Sabbath Observance in Modern Times

Well, I thought that was beautiful. Thank you. We'll expect to hear from you every few weeks now.

Nice to have in-laws who have talent.

So we appreciate that. All of you should have a handout.

This is nothing to follow as far as the sermon. It's just, it's a handout. But it does pertain to the sermon in that I did not have time in the sermon today to cover all these scriptures, and you should be glad. But I wanted you to have them in basically a summary of what the Bible says in the Old Testament about the Sabbath, what it says in the New Testament. And at some future time, we will be elaborating more about the Sabbath day. But today, I wanted to cover some basic principles.

It seems like over the past few years, we've watered down the observance of the Sabbath.

I find that many people dress inappropriately for coming before God on the Sabbath. For many, the Sabbath is simply another day. It is no longer a feast day or a special day to worship God.

Many times, our discussions do not mirror godliness, but more worldliness.

There's an increasing concern, and I think even among the leadership in the Church over these issues. Obviously, we're not planning to print a Talmud. That would be an easy thing. Just print a list of it. You can do this. You can't do that in the Church. But neither should we ignore clearly, let's say, clear scriptures or what is unacceptable behavior on the Sabbath. I think sometimes our young people are not taught to keep the Sabbath Friday in the sense that Friday night is also a part of the Sabbath day. Many of us, as I said, have seen the forgotten that we should dress or how we should dress when we come before God. And too often, our dress is very casual instead of trying to dress our best. The day of preparation seems to have been forgotten by the vast majority of people in the Church.

What does it mean to prepare for the Sabbath? And is the Sabbath just another day? If so, why should you prepare for it?

In casual conversation, I think many times, people acknowledge that some of the behavior we have today is something that we would not have permitted 15-20 years ago. It just was not something that we would have done. What's happened to the Sabbath over the last 10-15 years? You have to ask the question, who changed? Is it okay to eat out on a restaurant on the Sabbath day? What if you own a business on the Sabbath? Can you operate a business 724? What about staying home on the Sabbath? Is it okay just to stay home on the Sabbath day? Sometimes people think the Sabbath is a burden because Isaiah 58 verses 13 through 14 states that you're not to do your own pleasure on the day. So sometimes people misconstrue that and think, well, you know, if I can't do anything pleasurable, then I don't want to keep the Sabbath day. Well, what is that scripture actually referring to?

Are we, as a church living by the Sabbath commandment, is provided, our covenant is provided by God? Are we violating that covenant? To break an agreement where God is a partner in the agreement is a very dangerous thing to do. It's a very serious situation. It is possible that many blessings are being denied the people of God because we are not keeping the Sabbath day holy as we should. You find in the scriptures there are two primary reasons why God denied blessings to Israel. One was idolatry and the second was Sabbath breaking. One must seriously ask or answer the question. Under the new covenant, you'll find that we do not find God just bringing curses on his people, but we do find that God withholds blessings from his people. You'll find that we all go through trials. We all go through hard times. We all have difficulties. We endure trials. But is it possible that we're not receiving as many blessings as we could because we are consistently violating the Sabbath day or not keeping it as God wants? When the Jews became convinced after they went into Babylonian captivity that the Sabbath was one of the primary reasons why they went into captivity, guess what? They made rules up for the Sabbath, and they developed 39 categories of activities that comprise work on the Sabbath. These range from swatting a fly to helping an injured man. No wonder when Christ came along he condemned the Pharisees. Sadly, I think sometimes there are those who tend to act like Pharisees when it comes to keeping the Sabbath. And yet, I find that most people aren't going to extremes today. They're going to the opposite ditch. We seem to be ditch people. We go here, we go there, and we keep swinging back and forth. Whenever you deal with something that has a physical component to it, we seem to have people who develop a yardstick and their own ideas about how to keep it and what to do. And I think that's true of the Sabbath. When God commands his people and requires a physical response, human beings want to develop their own standards. Now, I don't plan to give you yardsticks today, and I don't plan to give you my own ideas about the Sabbath. But I do think the Bible gives us guidance. It gives us direction. And it shows us what God intended for the Sabbath. The Sabbath was created for a purpose. It has an absolute purpose and intent. We want to take a look at the Sabbath and see if there is such a thing as holy time. Why would that be important? Well, I think as we progress through the sermon, we'll see that this forms the basis of the foundation on how we observe the Sabbath day.

Can one decide for himself? Can I decide for myself when to keep the Sabbath or how to observe the Sabbath? Is that up to each one of us? I think without realizing it, many of us have been affected by this approach toward the Sabbath. And where did that approach come from? How was it introduced into the church? I think unless we're all deaf, dumb, and blind, we realize partially how that has become infused into the church as far as teaching.

Let's go back to the book of Genesis. Without realizing it, as I said, I think we've all been influenced or affected by more of a modern approach towards the Sabbath. In Genesis 1.1, we find in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This verse reveals that there is a God, that He's in charge, that He's all-powerful. He created everything, and He brought it into being, and He sustains it.

Now, Genesis 1 reveals God's role in the physical creation, and it shows that God brought matter into existence, that God created everything about us, both visible and invisible.

