that?

This is now the minority view. But we say the old paths are better. The old paths look a lot more like what you find in the Bible. And it's important. No one's ever been saved or not saved based on their view of these things, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't matter.

We do believe that it's important, and we do believe that it really matters in our lives. I'll be getting into where I think it matters the most as we progress through the message. Let's pray. God, here we are. We're not here by chance.

This is a conviction that your people should gather. That it's good and right and our duty to gather. So often it's such a privilege and such a happy time that it doesn't feel like a duty, but we know that you desire for your people to gather to set aside the normal busyness and occupations of the week to worship you. You're worthy of that and so much more. God, I pray that you would teach us over time to hold this day precious and that over time this would become far and away the sweetest day of the week to us.

That it wouldn't be a burden and feel like a duty to us, but we would look forward to it with great anticipation and we'd be sorry when it comes to a close. Pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. So I have three major headings you can see on the handout. I will just plunge right in. Number one, the Old Testament Sabbath.

So we're going to start out with what the Old Testament teaches about the Sabbath. It does not begin with the Ten Commandments, so it's part of the Ten Commandments, but the Day of Rest actually is rooted, I think, 2, 500 years earlier than the Ten Commandments being given. It begins in Creation Week, so please Open your Bibles practically to the left hand cover. We're going to begin with the very last verse in Genesis 1. Genesis 1 verse 31.

Then we'll go past that chapter break and read 1-3 of chapter 2. Genesis 1 Genesis 131 is where we'll begin. Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the six days. This is the conclusion of the six days of creation.

He looked at all He had made in those six days, and He acknowledged that it was all very good, and that day came to a close. Verse 1 of chapter 2, Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. On the seventh day, God ended His work, which He had done, and He 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 God had created and made. So God creates like mad for six days, and then On the seventh day, God Himself rested, and He blessed the day, and He sanctified the day.

So this day, the concluding day of Creation Week, is a day blessed by God. The Sabbath day is blessed by God, meaning it enjoys His favor in a special way. God looks on this last day of the week in Creation week with a special degree of favor, and this day is set apart by God unto himself. So he lays claim to the day and says this day is mine. That's what it says, he blessed the day and sanctified it.

Sanctified just means he set it apart to himself. He lays claim to it and says, this day is mine. So if we go to the right hand cover, to the last book of the Bible, Revelation chapter 1 verse 10, we encounter this phrase, the Lord's day, a day that the Lord has laid claim to and says, this is mine. We have a frame of reference to that. It actually has a rich history in Scripture.

In Genesis chapter 2 it says that the Lord blessed this day, enjoys his special favor, and he set it apart to himself. And then in this last book of the Bible, Revelation 1-10, we encounter this phrase, the Lord's day, a day claimed by the Lord to be his own. Now, another place that is still before the Ten Commandments, meaning the Ten Commandments haven't been given yet, and yet we encounter the Sabbath day, is Exodus 16. Please turn to Exodus chapter 16. The people are in the wilderness.

That's a problem. Why? Because there's a million people and there's no food in the desert, in the wilderness. That's an enormous problem. In Exodus 16, God promises that He'll provide food, the food they need.

Miraculously provide the food. This is about manna, but there are special instructions about this food that affords the people, gifts the people, a day where they don't even have to worry about gathering manna. So I'll read Exodus 16 verses 4 & 5, Then we'll skip and I'll tell you. Exodus 16, 4 and 5. 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." So, a couple of things here. God promises to rain bread from heaven. So you're in the wilderness, there's not a food source, don't worry. I'll rain bread from heaven.

That's pretty great. But he actually says, it will be a test. How will this be a test? Well, they'll have to believe that God will make good on this. And in this special way, on the sixth day, they're supposed to gather what they'll need for two days.

So that'll be different than the rest the week. Day six is going to be different than day one through five because in day one through five you just gather what you need for the day but on the sixth day you gather what you need for two days because there's not going to be manna on the ground on day seven. So you're going to gather in advance for two days and then there won't be any gathering at all. There'll be nothing to gather and this will be a test and you find out immediately they fail the test because this is becomes the pattern. Day one there's manna, two there's manna, through five there's manna.

