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The Importance Of Keeping The Christian Sabbath (Exodus 35:1-3)
Introduction (Exodus 35:1)
Our text for tonight’s message is taken from Exodus 35:1-3. From Exodus 35-40, God will repeat the commandments He had given to the children of Israel regarding His laws and the building of the Tabernacle. The reason why God would repeat what He had already said was because the children of Israel had totally forgotten His commandments and needed to be reminded.
They had just committed the great sin of worshipping the golden calf. Essentially, they were using the golden calf to represent God, even though He had already commanded them not to make graven images. In other words, they were trying to worship the right God in the wrong way.
Later on, they would enter the promised land. And if they had committed this great sin of worshipping the right God in the wrong way while in the wilderness, how much more when they encounter the pagans who were now living in the land of Canaan. So, as they enter the promised land, surely they will commit the same sin. So, God had to focus on how they ought to worship him.
In the previous chapter, He spoke about the three special feasts that the children of Israel ought to keep in a year: the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of the Ingathering or the Feast of Tabernacles. These three special feasts were part of the ceremonial laws, and they had been fulfilled by our Lord Jesus Christ, who became the sacrificial Lamb and died on the cross of Calvary. So, we no longer keep them today.
But there was something else there that would continue perpetually, and that is the Sabbath. With the resurrection of Christ, we no longer call it the Sabbath, but the Christian Sabbath, or the Lord’s Day. The Lord’s Day worship will continue even beyond the second coming of Christ and the millennial kingdom, which means the worship of God will never come to an end. Even in heaven we will still be worshipping God.
That is the reason why in verse 1, when Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together and said unto them, “These are the words which the Lord hath commanded, that ye should do them”, He began with the Sabbath. This is what we want to learn from today’s passage. The title of our message is ‘The Importance Of Keeping The Christian Sabbath’.
I. It Is Permanent
Our first point is it is permanent. Although this passage does not mention anything about the permanence of the Sabbath, however, we have to read it in the context of the entire Holy Scriptures.
Today, there are some people who believe that the Sabbath is only a ceremonial law and it has passed away just like the other ceremonial laws after the resurrection of Christ. Therefore, it is no longer applicable. Because of that, they refuse to attend church on Sundays. How sad.
Firstly, for those people who say that the Sabbath is only a Mosaic ceremonial law, they fail to realise that the Sabbath was instituted even before the Law of God was given. When God gave the Ten Commandments, He said, “Remember the sabbath day” (Exodus 20:8) and He gave the basis why they should do it. Exodus 20:11 says, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it”.
This can be found in the first book of the Bible, Genesis 2:3. In other words, the institution of the Sabbath was even way before the Law of God was given. God worked through a creation week. Six days of labour. And on the seventh day, He rested. At the time of creation, God had already set the management of human time on the week of seven days.
The seven-day week was not the invention of men. It was not instituted by the church. It did not come about because of parliament. Throughout the history of mankind, there were occasions whereby various nations tried different divisions of time. But all that did not work out. Why? Because at the very beginning of the world, God had already laid the seven days, six days of labour and one day of rest. God Himself set the pattern in Creation. And in setting the pattern, He instituted the Sabbath.
Remember in Exodus 16, we learned about the manna that came down from heaven. This was also before the giving of the Law. Through Moses, God set the rules on how the children of Israel ought to collect the manna. They must gather the manna every day, fresh every morning. If they tried to gather more, by the next day it would rot, stink, and breed worms. So, they had to do it every day.
But it is interesting that when it came to the seventh day, Moses said to the people, ‘You are not to gather anything because on the sixth day you are to gather twice as much manna, and God will preserve it’ (Exodus 16:5). Why was this specific command given? Because of the Sabbath. The children of Israel were familiar with the creation week. They were familiar with the collection of manna. So, they were commanded to remember the Sabbath.
How could they remember something unless they had heard about it before, right? So, they already knew about the Sabbath even before they arrived at Mount Sinai. So, for those people who believe that the Sabbath is only a Mosaic ceremonial law, they are greatly deceived. Even before Moses, the Sabbath was already instituted.
A moment ago, we just commented that the Sabbath would continue perpetually. Where does the Bible say so? Isaiah 66:22-23 says, “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord”.