He created the physical universe. In chapter 1, it describes that. Beginning in Genesis 2, verses 1-3, it reveals that God is also a spiritual creator. Not only did He create matter and set it into motion, but God also is a spiritual creator.

Now, is there such a thing as holy time?

Well, let me be absolutely clear about what I mean. Is there a 24-hour period that is set aside for us to rest on and to worship God?

Does Genesis chapter 2 show God creating the Sabbath day?

Now, you will find in the past that there were those who introduced the idea that Genesis chapter 2 has nothing to do with the Sabbath, that that was only a ceremonial all that was given, thrown in the middle of the Ten Commandments and given to Israel and has nothing to do with us or with humanity. Well, let's read chapter 2, verse 1. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the hosts of them were finished, and on the seventh day God ended his work which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work which he had done. Verse 3, then God blessed the seventh day. He sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work which God created and made. Okay, let's take a look at this a little more minutely. In verse 2, it says here that God ended the work. The work means to complete, to end, or to finish. So Genesis 1 describes what God did, all of the physical creation that he had made, and he ceased working on the Sabbath. So here we have the example of God that he did not work on this day. As an example, the word work is the same Hebrew word that is used in Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 5, where the Scripture says that we're not supposed to work on the Sabbath day. It's the same Hebrew work. Our word, the word work means occupation, work, or business. God's work, God's business, was creator. He is creator, and he ceased from the physical creation.

God is creator. That's what he does. You might remember back in Hebrews 4.3, I'll just quote this, the last part of the verse states that the works were finished from the foundation of the world. Genesis 1 describes God finishing up, finishing touches. He had created the earth in the physical universe. Who knows how many thousands? Could even be millions of years ago.

There had been a rebellion by Lucifer and the angels that had wrecked part of that creation. Genesis 1 is a re-establishing the earth and the universe in a way to make it habitable for human beings and for domesticated types of animals that we see today.

But Genesis 4.3 states that the works were finished from the foundation of the world. So God finished the physical creation. That was finished back here.

God today is involved in a spiritual creation. That's what he's doing. That spiritual creation is God is helping to prepare a bride for his son. God is helping to prepare us as the bride of Christ so that we can marry his son. Now in John 5.17, John chapter, hold your place here in Genesis, we're coming back, but John 5.17, we read this. Jesus answered them and said, My father has been working until now. So God the father works. He's been working until now, and I have been working. So you find that both of them work. God continues to work, but he is now intimately involved in the spiritual creation. Physical creation was created and made, laid out there for man to be created and put on the earth. Now God is in the process of the spiritual. Let's come back to Genesis chapter 2 again. And the Bible says here that God rested the Hebrew word for rested is Shabbat.

And it means to rest and to desist from labor. So God rested on this day, though he doesn't get tired. He didn't need to rest because he was tired. He rested to set an example. This is a root word from which the Sabbath comes from. The Sabbath means simply to rest, to cease from labor. This is where the Sabbath gets its meaning as a day of rest. That's why we call it a day of rest. So God set man an example of resting. And Mark 2 reveals that the Sabbath was made for man. It was not made for God. Mark 2, 27, very clearly says the Sabbath was made for man. It's made for our benefit, for our good as a blessing. Now he rested on what day?

It says the seventh day. He did not rest on the fifth day, sixth day, the eighth day. He rested on the seventh day. And then verse 3 says, and God blessed the seventh day. Word simply means blessed. The Sabbath is not a curse. The Sabbath is a special blessing for mankind. It is intended to be a blessing for mankind.

In Mark 2, 27, and 28, we find the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath day. He is Lord of that day.

So what you find is that the Sabbath was made for mankind.

The Greek word for mankind is anthropos.

Anthropos means mankind. It doesn't mean Jew. It doesn't mean Israel. It means men and women. All mankind, we would use the term. Humans, human race, it was made for the human race.

So we learn that the Sabbath was not made for God or for angels or for one nationality or for one race or for just the Jews. It was made for all mankind, both male and female. It was made for the human race. And it was made as a blessing. That's why Mark 2, 27 says it was made for man. It was intended to be a blessing. Now, he is the Lord of the Sabbath. Christ is. Who was it who dealt with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? Who was it who dealt with Adam and Eve, Moses, and all the people, patriarchs, prophets, and so on in the Old Testament? Well, it was the one who became Jesus Christ.

Now, a key word here in verse 3 of Genesis 2 is on the seventh day.

You know, he blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. The word sanctified means to set apart as sacred, to set it apart as sacred, to consecrate it, to dedicate it, to observe as holy, keep sacred. You know, very plainly you find the definition is that this was a day that was set aside as holy, as sacred. Does this mean that only the original seventh day was special and that none others are? There was only this one day that was special and that no other seven days after that? Well, that's what some would want you to believe. But verse 3 clearly states that God set this day apart and He made it holy.

