July 19, 2019 Show with William F. Hill, Jr. on “Observing the Christian Sabbath Without Becoming a Legalist (Part 2)

Live from the historic parsonage of the 19th century gospel minister George Norcross in downtown

Carlisle, Pennsylvania, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs chapter 27 verse 17 tells us iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours and we hope to hear from you the listener with your own questions and now here's your host

Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arnzen your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio wishing you all a happy Friday on this swelteringly dangerously hot day in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, July 19th, 2019, and I am very happy to have back as a returning guest

William F. Hill Jr., former host of the Confessing Our Hope podcast of the

Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary in Taylors, South Carolina, and he is currently the pastor of the

Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Newport, Tennessee, which is a member of the

Presbyterian Church in America denomination and from what I understand is the only reformed congregation in that Newport, Tennessee, area and today we are going to address an issue you know when

I have William Hill or as I call him Bill at his request when

I have him on the program we typically try to pick a non -controversial area to discuss so we're going to be having another non -controversial discussion on observing the

Christian Sabbath without becoming a legalist. This is part two of a conversation we began a number of weeks ago and it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, Bill Hill.

Hey Chris it's good to be with you again. Yeah amen and for our listeners who did not hear you the last time or perhaps they did but they forgot the details about Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Newport, Tennessee why don't you tell us a little bit more about that congregation.

Sure be glad to. As Chris has already said we are a congregation in the

Presbyterian Church in America that is not to be confused with the Presbyterian Church USA.

The Presbyterian Church in America is what you would describe or categorize as a conservative denomination of connected churches all across the country into Canada and with other partnering churches across the world so we're connected to one another by virtue of our common faith and doctrine.

We're a small church we reside in a county of about 25 ,000 people in Newport and in the county seat of Newport, Tennessee and we are a very conservative church which means we practice and adhere to the ordinary means of grace which means that we preach the word and we don't make any apology for that that is at the center of our worship services.

We pray together as a congregation both corporately and privately and then we administer the sacraments so we're simple there's not a lot of craziness if that's the right word.

It goes on on Sunday mornings and Sunday evening and we get together on Wednesday nights as well for prayer meeting and Bible study at six o 'clock at the church so for those who may be visiting this area it's a very attractive area.

Many people visit on vacation at the Gatlinburg Pigeon Forge Sevierville area of Tennessee.

We are located in Newport which is about 45 minutes away from that area and as Chris mentioned we are the only reformed congregation within 45 minutes in any direction in this area so we are in a unique situation that's a great opportunity for us to minister the gospel to a community that so desperately needs to hear it.

And your website is fellowship -pca for Presbyterian Church in America dot org fellowship -pca dot org.

That's correct. And is Dollywood still an attraction out there? Are people still going in mass in droves to Dollywood?

I don't know about in mass and droves I suppose they are but yes it's still there and it's pretty heavily attended so I guess yes in mass and droves sure okay.

I've never been there but you know how that is you know I go on vacation I don't go on vacation I'm right back there. Well let's pray that Dolly Parton visits your congregation someday and maybe she'll bring a whole crowd with her.

That would be something. Well I don't know her heart she claims to be a

Christian and I know that everybody that is born and raised in the bible belt does but but sometimes

I sometimes I believe her but I don't really know. But anyway well we are discussing as I said

I was saying tongue -in -cheek that it's not a controversial issue but obviously it is observing the

Christian sabbath without becoming a legalist part two and you know

I want to get something off my chest I'm having a I'm having regular interaction with some brothers

I won't mention their names because it involves their church and it kind of is a segue into this subject.