Day six they're supposed to gather. So in those first days people who are worried that there might not be food tomorrow, gathered too much, tried to keep some of it overnight. What happens to it overnight? It breeds maggots and stinks. So, the people who failed the test and said, I'm worried that God won't give us bread tomorrow morning, so I'm going to gather up more, because they were fearful and not believing that God would keep His promise, and what they gathered and kept overnight stank in the morning and it's maggot filled." That's disgusting.

Then on the seventh day, some people go out to gather manna, failing the test, and they find nothing on the ground just like God said. Now fast forward to verses 29 and 30. I just described what's in between. Verses 29 and 30. Still in Exodus 16, verses 29 and 30, See, for the Lord has given you the Sabbath, He gave it to you.

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." He's given them a day where they don't have to do any gathering. And he's given them an abundance of food the day before so that they'll have what they need on the seventh day. Now, what is needed for a day of rest?

We should think about this. This is worth thinking about. What is needed for a day of rest? This is what we should think about this. This is what we're thinking about.

What is needed for a day of rest? Provision in six days, sufficient for seven days. So somebody's going to have to pay the bill for a day of rest. Somebody's going to have to make sure that you can have enough to sustain you through seven days in six days. If you don't have that, you don't have a day of rest.

What we should come away from Exodus chapter 16 is for his people, he promises, I'll give you in six days what you need for seven days. First of all, he's given us a world that's plentiful. None of us had a vote in what kind of world we were born into. It could be a world of scarcity, where you could just barely scratch out enough in working all day, every day to just barely sustain your life. That's not the world we live in.

Why not? Because that's not the world God has made. He's actually given us a world of plenty so that people will have enough in seven days from what He's given them in six days. God has actually written a check for the Sabbath. He's actually made a world of abundance where you can have a day off.

He made it that way, and that's not by chance. God did this. God gave them the Sabbath so they rested. And given them a day of rest, they wouldn't have been able to rest. They wouldn't have rested.

This is my observation. Even though all this is true, you can't hardly make some people rest. You can't hardly make them rest. I'm not that person. I'm taking the month of September to prove it.

Now the Ten Commandments. The fourth commandment is the commandment to remember or keep the Sabbath. I turn a couple of pages to Exodus chapter 20. Finally, we get the official commandment. The history of it doesn't start there.

It starts in Creation Week where God did it not because he needed rest, but because actually he's setting a pattern. And this commandment in Exodus 20 is actually going to say that. Do it because that's what God did in Creation Week. And then we actually see in Exodus chapter 16, He's already making provision for it and telling the people to rest. Now it becomes official in the Ten Commandments.

I'll be reading Exodus 20, verses 8-11. Exodus 20, verses 8-11. God says, 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 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 cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

For in six days the Lord made the heavens 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." Or made it holy as we saw in Genesis 1, or Genesis 2. He set it apart to himself. What's the commandment? Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

We're supposed to remember it, keep it in view, keep it in mind. We're supposed to keep it holy. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. And holy just means set apart. So to keep it set apart as a special day unto the Lord.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy or set apart to the Lord. In Deuteronomy 5 you actually have some changes in this commandment which is It's different than the rest. So there are two givings of the Ten Commandments. One is Exodus 20. The other is Deuteronomy 5, which is 40 years later.

The 40 years of wandering in the wilderness are coming to an end. And the people are getting ready to go into the promised land and Moses gives them the 10 commandments for the second time. Deuteronomy means second law, this is why. The other commandments are word for word the same, But this commandment has a few differences, some subtle, some not subtle at all. We'll talk about them now.

In Deuteronomy chapter 5, instead of remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, It's observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy. So we have two elements. If you put them side by side, remember, or if we come at it from the other way, don't forget. Don't forget the Sabbath. Remember it.

Keep it in view. Observe or keep the day. I'll give you the Jason Dome translation. Will it be helpful? Who knows?

Don't miss it and don't cheat it. Remember it. Don't miss it. Keep it top of mind, and don't cheat it. Really observe it.

Really keep it. Really do it. I am to structure my time so that I get all my work done in six days and then rest on the seventh day. And It's a particular kind of rest. It's a rest unto the Lord.

Worship is bound up in that. It's not a free day to just do anything that I want. It's rest that is bound up in remembering God and His goodness and worshiping God. Listen to Exodus 34 verse 21. I won't have you turn there because it's just a single verse.