The Bible uses the term that you and I are sanctified, are set apart as members of the church. Does that mean that that's just something that's done once? No. You and I are called saints. The word saint means sanctified once. Those who are set apart. We are set apart for God. We are His church, His people, His children. And you find when we lay hands on somebody and they get married, guess what? They're sanctified. They're set apart. They become one. They're married to each other, you know, not to somebody else. God is revealed as a spirit being who also sustains the universe and has set laws in motion. He created the heavens, the heavenly bodies, sun, moon, stars. He did not walk away and leave them in chaos, disorder, and confusion. He sustains the universe. And as Hebrews chapter 1 verse 3 says, He sustains the whole universe. God sustains everything. God created the Sabbath day and does not God, if He's able to sustain, and I don't even want to use the term physical laws, but the physical universe, because I doubt if there's such things as just quote-unquote physical laws, because even though you might call gravity a physical law, have you ever seen it? It's invisible. You know, there's a spirit dimension and element to it.

Does not God sustain spiritual principles and laws as well? God sustains the spiritual principles.

Now, with all of that in mind, let's move over to Exodus 16 verse 23. Exodus 16 verse 23. You remember when God brought Israel out of Egypt before they got to Mount Sinai, before the Ten Commandments were given. God revealed to them and told them that He wanted them to keep the Sabbath day. Verse 23. He said to them, This is what the Lord has said tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, boil what you will boil, lay it up for yourself. All that remains to be kept until the morning. Now, the Sabbath is referred to as being holy.

The Sabbath is a holy day. It is holy. It is a day of rest. It is revealed as a commandment of God.

You remember, just jot down Romans 7 verse 12. Romans 7, 12, it says, the law is holy and just. The law is good. The law is spiritual.

So you'll find that the Sabbath is holy. And even in the New Testament, you find that the commandments are holy. And here you find the same thing. In chapter 20 of the book of Exodus, we're going to hit some high points, and I'm going to do a lot of summarizing as we go through this. In Exodus chapter 20 verse 8, it says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

Now, notice it's holy day. It was sanctified. It was set aside as sacred, holy.

And here we are told to keep it holy. We're to keep it as a day set apart. The day that is holy. And you'll find from Genesis 1 to Exodus 20, the theme is utterly consistent when it talks about the Sabbath day. That it is a day set apart. It's the Sabbath. It's the seventh day. It is a day of rest. It's a day that is to be sanctified. And you and I are to keep it that way. Now, also it says, remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy. So guess what? If you're supposed to remember something, my wife tells me all the time, if I go out, you know, could you go to the store and you'll bring back, you know, such and such and such and such. And can you remember that? Sometimes I can, sometimes I can. Well, we're all that way. Sometimes I have to write it down. That helps me to remember. Guess what? It's written down. It's right here in black and white. It's in the book. Remember the Sabbath day. The word remember means to recall to mine or to call to mine. So you and I are not to forget the Sabbath. We're not to let week after week after week go by and then all at once say, oh, I've been forgetting the Sabbath. Well, the Bible says, don't you forget it. You remember it.

Now, verses 9 and 10 here, it says, six days you shall labor, do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. And throughout the Old Testament, you don't find it's the Sabbath of the Jews, Sabbath of this or that. It's the Sabbath of the Lord. It's the Lord's Sabbath. In it, you shall do no work, you nor your son or your daughter, nor your male servants, nor your female servants, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within the gate. 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, it appears that it's hearkening back to the Sabbath. Originally, as the example of what we should be doing today, we're commanded to cease work on the Sabbath. And it goes back to creation to show which day God is talking about, the seventh day. Okay, what's the point of all that I've covered here so far with you today? Well, we've been influenced by the past and the corrupt teachings that were introduced into the church.

Many changes were introduced into the church and some of them were very subtle.

And I don't think we fully grasp how persuasive many of them have been and the influence that they have had on us. And I think the Sabbath falls into that category. You might remember in a famous sermon it was said that it was okay to stay home on the Sabbath. Not wrong for a person who just don't feel like it, just stay home on the Sabbath. Obviously, there are rare occasions when you may be physically exhausted and you could stay home and rest. Or if you're sick, sometimes the weather and you know if the weather is treacherous we may cancel service. You know, those are all understandable. Yet the Bible says in Hebrews 10.25, you and I are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as a matter of some.

I've noticed that many have become lax in keeping the Sabbath, attending services, just easy to stay home or it's easy to do something else and not attend.

Some take it to extreme and say, okay, I'll stay home but I'll have church in my own home.

And if I can get two others, the Bible says where two or three are gathered together, I'll be there in the midst of them. Is that talking about Sabbath observance? I don't think so.

It's talking about decision-making, how God will guide and direct those who are making decisions and be with them, be in their midst and guide them. Again, there seems to be a general malaise and indifference towards the Sabbath. Sometimes we do things today on the Sabbath that we would not have done 15 or 20 years ago. We were told in the past decade or so, not, I shouldn't say decade, and United has been going for 12 years, but prior to that, that we were just keeping the Sabbath in a more balanced way. Meaning you could stay home, you could go play golf on the Sabbath, you could do various things on the Sabbath, we were told. And what I find today is that many keep the Sabbath a day, just as other people observe Sunday. No different, but just basically like people keep Sunday, we keep the Sabbath. The Sabbath is holy time. It is a set of side, sanctified period of time.

Do we keep it holy? Do our families keep it holy as God intended? I'm not talking about a legalistic approach that some have had in the past. We're not worshiping a day, but God has given us a day to worship Him in a community sense. We are the community of God. We're the people of God. Some will argue, well, you can worship God any day of the week. Of course, that's true. But the Sabbath is a special day. We do worship God daily, but the Sabbath is a special day for us to worship God. Exodus 31, verses 12 through 18, Exodus 31, 12 through 18, reveals that the Sabbath is a sign between God and His people. It is a sign where God's people are. And I might add, it is also a test for God's people. It is a test to see if we will put God first.