They're very very upset with their elders because the elders no longer want to celebrate

Christmas and Easter in the church. They're not prohibiting people from celebrating those things in their own homes and in their own lives but they don't want to celebrate it anymore because they believe that it is a violation of the regulative principle they believe that they should not be incorporating things that are not commanded in the word of God in their worship and that they also would say you know that it has connections with Roman Catholicism it has connections even before then with paganism so they the elders prefer not to observe those holidays and these friends of mine who are

Presbyterians are very upset but I have reminded them you called those men to be your shepherds in your congregation you you called them to be your leaders and you're not supposed to submit to them just when you are happy with the direction they go and of course unless they're teaching heresy unless they're blaspheming unless they're living a moral lives of course we know those things you are going to discipline and perhaps even excommunicate an elder or a pastor which

I believe in the same office by the way but um uh I constantly remind them since those holidays as much as we may love them are not commanded in the in the scripture uh in fact it would be a violation of scripture to bind those holidays on people's consciences because they're foreign to the bible uh don't you think that these brethren since they are not congregationalists by polity they are

Presbyterian in fact they're very dyed in the wool uh die hard uh

Presbyterians uh shouldn't they just say well we can worship well we can celebrate

Christmas and Easter in our own homes and we should be submitting to what the elders have to say about this because they're the ones that are giving an account for the souls of those in the flock not us so what do you think well first I think

I know who you're talking about second because I've had the same conversation if we are talking about the mutual so I'm familiar with the situation you are right

