THE LORD’S DAY
The Lord’s Day: —
Text: Mark 2:27-28
Intro:
Labor is God’s appointment.
His wholesome and needful law.
But did He mean us to bear the drudgery of ceaseless toil?
How wretched, how degrading, how brutalizing! And God
has not appointed it: “Six days shalt thou labour.”
Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath: —
Nothing can show the Divine
nature of our Lord more clearly than
His ability to modify a law of God.
He modifies and relaxes it, changes it at His pleasure.
He exercised but a small part of this authority when He freed
His disciples from the yoke of its burdensome pharisaic observance.
He exercised His lordship over the day
far more royally when He by
His Spirit made the day of His
resurrection the weekly religious festival
of His Church.
By this He gave it altogether a new character. Henceforth it is a day,
not of mere rest, but of renewed life, the life of His own resurrection;
and so its characteristic ordinance is not the slaying of beasts,
but the life-giving celebration of the sacrament of His own risen body.
Theme:
The Sabbath was made for man: —
I. As a temporary delay from the curse of labor.
II. As a stated season for attention to religious truths and interests.
III. As a day of holy assembly for the purpose of worship and
instruction.
IV. As an emblem and a foreshadowing of the saints’ everlasting rest.
A Gift
A Freedom
A Rest
A Benediction
A Help
I. The Lord’s day must be considered AS A GIFT,
RATHER THAN A COMMAND.
A. So it will come to us in the form of a privilege.
B. God gives us this one day of the week as His special
offering for our bodily and spiritual needs.
C. He does not order it nor claim it for any necessities of His
own.
II. We must consider the Lord’s day AS A FREEDOM.
A. not a RESTRICTION
B. It ( The Lord’s day ) should seem to us gracious
respite, rest, and relief.
III. This leads us on to say that Christians should
consider the Lord’s day as a REST
A. rather than a self-indulging time.
B. a time of recuperation to us
1. The original idea of the Sabbath was rest.
2. The word signifies rest.
3. The fourth commandment
(Exodus 20:8 (KJV) Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.)
gives as the basis of the law
4. The fact that God rested and so hallowed the rest day.
C. We come up to the end of the week worn and exausted.
Illu: A poet (Cowper) wrote to his friend (John Newton):
“The meshes of that fine network the brain are composed
of such mere spiders’ threads in me, that
when a long thought finds its way into them, it buzzes,
and twangs, and bustles about, at such a rate as seems
to threaten the whole structure.”
1. At these times we need tranquil hours for change of
occupation, as well as for gracious and agreeable entertainment.
2. Dr. Addison Alexander used to say he
found his recreation in change of toil.
He would go from the study of
languages to the study of mathematics.
He would turn from writing commentaries to writing sermons.
He would discuss theology, and refresh
himself after his dry work by composing little poems for children.
3. We could benefit from the use of this principle.
D. What is needed for Sunday rest
1. is not so much sleep as something to do different
from what we do during the week.
2. What we should shun is this wear and tear of
so much going to and fro.
3. A real rest is found in variety of labor.
4. Quiet does not mean stupid slumber on the Lord’s
day, or on any other.
5. The best relief from worldly cares is discovered
often in the gentle industries of religious work.
IV. Consider the Lord’s day as a BENEDICTION
A. Benediction = promoting of goodness & well-being
B. No FRET, irritation, or aggravation.
C. This consideration rebuts the charge of bigotry
( hypocritically making much of one’s own opinions) .
1. It is sometimes claimed that Sabbath laws exasperate/irritate
men who make no claim to religion,
2. and this is a free country.
D. Always some who grow tense whenever the
subject of law is mentioned.
1. But liberty is not licence,
2. Liberty is not freedom lawlessness.
E. This one day in seven is no less a blessing
because some men do not think so.
1. It is not a fret because they are fretted.
2. Even decent people have some rights.
F. God does not begin to commune with His children,
1. and then expect them to allow the interview to be disturbed
by the rollicking riot of business as usual
2. by doing any and everything but restfully worship Him
V. The Lord’s day is better thought of as a HELP rather than an
institution, tradition, or habit.
A. “The Sabbath was made for man."
B. The human frame is not made to bear up
under constant labor without rest.
1. He can no more do it than he can live under water
2. It is contrary to nature.
3. The consequence will be premature decay.
4. The frame will break down and wear out before its time.
Conclusion:
If one give six days to worldly success, and
then takes the seventh day, which God demands for His worship
and special service, and give that to worldly amusements, then
he is wrong.
Dr. Talmage illustrates, "If I am a poor man, and I come into your
store, and beg some socks for my children, and you say,
’Yes, I’ll give you six pairs of socks,’ and while you are binding
them up in a bundle I steal the seventh pair, you say, ’That is mean.’
If you, the father, have seven oranges, and you give to your child six
of them, and he steals the seventh,that is mean.
But that is what everyone does who, after the Lord gives him
six days, steals the seventh."
Speaking positively, When the Lord’s day is handled
in the Lord’s way the blessings are more abundant.
They are a better quality. There is no fearful looking
for judgement ( Heb. 10:27 ).