I think we need to reevaluate, and it always does us good to go back and evaluate how we keep any of the commandments of God, but especially how we observe the Sabbath day, to see if we become lax or compromising of this day. The issue of eating out on the Sabbath has been raised occasionally over the years. This seems like it raises its head every 10-15 years, becomes something. When I was at ABC or at Cincinnati, we found that this was running like wildfire through some of the students who thought it was wrong to go out and eat on the Sabbath. The Church has never taught that it was wrong or that it was a violation of the Sabbath to eat in a restaurant on the Sabbath day. Clearly, Christians make personal choices for conscience sake, the Bible says. The Apostle Paul took the position that he would not eat meat if we recall somebody to stumble. To eat or not to eat was a conscience choice. The act itself was not a sin. Those who ate meat did not sin. Those who did not eat meat did not sin. 1 Corinthians 8.13. Paul says this, Therefore food make my brother to stumble. I will never eat meat again lest I make my brother to stumble. There was no reason to force or cause someone to feel badly if he for conscience sake felt he could not eat meat that had been offered to an idol. Apparently, some of them still thought that the idol somehow had polluted the meat. In the book of Romans, Romans 14.23, Paul offers up a statement about the conscience when he says, Romans 14.23, He who doubts is condemned if he eats because he does not eat of faith. For whatever is not from faith is sin. Whatever is not from faith is sin. The position of the church is that eating or not eating in a restaurant on the Sabbath or a holy day is a personal decision. It is, though, the view of the church that it is not a violation of Scripture if one chooses to eat out. Now, let me give you some biblical background on this.

The Sabbath is referenced in 61 scriptures in the Old Testament and 55 scriptures in the New Testament. I think that adds up to 116 somewhere around there. There is no mention of eating out in a restaurant or eating out in any of these verses. It's not addressed. Since there is no thus sayeth the Lord on the topic, if there were a thus sayeth the Lord, if God said, thou shalt not, we would not do it. If God said, thou shalt, or it's permissible, then maybe we would do it. So, we have to look at the principle and apply them to a situation that was probably never even came up back at that time. There are two sections of scriptures that reference buying and selling on the Sabbath. We'll look at both of these.

One of them is Nehemiah chapter 13 verses 15 through 21. Let's go back to Nehemiah. I'd like to read this section, Nehemiah 13 verses 15 through 21.

And the other is Amos verse 5. Amos 8 verse 5. These are the true primary sections that are used by those who believe that eating out on the Sabbath is a violation of God's commandments. This is what they turn to. Considering that out of the 116 verses, these are the only two that they think might address the topic, I think we'll come to see something a little different. Jewish scholars believe, I'm not saying this is true, but Jewish scholars believe that prior to Nehemiah, there was no prohibition against commerce since this was not a part of the original commandment. Now, I don't agree with the Jewish scholars, and I'll show you why.

Let's notice here, let's read this section in Jeremiah 13 verse 15. In those days, I saw people in Judah treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in sheaths and loading donkeys with wine, grapes, figs, and all kinds of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I warned them about the day on which they were selling provisions. Men of tired dwelt there also and brought in fish and all kinds of goods. King James version says, wares or goods, sold them on the Sabbath to the children of Judah in Jerusalem. And I contended with the nobles in Judah and said to them, What evil thing is this that you do by which you profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers do thus and did not our God bring all this disaster on us and on this city? I say there is proof that you shouldn't do it because Nehemiah says, Didn't God take our people into captivity for this very reason because they were trading and selling on the Sabbath? Yes, you bring added wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath. So it was the gates of Jerusalem as it began to be dark before the Sabbath that I commanded the gates to be shut and charged that they must not be open till after the Sabbath. Then I posted some of the servants at the gates, of my servants at the gate, so that no burden would be brought in on the Sabbath day. Now the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside of Jerusalem once or twice. Then I warned them and said to them, While you spend the night around the wall, if you do so again, I'll lay hands on you. We'll come out and beat you up. We're going to lay hands on you. Get out of here. From that time on, they came no more to the Sabbath. So they took his advice and scadoodled out of there. Okay, now to understand this section of Scripture, let me give you a little of the background. We need to understand what was going on. Ezra had arrived in Jerusalem from Babylon in 457 BC, the fifth year of the king. The temple had been built earlier, but things were in disarray by the time Ezra arrived. He oversaw a correction of some of the things that were doing wrong. One of them was being married to strange women, and he said, Don't do that. The Jews had begun to marry people in the surrounding areas. Ezra had put an end to that during his stay in Jerusalem, but it didn't last very long. Then along comes Nehemiah. Nehemiah was a king's cup bearer or a special assistant, and he heard of the difficulties that were going on in Jerusalem. So the king gave him leave. He traveled over to Jerusalem to resolve the problem, and he was governor at that time. He was in charge of Jerusalem. Now, this was the 20th year of the king, or 13 years after Ezra had come to Jerusalem. He again found things in disarray. The temple was not being maintained. The walls had not been built. Jerusalem was a broken-down city. Nehemiah had another reform, similar in much the same way as Ezra. He set about to build the walls of the city in 52 days. In spite of many obstacles, if you'll remember, the walls were built.

