The 4th Commandment, Remember the Sabbath Day

Well, thank you, Mr. Mango. Happy Sabbath to all of you once again. I have been slowly going through the Ten Commandments. My goal during various periods of the year, aside from messages that I think are more seasonal, I've been trying to go through the commandments. My goal is to get to all of them during the next year to year and a half. And today, I would like to at least begin a discussion on the Fourth Commandment, the Sabbath Day, which is one that we hold near and dear to our hearts. It's one of those doctrines, one of those teachings and understandings, that truly makes us unique in a world of sameness, in a world in which most people don't respect and honor the Sabbath Day. So let's go to Exodus chapter 20, and we'll take a look at the actual command. And again, I would like to start today by talking about the Sabbath. I won't be able to finish, for sake of time, particularly some of the writings that Paul mentions that are often distorted and used by people who don't want to keep the Sabbath. We'll have to save that for another time. But let's begin by going to the actual commandment itself in Exodus chapter 20, and verse 8, and read the Fourth Commandment. It says, Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. So it should be a day of respect towards God. It should be a day of reflection. It should be that one day of the week that we get out of the rat race, because the problem is that even if you win the rat race, that still makes you a rat, doesn't it? So to get off the merry-go-round of this world, to get out of the rat race and take that time every week to stop, think about your purpose, think about our calling, think about our great God, His grace and His love towards us, and that is how we keep it holy. Verse 9, 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. And we don't do our normal weekly labor. We put that off. Again, we take the day off, to use a modern term, and we use it, the fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We use it for reflection, we use it for meditation, we use it for some Bible study, either at home or here during services, as we go through the scriptures together, and we use it for worship of our great Creator.

Continuing in that, 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 earth the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. So this command says that this doesn't begin here. This isn't something just for the old covenant.

We do this because we hearken all the way back to the creation before there was a Jew or Hebrew or Gentile. It hearkens all the way back to a time when God created the earth and he gave a special gift to humanity, and that gift was the Sabbath day. Continuing here, 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. So by what authority and event is the Sabbath established? It's established all the way back to the creation of the earth, and we'll read about that in just a few minutes. By God's own example, he established the seventh day as a Sabbath. And yes, the Sabbath is the fourth commandment and is one of God's great moral laws. It predates the old covenant and is not limited to the terms of the old covenant. God gave the ten commandments directly and personally to the people on Mount Sinai. And why is it significant that God gave us ten commandments directly to the people? We've covered some of this in the past, but I think it's worth noting again. God's law is separate from what is behind the law of Moses. The ten commandments were spoken directly by God. Those tablets were put inside of the Ark, which represents the value system, the mind of God, where the law of Moses was placed outside of the Ark of the Covenant. It was the tablets were later written directly by God and were not limited to only being part of the law of Moses. So I think that's very important that we understand and appreciate. And we also need to understand and appreciate that God's commandments existed before Sinai and were given face to face to the nation. So it's an error to consider God's ten commandments as part of the law of Moses. They existed before the Old Covenant. They existed before the law of Moses. They exist today beyond the law of Moses, as part of the New Covenant. They're part of a contract or an agreement that God would make with anyone. If you go back to Genesis chapter 39 verse 9, and you see when Potiphar's wife tried to entice him to commit adultery. This is long before the Ten Commandments are given in Mount Sinai. And what does Joseph say? Look, your husband has entrusted everything in this house to me. How can I do this evil and sin against God? Well, what is sin? Well, sin is the transgression of God's law, and that shows that the Ten Commandments, particularly in that context, adultery, was part of God's law long before it was codified in the law of Moses.

So let's go to Genesis chapter 2 and verse 1 and review the very instance of when the Sabbath was originally sanctioned and originally ordained. That what we just read looked back upon and looked back toward. Again, Sabbath instruction goes back to the creation of humanity. Genesis chapter 2 in verse 1. It says, Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them were finished.

