How do you spend the Lord's Day? The Bible's clear that God intended that this day of rest would be more than simply a time of inactivity. And today on Truth for Life, we'll learn about God's purpose and pattern for the Sabbath. Alastair Begg is teaching from Exodus chapter 20. We're focusing on verses 8 through 11.
Uh Mm. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. In other words, sanctify the day. The phrase here means two things. It means, first of all, remember the Sabbath day by setting it apart.
That's what it means to keep it holy. It means to set it apart.
Now the immediate reaction to that on the part of some is to say, but you don't understand, or maybe not so forcibly, but to say, well, what about the fact that every day is the Lord's day?
Well, there's a sense in which that's true. We ought to serve the Lord every day, and we ought to serve the Lord every moment of every day. And the way in which we do our work ought to be a service to the Lord. John Murray, the late John Murray, professor at Westminster Theological Seminary, says to obliterate the difference. between one day and the other six.
To obliterate the difference may appear pious. But it is piosity. Not piety. It is not piety to be wiser than God. It is impiety of the darkest hue.
The Sabbath day is different from every other day, and to obliterate this distinction, in thought or practice is to destroy what is the essence of the institution.
Now, there is a wealth contained in that statement. Let me summarize it for you. The recognition of the distinction of the day. is indispensable to its observance.
So that unless you and I be convinced That God has distinguished this day. For all of time And that because he has distinguished it in this way. we must live within the framework of what he has laid down, then any attempts at keeping the Sabbath day will simply be as a result either of legalistic externalism, or as a result of a kind of time-honored tradition, or as a result of the reinforcement of what has become customary for us.
Okay?
Now I grew up as a child in Scotland. in exactly that position. And all children must. For if we ask a child whether they like the idea of a different day on the Lord's Day, the answer is no, I do not, frankly.
Now. Unless the day dawns, When God by His Spirit redeems that child, And in the heart of that child, What to that point has been simply the observance of custom. And it now becomes the conviction of their tiny life. Then from that day, everything changes.
Now, as true as that is of children, it is true of us all. And that is why many of us continue to buck the idea of the Lord's Day. Because it is a conviction about its distinction which creates relevance to its observance. And since we have never come to a conviction about its distinction. Any time anyone suggests to us that this is what may comprise the Lord's Day, our reanswer is, who do they think they are to tell me what I'm going to do with my time?
It's not your time. And it's not my time. Every breath I breathe is a gift from God. And he is in charge of my time. And he who created time and parceled it in the way that he intended.
intends that the utilization of time shall bear testimony to the distinction of his creative handiwork and shall bear testimony to the fact that we are his covenant children. You see, the same thing is true of any commandment. If you take the commandment, for example, in relationship to adultery. If you and I are only going to keep the commandment regarding adultery, on the basis of its pragmatic usefulness.
Well, that's a good idea, you know, you get yourself in a lot of trouble. But not as a result of its rightness. Not as a result of divine authority. Not as a result of an internal conviction. Then we are left to the winds of circumstance to blow upon us.
Then we're in a situation and somebody says, why not? And since the commandment is simply a kind of practical accretion for us and is not an internal conviction for us. Then the smell of the perfume, or the heat of the evening, or the drive of the passion may be enough to take us right in. It's a total sin. Because we've never internalized the command.
God's law had never been written upon our hearts. We had never said, I delight to do your will, O Lord. We've never settled this issue. I am the Lord your God. You shall do this.
We had never bowed there, we had never internalized its truth. And so as soon as the circumstances went against us, we were swept into chaos. That is exactly, I put it to you, what is happening with the Lord's Day in the continental United States and in the Western world at large. We have vast numbers of people. Who have never become convinced of the distinction of the day.
They have no internal conviction about the day, about its abiding relevance. And so when somebody says, why don't we do this? Why don't we go there? Why don't we do whatever it is? The answer is, yeah, why not?
Because after all, the only lingering notion that we have of any abiding relevance of the command is that it is something to do with not lighting fires. And not riding your bicycle or not doing a bunch of stuff that we have picked up from somewhere along the line, but we don't have any notion of it in our hearts.
So, if I can express it as clearly as possible, observance of the Lord's Sabbath. quickly becomes obsolete If it does not spring from the sense of sanctity, generated and nourished by The fact that God set apart this day for our good.
So it's not irksome. It's not a punishment. It's a phenomenal liberating Privilege. But until we understand the distinction. and apply it.
We will internalize any expressions of it. as either anachronisms or quirks of human personality. If I may be pardoned the personal illustration, I always tell the young people this: I never studied on a Sunday. Never studied on a Sunday. Got myself in difficulty sometimes as a result of it, but I never studied on a Sunday.
All through school I never studied on a Sunday. Why? Because I thought that a 2x4 would hit me on the head if I didn't? Why? Because I thought that if I didn't study on a Sunday, then I'd be able to walk past the library and people say, oh, what a pious person Beg is.