I'll read it. Exodus 34 verse 21. Or verse 21, six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. Why the addition after the semicolon?

Isn't it sufficient to say, six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, period. This is the rhythm. Six days work, one day rest. Six days work, one day rest. Six days work, one day rest.

He doesn't leave it at that. He continues to say, in plowing time and in harvest, you shall rest. Now what's the significance of that? We're not farmers, we don't really know. If you ask a farmer, Hey, tell me about plowing time and harvest.

He'll tell you, Those are the most precious seconds, minutes, hours, days of the year to me. Those are the days where I can't afford a minute off. Farmers actually have times in the schedule where there's not a lot going on and they're sort of getting ready for the next season or finishing up from this season. But man, it is wall to wall in planting time, in plowing time, and in harvest. Okay, so the significance is all the time, even the busiest seasons, remember the Sabbath day, because we would be tempted to say, I'm gonna remember it, I'm going to observe the Sabbath day, but there are some real crunch times, and in the crunch times I might not.

But Scripture is giving us really good clarity here. Even in plowing time and in harvest, or whatever you call your busy times, we all have our different occupations. We all know what crunch time is. We all know that it feels like I can't spare a second. God says that's not true.

That's not true. For the farmer, even in plowing time, even in harvest, you can spare the time because I'm writing the check. God's writing the check for the Sabbath. He'll give you enough to sustain you through these times. Did you know God can make you disproportionately fruitful in your time of work?

Or He can slow you down too. These things are all in God's hands. We can't act like output is totally dependent on me. Because that's not true. Is this a commandment for me, the individual Jason Duhm?

Absolutely. Is it just for me? Absolutely not. God intends for all to have a day of rest down to the beasts of burden. Even the work animals get a day off in God's system, in God's economy.

Even the work animals get a day off. In fact, in the commandment, look at the commandment again, Exodus 20, 8-11, in the commandment is the requirement for the head of household to secure this rest for all the members of his household. His son, his daughter, his male servants, his female servants, the strangers within your gates. That's even talking about non-Israelites who are part of your household. Well, they're not even part of Israel.

What does this have to do? No, everybody needs a day of rest. And if you're the head of the household, you're given the responsibility to secure rest for everybody, even your working animals. What would be the equivalent? Your John Deere tractor gets a day off.

The idea is this, if you have authority, secure a day of rest for those within that sphere. It might be a little sphere, it might be a big sphere. You're on the hook, according to this commandment, to secure rest for everyone who's under your influence and authority. So in Nehemiah chapter 13, when Nehemiah is the authority, but he sees, oh they're coming into Jerusalem to buy and sell on the Sabbath day. Nehemiah says, not on my watch!

Not on my watch. This isn't up to your own preferences. God has given me influence and authority here. So we're going to conform to his word where I have influence and authority." He puts a stop to it. He shuts the gates against the merchants who have been coming.

When the sun goes down, the gates close and for a couple of weeks the merchants camp outside in hopes that the gates will open back up. Finally, he tells them, if you keep coming, I'm going to lay my hands on you. Then they stop coming. He acts decisively to insist that there is the rest that God has prescribed for those who are under His authority. Exodus 20 gives us the basis for the commandment.

The basis for the commandment is in verse 11, for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and alled it. So in Exodus 20, The reasoning or the foundation given for this day of rest is God did it in creation week. He blessed it so it enjoys His favor and He sanctified it, meaning He set it apart to Himself. He set this in motion as a pattern for mankind.

He set it in motion as a pattern for mankind. Work six days, rest unto the Lord on the seventh day. Now, a big change and not a trivial one between Exodus 20, the first giving of the Ten Commandments, and Deuteronomy 5, the second giving of the commandments, is the basis. Listen to the basis which totally changes in Deuteronomy 5.15. Listen to Deuteronomy 5.15.

It gives the commandment, like in Exodus 20, and then it says this, 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 day." So in Exodus 20, it's creation week, but in Deuteronomy 5 the basis shifts to remember Egypt. Remember when you had a master that didn't care anything about rest for you. Remember when you used to have a slave master, not a master that gives you rest?

You remember Pharaoh? More bricks, less hay. God's not like that. He wants to remember, He wants the people of God to remember that He came and got them. And He delivered them from a taskmaster that had no interest in their rest and gave them rest.