And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done. And then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all the work which God had created and made. So the Sabbath of the day isn't set aside by any people, church, council, nationality, race. It is set aside by the creator himself. The Hebrew word for rested here in this verse is Shabbath. In essence, God Shabbath, or Sabbath, on the seventh day, and it's from this act, and from God's literal example that the seventh day was later given the very title the Sabbath, the term that we use today. Now some say that this verse does not specifically command man to observe it. However, the scripture clearly states, quote, then God blessed the seventh day and he sanctified it. The word sanctified means to set something apart for a very special use. So it's God by his example that he rested on that day, and he set it aside for that very special usage. Again, that one day of the week in which we say, no, I'm not going to do the same thing I can do the other six days of the week. I'm going to make this day special for me, and I'm going to get the physical rest that I need, and I'm going to fellowship with people of like mind, and I'm going to think about God and meditate on him more than I do every other day of the week, and I'm going to study his word, and I'm not going to allow the pressures and influences of this world this one day of the week to influence me and to pull me towards what this world is trying to do to me. God, by his example, set it apart for special usage. God made the first six days by working. He made the seventh day holy by resting, and he set the example for us. And what do I mean by that phrase? He set the example. God does not need rest. He's God.

He doesn't get tired like you and I do. He did it as an example for us so that we should follow in his actions and his footsteps. He performed the act as an example for humanity to follow.

And who did God bless this day and set it apart for? Well, he certainly didn't do it for the dinosaurs. Right? He didn't do it for musk rats. He did it for humanity. God could only have done this for the benefit of humanity at creation. The Creator established the Sabbath for all people. At this point in time, again, there's no Jew, there's no Hebrew, there's no Gentile. There's one man and one woman who were created a day earlier. That's it! So you can't live it and say, ah, well this Sabbath day is for Jewish people. That's not what the book says. And that's important for us to appreciate and understand. God ordained the Sabbath rest for their benefit, not as a burden, but as a gift to them. And if we feel like keeping the Sabbath as a burden, it's because we've become so wrapped up in the cares of this world and the anxieties and so addicted to tablets and cell phones and busyness and everything else going on that we have allowed this gift to be abused in our minds. That we're not looking at the Sabbath the way we should be looking at the Sabbath. You have all day Sunday to sit and look at your cell phone and to talk to your friends and to do all kinds of ding-a-ling things. You have all day Monday to do ding-a-ling things, Tuesday to do ding-a-ling things, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday to do ding-a-ling things.

But the Sabbath is an absolute gift from God. Jesus himself said that the Sabbath was made for man.

And that's back in Mark chapter 2 and verse 7. It wasn't made for Jew, wasn't made for Hebrews, it was made for humankind. Jesus actually was the word spoken of in John chapter 1 verses 1 and through 3 who actually spoke the creation into existence and established the Sabbath. So it's the very one who would later empty himself of his glory and come to earth and walk on earth as a man, as Jesus Christ. It was that very being who made this statement and who established the Sabbath day. Jesus said in John chapter 8 and verse 58, he said to the Jews, most assuredly, I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am. Before Abraham even existed, I was there.

I am the great God who spoke with Moses, the great God who created the earth in Genesis chapter 1.

So these are the things that we need to understand that help us to have a solid foundation on why we observed the Sabbath day. Let's take a look at to see if the patriarchs observed a seven-day week and understand a little bit more about their example. Genesis chapter 7, if you'll just go forward a few chapters, Genesis chapter 7. And we'll begin in verse 10, count of Noah. Chapter 7 and verse 10. And it came to pass after seven days that the waters of the flood were on the earth, and in the 600th year of Noah's life, in the second month, the 17th day of the month, on that day the fountains of the great deep were broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened, and this would initiate the great flood. You see, the patriarchs had a monthly calendar, and they had a seven-day cycle. Now, why would they have a seventh-day cycle?

Would one of those days be special to the patriarchs? After all, you're going to have a seventh day. I came from the Cleveland school system, and I know if you have a seventh-day cycle, one of those has to be called the seventh day. Right? So the patriarchs had a monthly calendar, they had a seventh-day cycle, and even though the Sabbath is not specifically mentioned, we do see the patriarchs observing a seven-day cycle. There's a lot that we don't know about the patriarchs and what they did. These are just brief outlines given to us about the patriarchs. So you cannot prove something by a negative. You cannot prove something by the fact that it isn't mentioned. Let's take a look at chapter 8 in verse 10. Let's go there. Chapter 8 and verse 10. It says, and he waited yet another seven days, and again he sent the dove out from the ark.