Chris I think there's there's a sense in which um when members do call their elders uh to shepherd them to make decisions for the congregation when it comes to practice and process and other matters um the congregation unless asked to send uh clearly is to submit to the to the direction of the elders they make these decisions if they're doing their job correctly they're making these decisions awful through much prayer and seeking wisdom of the lord and the scriptures and they're not doing it individually they're doing it as a collective body which brings debate and discussion and lots of um back and forth challenging each other's views and um so when a session arrives at whatever decision it may be it may not be something as as as earth -shattering as it were as Easter Christmas um it could be something as simple as changing the color of the carpet to something that's really gaudy uh you know the membership should submit to that even though they may not like it very much um however uh with that said members are not um they're not forced to sit on their hands in situations such as the one you just described if they do have a legitimate complaint or concern they are not to gossip among themselves stir cause trouble that's an abomination before the lord that's proverbs 6 it's uh it's in the same classification as how the lord sees the practice of homosexuality he uh he hates discord in the congregation uh so much so that he calls it an abomination so members should uh in exercising their submission they should respectfully request a meeting with their elders request a meeting uh to talk with them talk through it and understand understand their mind in this matter and if they don't agree and it's not a sinful issue then the members should remember their membership vows to submit to the government of the church to seek to maintain its purity and peace and accept the decision of the elders um and so far too often when these things happen uh individuals they take their toys they go home or they stay and they cause trouble which creates great difficulty uh for their god -given leaders and um it harms the church um but now uh speaking you know specifically to the easter christmas thing um i can only tell you what we do here i do not uh we do not incorporate in a formal manner uh christmas uh holidays uh easter you name it um as you said this does segue into our discussion about the lord's day i believe that we have 52 holidays every year and it is the lord's day um those are extra biblical holidays that uh i don't personally bind the conscience of any human being who wants to practice and celebrate christmas in their own tradition um i as a husband and a father we did not but that does not uh mean that i insist that they do it my way that's a conscience issue and i leave it to them they want to know why i don't i explain it but um i don't take the argument that it's a roman catholic holiday all the circumstances then we must just get rid of our calendars too because they're roman and so you know we have to be careful how far we push this um the bottom line is is that well i'm sure that you would even agree that comes into play sometime i don't foresee you uh celebrating ash wednesday no not at all but i will i will say i will say that there are pca churches that do and it distorts me greatly uh that they do do that and um however we don't now with all that said i i take the advice the advice of the good doctor martin lloyd jones who said that on those two particular days of the year there are likely to be people in your church that have never darkened the door of a church or only darken the door of the church two days a year and so it's a golden opportunity to present the gospel in a very clear manner to interrupt the series of sermons that i may be preaching and focus in on what everybody's thinking about anyway and use that as opportunity to present a clear gospel presentation to those who might not have ever heard it and so i do do that but we don't uh but we don't dress up the church and we don't you know we don't create we don't make it a unique situation we it's business as usual except the sermon may be focused on the the on the incarnation uh and the sermon may be focused on the resurrection of course you and i both know and again you're right it does segue into this you know the resurrection is celebrated every week in the church it's precisely why we worship on the lord's day it's why we worship on sunday because we're celebrating uh the newness of life that christ christ brought in his conquering of death in his being raised from the and so um so no we don't and uh do that but again i think that the the big issue here is that membership in the church is a role of submission and if you do have concerns you are to go talk to your elders you're not to create trouble and it happens far too often churches split over issues like this when it's not when the membership does not do their job does not do what they're responsible to do before the lord now they they took those vows they didn't take them under duress um they were probably explained to them what they mean if they do it the way i do it i explain every vow very carefully and uh and i even give illustrations such as this that if you have concerns about what your elders are doing your responsibility is to come talk to me come talk to your elders we may not agree if it's not a sinful issue you have to you need to submit to that um the same thing could be said uh applied in in the case of marriage you know my wife is is called to the lord to submit to me but she only submits to me when i'm as she submits to the law as i submit to the lord which means of course that if i'm not asking her to do something that she can do uh because it would be sin uh she would have listened to me i'm not leading her correctly but sometimes we disagree thankfully in 31 years of marriage it hasn't happened very often but sometimes it does and someone's got to make a decision and so it usually ends up being me and i gotta tell you most time i'm wrong i ain't surprised no i've learned in 31 years with my