After the walls were rebuilt, another reform was instituted by Ezra and Nehemiah. In chapter 8, you find the people responded very positively to this. After this, Nehemiah proposed the covenant to the people, and the people accepted the covenant. Now, that's found in Nehemiah chapter 9, verse 38 through chapter 10, verse 1. Nehemiah 9 was reading in Nehemiah 938. It says, And because of all of this we made a sure covenant, and write it, our leaders, our Levites, and our priests sealed it. Now, those who placed their seal on the document were Nehemiah the governor, the son of Hekaliah, and Zedekiah.

Now, there were seven distinct expectations of the Jews in this covenant. As you read in chapter 10, verses 29 through 39, in chapter 10, beginning in verse 29, 1 was obedience to God's law as was given by Moses, the servant of God. This is what the people agreed to. Number 2, they would make no marriage with the inhabitants of the land. Number 3, anywhere brought into Jerusalem would not be purchased by the Jews on the Sabbath day or on the Holy Day. Number 4, the land was to rest the seventh year, and all debts were to be forgiven according to the seventh year of release. 5, there was a temple tax to be taken up for the upkeep of the temple. 6, the Levites were to receive the tithes and purse fruits. And 7, the Levites were to contribute a tithe of the temple to the temple. They had to pay tithes on the tithes. Now, some of these can be found in the law of Moses, but some go beyond the law itself. And again, this is the first mention of prohibition concerning commerce, although I think it should have been understood. Now, what is Nehemiah 13 talking about?

The prohibition was against setting up a market on the Sabbath or on a Holy Day. There was no mention about eating or not eating on the Sabbath. The Jews were actually making the Sabbath day a secular day in which it was okay to go to market, to do your weekly shopping, so to speak. Going to market was an all-day activity back here. You had to get your animal, or you had to get your servants, you had to load up. And they didn't have Walmarts that you buzzed into and buzzed out of. They had markets that people would bring in fish, bring in animals, bring in vegetables, bring in their wares, goods, and they would sell them. And people would go around, do their shopping, and then they would lug it all home. Most ancient society, a whole day was set aside as a market day. This was the intent of Nehemiah's agreement. This is why he gets so hot under the colander here. He says, don't make the Sabbath day a market day on which you do your weekly shopping. So he added or clarified the understanding of the Sabbath commandment.

It was something that, as I said, the Jews should have understood. By the time of Nehemiah, the Sabbath had become a full-blown market day. People were bringing their wares in. They were bringing all kinds of food stuff in. The agreement was that no wares or merchandise, as some translate it, should be bought by the Jews on the Sabbath. So we're dealing with more than just food items here. We're dealing with pots and pans and all kinds of ware.

Proof that this was a market day and required the whole day is found, actually, in the example of the traders. They would lodge outside of Jerusalem. And then when the gates were open, they would come in and set up their wares. And they didn't do that. They didn't lodge outside of the walls every day. But on whatever day it was the day to be a market day, this was not an everyday occurrence.

So what is the lesson that we should learn from this? That the Sabbath should not be our day to go out and do our weekly shopping. We've got six days in which we can do that. You cannot use this as a prohibition against eating in a restaurant, because that's not what it's talking about. Eating out in a restaurant is not the same thing as doing weekly shopping for all your household goods. Now, Nehemiah leads for Jerusalem back here in chapter 13 verse 6. He says, But during this time I was not in Jerusalem, for in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes, king of Babylon, I had returned to the king. Then after certain days I obtained leave and went back. So he comes back and what does he find? That virtually the whole agreement that they had agreed to had been abandoned. It seems like without a strong leader around, they just went right back to what they were doing. This grieved him immensely, and he cried out to God to remember all the good that he had done. That he had set him on the right track. He had established this right type of covenant with God, and they had violated it. Now, Nehemiah saw the evil that was being done by the high priests in giving a room in the temple to Tobiah. He became so angry he went into the temple, and he threw all of Tobiah's belongings out of the temple area, and he reopened the treasury for the tithes.

Now, as we read in verse 15, he saw people treading grapes on the Sabbath. That's clearly a violation of the Sabbath. They were out working on the Sabbath. What do you do when you tread grapes on the Sabbath? Well, you go out and gather grapes, you put them in a vat, pull your shoes off, and you get in there with your toes, and you begin to walk around, and you crush the grapes. So here they were treading grapes on the Sabbath.

They were loading up their produce, and they were bringing it into Jerusalem to sell. They had made the Sabbath a market day. This is not talking about a restaurant. It's not talking about eating out in a restaurant. It was a market day. Notice the items that are mentioned here that I read. Wine, sheaves, grapes, figs, vichals. That could be corn, other items, fish, and all manner of wear. The Sabbath had become a day that they went to market and that they bought these things. This was a clear violation of the agreement that had been reached earlier in Nehemiah's before he departed.

So rather than there's a huge difference between opening up a market, in other words, if you were a Jew, opening up a market and having a stone, selling things to your brethren, and going to market and purchasing things and eating a meal on the Sabbath. Nehemiah was appalled by what he saw.