And the dove came to him in the evening, and behold, a freshly plucked olive leaf was in her mouth. And Noah knew that the waters had receded from the earth. Notice another seven days, another weekly cycle. Again, this ancient account of history written in the book of Genesis is a brief overview of humanity's earliest history. It's not a detailed history or diary of anyone individual. Many characters are introduced as adults. The great majority of people are mentioned only by one name. They don't even have a surname. Nowhere does the book of Genesis specifically mention anyone observing the Sabbath after it was established in creation.

But this in itself does not mean that it was not observed by righteous men and women. For example, the scripture states that Enoch walked with God. That's in chapter 5 and verse 24. The scripture doesn't say whether Enoch ever prayed, or whether he ever had faith, or whether he worshiped only one God. It doesn't say whether he offered sacrifices. Yet we know we are told that he was a righteous man who obviously honored God in worshipful ways.

It's not the intent. They give us all the details of everything that they did. But the fact, again, that something is not mentioned is not in itself proof that it didn't happen or didn't occur. Get back to the question, why a seven-day week? And why would they have continued to do that? Genesis chapter 29. Let's go further into Genesis. This is Laban talking to Jacob, who had just been surprised, waking up after a wedding ceremony. And it wasn't the woman he thought it would be.

It was Leah rather than Rachel. And here's what Laban says to Jacob. Fulfill her week, and we will give this one also for service, which you will serve me another seven years so that then Jacob did so, and fulfilled her week, his week with Leah. So he gave him, his daughter Rachel, as a wife also. So he had to work another seven years. But again, I want you to notice a seven-day week is specifically mentioned as being observed. Can you name one culture that ever had a seven-day cycle and didn't set one part of that week aside for rest or worship?

Scripture also shows that when Joseph's father died, Joseph observed seven days of mourning for his father. That's in Genesis chapter 50 and verse 10. So much like we saw a few weeks ago with the days of unleavened bread, that there was a definite connection between Abraham and unleavened bread and Lot, baking unleavened bread for the angels, and the connection of righteousness that thread all the way through scriptures.

There is a thread between the original Sabbath being ordained, a seven-day weekly cycle, and once again, God reminding ancient Israel to look back towards creation and to honor the Sabbath that he had created. So did God give Israel knowledge of the Sabbath before they even got to Mount Sinai? Before it even became known as the fourth commandment. Let's go to Exodus chapter 16 and verse 23.

If you'll turn there with me, Exodus chapter 16 and verse 23. This is the story of God giving Israel manna and using it as a way to teach them when the Sabbath day would be, when the seventh day was, because they had been in slavery for a long, long time, they had lost knowledge of the Sabbath day, of the observance of the Sabbath. So they're told to collect twice the amount on the sixth day, so they're not out there working and collecting manna on the seventh day. Let's pick it up here in verse 23. Then he said to them, this is what the Lord has said, tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.

It's something God wants us to do. It honors him. It's to the Lord. That's why we do it. 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 till morning as Moses commanded and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. On the other days of the week, aside from the day before the Sabbath, anything that was left over any manna stunk and bred worms in it the next morning. It was unedible.

But in this case, collecting this double portion to prepare for the Sabbath, the next day it did not stink. And there were no worms in it. And again, this was God performing a miracle so that they could learn when the seventh day was. This event that we just read here occurs weeks before the nation reached Mount Sinai. The Sabbath is reaffirmed before a covenant is even discussed or ratified with the people of Israel. Since the Sabbath predates the Old Covenant, it's not limited to being part of the Old Covenant or the Law of Moses. So now let's go into the New Testament. Did Jesus observe the Sabbath? Luke chapter 4 and verse 16. If you will turn there with me. Luke chapter 4 and verse 16.

Luke chapter 4 and verse 16. So he came to Nazareth where he had been brought up.

And as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.

Now there are over 40 scriptures mentioning Jesus himself observing the Sabbath.