They knew I wasn't a pious person. Why didn't I do it? Because I had a conviction that God had hit on something really good. with this one day and seven thing. And furthermore, it was right.
And so I just didn't study. What it meant was that I could worship I could eat. I get fellowship. I could have the time of my life on the Lord's Day. Yeah.
First I have determined the distinction of the day. And then the application followed. That's the first element in the sanctifying of the Lord's Day. It is a setting apart. It is a making a difference of one day from the rest.
God distinguished one day from the rest. He distinguished it himself by what he did and what he didn't do. The second element to it is, and it's just the other side of the coin, that keeping it holy makes clear to us that the difference which God has ordained in this day is a difference of a specific kind. The day is not simply a day set apart from other days, but it is a day set apart to the Lord.
So the key to the Sabbath is not inactivity. The key to the Lord's Day is not just waking up and lying in your bed till about 11 o'clock or half past 12 and saying, well, it's a day of rest, therefore I did it. That's not it. And see, this is where people say, well, I don't know why we have all these services. For goodness sake, isn't it supposed to be a day of rest?
Well, tell me about it, would you? See, you don't understand, neither do I. But this is it. The rest which God has ordained is a rest from labour and a rest to him. The day of rest is a day which has a positive dimension and focus towards the Lord our God.
It is not simply kept from our everyday routine, but it is kept for the Lord. It is a rest of another kind of activity. We rest from the ordinary activities of the other six days. Why? Because we might be released into the worship and contemplation of the glory of God.
That's why Now, the fact that some people don't do this and don't do that and don't do the next thing because they're a bunch of legalists, that's their problem. But the fact of the matter remains that if we would remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, we distinguish it from all the other days, and we do so by distinguishing it by exercising our hearts in the religious exercises of worship and of study and of prayer and of piety and of acts of mercy and of kindness and so on. I recognize, and I can disassociate myself from this, that I have the benefits of a Scottish heritage. Amazing benefits in relationship to this. The danger in it, though, is that you go, it's cultural.
He's just coming off with a bunch of that stuff from across the sea. That's why you and I will have to think it out together. But I was brought up to understand this. That's why we visited old ladies in the hospital on Sunday afternoons. Why?
Because it was a great day for acts of mercy. That's why the Pharisees try to tie Jesus up in knots with a man with a shriveled hand. The guy with a shriveled hand comes, the Pharisees say, Hey, you're going to heal him today? You're going to break a Sabbath, Jesus? She said, you guys don't know what you're talking about.
You can't come up with all these external rigmars. He said, if you had a sheep and it fell in a ditch, would you get it out on the Sabbath? They all look shamefacedly at each other because of course they would. He said, You crazy rascals, look at this man here. Do you not think the man with a shriveled hand is more important to God than one of your sheep lying in a ditch?
He says, The guy, stretch forth your hand. He stretches it out. What was he doing, setting aside the Sabbath? No, he was setting the Sabbath aside from the ridiculous accretions of the Pharisees, all the little bits and pieces that they added to it. The danger is, you see, that in setting aside any intrusions of Phariseeism, what we actually do is we throw the baby out with the bathwater and we're left.
as so many of us frankly are to this point in our lives. with only nine commandments.
So The principle stated is such that we might enjoy The privilege of God's presence The study of God's Word. The fellowship of God's people. Uninterrupted by both employment and leisure. which draws from us A devotion to Christ. in a singular way.
on other days. But here's the thing, loved ones. Does this strike you like something you would want to do? Spend a whole day as it were. Without your newspaper, And without CNN, and without recreation.
The answer is No? I don't like the sound of it. Do you know what? You don't like the sound of heaven. You don't like the sound of what it's going to be.
to be in the presence of Christ for all of eternity. Six of us go away to a cabin on the lake. We go away because we love one another and we're glad of one another's company. We're there for two and a half days, and suddenly somebody at a meal time says, Do you want to know something interesting? We never turned the T V on.
I don't even know what's happening in the world. We never read a newspaper. I didn't even call the office. You know what? I never called to check on my handicap.
Why? Because the context of fellowship and love and enjoyment. It's so all-consuming.
Sometimes I gotta say something. Whenever our experience of worship It's so devalued. And our notion of the Lord's Day is so disintegrated, so as to conceive of it in such a way that we believe that religious exercises are supposed to get over and done with as fast as they possibly can, so that we may, quotes, get on with the day. Then we stand. Condemned.
before the fourth commandment. We ought actually To be getting down on our knees and thanking God for the privilege. Of being brought under the orb of influence of a church. That is determined on the basis of the holy scriptures. that we will give every opportunity on the Lord's Day.
for all the things that the Lord's Day was intended to mean. For worship. For prayer. for study. for fellowship.
for holy Contemplation. And the fact that it does not appeal to us. Says more about the low level of our spiritual appetites. Then it does. about anything else.
The fourth commandment makes it clear that God has provided this day To worship Him undisturbed by personal business or pleasure. And the question is what should we welcome so much as a day of worship? and service to God. uninterrupted by the routine and the rush And the scramble of work. and recreation.
That's the principle stated. The pattern applied We'll go on to consider. Let let me just give you a flavor. that again either falls into the realm of anachronism or falls into the realm of something to which we might approximate. This is a description.
Bye, a guy. His name was Donald MacDonald. He was the minister of Grey Friars Free Church of Scotland in Inverness for many years. He died in 1975. Addressing the issue of the Lord's Day and how it might be profitably Sheared.
He says I shall cherish the memory of it as long as I live. the Sabbath in my native island of Lewis in my boyhood days. This is his experience. as he grows up as a child in the outer Hebrides. Don't let us allow geography to put us off.
The Ten Commandments don't apply any better. in the remote parts of the Western Isles of Scotland and they apply. in the heart. of the continental United States. He's a good idea.
that the Sabbath day was prepared for on Saturday evening. All the household work was finished earlier than usual. Tomorrow's meals, as far as that was possible, were prepared, and by 10 p.m. the family gathered. and quotes the book was taken.
In a Scottish Highland home, to this day, if you are there for a meal, the host in the home may at one point towards the end of the evening say, Shall we take the book? You may be forgiven for thinking that he's referring to the Sears catalogue or the yellow pages or something, but he's referring to the Bible. And so he says the book was taken.
However late with their household work some might be on other nights, on a Saturday there would not be one light in a hundred to be seen at twelve o'clock midnight. The Sabbath itself began with family worship. Public worship began usually at 12 noon. Hundreds of people made their way to the house of God. The only way to get there was by walking, yet almost everyone who was able to go attended, although many lived several miles away.
Evening worship was at 6 o'clock, and again, everyone who could go was there. Particularly impressive was the complete silence that prevailed throughout the day. Not a stroke of work was done. There was no noise of car or cart. Between church services, no one was seen outside his own house, except those who had to take their cattle to drink.
Should anyone be seen going up or down the main road, people would come to their doors to ask one another if they knew who it was, being absolutely certain he was going for medical aid for some ill person or to deliver an urgent message. Inside the house, no books were read but the Bible and religious books. All other books were put away on Saturday night. Conversation about worldly things was not allowed. Frequently, relatives and friends who had a long distance to walk to the church came into my parents' home between services.
and their conversation was always of a religious kind. As a rule, they discussed points made by the preacher in the morning service. This was the way the Lord's Day was observed, as I remember it. That, he says, of course, was in a country place. Unhappily, it is now impossible to get a quiet Sabbath similar to that which I have described.
Wherever we go, Sabbath desecration has penetrated to the most isolated hamlets and homes. Sunday newspapers, radio, television, and pleasure-loving tourists have left no corner, however remote, untouched. Yet in spite of all of this, It is possible for believers to enjoy the blessing of God in His day. And now I shall explain. how they can obtain it.
when we return. We will try and tackle In this Very different geography.
some twenty years on. the practical applications. of the observing. or the fourth commandment. Mm.
Uh You're listening to Truth for Life with Alastair Begg. Alistair returns in just a moment to close today's program with prayer. Here at Truth for Life we love hearing from listeners listeners like Mark, who wrote to us recently and said, I am so glad I have discovered Truth for Life, and how Alastair delivers God's Word with such passion and eloquence. I've been listening to his sermons for several months now, and they have truly opened my eyes and heart. We are so grateful for the way God uses this ministry to reach so many people with sound Biblical teaching in a world where truth is often skewed, many don't know where to turn.
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Now here's Alastair to close with prayer. Our God and our Father.
Now we realize why the Bible says all have sinned. and come short of the glory of God. As we gaze into the mirror. of your law and see ourselves, we know we need a Saviour. And I pray today that you will convict and convince of sin in the lives of some.
That as our service ends, they may not be able to leave, but to come and pray and settle the issue. of faith. Believing in Christ. that others of us who by our disregard for your law live lives pragmatically pleasing ourselves. that you will catch us.
That you will consume us with your grace and your goodness. That you will create within us convictions.
So that we are not suffering. under external rules. nor routine customs. nor buffeted. by the expressions of the culture of our day.
Reminders that we are a holy nation. A chosen people. A people belonging to God. That we might declare the praises of Him who called us out of darkness. into his marvelous light.
Write your word upon our hearts, we pray. that we might live to your glory. And may grace, mercy, and peace From Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Be the abiding portion of all who believe today. and forevermore.
Amen. I'm Bob Lepine. We are glad you studied God's Word with us today. Tomorrow, we'll learn practical tips for observing the Sabbath as a holy day. not simply an extended weekend day or holiday.
The Bible teaching of Alastair Begg is furnished by Truth for Life. Where the Learning is for Living.