There were no toys in the storehouse, and the Sabbath had become a market day. So he set about to rectify this. So what did he do? He shut down the markets on the Sabbath. He told the foreigners not to come into the city on the Sabbath. He closed the gates, set guards around. And it's interesting, though, that Nehemiah expected individuals to work on the Sabbath because he appointed Levites eventually to become guards. In verse 22, and they stood guards over the gate.

And anybody tried to get in, they would deal with them. Now, what we have to realize is that everything they did here is not necessarily an example for us. Now, what I mean by that is it okay for you to practice guard duty on the Sabbath, become a security guard, standing them all on the Sabbath day? That's not what this is talking about. That would be violating the Sabbath. You would be working. But when it was to help the people to keep the Sabbath, then he did this.

He also instituted other reforms for the Jews. Remember, as verse 24, he found a lot of them had married, mixed marriages. Their children could not speak Hebrew. He struck them. He pulled out their hair, you know, pulled their beard, pulled their hair out of their head, and got quite rough with them. Now, what should we learn from this principle? Is it okay for us if we think somebody's not keeping the Sabbath for us to come up and pull their hair out?

For us to, you know, get rough with them? Do we tell people, as some of them, again, had married, had mixed marriages, that, you know, they should split their marriages up and, you know, do all of that? Well, actually, I think the principle that he was teaching was simply that you honor the Sabbath day. That you don't do your weekly shopping. So you have to realize, again, that the whole nation was trying to obey God. The whole nation around us is not trying to obey God. Only one here and one there. And he was a governor. He had the authority. And so he could deal with these type of situations.

We have to be careful, you know, if we think that, well, we can use this as an example to abuse people, break up their marriages, you know, do that type of thing. Nehemiah 13 has nothing to do with eating out in a restaurant. Absolutely nothing. The Jews had turned the Sabbath into a market day and were selling all kinds of wares. The Sabbath had become a primary business day for shopping of the week in Jerusalem. And this was contrary to the spirit of God's law. There was no direct statement made on the law regarding business or going to market on the day.

So he took the law and he applied it. And he very clearly laid the principle out there for the people. Now Amos 8.5. Amos chapter 8 and verse 5.

Amos is referencing a similar situation to that of Nehemiah 13.

The discussion is about business and is not applicable to eating out in a restaurant. In verse 5, same. Notice what the people say. Amos 8.5. They say, well, when will a new moon be passed that we may sell grain and the Sabbath that we may trade wheat, making the ephra small and the shekel large falsifying the scale by deceit? Two problems here. One was corrupt business practices. They were selling less and taking more. And they could hardly wait until the Sabbath was over. They were the type of person sitting there watching the clock, we'll meet the Sabbath that's over now and go do my own thing. They wanted to go out and do that. And he said, no, don't do that.

So you find the whole society at this time had become corrupt. And this is what Amos was directing. There's nothing in the Sabbath commandment about eating in a restaurant or not eating in a restaurant. This is not an issue that needed to be addressed in the time of Moses. It just simply was not addressed then. But it is an issue that comes up now.

So we have to apply the law now. That's the one thing you find is that every generation has to apply God's law to situations that come up in its own generation.

Things that are not clearly covered in the Scriptures.

We have to be careful about developing rules about the Sabbath day that are outside the bounds of God's law. Remember, the Pharisees condemned Christ for adding the Sabbath commandment. For adding to the Sabbath commandment, they developed their own 39 categories of what was forbidden on the Sabbath. In Christ, they thought, was breaking the Sabbath because he went against their law, not God's law. Christ was condemned by the Pharisees, if you'll remember, in Matthew 12. He and his disciples were walking along and plucking corn, heads of corn or wheat, grain, and eating it. They said, you're harvesting, you're working.

We have these two examples in Matthew 12 of them walking along, picking grain. That'd be like you walking out in your backyard in the Sabbath day, and you have a beautiful apple tree there, and you reach up and grab an apple and decide to eat it. Are you harvesting apples? It's wrong to pluck an apple off and to eat it. Obviously not. Also in Matthew 12.8, you find that he said, look, I'm Lord of the Sabbath. Therefore, he had the right to tell us how to keep the Sabbath. He also healed people on the Sabbath. So Christ clearly showed that it's a mistake for us to develop our own rules for the Sabbath observance, unless there is a clear biblical support.

And the Pharisees took the Sabbath observance to a level that God never intended.

So if I could summarize what we found out so far in the Old Testament, it would be this. Genesis 2, verses 2 through 3, God rested on the Sabbath day and called it Shabbat. Exodus 31.13, 16, Ezekiel 20. There's a Sabbath covenant. The Sabbath is a sign between God and His people. Exodus 16, manna was not to be gathered on the Sabbath. Exodus 16.23, the Sabbath was a preparation day. God instructed Israel to prepare on the sixth day so that no unnecessary work would be performed on the Sabbath day. Specifically, He commanded them not to boil or to bake.

To bake or boil food back at this time required much work. They had earthen ovens. They had to heat them up. You've seen people putting these pizza or sometimes over in Europe bread back into these ovens where they've been heated and let them cook. Well, this is what they had to do back at this time.

