Reserving A Day For God Series

SERMON SERIES:"THE TEN COMMANDMENTS"

SERMON #04: REMEMBERING THE SABBATH DAY

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE: EXODUS 20:8 "REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY TO KEEP IT HOLY. SIX DAYS SHALT THOU LABOR AND DO ALL THY WORK, BUT THE SEVENTH DAY IS THE SABBATH OF THE LORD THY GOD. IN IT THOU SHALT NOT DO ANY WORK, THOU,NOR THY SON, NOR THY DAUGHTER, THY MANSERVANT, NOR THY MAIDSERVANT, NOR THY CATTLE, NOR THY STRANGER THAT IS WITHIN THY GATES. FOR IN SIX DAYS THE LORD MADE HEAVEN AND EARTH, THE SEA AND ALL THAT IS WITHIN THEM, AND RESTED THE SEVENTH DAY: WHEREFORE THE LORD BLESSED THE SABBATH DAY AND HALLOWED IT."

INTRODUCTION:

THIS 4TH COMMANDMENT ---WOULD BE THE LAST COMMANDMENT WRITTEN UPON THE 1ST OF THE TWO TABLETS OF STONE MOSES BROUGHT DOWN FROM MOUNT SINAI. THESE COMMANDMENTS HAD BEEN SPOKEN DIRECTLY FROM GOD’S VOICE WHEN THE ISREALITES WERE UPON THEIR 50TH DAY OF LEAVING THE BONDAGE OF EGYPT. THEY HAD BEEN IN EGYPT’S BONDAGE FOR 430 YEARS AND MANY OF THEM HAD TAKEN ON THE BELIEFS OF THE EGYPTIANS AND KNEW VERY LITTLE IF ANYTHING OF THE ONE TRUE GOD, JEHOVAH, THE GOD OF THEIR FOREFATHER ABRAHAM, ISSAC AND JACOB. THE ISRAELITES WERE A PEOPLE OF DIVINE PROMISE AND COVENANT YET THEY DID NOT KNOW THE GOD WHO WAS SOLELY RESPONSIBLE FOR THEIR EXISTANCE. SO IN THESE 10 COMMANDMENTS GOD IS INTRODUCING HIMESLF AND HOW HE WANTS HIS PEOPLE TO LIVE FOR HIM.

THIS 1ST TABLET OF COMMANDMENTS --- ALL FOUR OF THEM --- DEAL WE THE WAY WE ARE TO HONOR, RESPECT AND WORSHIP GOD. THEY FORM THE FOUNDATION OF HOW WE LIVE OUR DAILY LIVES KNOWING THAT IN ALL WE DO, GOD IS LOOKING ON.

THIS 4TH COMMANDMENT IS OFT TIMES REFERRED TO AS "THE FORGOTTEN COMMANDMENT" ---- BECAUSE SO MANY PEOPLE DO NOT GIVE THIS COMMANDMENT --- THE WEIGHT AND THE PRIORITY --- THEY GIVE TO SOME OF THE OTHER COMMANDMENTS. WHEN THEY DISOBEY IT -- THEY DO NOT FEEL AS BAD AS IF THEY HAD DISOBEYED SOME OF THE OTHER COMMANDMENTS. THERE IS NO GUILT OR CONDEMNATION. TO THEM IT IS NO BIG THING!

NO BIG THING!

YET, ACCORDING TO THE AUTHOR OF THESE COMMANDMENTS, GOD, THERE ARE NO GREATER OR LESSER COMMANDMENTS. THEY EACH ONE HOLD THE SAME WEIGHT AND SACREDNESS. AND WE ARE TO REMEMBER ALSO, THAT ALL 10 OF THESE COMMANDMENTS ARE EXACTLY THAT --- "COMMANDMENTS" THEY ARE NOT 10 SUGGESTIONS FROM GOD --- OR --- 10 OPTIONS FROM GOD --- THEY ARE "COMMANDMENTS" --- AND A COMMAND IS SOMETHING THAT WE ARE "REQUIRED" TO DO ---REGARDLESS OF HOW WE FEEL BAD ABOUT IT!

THE WAY WE FEEL ABOUT THE COMMAND HAS ABSOULTELY NO BEARING UPON OUR OBEDIENCE TO IT --- TRUE WE SHOULD FEEL BAD TO DO WHAT GOD SAID NOT TO DO --- HOWEVER ---IF GOD SAID TO DO -- OR NOT TO DO IT --- THAT IS ABSOLUTE REASON ENOUGH!

HOW SERIOUS DOES GOD VIEW THIS COMMANDMENT?

WHEN YOU SEE HOW SERIOUS GOD IS ABOUT THIS 4TH COMMANDMENT IT MIGHT HELP US TO SEE HOW SERIOUSLY WE ARE TO FEEL ABOUT IT ALSO.

IN THE BOOK OF NUMBERS A MAN WAS CAUGHT IN DISOBEDIENCE TO THIS COMMANDMENT. LET’S LOOK AT IT.

NUMBERS 15: 32-36 " AND WHILE THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL WERE IN THE WILDERNESS, THEY FOUND A MAN THAT GATHERED STICKS ON THE SABBATH DAY, AND THEY THAT FOUND HIM GATHERING STICKS BROUGHT HIM UNTO MOSES AND AARON AND UNTO ALL THE CONGREATION AND THEY PUT HIM INWARD, BECAUSE IT WAS NOT DECLARED WHAT SHOULD BE DONE TO HIM. AND THE LORD SAID TO MOSES, THE MAN SHALL BE SURELY PUT TO DEATH; AAND ALL THE CONGREGATION SHALL STONE HIM WITH STONES WITHOUT THE CAMP. AND ALL THE CONGREGATION BROUGHT HIM WITHOUT THE CAMP AND STONED HIM WITH STONES, AND HE DIED AS THE LORD COMMANDED MOSES."

THIS WAS THE VERY SAME PUNISHMENT RESERVED FOR THOSE WHO COMMITTED ADULTERY AND FOR THOSE WHO COMMITTED MURDER. THIS MAY PERHAPS SEEM VERY SEVERE TO US --- BUT GOD MADE AN EXAMPLE OUT OF THIS MAN. IF GOD ALLOWED HIM TO GO FREE OR WITH A MUCH LESSER PUNISHMENT, BEFORE VERY LONG, PEOPLE WOULD GO ABOUT CONSIDERING THE SABBATH DAY NO MORE THAN ANY OTHER DAY. IT WOULD LOSE IT SACREDNESS IN THEIR LIVES AND IT WOULD BECOME A DAY LIKE IT IS TODAY. AND GOD DID NOT WANT THAT.

THIS MORNING I’D LIKE TO BREIFLY GIVE US 6 REASONS WHY GOD GAVE US THE SABBATH DAY. JESUS TOLD US THAT WE WERE NOT MADE FOR THE SABBATH BUT RATHER THE SABBATH WAS MADE FOR US. IF WE WILL HONOR THIS DAY IT WILL ENRICH OUR LIVES AND BLESS US! IT IS MADE TO BE A BLESSING TO US!

REASON #1:

TO GIVE REST TO OUR BODIES: