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REMEMBER THE SABBATH EXODUS 20:8-11
We gather on another Sunday morning to worship the Lord.
I hope you have your Bibles as we tackle another commandment this morning.
It is found in the 20th chapter of Exodus beginning in the 8th verse through the 11th verse.
You follow along as I read this commandment to you.
This is known as the fourth commandment.
Before we look at this command, I want to remind you quickly of the other three.
1) You shall have no other gods before Me. 2) You shall not make for yourself an idol.
3) You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain.
No commandment has caused more confusion and debate than this one.
No commandment has created new denominations like this one.
So I hope this morning to show you the meaning of this verse and how it relates to us as Christians today.
All of us, in this place, when we were young remember our parents giving us a list of do’s and don’ts.
We remember that most commands were clearly stated and strictly enforced.
That list of do’s and don’ts looked like this.
The do’s were obeying your parents, respect those in authority above you, remain quiet in the school line, etc.
The don’ts were don’t run into the street, don’t put your finger in the socket, don’t hit your sister, etc.
So as we approach this fourth commandment, there are many who have their list of do’s and don’ts as they relate to keeping the Sabbath.
Also, many apply the same rules of do’s and don’ts to the Lord’s Day.
In fact, a majority of people associate the Lord’s Day (Sunday) as a day that if there is any fun in it, then it should not be done.
Therefore, the logic sounds like this, “if you enjoy doing it, then don’t do it; and if you don’t enjoy doing it, then this is the day to do it.”
But is this really what this command implies in the Scriptures.
In order to understand this command and the implications for us today as believers in Christ, then we need to know the context in which they were given.
God commands the Israelites *remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.*
In the Ten Commandments, you will notice that the first three commands deals with our relationship with the Lord and the last six commands deal with our relationship with others, but this command deals with a day.
A day which is special and set apart from the six days of the week.
As you read the Old Testament this command given to the covenantal people, Israel (God’s chosen nation, elect) served a purpose.
There was a reason behind this command that God was giving the people of Israel.
What was this purpose?
The reason behind this command for the people of Israel is that they belonged to LORD.
They were His people.
He delivered them from the bondage of Egypt, from the house of slavery by His grace and as a result of that deliverance makes a demand upon the totality of their being.
He is Yahweh their God.
He had absolute sovereignty over them by this very redemption.
He was not only over their lives, but their time (calendar) and the priorities of their lives.
He signified by setting aside one day that was to be observed by them.
It was a special day.
A day that was to have meaning and significance for them.
In verse 11, God tells why this day was set aside by Him.
*For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.
Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
*This text takes us back to the Genesis account of creation in which this pattern was set.
In Genesis 2:1-3, the Bible says, “Thus the heavens and earth were finished, and all the host of them.
And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.
So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.”
So the question that arises from this text is “Is it a universal principle or is it established for the covenantal people of Israel in the Mosaic Law?”
There are some who argue that this pattern of a seven day week is established in the story of creation, but evidence of this being observed by all people is not found throughout history.
The sinful man does not recognize a seven day week as a part of their calendar.
In different cultures around the world you will discover that some societies had a four day week, five day week, six day week, eight day week and in Egypt in which Israel was rescued they based their week on ten days.
There was no countdown to the weekend like we have in our culture.
The seven day week was established by God at creation and apart of the covenant that God made with Israel.
Therefore, we have to conclude that this was a pattern established by God for his people.
Imagine being God’s chosen people and living in Egypt during their slavery.
The people will have worked ten days only to start over with no day of rest.
Once the tenth day was over, you just simply began another week.
So God, in his mercy, gave Israel a gift.
The gift was a day of rest.
So the pattern was work six days and rest on the seventh.
Do all your labors for six days and then take off a day to observe the Sabbath.
So the Sabbath was established during the Mosaic period in Exodus.
You remember that God had delivered Israel from Egypt and they wandered in the wilderness.
In that time God provided manna for his people.
He would rain manna down everyday from heaven for people to gather and sustain their lives.
He specifically instructed them to only gather what they needed for that day and those who gathered more would find worms in this bread the next morning.
But on the sixth day, God told them to gather enough for that day and the seventh because he would not send manna on the seventh day.
Those who did not gather enough but only for the sixth day found out the next morning that there was no manna just as God had said.
So when we get to the twentieth chapter of Exodus, God commands the people to *remember* (recall) the pattern that was established by the Lord their God.
It was a day which looked back to the account of creation in which God created the world and everything in it in six days and therefore rested on the seventh day.
So God says work six days.
We live in a society that values work, in fact there are people who are workaholics.
Now there is nothing wrong with work.
In fact, before the fall there was work to be done in the garden and after the fall work is still commended but now it is done with the sweat of one’s brow.
Paul, in the New Testament, said that the man who does not work does not eat.
Also, the man who does not provide for his family is worse than an infidel.
So work is commended in Scripture and the work we do we are to do as unto the Lord.
Yet, we need to remind ourselves that work is temporary.
What we work for does not last.
Material things rust and corrode over time, money quickly flees, the things we own is given to others.
So there is more to life than work.
God wanted the children of Israel to set aside a day to observe Him.
He wanted them to remember that in six days he created everything.
He could have done in less time, but he was establishing a pattern.
But there is more than just looking back; there is a future implication to this Sabbath which we will talk about later.
So this command was to mark Israel as the people of God.
It was to establish them as distinct from the other nations.
This was to be observed by all who were in the nation of Israel.
No one is to work on this day.
No slave or foreigner or even livestock was to work.
They were to cease from their labor.
The Sabbath played an important part in the nation of Israel and was tied to their ceremonial laws.
In fact, there were dire consequences for those who broke the Sabbath.
Also, the keeping of the Sabbath was tied to the welfare, safety, and security as a nation.
In fact, the children of Israel were brought into captivity because they broke the Sabbath.
This is why they served seventy years in Babylon because they had violated the Sabbath.
Nehemiah provides great instruction to us about the seriousness of the Sabbath.
If you will turn in your Bibles to Nehemiah 13.
Listen as I read verses 15-22.
You see God took this Sabbath keeping seriously.
There breaking of the Sabbath sent them off to exile and here they had just returned and they are violating this command.
Nehemiah warned them that greater wrath would fall on them if they are not careful.
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