Almost everyone agrees that Jesus observed the seventh day Sabbath. And the term here, don't let this term throw you, it says as his custom was, it shouldn't be taken as a negative term or some type of weak affirmation of the Sabbath. It means Jesus observed the Sabbath as a regular habitual part of his lifestyle. It's what he did. It's who he was.

Now let's go to Mark chapter 2 and verse 23. Jesus came to restore the spiritual intent of the Sabbath day. And he obviously tangled with the Jews of his day who, like much of the law, had added so many layers of do's and don'ts and self-righteous pronouncements that Jesus had to remind everyone that there's a humanitarian aspect of the Sabbath day. And having a humanitarian aspect of the Sabbath day is very important because it reflects the character of compassion. And Jesus wants to teach them that here. Mark chapter 2 and verse 23. Now it happened that he went through the grain fields in 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? And he said to them, have you never read what David did when he was in need and hungry and those with him? How he went into the house of God in the days of Abathar 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.

So Jesus isn't doing away with the Sabbath here. What he's doing is he's restoring the fact that the Sabbath is important. But you can do things in the Sabbath that are humanitarian-oriented, just like David and his men were hungry and you wouldn't want someone starving, you wouldn't want someone weak with hunger, so the priest gave them the showbread to eat because that was an act of compassion and humanity. And these disciples are hungry and they take pluck heads of grain and sub-translations say they rub them between their hands and they eat them. And to the Jews, oh, they're reaping a harvest. You can imagine this harvester out in a yard, right?

Now these are just simple individuals walking and talking and they're hungry and here's some grain growing and so they take some of the heads off and they rub it up and they eat it. Oh, that's bad! And Jesus says that's absolutely ridiculous. You're violating the humanitarian aspect of the Sabbath. They are hungry and it's okay for them to do that. But again, the Jews had added all of these layers of dos and don'ts. They had developed great restrictions on some of the commandments. Here we see one for the Sabbath. However, they loosed some of the other commandments, including divorce. For example, they had loosened up from what God originally intended and the great teacher came to expand the meaning of God's law and preach the spiritual application to our lives. The Jews accused the disciples of reaping on the Sabbath day and violating the Sabbath by doing that. This was their own exaggerated restriction. Jesus desired to restore the humanitarian focus of the Sabbath day. This is the reason he also healed on the Sabbath day, by the way. So what did he mean by this statement? The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. That was verse 27 that we just looked at. Well, the Jews had put so many restrictions and burdens on the Sabbath that man served the Sabbath, idolized the Sabbath, worshiped the Sabbath, rather than allowing the Sabbath to serve the spiritual needs of man. And I've known people, unfortunately, in the faith for the last 50 years who idolized the Sabbath, and frankly, put it on a pedestal higher than God, creating all these things in their minds of do's and don'ts, and judging everybody because they're doing something that they don't like or think is right.

You see, instead of using the Sabbath as a gift and a tool to serve our needs, they're using it as something to judge others for some level of self-righteousness. The Jews worshiped the Sabbath instead of using the time to worship the Creator. And we want to make sure that we don't make that mistake. The Sabbath is a gift to spend time with God and His creation.

So the Jewish leaders, self-righteousness, taught that the Sabbath was only for the Jew, that it was part of the law of Moses, which it was, but it was never exclusively a part of the law of Moses. It existed before the law of Moses. It continues to exist beyond the law of Moses because God instructed it from the very creation of the earth. It's interesting, the word that Mark uses here for man. Again, I want to read the scripture. And he said to them, the Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. The word here for man, the word that Mark used is anthropos, from which we get the word anthropology. And it means the face of a human being. It doesn't say in the... he didn't say in the Sabbath was made for Hebrews. The Sabbath was made for Jewish people. The Sabbath was made for the children of Abraham. He doesn't say that. He says the Sabbath was made for anthropos, humanity, man and woman kind. It was made for everybody. It's a gift. It's a tool to use to worship the Father. That's what Jesus is saying. Now, how about the apostles? Would they be observing the Sabbath? Would they be expected to observe the Sabbath day? Let's go to a prophecy in Matthew chapter 24 and verse 20. Matthew chapter 24 and verse 20, and look at a prophecy about the end time, what Jesus warned his disciples about and told them about. And let's see what he expects that they will be doing at this end time. Matthew chapter 24 and verse 20, and pray that your flight may not be in winter or on the Sabbath. For then there will be great tribulations. Shush has not been since the beginning of the world until this time. No, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. But for the elect's sake, those days will be shortened. In this prophecy, Jesus expects that his believers, his followers, his disciples, those who have God's Spirit, will be observing the Sabbath at that time. He expects his followers to be keeping the Sabbath many years into the future, even to the time of the temple's destruction and his second coming on earth.