wife and uh you know she has insight in ways that i don't and um but but the point is that she doesn't then after the decision is made she doesn't browbeat me she doesn't nag me half to death she doesn't mope around the house she supports the decision uh though she may not agree she doesn't needle me uh and then if she ends up being right she doesn't say i told you so uh you know that's not that's not submission so the same thing applies in the church and it does it grieves me to hear of churches that do that i've been through that kind of a situation in my own context uh where many of the issues that were where it became issues didn't have to become issues uh had they followed their responsibility to to address the session in a humble respectful manner um elders are not perfect men they fail they make mistakes they don't always make the best decisions they do the best they can before the lord but sometimes uh they not they blow it and that's simply because we are fallible people uh and that's why i'm convinced the new testament model is a plurality of elders uh and the greek term there is prospero it's plural there's no question it's plural and so there should be a in the church who deliberate over these matters because they affect the body and you want to do it in a way that's pleasing to the lord and in a way that's pastoral uh to the congregation as well so um there you go that's my answer yeah and uh i not to go too far afield of what we're talking about today the sabbath but i just cannot help but remembering the church where i was saved uh it was a reformed baptist church that was continuing to become more and more reformed and became confessional while i was there and one thing that they did they felt uncomfortable having the cross on the wall behind the pulpit and uh so they felt that especially visitors who are roman catholic would uh view this as an idol uh and in fact we knew that there were be roman catholic visitors who would visit uh their families and so on who are were members and we would see people genuflecting and crossing themselves looking at that cross and uh i know that reformed people disagree over this in fact the church where i'm a member now does have a cross but uh there was an uproar when the elders chose to take the cross down and the thing that made me realize the necessity of taking that cross down was the anger from taking the cross down because it showed me it was an idol unconsciously to people who are members of the church it when it boils down to it that is a decoration there's nothing supernatural about that object that's hanging on the wall it's it's a very meaningful decoration it symbolizes something and of course if the elders said we want to take the cross down because we want to uh be non -offensive to the non -christians that visit that'd be a different story uh that's not the reason they did it though but you see where i'm coming from yeah i know i i do uh you know that's probably a conversation for another day as far as my view on that i i'm not i wouldn't die in that hill if a church called me uh if this church called me and there was a crossing on the wall it wouldn't be a deal breaker i would probably move to take it down for a number of reasons none of which you mentioned uh but the fact that people do get hung up on these these things uh in my opinion at least as a man who pastors people who find their comfort and hope in something they're holding and something that they're looking at on a wall um instead of their hope in christ and in the only thing he's given to us to hold to taste to smell to touch and that's the sacrament uh i have i it concerns me and so um you're right by virtue of the fact that people reacted so strongly means that they it was a third rail in their lives and oftentimes we don't know what our idols are in the right sense of the word we don't know what they are until they're removed and how much that affects us emotionally and mentally we don't realize how much dependence and weight we were putting into something like that and everything can be that calvin himself said that we are mere idol factories we make idols out of everything and i'm sure i have them um i'm a technology junkie i love gadgets i would not doubt in a minute if that was it would be a hang -up for me if i were to suddenly lose all of my technology and all my gadgets why would that cause me such consternation um however um you know i leave that to the conscience of other people i think we have a cross on the front of the pulpit here um it's very inconspicuous um but with that said again it just goes back to the same issue and if the elders have made a decision clearly publicly based decision and with reason it's not just a willy nilly thing it's not a it's not a knee -jerk reaction to uh circumstances that they believe before the lord that the scriptures teach that these things ought not be uh be in front of the people then again you know you're back to the same situation if people have a hard time with that they they should talk with their elders i don't this is not brothers and sisters who are listening to this and you may be in a situation like this please for the peace of the church sit down with your brothers sit down with your elders and talk with them about your concerns don't talk to your neighbor they can't solve it your elders can't they you may enlighten them you may even be smarter than they are i don't know but that's the men to whom you need to talk with that your neighbor sitting in the pew is not to get in a position to do anything about the circumstance nothing all it does is create trouble in the church it shows discord god hates it and if i if i that's the only thing i said today and people said you know what i've been doing that and i really need to repent of that and i need to deal with this the right way then this program today was worth it amen well now let's launch back into uh what is going to be part two of observing the christian sabbath without becoming a legalist and by the way if you have a question on the sabbath our email address is chris arnson at gmail .com