“[One] new moon to another” is a reference to the monthly coming together in worship. And Isaiah the prophet said, ‘From one Sabbath to another they are going to come in worship’. So, the Sabbath will continue even beyond the Millennial Kingdom and onto the new heavens and the new earth where all the believers will live forever and ever. That is why we say it would be perpetual.
Now the next question is: ‘Why are we keeping the Sabbath Day on Sunday, the first day of the week according to the Jewish calendar, instead of Saturday’? Well, the resurrection of Christ has transformed the weekly Sabbath. It is no longer the seventh day, but the first day. It is no longer called the Sabbath Day, but the Lord’s Day. And it is no longer just remembering the creation of God, but to commemorate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Today, you and I keep the Christian Sabbath on Sunday because Christ had accomplished the greater redemption by dying for our sins on the cross. And on the third day, He rose again from the dead. B. B. Warfield, the theologian, said, ‘Christ took the Sabbath into the grave with Him, and He brought the Lord’s Day out of the grave on the resurrection morning’. That is the reason why the New Testament records all the significant events that happened on the first day of the week.
Let me briefly give you some examples. The Lord Jesus was risen on the first day of the week. He met His disciples on the first day of the week. When He poured out His Spirit at Pentecost, it was on the first day of the week. The New Testament church met on the first day of the week.
When Paul was at Troas, he went to church on the first day of the week. When he wrote to the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 16:2, he said, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come”. So, the Apostles had given to us a clear pattern that the New Testament church met on the first day of the week to worship God.
But, most importantly, Revelation 1:10 calls this special day, “[The] Lord’s day”. The Apostle John said, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last”. In the Old Testament, God calls the Sabbath, ‘[My]… day’ (Isaiah 58:13). And now He calls it, “[The] Lord’s day”.
There are only two things in the New Testament that are said to be the Lord’s: one is the Lord’s Table, and the other is the Lord’s Day. In other words, the Lord Jesus is putting His own stamp on the first day of the week — Sunday — as the Christian Sabbath. Today, we keep the Sabbath because it is permanent; it is still applicable to us. And we call it, ‘The Lord’s Day’.
II. It Is A Delight (Exodus 35:2a-3)
Our second point is it is a delight. Look at verse 2, “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death”. Notice the phrase “[six] days shall work be done” (Exodus 35:2a). This is one part of the commandment that has often been overlooked, and that is our duty to work. We always look at this command only as a command to rest, and we forget about our duty to work.
This commandment also includes honouring God by doing an honest week’s worth of work. You see, God is the Creator. And He governs our work as well as our rest. He has given us six days to fulfill our earthly duties and responsibilities. And He wants us to rest on the seventh day. Do you realise that having six days to work is a divine concession? And it is a sign of God’s grace. God could have demanded us to work every day, 24 hours a day. But instead, He wants us to rest on the seventh. He is a gracious God.
But many people look at the Sabbath as a cruel and burdensome day. We ought to admit that what the Pharisees had done to the Sabbath was burdensome. It was hypocritical. But that had nothing to do with God instituting the Sabbath day.
The Pharisees had added extra biblical laws onto the Sabbath. For example, a woman should never look into the mirror on the Sabbath day, lest she sees a gray hair and be tempted to pull it out. If she does, it is considered working on the Sabbath. A man should not spit on the ground on the Sabbath day, lest his saliva stirs up the soil, and it is considered plowing. Well, these were not the laws of the Sabbath. They were the extra biblical, man-made, foolish laws of the people.
The Sabbath that God giveth to us is a divine gift. It is not burdensome. It is a delight. The Hebrew word for Sabbath means to rest. God wants us to rest and be refreshed. If you have your Bibles, please turn with me to Exodus 31:17. The Bible says, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed”.
The Hebrew word for “refresh” is very interesting. It means to breathe or to take a breath. If you and I were to express it in our modern-day English, perhaps we would say to catch our breath. God has given us the Sabbath so that we would be able to stop and catch our breath.
There are so many reasons why people do not want to rest on the seventh day. ‘Well, the house needs repair. We are behind in our school assignments. We have a work project that is due. Or the company is paying double salary to work on Sundays’. And so forth.