Does that sound familiar? Does that sound like more than just Egypt and the physical people of God. Being in bondage, but God coming and getting you, removing you from slavery, redeeming you from slavery, and bringing you into rest. Does that sound like more than just Israelites in Egypt? You better believe it does.

And so, God gave them a day to remember that. What am I supposed to do with that day? Well, one of the answers is, you're supposed to remember that your master used to be a slave driver that was grinding you into powder, and now God came and got you. Part of the day should be spent remembering that. Here's what J.C.

Ryle says, I turn to the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. He's talking about the Ten Commandments. I there read one whole commandment out of ten devoted to the Sabbath day and that the longest isn't it I just look at the Ten Commandments probably half the space is this one the longest the fullest and most minute, or the most detailed of all. 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 only of temporary obligation.

To that I say, Amen. Nine, we still want, we don't want anybody murdering or committing adultery or stealing or worshiping false gods, but the Sabbath was only temporary. We were sweeping that one away. On what basis? I'm with J.C.

Ryle. I'm utterly unable to believe that there was ever an intention. This is the eternal moral law of God. That's what the Ten Commandments are. Now to Isaiah 58, which was read for our sermon text, but we'll read it again.

It's wonderful. Isaiah chapter 58, verses 13 and 14. Isaiah 58, 13 and 14. Isaiah 13 and 14. God says this through the prophet Isaiah, 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." Essentially he's saying don't step on the day of rest and turn your foot away from the Sabbath Stop stepping on it. Don't trample the day of rest. Set aside your own pleasures, your own ways, your own words. Instead of your own pleasures, ways, and words, say, this day is a delight. The holy day of the Lord is honorable and I delight to honor God in it.

I'm going to set aside my own pleasures in order to honor God on this day. What will happen? What we have here is an if-then statement. Verse 13, if these things. Verse 14, then these things.

An if-then statement. If, don't trample on the Sabbath, set aside your own pleasures, ways, words, in order to call the day of delight and honor God in it, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord. God will become more of a delight to you. Then God will show you the heights, take you up on the high hills. Then God will feed you with the inheritance of the Lord's people.

Makes me think of Ephesians and all the riches that are enumerated in the book of Ephesians. Riches, riches, riches. Do you want to be fed with the inheritance of the Lord's people? If you read Ephesians you say yes I do. Yes please.

I say yes please to all these things. Delight in the Lord. Yes please. Show me the heights. Yes please.

Feed me with the riches of the inheritance. Yes please. Have you ever thought, my delight in the Lord just isn't what it used to be? I still believe. I'm still in the faith.

I'm not apostatizing. You know what? My delight in the Lord just isn't what it used to be. Have you ever had seasons like that? If you haven't, you haven't been in the faith longer.

You're lying. Which is it, you criminal? I remember when God used to show me the heights. It was like a continual spiritual feast. It was riches.

May I suggest that this is one way to reclaim it. God gave us an if-then statement. Maybe our delight in the Lord isn't what it used to be, and what we want it to be, and what it could be because we've been putting our feet on the Sabbath. But God would show us the heights again. He's waiting for us just to remember the day and observe the day, to keep it as a separate special day.

By the way, this is the exact opposite of what the people in Amos are condemned for saying. Listen to what the people that God condemns through the prophet Amos were saying. This is Amos 8 verse 5. God condemns the people for saying this. Here's what they were saying.

When will the new moon be passed that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath that we may trade wheat. Oh, when will it be passed so we can get back to work? Will this day never end? I will say that I find the Lord's Day quite humiliating.

Why? Because there's been a lot of Sundays. Here's how the domes do it. Sun down to sundown. There's biblical reasons for that.

I'm not hung up on it. You have to decide what the time markers are going to be. So for the domes, it's sundown to sundown. There have been so many Sundays where I wouldn't have the courage to utter these words, but in my heart, I've thought, how many more minutes till sundown? When can I get back to the stuff I'd like to do this evening?

I find myself very humbled by it. Because there's been a lot of Sundays. Three hours, two hours, one hour, how many more minutes? And so when I read Amos, it makes me cringe because I feel that the Lord's Day reveals how far from being fit for heaven I am. If I was more fit for heaven, I'd check my watch less often as sundown approaches on Sundays.