chris arnson at gmail .com i think it would be at least in uh summary form to just go over what you mean by the christian sabbath there may be evangelical listening listeners who uh go to non -sabbatarian churches and they are scratching their head and they're like what the christian sabbath i thought that was a jewish thing i don't even know what they're talking about so give us a summary of what you mean by the christian sabbath yeah hopefully i'll give a summary of what the scriptures teach on the subject and the issue and this is somewhat of a review of what we did last time but the issue centers around the question of its its induction into into our lives we know from genesis one that god made heaven and earth the sea and all that is in them in the space of six days and all very good on the sixth day god made man genesis 127 god breathed in the man the breath of life they became a living soul and on the seventh day god rested now on that seventh day genesis 2 verses 1 to 3 there's a distinction made of the seventh day over against the other six and the six days god called good very good all that he had made was very good but the seventh day doesn't get that designation it gets the designation of holy set apart unique and different and what's interesting about where the seventh day is of course it comes after the sixth day i realize duh you know how smart you have to be to know that but the point is is that in each of the six days of creation you have evening and morning was the first day evening and morning it was the second day and so on you get to the seventh day and that is conspicuously absent in the expression of god setting apart the day as holy and he blessed it and made it holy the point is is that man made on the sixth day was made to worship and worship itself never comes to an end is our sole function in life as people every creature made in the image of god every human being male and female by the way no confusion male or female were made to worship and enjoy god forever now of course we know what happened sin came into the world and corrupted us and we sought our own way did our own thing but but prior to sin entering into the world god created a unique day where man could could could in a in a corporate expression in a private expression set apart a particular day for god's worship to enjoy his presence in snapshot form and picture of what we would enjoy for all of eternity so because there's no evening and morning on the seventh day we know that that's a picture of ultimately the new heavens of the new earth that is the fulfillment of the eternal worship and rest that we will have hebrews for but in the meantime in our simple state our fallen states god has designated for us for us a day in which we can enjoy his presence his people his fellowship his worship in a way that we simply cannot do because of the corruption of sin because of the corruption of this world our fallen nature that has to slave and work and rot and and and pull and tug for our daily bread six other days god has given us this day by which we can rest by which we can fellowship and worship him it's all pictured before the fall it's all given to us before sin even comes in the world so god their institutes inform the fourth commandment it was written upon the heart of adam and eve and upon every man and in fact the sabbath was practiced long before it was ever inscripturated on stone when we get to exodus 20 and we have the specifics of the command remember the sabbath day keep it holy six days you shall labor i'm not going to continue quoting the verses exodus 20 is the fourth commandment it's also repeated in deuteronomy 5 to the new generation of of the people of god before they entered into into the promised land which again is a picture of our eternal rest so now fast forward into the history of israel the the the old testament church fast forward into their lives we we see that they violated god's laws they departed from his ways they were judged they were disciplined by the lord and they were primarily disciplined under two headings first and obviously if i were asking a classroom which heading would you guess was the main sin of the people of god they would say idolatry and they would be right what people often forget and and miss is that the violation of the fourth commandment was the other issue they were profaning his sabbath they were profaning his holy day and they were doing what they wanted to do on his holy day and so isaiah 58 speaks to this very clearly and and and implores the people of god to delight in his day and if they delight in his day he will bless them as he blessed his fathers their fathers jacob abraham isaac and jacob we move into the new testament the prevailing argument is that it's not repeated in the new testament however that is not a true statement um in many cases uh jesus was confronted with this question by the pharisees who were seeking to trap him had jesus determined to abrogate or or bind over into cessation the fourth commandment he had plenty of opportunity to do so during his earthly ministry however he did not do that instead he explained the purpose of the sabbath and its means and its means and use for us today as an act as an acts of mercy and an acts of necessity and so uh policemen firemen those kinds of individuals that have jobs that minister to the community uh that are necessary for the for society to function are valid jobs and and lawful as it were on the lord's day we move forward into hebrews uh hebrews four again speaks of a sabbath rust that still awaits the people of god we know that to be the ultimate rest of the new heavens and the new earth but but right now we live in the already and not yet time of our existence we're we're now waiting for the return of the lord will bring us where he is and we will rest with him for all eternity but for now he's given us this day the first day of the week by virtue of his resurrection which signifies the rest that we've been given because death no longer dominates us we are no longer afraid of it we now have joy in the fact that death has been conquered sin has been thrown has been overthrown the dominion of sin has now been replaced the spirit of god now dwells in his people and we rust with him on this snapshot day this one day by which we can enjoy that very truth uh every week and so there's your summary of the lord's day great and uh i am going to forward you uh our first question because actually it's a series of questions and since it's such a long email uh it's not very long but it's longer than a normal question that comes in uh i want you to have that in front of you when we return or should i say during our station break that we are entering into right now so that you can mull that over while we are on our break and uh i invite everybody else who's listening if you have a question of your own our question is or should i say your email is chris arnzen at gmail .com

chris arnzen at gmail .com c -h -r -i -s -a -r -n -z -e and gmail .com

please as always give us your first name your city and state and your country of residence if you live outside the usa please only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter let's say you disagree with your pastors over this issue that we're talking about perhaps you're a pastor you disagree with your congregation uh you disagree with your denomination uh whatever the case is and you don't want to identify yourself because it's personal and private and involves the names and places of churches and so on we understand that but if it's not a personal and private matter if it's something that is just a general question on theology theology please do not remain anonymous give us your first name city and state of residence and country of residence if you live outside the usa don't go away god willing we're going to be right back after these messages with more on observing the christian sabbath without becoming a legal legalist with william h hill as host of iron sharpens iron radio i frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations the church i've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is grace covenant baptist church in flemington new jersey pastored by alan dunn grace covenant baptist church believes it's god's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshipped and how he shall be represented in the world they believe churches need to turn to the bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship god in spirit and truth grace covenant baptist church endeavors to maintain a god -centered focus reading preaching and hearing the word of god singing psalms hymns and spiritual songs baptism and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship performed with faith joy and sobriety discover more about grace covenant baptist church in flemington new jersey at gcbcnj .squarespace

.com that's gcbcnj .squarespace .com

or call them at 908 -996 -7654 that's 908 -996 -7654 tell pastor dunn that you heard about grace covenant baptist church on iron sharpens iron radio hi this is john sampson pastor of king's church in peoria arizona taking a moment of your day to talk about chris arnson and the iron sharpens iron podcast i consider chris a true friend and a man of high integrity he's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions while always defending the key doctrines of the christian faith i've always been happy to point people to this podcast knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray i believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide this is a day of great spiritual compromise and yet god has raised chris up for just such a time and knowing this it's up to us as members of the body of christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances i'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting iron sharpens iron financially would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry i know it would be a huge encouragement to chris if you would all the details can be found at iron sharpens iron radio .com

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today thank you daniel p buttafuoco attorney at law for your faithful support of iron sharpens iron radio gotta tell you for my money chris arnson's radio program is just the best iron criticizing i think that's what it's called this is todd freel of wretched radio and tv with phil johnson of grace to you inviting everybody to come to the g3 conference which has almost instantly become one of the best conferences in the country and it is it's a great conference i love it and chris arnson was there last year he's been there i think every year it's great to see him there you and i actually did some recordings in the lobby at that place which is a highlight tons of stuff going on tons of great speakers and no matter where you are in the building you will hear chris arnson's laugh and that's worth the price of admission alone if you would like to join phil me chris and a cavalcade of great preachers so it should be a cavalcade of great preachers and me g3 conference .com

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g3 conference .com see you there did you know that all believers are priests in first peter chapter 2 verse 9 the apostle peter describes christ's church as comprising a chosen race a royal priesthood a holy nation a people for god's own possession so that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light so if you're a christian you're also a priest now you can find the newest styles in reformed and protestant apparel at citizenpriest .com

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visit citizenpriest .com today chris arnzen host of iron sharpens iron radio here i want to tell you about a man i have personally known for many years his name is dan buttafuoco dan is a personal injury and medical malpractice lawyer but not the type that typically comes to mind dan cares about people and is a theologian himself recently he wrote a book titled consider the evidence for the bible ravi zacharias wrote the foreword dan also has a master's degree in theology dan handles serious injury and medical malpractice cases in all 50 states he represents many christians in serious injury matters all over the country dan is an exceptional trial lawyer he wrote the test for the national board of trial advocacy and currently his firm has over 100 cases that have settled for 1 million dollars or more and in approximately 10 different states in illinois his lawyers had the fourth largest settlement in the state's history in new york his case involving a paralyzed police officer made the front page of the law journal if you have a serious personal injury or medical malpractice claim in any state i recommend that you call dan consultations are free there is no fee unless you win dan buttafuoco's number is 1 -800 -669 -4878 1 -800 -669 -4878 or email me for dan's contact information at chris arnzen at gmail .com

that's chris arnzen at gmail .com and we thank dan buttafuoco and the law firm of buttafuoco and associates from the depths of our hearts here at iron trap and zion radio for renewing their contract for advertising on iron trap and zion radio dan buttafuoco has always been connected in my life in a very serious and important way when i worked for 15 years as an account executive at wmca 570 am christian radio in new york he was always my primary uh advertiser my primary client my largest client and i'm so thankful that he now that i have my own radio show he has joined the advertising family because he wants this program to remain on the air so please remember if you yourself or you know of someone they need or you need a personal injury or medical malpractice attorney please call 800 -669 -4878 800 -669 -4878 dan handles practice handles cases i should say all over the united states and please you have to mention that you heard about him from chris arnzen of iron sharpens iron radio so that he knows that his money is well spent with us and he will continue i'm sure if he continues to get cases from our advertising campaigns i'm sure he will continue sponsoring us which will enable us to remain on the air so please please i ask of you don't let this be a trivial thing to you if you do know somebody in need of a personal injury attorney or medical malpractice attorney in any state in the united states give them the number 800 -669 -4878 800 -669 -4878 the law firm of buttafuoco and associates and mention that you heard his advertisements on chris arnzen of iron sharpens iron radio um today if you just tuned us in we are discussing observing the christian sabbath becoming uh without becoming a legalist i almost said becoming a legalist observing the christian observing the christian sabbath without becoming a legalist our guests to discuss this is william f hill junior the former host of confessing our hope podcast of greenville presbyterian theological seminary in taylor south carolina currently pastoring fellowship presbyterian church in newport tennessee a pca or presbyterian church in america congregation if you have a question our email address is chris arnzen at gmail .com