Let's see what the Gentile Luke writes. Let's take a look at a few statements in the book of Acts, as we know, written by the Gentile himself, Luke, Acts chapter 13 and verse 42. Acts chapter 13 and verse 42.

See Paul's example. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them, the next Sabbath. Now, when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking with them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God. So here's a clear example of the Gentiles, as well as the Jews, observing the Sabbath and being taught by Paul and Barnabas. Acts chapter 16 and verse 12, after the ministerial conference of 49 AD. Some say that at the ministerial conference, that the decision was that anything related to the Old Covenant and the law of Moses and everything is done away. It is more than circumcision. It's about clean and unclean meats are no longer important, and holy days are no longer important, and the Sabbath is no longer important, and all these things are no longer important and are done away. Well, let's see if Paul thought after this conference, because that's in chapter 15. We're going to go to chapter 16. Let's see if Paul thought that the Sabbath was done away from that ministerial conference. Chapter 16 and verse 12.

And from there, again, this is after the conference, and from there to Philippi, which is in the foremost city of that part of Macedonia, a colony, and we were staying in that city for some days. And on the Sabbath day, why would the Gentile Luke still be referring to the Sabbath day after this ministerial conference, if it were done away? We went out to the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made, and we sat down and we spoke to the women who met there. Now, a certain woman named Lydia heard us. She was a seller of purple from the city of Thyatira, who worshipped God. The Lord opened her heart to heed the things spoken by Paul. So after this conference, Paul continues to preach in the Sabbath to Gentiles. Now, some have said that Paul only preached on the Sabbath because he would find an audience in a synagogue. There's only a problem with that. He's not in a synagogue. It says, on the Sabbath day, he went out to the city to the riverside. So this is not in the synagogue, but it's the Sabbath day, and he goes out to preach the gospel. Acts 18. Let's turn there, beginning in verse 1.

Paul in Corinth. Acts 18. After these things, Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth, and he found a certain Jew named Aquila, born in Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome, and he came to them.

So because he was of the same trade, he stayed with them and worked. They were all tent makers.

Paul was humble enough to work with his hands, and oftentimes he would travel to a Gentile city. He wouldn't expect people to support him. If they did, that's wonderful. He wouldn't demand it of people. He was willing to work to earn his keep while he preached in these various cities, and this includes Corinth. So let's continue here. Because he was at the same trade, verse 3, he stayed with them and worked. For by occupation they were tent makers, and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. This is two decades after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This is after the ministerial conference in Acts 15. Everything that's ever going to be nailed to the cross has been nailed to it long ago. Over 20 years later, after Jesus ascended to heaven, Paul is still observing the Sabbath. He's still showing up at the synagogues, and he's preaching, and he's listening, and he's fellowshiping, and he's telling people about Jesus. So if the Sabbath had been done away, someone forgot to tell Paul. If the Sabbath hadn't changed to Sunday, 20 years after the ascension of Jesus Christ, someone forgot to tell Paul, because he's keeping the Sabbath day. Verse 11. And he continued there a year and six months, teaching the Word of God among them. So what do you think he did for the next one and a half years, since he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath? Perhaps he continued going to the synagogue every Sabbath. Wouldn't that only make sense? We see by his example, by his personal example, he would have observed over 70 straight Sabbaths in Corinth teaching the Word of God. Well, today this is what we're going to stop, and next time what I will do is I will look at Hebrews chapter 4, which I believe was written by Paul, and we'll look at some other scriptures written by Paul in which critics say that Paul was doing away with the Sabbath day by twisting some particular verses purposely in order to avoid observing the seventh day Sabbath. We'll look at those two next time. Until then, have a wonderful Sabbath day.