It reveals how little satisfied I am with the things of God. In some ways, for me, the Lord's day is sort of a love meter. How's it going with loving God? Jesus said that's the great commandment. That's a pretty important question.

How's it going with loving God? Will this day never end? It's not going very well. It's not going very well. So brothers and sisters, I'll just say this, as a humiliated man, let's grow.

Let's grow. Why not? God gave us a day and He promises if we'll stop stepping on it and we'll set aside our pleasures, our ways, our words for the day and say, this day is a delight. I'm going to delight in this day, and this is going to be a day to honor you. Then God will respond to that and increase our delight in Him.

Would that be an okay trade? That would be an okay trade. The sweetest delights are delighting in God. I do know that from my personal history. The best things are from delighting in God.

That was, one, the Old Testament Sabbath. Two, the New Testament Sabbath. I picked a text that is representative because we can't study the whole New Testament today. You know that. Turn to Mark chapter 2.

When I say I picked something that's representative means I picked a text in the New Testament in the Gospels. So it has to do with Jesus and his interaction with people about the Sabbath. And it's very much like a bunch of other places in the Gospels. So it's a good representation of multiple other places in all the Gospels. Mark chapter 2, I'll read 23-28.

Mark 2, 23-28. Now it happened that he, Jesus, went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, And as they went, his disciples began to pluck the heads of grain. And the Pharisees said to him, Look, why do they do what is not lawful on the Sabbath? But he said to them, Have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry? He and those with him?

How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar, the high priest, and ate the showbread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priest, and also gave some to those who were with him? And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath a few points first Jesus frees the Sabbath from a false understanding of it. He's not making new Sabbath law here. Here's the big change.

He's actually explaining what the Sabbath has always been, and he's qualified to do that because he's Lord of the Sabbath. So if anybody can tell us what's actually lawful and not lawful on the Sabbath, the Lord of the Sabbath can do that. Jesus is claiming the right to say what is a proper understanding. This is no change in Sabbath law. This is freeing the Sabbath from a false understanding of it.

Acts of necessity, Like here, you have to bring your hand to your mouth with food to receive nourishment on the Sabbath. It's necessary, acts of necessity, like here, and acts of mercy, like healing. You know, Jesus was always getting in trouble for healing people on the Sabbath. One time the synagogue ruler says, there are six other days of the week in which you can come and be healed. Come and be healed on one of those days.

Jesus rebukes him for thinking like that. Acts of mercy, like healing, was always lawful on the Sabbath. Acts of necessity, like picking ahead of wheat, and separating wheat from chaff, and putting grains of wheat into your mouth for sustenance on the Sabbath was never unlawful, was always lawful as are acts of mercy. These have never been a violation of God's commandment. So first, Jesus frees the Sabbath from false understanding of it.

He does that a bunch of places in the New Testament. It's almost like God wants us to know what we can and can't do on this day, and to have these different case studies to help us navigate this. James and his sermon on this, we did the Ten Commandments, makes the point. Wow, if the Sabbath was just getting ready to be swept away, never to be required again. A lot of New Testament space is spent trying to make clear what is and isn't lawful on the Sabbath.

Second, there is a danger we should be aware of, and that is of becoming hypercritical Sabbath police does anybody like that guy that guy shows up a lot in the Gospels hyper critical Sabbath police Jesus you shouldn't be doing this on the Sabbath. Jesus, you shouldn't be doing that on the Sabbath. That's a danger. And The Gospel accounts want to sensitize us to that danger. The overriding principle should be that we should be very concerned about ourselves thinking through this, applying this according to biblically held convictions.

Does that mean there's never a time that you see a brother or sister who's really trampling on the Sabbath, you can see it's harming them? I should go and just gently try to help them if they can be helped. Of course it doesn't mean that's always inappropriate, but we do have a warning here about hypercritical Sabbath bullies. Third, We have this remarkable sentence, verse 27. The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.

That means God always meant for the Sabbath to serve you. The Sabbath is supposed to serve you. The Sabbath is supposed to be good for you. You're not supposed to be slavishly serving the Sabbath. What does a day of the week need from you?