chris arnzen at gmail .com and i urge you after this program is over to look up on the archive of iron trip and zion radio .com

the part one of this discussion on observing the christian sabbath without becoming a legalist that we had with william f hill jr chris arnzen at gmail .com

is our email address if you have a question chris arnzen at gmail .com so i have a series of questions from somebody right in your backyard in newport tennessee his name is luke and he asks first of all since the sabbath at creation and the fourth commandment both state to remember the sabbath to keep it holy why do we try to follow the legalistic views of the jews about the sabbath during jesus's time it was clear that jesus stated that they had it wrong so i'll let you pick up there yeah yeah it's a good question and of course if i were able to interact and actually am able to interact with this particular listener um but the first question i would probably ask regarding the question is what do you mean by the legalistic views of the jews if in fact we're talking about the 700 and some odd extraneous laws that the religious leaders attached to the fourth commandment thus corrupting it um then clearly that was a problem as it was a problem from its institution because uh those zealots those zealous religious leaders in their zeal to keep the fourth commandment which is a good thing uh corrupted it by confusing its intention and so um jesus obviously is confronted by these enemies his enemies in this matter more than once in which he tries desperately to correct their misunderstanding as to the purpose of the sabbath remembering that the lord is the lord of the sabbath so that means and what does that mean that means that he alone is able to to interpret and to explain its purpose its function in the life of of god's people now that said we we always have to remember a critical element when it comes to the sabbath day and the burden of proof is going to be is always going to be on the individual who chooses to say that the fourth commandment no longer exists that we have no reason to obey it that it was merely a ceremonial law given to the people of old which no longer applies to the church today or at any point after christ died and was resurrected and ascended to his father the burden of proof is always on those individuals they don't like to hear that because they don't well they just don't like to hear that but the fact remains is that when jesus came in matthew 5 he he clearly stated he did not come to abrogate he can come to change the law he came to fulfill it now of course the question is what does that mean uh to fulfill it it clearly can't mean that he came to get rid of it because it would be a cut it would be it would read silly i did not come to get rid of the law but to get rid of the law that's a contradiction we know we know that that's not what he means by fulfill uh speaking specifically to the fourth commandment he does fulfill it as he fulfills all of the other commandments that we are unable to keep because of our sinful nature no matter how many how much we try we will always fall short either in thought word indeed sometimes all three but the fact is that he is the fulfillment of our heavenly rest that he has purchased for us yet we do not have it in fullness yet just like we still wrestle with sin even though the dominion of sin has been shattered in our lives through the work of christ we still send daily in thought word indeed why is that because we still live in a fallen world we are still fallen creatures we have not been glorified we are being sanctified so this all applies very easily to the fourth commandment which is moral not ceremonial uh to put the fourth commandment into a ceremonial category would would disrupt the continuity of the ten commandments now this was calvin's position for those who know who calvin is that was his position for many years uh but he modified his position and and moved uh over into understanding as a moral binding precept he'd read his sermons on deuteronomy 5 you think you're reading the westminster standards as he's articulating this and that's predates the westminster confession by many years so jesus clearly is saying the moral law is a binding concept and principle upon all humanity uh regardless of what i'm doing uh and it's three uses so you have it's mere that shows us that we are sinners we look at the law we know we don't keep it we're in trouble second it's designed to give civil order to the world third it's for the redeemed who now having been purchased by christ having been having been freed from slavery in egypt now the lord our god who brought us out of the land of egypt out of the house of bondage we now have a desire by the spirit to obey our father in heaven because of that includes the fourth commandment now getting to the question there were zealous religious leaders who began to attach many of the uh legalistic traditions that god himself never instituted over against this command thus corrupting it jesus in matthew 12 is trapped as it were he he wasn't trapped but the pharisees thought they hadn't trapped and jesus deals with two primary issues the first issue is the question of necessity uh eating on the sabbath from the grain field and the disciples are accused of breaking the law breaking the law breaking the sabbath and jesus corrects the pharisees says no uh they have to eat it's a necessity of life this is a fine thing