Ovens back at this time required an extremely hot fire to produce enough heat to bake something. Same is true of boiling. There was no problem in having a fire to warm oneself and the whole concept of cooking for a large family required a lot of preparation in order to avoid breaking the Sabbath. Back at this time, if you cooked a full meal and you cooked bread and you cooked or baked or boiled something, it would take half your day on the Sabbath to be able to do that. So the principle was you prepare ahead of time.

The same thing would be true today if you decided to bake a cake.

Now, of course, you can go and get a box and dump it and do that, but if you wanted to make a cake from mix and do that on the Sabbath, that's going to require a little work. If you're going to do that type of thing, bake it ahead of time. It's not wrong to boil eggs on the Sabbath and eat eggs. It's not wrong to cook some oats and have some oats on the Sabbath or to warm something up that you already have cooked because you've done it. The preparation today for us, brethren, in many ways is that we try to eliminate as many things ahead of time as possible so that we don't have to do them on the Sabbath. If you need your clothes pressed, press them ahead of time. Shoes shine, shine them ahead of time. Car gassed up, gas it up ahead of time. Do the preparation ahead of time so that you can devote yourself to God, your family, to prayer, to Bible study, and to worshiping God.

Okay, now in Exodus 16.29, people should not move around unduly on the Sabbath. We're told, let every man remain in his place and let no man go out of his place on the Sabbath. Seventh day.

That's specifically saying not to do a lot of traveling on the Sabbath, not to go out and work on the Sabbath. Exodus 31, the Sabbath was a sign between God and his people. Exodus 34, no labor to be performed to give both humans and animals an opportunity to rest. Exodus 35.3, no fire was to be kindled. This was in reference to fire for work or for boiling or baking. A fire for warmth was not a problem.

I find it interesting that critics of the Sabbath cite all of these type of scriptures to say that we can't keep the Sabbath today. They say, if you walk out of your house, you're breaking the Sabbath. If you turn a fire on, you're breaking the Sabbath.

Are we supposed to let those who have nothing to do with the Sabbath, critics of the Sabbath, tell us how to keep the Sabbath.

Are they the ones who understand how to keep the Sabbath?

Now, we didn't get to it last week, but Colossians 2, 16, 17 says, let the church judge you in these matters. Let the church tell you what you should do and not do when it comes to eating and drinking and how to keep the Sabbath.

Now, in Numbers 28, you find special sacrifices were required on the Sabbath day. Umayah 13, the Sabbath, was not a market day.

Exodus 31, Numbers 15, the penalty for violating the Sabbath was death. Now, Isaiah 58, we were to observe the Sabbath were proper reverence and that brings great blessings. Now, I have all of these in the handout. The New Testament, Christ gave, summarized the New Testament, Christ gave insight into the Sabbath observance and he said that violating these principles would bring not blessings on you. Christ provides the following principles. The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. It's a tool for worshiping God. It is not an object of worship itself. Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath. He was the one who created all things, including the Sabbath. Healing and doing good are permissible on the Sabbath, even though the Jews thought this was a violation of the Sabbath.

Eating is good on the Sabbath, even if it requires you to pluck the heads of grain. One doesn't have to go hungry on the Sabbath. It is the principle. The Sabbath command is still in place today. The Sabbath pictures the millennium and God's promise to his people. Emergencies such as ox and the ditch are justifiable work. If you have an ox and the ditch, you can pull it out. When one has a legitimate emergency, life or death, illness, accidents, then you're not condemned for helping and working in those situations. And you find that Christ cited the example that the Levites and the priests worked on the Sabbath and were held blameless. And over the years, the ministry works harder on the Sabbath day and probably any day of the year. Or I won't say year, but another week. If you don't think it's work to drive two or three hours between church and give two sermons and counsels and anoint and do all of that, well, go home with most of us when we collapse on the Sabbath. And, you know, you prop your feet up and you say, what is there to eat? You get some cheese and a glass of wine and that's about as far as you can go. Rather than what we find in conclusion, is that there's much to learn about the Sabbath day. It's a wonderful gift that God has given for us to worship Him. Generally, in our day and our age, the tendency is to take the Sabbath for granted. More people seem to be too liberal with the Sabbath compared to those who are too strict with the Sabbath. The church encourages its members to take the Sabbath seriously and not to allow liberties on the Sabbath. We need to use or have better use of the preparation day so that we avoid activities on the Sabbath that make it profane. We need to also better arrange our travel, scheduling our travel so we don't do unnecessary travel on the Sabbath.

Eating in a restaurant doesn't violate any principle as given in the Bible about the Sabbath.

In fact, eating out on the Sabbath in a restaurant after services with our spiritual family is sometimes a highlight of the week for some people, especially in many smaller congregations. I've been in some small congregations where after the services almost everybody to a man goes out and eats. This is the only time that they have to really get together with their spiritual families. In fact, we've got churches where you find there are people. You might have a church in the location. I remember years ago we had the Charleston West Virginia church. Nobody lived in Charleston. We all lived elsewhere, but it was central and people would come. And so if they were going to get together, it was on the Sabbath. And then they would spread out and go off and cover the whole state of West Virginia. So this was an opportunity to be able to get together.

There are some specific questions about eating out on the Sabbath.