In a sense, we are like running through life. We are dealing with all the busynesses of life. We are carrying the burdens of our earthly responsibilities. And after six days of hard work, our Heavenly Father who loves us, He says to us, ‘Stop, my son. Stop, my daughter. And catch your breath’. That is what it means to rest and be refreshed.
Why did God say, “Whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death”? Obviously, to disobey God’s commandment is a sin, and the consequence is death. The sting of death is sin. But remember, the children of Israel would enter the promised land, and they would be tempted to break the commandments of God.
To worship God on the Sabbath is essentially to put God first before anything else. And if they fail to do that then they can forget about keeping all the other commandments. If God is not in the first place in their lives, do you think they would consider keeping all the other commandments? Most certainly not. Therefore, some theologians believe that this is the reason why God would stress this serious consequence of the death penalty.
Verse 3, “Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations upon the sabbath day”. Some Orthodox Jews would take this verse and amplify it. They would say that even the usage of electricity or any form of power like motor vehicles are forbidden. It does not mean that we are not allowed even to light the fire to keep ourselves warm during winter time and freeze to death. They are focusing on the letter and forget about the spirit behind the letter. Here, the whole emphasis is about work. We are to rest and not work. That is the whole point.
But what about those people who are required to work on the Lord’s Day? The Westminster Larger Catechism says, ‘Except for the works of necessity and mercy’. That principle is based on the New Testament teachings. As Christians, we should not work on the Lord’s Day.
But God made provisions for the works of necessity — for example, doctors, nurses, policemen, soldiers, firemen, and so forth. The gynecologist cannot tell his patients, ‘Please do not go into labour on Sundays because I cannot be working on the Lord’s Day’. The fireman cannot say, ‘Whether it is bushfire or house fire, please do not call on Sundays because I cannot be working on the Lord’s Day’. Those are works of necessity.
God also made provisions for the works of mercy. For example, if a person is drowning, can you tell him that he must be left in the water until the Sabbath ends then rescue can come? Most certainly not. You try to save him immediately.
Our Lord Jesus performed many miracles on the Sabbath. He healed the sick, the lame, the deaf, dumb, and blind. He did not violate the Sabbath commandment. In fact, He was fulfilling the true purpose. And He said, “The sabbath was [not made for man, but man for the sabbath]: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath” (Mark 2:27-28). You and I should follow His example. Whenever we use the Lord’s Day to welcome the stranger, to open up our homes, to host visitors, to feed the poor, or to visit the sick, those are works of mercy.
God also made provisions for the works of service. For example, just like the priests in the Old Testament who continued to minister on the Sabbath, today we have pastors and ministers who are serving in the church on the Lord’s Day. All these people who are engaged in the works of necessity, mercy, and service, they should set aside another day of the week for rest, and for public and private worship.
III. It Is A Holy Day (Exodus 35:2b)
Our third and final point is it is a holy day. Notice the phrase “[it is] to you an holy day” (Exodus 35:2b). So, the Sabbath is not only a day of rest. We must also keep it holy. To keep the Sabbath Day holy is to sanctify it, to set it apart. Every day, we ought to worship God. But this is a special day set aside for the worship of God.
The Westminster Confession of Faith says, ‘We should make it our delight to spend the whole time in public and private exercises of God’s worship’. In other words, we keep the Sabbath Day holy by setting it apart for worship and for religious purposes. The Sabbath is not a time of laziness. Yes, it is to rest from work. But it is also a time of worship. That is why Leviticus 23:3 says, “The sabbath is a holy convocation”. A “convocation” is the gathering of God’s people as a holy assembly to worship.
The greatest example of someone worshipping on the Sabbath is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. On one occasion in the Gospel of Luke 4, Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day and it was His turn to read the Scriptures. And He turned to the Book of Isaiah and He began to read it. And all the people were amazed.
Take a moment and consider this: ‘If the eternal Son of God entered into the synagogue on the Sabbath Day to worship, are we better than Him that you and I be found outside the church on the Lord’s Day’? May the Lord forgive us and have mercy on us.