What does God need from you? Okay, so the Sabbath was intended to do good to you and to serve you, not the other way around. We were never meant to be slaves to the Sabbath. Now don't get it wrong, that doesn't mean, well it doesn't matter, no matter what I do on the Sabbath, it was made for me so I can decide to do something or nothing. No, there are principles to be applied here, that's not what he's saying.

But he is saying, don't lose sight, the Sabbath is meant to be a blessing. You know, there are all sorts of things we can do to turn this day of rest into just a dreadful day that nobody looked forward to. Don't do that. The Sabbath was made to serve you, to be good for you. It's also important to notice that it was made for man, not just for the Jews.

Sabbath was made for mankind. It says man there, It's not gender specific at all. The word just means human. Sabbath was made for humans, all humans. No, it's just made for Jews.

No, it's just made for the Lord's people. We're the only ones that need rest. Everyone needs rest. Fourth, Jesus titles himself Lord of the Sabbath. Here's something worth noting about all of the accounters in the Gospels regarding Jesus and the Sabbath.

Jesus never once says one word against the Sabbath, that's no surprise, or hints in any way that the observance of it is passing away. You can't find a hint of a hint of Jesus saying that it's about to pass away. By the way, in John chapter 4, He told the woman at the well, yeah, the place of worship being the temple is about to pass away. So there are instances where he did say, this is getting ready to not be enforced. He only ever upholds it, but he upholds the eternal and correct understanding of it.

He actually spends a lot of time correcting the false teachings about it. Now, one other place that I find very helpful is Mark 1542. Listen to Mark 1542, Because if you don't get this, you'll never really have a day of rest. Mark 15-42. Now, when evening had come, because it was the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, that's the whole verse, and then it goes on to say other things.

I'm not here to talk about the other things. I'm here to talk about this. It says, now an evening had come because it was the day of preparation that is the day before the Sabbath. If you're going to really have a day of rest, you have to prepare the day before. It's like Exodus 16.

Gather twice as much, make the preparations, so on that day you can actually rest. If you don't have a day of rest in mind on Saturday and do some things to put things in order, you're not going to have a day of rest. You're going to have a day of scurrying about all the things you didn't think about on Saturday. So the day of preparation is really a helpful phrase to me that tells me I'm going to have to Just think about Sunday on Saturday so that my Sunday can actually be a day where I really can Take the rest enjoy the rest and Spend the day Feeding myself and you know The Puritans love to call Sundays the market day of the soul. You go to a fresh market, days one through six, or food line, or you go to that market to get things for your body.

But on Sunday, you go to the market of the soul to get what your soul needs. That's a good way to think about it. That was number two, the New Testament Sabbath. Now three, the Lord's Day in the early church. Wow, I got to go fast.

Okay, The Lord's Day in the Early Church. Wow, I've got to go fast. Okay, the Lord's Day in the Early Church fills in the blank. Let me begin at the latest point on the New Testament timeline and then work to earlier points. Listen to Revelation 1 verse 10.

The Apostle John writes this, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. Note when this is. This is the last book of the Bible, decades after the resurrection. The end of the revelation of God to man is the book of Revelation. It's the last one on the timeline and John says he was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day.

I just want to say this everybody has to do something with that. So you decide what you think you should do with that But please don't do nothing with that. John, who understood these things, he's an apostle. He spent three years living with Jesus and hearing all of his teaching, being personally discipled by the Lord Jesus. Decades after the resurrection, has something in his life called the Lord's Day.

You have to do something with that phrase. Here's what the overwhelming number of believers have done with that phrase throughout church history, including the Reformers and the Puritans. Why do I pick them out? Because I think they understood Scripture the best and applied Scripture the best of the generations of believers. That's the stream of theology that we're standing is, the stream that has been articulated by the Reformers and the Puritans because they were so careful with Scripture.

They concluded that in the shift from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant, the day of rest and worship for the Lord's people has shifted from the seventh day to the first day. So I'll give you the case for it. Number one, what we see in all four gospels at the resurrection. I'll give it to you. Matthew 28 verse 1.

Now after the Sabbath, as the first day of the week began to dawn, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary came to see the tomb. Mark 16 verse 9 Now when he, Jesus, rose early on the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom he had cast seven demons. Luke 24 verse 1, now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they and certain other women with them came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. John 20 verse 1, Now the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So each of the four gospels specifically pegs the resurrection to the first day of the week.