Since this ties in with what we have here, let me just cover these very quickly. Is it wrong to have someone serve you in a restaurant? See, that's always a question that comes up. Aren't they working for you? Pay a waitress? The answer is no. The waiter, the waitress, the cooks in a restaurant are not your servant. Somebody else is their employer, not you. They don't live in your household. They're not under your jurisdiction. You can't tell them what to do. You can't tell them what hours to work. You can't tell them anything. They don't work for you. They work for somebody else. They work for McDonald's. They work for Applebee's. They work for Outback. They work for someone else who's employing them. Those who live under your roof and under your control are not to work on the Sabbath. Now, there are occasions when even people are under your roof. You don't have control over. Today in our society, we have many situations where our kids are coming back. Uh-oh, here they are. 25, 30 years old and they show up and they're living under your roof, but they don't want to have anything to do with the Sabbath. Do you beat them? Pull their hair out. Do you forcefully tell them to keep the Sabbath? Obviously, you don't do that type of thing.

If you conclude that a waitress is working for you, then you must make the same judgment. Notice, the same judgment for those who are working in power plants, because you have electricity, we have electricity, we have electricity that amplifies my voice, and work at water plants.

Because they're all working and they're all providing you electricity. They provide you mail. They provide you papers. So you're going to tell the post office, stop your mail and only deliver on five days a week, only if you live in college. They don't deliver mail on the Sabbath.

So, to believe it's wrong to eat in a restaurant because a waitress will be working for you on the Sabbath requires that you turn all the electricity off and not use any water on the Sabbath day. That means don't flush your commode. The principle would be the same. Aren't you participating in a business transaction when you eat out on the Sabbath? Well, I think you would be required to pay your bill.

You eat it, you pay for it on the Sabbath. But this is not running your business on the Sabbath. You're simply paying for the meal that you receive. There is nothing in the scripture that says that this is a violation of the Sabbath. It's actually much, in some cases, less work to eat out in a restaurant than it is to have a fair-sized group over to your house. I don't know about you, but we have people over to our house and they're there on the Sabbath. You've prepared as much as you can ahead of time. You've got to get it out. You've got to warm it up. You've got to make sure we normally try to have the table set and all that ahead of time, but somebody's got to serve the food. Then you've got to get the dishes and you've got to collect them and clean the table.

When you're hosting a dinner, there's a lot of work, a lot of effort that goes into it when they come to your home. If a person takes the position that eating out is wrong, then he must be consistent in his approach and other areas also. For example, we go to the Feast of Tabernacles.

To be consistent, you would have to check out of your motel Friday before the Sabbath. I guess, sleep in your car until Saturday. You say, why? Well, when you stay on a hotel on the Sabbath, somebody is serving you. In fact, there's a whole staff there serving you. There may be a restaurant on premises that you would eat in. There's electricity in your room. If it's hot, there might be air conditioning in your room. Somebody's providing that.

The same principle would be true.

Again, I'm talking about consistency. What if somebody in the church is in a nursing home or in a hospital? For some reason, they ended up in a hospital. They're there with the Sabbath. A fee is being charged for meals. Somebody's served you. You're not giving them a buck, but you're paying for those meals on the Sabbath in both locations. Somebody has to serve those meals. Somebody has to look after you, depending on what your health and situation. There are going to be nurses, doctors, all kinds of people. People cleaning your room. People coming around, making sure you get fed, and all of this.

What's the difference in that and paying for a meal in a restaurant?

The principle is this. There are many things that can be said about the issue, but the conclusion of the church is that eating out on the Sabbath does not violate the Sabbath commandment. Whether one eats out on the Sabbath or does not eat out is a personal choice. It must not become a point of division within the church. See, that's the principle. When you begin to actively share your ideas with somebody else and try and convince them, you are causing division within the church. If you don't believe in it, keep it to yourself. You can live without going out, but don't condemn others who do. So, rather than what we find, when you look at all of the scriptures on this subject and an individual feels compelled not to eat out on a restaurant on the Sabbath, then the church respects his position. What we ask is that they also respect everybody else's position and not attempt to cause division within the church.

What about owning a business? I'll finish with this. It runs seven days a week and hiring employees to work for you on the Sabbath and the Holy Days. You cannot do that. The Bible says that your manservant and your maidservant are not to work on the Sabbath. Your manservant or your maidservant today would be your employees, those that you employ and pay.

Now, you are not to work them on the Sabbath. You are to close that business on the Sabbath day.

You have no control over them. They don't work for you, but if they want to get a second job, they can get a second job. I mean, you can't control them, can you? If they want to go fishing, they can go fishing. You have no control over them. It's those that you have control over whom you employ and pay that you're not to pay them to work for you on the Sabbath day. I think that's very clear. So, our answer would be you should not own a business or lease a business that runs seven days a week. If you do, you're going to have problems. And if you have to employ people, you're going to be paying them and violating the principle that's very clear in the Scriptures.

So, brethren, there's so much more that could be said about the Sabbath. I've only scratched the service here today, but I wanted to give this sermon so that we'd be thinking about the topic. And we won't in the next few weeks, but over a period of time, I hope to be able to cover a number of sermons dealing not only with the Sabbath day, but with all of God's commandments.