So, the Lord’s Day is for worship. It is a day for attending worship services, for singing hymns, for prayers, for enjoying fellowship with God’s people, for catching up on our Bible reading, for honoring God with our tithes and offerings, for attending to spiritual things.
If I may add this, in order for you and I to worship well, we must be prepared. Keeping the Lord’s Day holy also means getting ready the night before. Listen to the words of the Puritan Thomas Watson as he described the preparation of the heart for the Lord’s Day worship.
This is what he said, ‘When Saturday evening approaches, sound a retreat, call your minds off from the world, and summon your thoughts together to think of the great work of the approaching day. Evening preparation will be like the tuning of an instrument. It will fit the heart better for the duties of the Lord’s Day. And on the Lord’s Day, we are refreshed to worship God by prayer and the ministry of the Word, by singing His praises and presenting our offerings to Him, by celebrating the sacraments, and sharing Christian fellowship’.
And I love this part whereby he ends by saying this, ‘The result is that the heart which was frozen throughout the week on the Sabbath melts with the Word’. Dear friend, how are you preparing for the Lord’s Day the night before? Are you watching the movie late into the night, playing computer games, chatting with your friends till midnight, surfing the internet, partying in celebration, and then rushing into the church early the next morning? That is not right.
There are endless questions that many Christians have asked about what they can and cannot do on the Sabbath. Can I play golf? Can I watch television? Can I catch up on my studies or my work? All these questions are easy to answer when you and I have learned to find delight in the worship of God. When you and I understand that the greatest pleasure is to fellowship with the one living and true God. But the real struggle is when we ask these questions looking for excuses and reasons to do our own things. Then we have missed the whole point of this commandment.
There was a story of a man who was approached by a beggar on the street. The man reached out into his pocket to see what he could give. Finding $7, feeling pity for the beggar, he held out the $6 and said, ‘Here, this is for you’. Not only did the beggar take the $6, with his other hand, he struck his benefactor on the face and grabbed the seventh dollar.
What do you think of the beggar? Don’t you think he was a wretched fella? Then what do you think of the sinner saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, but yet insist on taking seven days a week for himself? What about a sinner who refused to come to church to worship on the Lord’s Day, the day that Jesus calls, ‘It is my day’?
Conclusion
The only way we can avoid this sin is to remember the Sabbath. And for us, it is the Christian Sabbath, the Lord’s Day. It is permanent, and it is still applicable to us today, and it will be perpetual. It will continue even in the new heavens and the new earth. It is a delight, not a burden. God gave us this gift that you and I may rest and catch our breath and be refreshed. It is a holy day, not a holiday. A day whereby we have set aside for the purpose of worship and for spiritual services unto the One Living and True God. This is the importance of keeping the Christian Sabbath.
Closing Prayer
Let us pray. Our Father in Heaven, indeed, once again we are just like the children of Israel. We have to be reminded of the importance of keeping the Lord’s Day because we always forget. Indeed, Thou has reminded us once again of this great importance. If Thou are not placed as the president of our lives, if Thou are not the first before anything else, how are we able to keep all the other commandments? Thou must always be the president of our lives. And we want to worship Thee on the Lord’s Day, the day our Lord Jesus was risen from the dead.
Thou has reminded us that it is permanent. Indeed, it will continue, and it is perpetual. Even unto the new heavens and the new earth, as Isaiah the prophet said, from one Sabbath to another, all of us will come before Thee to worship. It is truly a delight and not a burden. Indeed, we cannot understand why some people would say it is burdensome. For it is a day that Thou has called us to rest, to stop in our earthly duties and responsibilities, to catch our breath and be refreshed.
Though it is a day of rest, but it is not a holiday, but a holy day. It is a day, we want to sanctify it and set it apart unto Thee. Every day we ought to worship Thee. But this is a special day that Thou has set aside for all Thy people to worship Thee in spirit and in truth, and we want to keep it holy. O Lord, remind us, for as humans we always forget. Forgive us if there are times whereby we have not kept the Lord’s Day holy. Turn our hearts back unto Thee so that all Thy people will remember the Lord’s Day to keep it holy and acceptable in Thy sight. We pray all this in Jesus’ name. Amen.