A Day Of Rest Series

INTRODUCTION

• How many of us have wished for more hours in the day? We think if we have more time we could get more done! More hours in the day would just make for a more hectic day for most of us.

• How many of us feel like our batteries are about to run down? Our lives seem to be more hectic than ever. With the advent of technology for many people even the commute to work is no longer a time to relax. You see people all the time on their cell phones many are conducting business. Laptop computers running in the front seat of the car so a person can do more work on the way to work. You think maybe you can go out for a relaxing evening at the restaurant. Next thing you know the cell phones are ringing everywhere!

• We live a fast paced life today. Many people are too busy to even commit to coming to church. Maybe we need a day of rest.

• When we run this fast pace we lose sight of how precious time really is. A watch company once ran an ad that said, “THERE’S NO PRESENT LIKE THE TIME.”

• It usually takes a death, fear of some terminal disease, or some other tragedy for us to recognize how precious time is.

• Today we are going to look at the Fourth Commandment. It is going to deal with the issue of the Sabbath.

• Kay White, Auburn, CA in an article in Today’s Christian Woman called "Heart to Heart." Said, “One morning, my four young children and I were reviewing what God did on each of the seven days of creation. When we got to the seventh day, my youngest raised his hand frantically and yelled, "I know, Mom. I know. On the seventh day, God got arrested!"

• There is a lot of misunderstanding concerning the Fourth Commandment. Today we are going to look at what it meant to keep the Sabbath holy. We will see how man perverted the command and finally, what it means today.

• Let’s turn to Exodus 20:8-11

SERMON

I. GOD’S COMMAND

1. What is the Sabbath?

• The word “Sabbath” in the original Hebrew means, “to desist”, “cease” or “to rest”.

• God is telling the Jews they are to remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. We will cover this more in a couple of minutes.

• Literally God is commanding a day of rest in which man was cease his secular labor and keep the day holy to God.

• The Sabbath was celebrated from sundown Friday night to sundown Saturday night. Literally the seventh day.

• In verses 9-10 we are told how we are to carry out God’s command. READ

• God told the Israelites they were to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy by taking a day off the normal routine. We keep it holy by focusing our day on God. It was a time in which God wanted us to take time out and remember Him.

• Even during the wandering in the wilderness when God provided manna from heaven for the people, they were only to take what they needed for the day except on Friday when they were to collect enough for two days so they would not have to collect on the Sabbath. (Exodus 16:1-30)

2. The “Genesis” of the Sabbath Concept.

• In verse 11 God explains why the seventh day is to be special. He said He created everything in six days and rested on the seventh.

• We see this in Genesis 2:2-3. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

• There is no distinct mention of the Sabbath in Gen, though a 7-day period is referred to several times (Gen 7:4, 10; 8:10, 12; 29:27 f). From Adam to Joseph there is no mention of the Sabbath. The first express mention of the Sabbath is found in Ex 16:21-30, in connection with the giving of the manna.

• In the Deuteronomy 5 account of the Ten Commandments, God gives us another reason for the Sabbath observance. Deuteronomy 5:15 says, ’You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

3. The scope of the Sabbath.

• Who was to observe the Sabbath? Verse ten gives us the scope of the command. You, your sons or your daughters, your male or female servants your animals or people who are visiting with you (sojourners).