Who cares? Or, why should you care? Well, consider this. The phrase, the first day of the week, occurs eight times in the New Testament. How about the second day of the week, zero.

The third day of the week, zero. The fourth day of the week, zero. Through the rest. The first day of the week is the only day of the week that is ever marked out in the New Testament, and it's marked out eight times and four of those, it's in resurrection accounts in the four gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John. The resurrection is ground zero for the believer.

Paul makes that argument in 1 Corinthians 15. In 1 Corinthians 15 He says, without the resurrection, you're still dead in your sins. Without the resurrection, your faith is meaningless, And the sacrifice made for sinners wasn't accepted by God, and you're still dead in your sins. And we have been given perfect clarity as to the day of the week that ground zero the resurrection happened on. God did that.

That is on purpose. God put that in the New Testament so that we know without a shadow of the doubt when was Jesus raised from the dead the first day of the week. By the way, you don't know that about any other events in the New Testament. Number two. What we see after the Gospels, I want to point us to three places.

First, Acts chapter two, it's the day of Pentecost. Acts chapter 2 verse 1 says, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. Pente means 50. Pentecost. Leviticus 23, 16 tells us the significance of the 50.

Listen to Leviticus 23.16. Count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. So There's going to be a cycle of seven weeks, and then the next day. So that gets you to 50. That's why Pentecost was 50 days after the Passover.

You count the seven weeks and then you go the next day. So 49, the next day is the 50th day. So the day of Pentecost, by definition, was the first day of the week. It was Sunday. So the resurrection happened on the first day of the week.

And so did the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to permanently indwell and empower all believers. It's kind of a big day. It's kind of a big day. Second, Acts 20 verse 7. In Acts 20 verse 7, Paul and his companions are in Troas for a week, and on the first day of the week the disciples came together to break bread." That's New Testament language for the Lord's Supper.

Almost always in the New Testament when it says that they came together to break bread, the context makes it clear we're talking about the Lord's Supper. The disciples came together to break bread on the first day of the week in Acts 20 verse 7. What day were the disciples gathering? We know the day that Jesus rose from the dead, the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out on the church. Third, and 1 Corinthians 16, verses 1 through 2.

This is Paul's instruction to the churches in Galatia and Corinth. So, not a church, but churches, not in one region, but in regions. This is his instruction. On the first day of the week, let each one of you lay something aside. The implication and the connection is obvious, is that when they gather together, pool resources so that when I come, there will be resources for me to take to Jerusalem for the poor in Jerusalem that are suffering.

What day should they lay something aside? Again, we know the day that Jesus rose, the day that the Holy Spirit was given, the day that disciples were gathering. This is not an offhand remark to a person or even a church, this is an apostolic order to a group of churches. Lay something aside on the first day of the week. Finally, this is outside of scripture, admittedly, But the source is significant because Ignatius is understood to have been a disciple of the Apostle John.

So this tells you how early this is. Jesus discipled John. John discipled Ignatius. And Ignatius wrote this, I let everyone that loves Christ keep holy the first day of the week, the Lord's day. So, he's using that term that the one who discipled him used, And according to Ignatius, he means the first day of the week, the Lord's Day.

So I just offer that as supporting evidence from history. Summary. We believe that New Testament believers are bound to observe one day in seven as a day of rest and worship because 1. That is founded in the pattern given to mankind by God Himself in creation week. 2.

It is part of the eternal moral law of the Ten Commandments. Three, it is only ever uphold and never spoken against by our Lord Jesus. And four, there is a corresponding pattern in the New Testament church which extends all the way to the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos at the conclusion of Scripture. Applications, I'll give you four. One.

Application Number one is in the form of a question, are you ready? How would it help your body, your mind, and your soul if you took seven and a half weeks per year to rest and feed your soul? What would it do for your body and your mind and your soul if you took seven and a half weeks to rest and feed your soul? Where did you get seven and a half weeks from? How many weeks are in a year?

52. Okay, If you take one day per week, that's 52 days. If you put those 52 days together, that's 7 and 1 half weeks. God has given you 7 and 1 half weeks of paid vacation. He says He'll provide for it.

He'll write the check for it. What if we did more to make those days, days of rest and worship for our bodies, our minds, and our souls? Matthew Henry says this, It is not he but we who are gainers.'" Amen to that. The Sabbath was made for man. It's meant to be good.

We actually need it. The people who observe it are better off for it and they outpace others. William Wilberforce, you know him from the movie Amazing Grace if you've ever seen it, but from working his life long to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire. And he noticed all these very, very talented men who had greater gifts than he, greater talents than he, but he noticed himself outpacing him, and he attributed it to, I have a day off, I have rest, and so when the next week comes, I can attack the week with vigor in ways that people who never, he called it unstringing the bow, People who never unstring the bow, they just keep the tension on the string at all times, and they don't have the vigor that I do, and it's because of the Lord's fact. It is not He, but we who are gainers.

God's not getting the gain we are. Number two. Here's the formula for the believer. Less of me plus more of God equals delight. Do you like my formula?

Less of me plus more of God equals delight. I'm just going to appeal to your desire for happiness. I just shamelessly appeal to your desire for happiness. I have a strong desire for happiness and I do know this formula is true. Less of me somehow results in more happiness for me.

More of God, I know how this works, God is good, More of God equals to more happiness. Less of me plus more of the light equals God. This is a golden opportunity to retrain our affections. Setting aside your phone for a day, your iPad for a day, your computer for a day. It's a golden opportunity to retrain our affections, to make ourselves more ready to go to heaven and be swallowed up by the things of God.

Number three. Oh, this is an important one. To make progress, figuring out good replacements is probably even more important than implementing the restrictions. So, you could come away from this and with just the things that you can't do. So just strip away all the things you can't do on the Lord's Day.

Then what? That's what your kids want to know. Then what? A day of nothing. Yeah, that didn't sound like a lot of fun.

That's not a lot of fun. That doesn't sound like a delight. That's not a delight. Okay, so What are What are great ways we can rest our bodies and feed our souls? Otherwise, we're going to squeeze the delight out of the day.

You can implement the restrictions and be no better off and arguably worse off. You better get your mind fixed on great replacements. What are we going to do once we're not doing these things that have us sort of stepping on the Lord's Day? Great books are part of the answer. You should have a Sunday afternoon book, and it should be great and exhilarating and inspiring.

If you want some recommendations on Christian biography, See Me at Lunch. Just to read about people who have clung to God through difficult circumstances and found that God can make your soul flourish in the middle of all sorts of hardships is just delightful reading. That's part of the answer. Great music is part of the answer. God-honoring music that just makes your heart sing along with the singer is part of the music.

Singing together, if you have musicians in your family, is part of the answer. Great food is part of the answer in our house. We should make a study of the Old Testament feasts. This is part of the observance of joy in God was good food in the Old Testament. That's the Bible.

I promise you. Hospitality is part of the solution. So, get fixed on good replacements and not just implementing the restrictions. Don't forget, the most important first step might involve Saturday and not Sunday. Because again, if we don't get our acts together on Saturday, there's not going to be any rest on Sunday.

That's for sure. Four And finally, dads proactively take charge of remembering and keeping the Lord's Day. You're responsible. Dads, we should all ask ourselves this question. How can our family celebrate the Lord's Day?

I think this is more than just a mind trick. It is important how we frame these things. So, it might be a mind trick. I think there's more there than just a mind trick. What if we thought of it as a celebration?

Sundays are a celebration. The basis of The commandment in Deuteronomy chapter 5 is, you used to be slaves to someone who had no interest in you having rest, but I came and got you. We should be celebrating that. We should ask ourselves that question. This sermon can become a drag on mom.

So mom, how are you gonna help us celebrate the Lord's Day? You're my helper. Help. And She probably can help with ideas and things like that, but don't put the weight of this on her. You're the head of the household.

You proactively take charge of remembering and keeping the Sabbath day. How can we make it a feast day? Food and otherwise. Let's pray. God, I thank You for a day for remembering that we were slaves, but You came and got us.

I am embarrassed by how lukewarm I find my appetites for what I know are the best things on this day, especially as the day draws to a close, and I'm counting minutes until the sun goes down, but I do want to seize on the promise that if we'll set aside our own pleasures and ways and words and call the day a delight and honor you in it, that you will increase our delight in you and you'll show us the heights and feed us from riches. May it be so. Help us to experience that God. In Jesus' name, Amen.