to do on the sabbath he's not just simply applying it to eating but he's applying it to anything of necessity that needs to be done for instance a nurse a doctor you know yeah and and i had a man write me after our first episode and wanted to know if it would be okay to be a what he's in meteorology i don't think i'm going to embarrass him because i'm not going to use his name but i don't remember his name so sorry but um he wanted to know if it would be a legitimate job to work on the sabbath and i thought about that and i gave him my opinion certainly that that kind of job is a community service we must know what the weather is it safeguards lives i mean there's a lot of benefits to that that helps society and so we have to think through these things but then he moves on to the issue with the man with the withered hand he heals the man and the pharisees throw a fit he healed on the sabbath day and what is jesus telling them it's it's lawful to do good on the sabbath there are things acts of mercy that we as god's people ought to be doing especially on the lord's day because we have more time to do those kinds of things because we're not distracted by our worldly affairs and every other matter and so here jesus is correcting the legalistic ideas those other aspects that perhaps the listener is referring to were carrying a bundle of sticks and all this other business that those specific laws passed away with that estate that was designed specifically for those people in that period those passed away with the last of them except insofar as the general equity of that law applies now your listeners are probably going okay i'm lost general equity what is general equity general equity is something like this in the old testament there was a law about safeguarding lives sixth commandment by restricting people from being on their roofs of their homes because that's what they did they would socialize on their roofs they would do fellowship on the roofs of their homes because they were flat unlike ours and in order to safeguard lives they had to erect a railing so people couldn't fall off and die now what would the general equity of that be in our modern modern context looking out for the safety of others yeah so like you have a pool in your backyard if it chances are good if you have a pool there's a town code that requires you to have a around that pool why is that so someone can't wander in there and drown so there there when you build a home there has to be railings in a certain place and they have to be designed to certain ways you can't stick your head through and get your head stuck that's general equity and that those laws apply over against to society to help them but those i thought you weren't going to bring up my personal head getting stuck in the railing story that's right so you have that that you have those principles though given it by general equity but the specifics of them like carrying a bundle of sticks x number of feet that passed away with the people of old then the driving principle of the sabbath the fourth commandment as jesus explained it to the pharisees who were trying to keep all these legalistic rules that they created that god never created and then the other things is that the principle of the sabbath is worship in acts of mercy and necessity to one another now that means there's a lot of things and it kind of gets to what we're hopefully going to talk more about what do i get to do on the sabbath day you know i i grow weary of the people who ask me a zillion thing a zillion list of things of what i check the box off can i do that no can i do that yes can i do that no can i do that yes it gets tiresome what's important to keep in front of us is that the what we get to do on the sabbath the the blessings and the enjoyment that the lord has provided to us that we don't take advantage of which we can't really take advantage of it as we'd like to on a thursday because we have jobs we have kids going to school we've got chaos going on and suzy's got to get to ballet and john's got to get to soccer and there's no time for other people family and school and work and that's about all we got and we're wiped out we got to go to bed we have the right the sabbath day to to enjoy in a positive way many of the good things that god has provided for us so okay that answers question number one you want to go to question number two well now we have to go to the midway break but we will go there's we well i'll give you more time to think about it ah that second one's easy all right well we are we're gonna go to luke's his name is luke right we're gonna go to luke's uh second question when we return from the midway break and remember folks this is the longer the normal break because grace life 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chris arnzen at gmail .com don't go away we will be back after these messages from our sponsors with more of bill hill and observing the christian sabbath without becoming a legalist i'm pastor bill shishko host of a visit to the pastor's study and i am so thankful to be part of the advertising family right here on iron sharpens iron if you live on long island or if you're visiting the metropolitan new york area i invite you to join us for worship at the haven on sundays at 4 30 p .m

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that's solidrockremodeling .com solid rock remodeling bringing new life to your home i'm dr gary kimbrough pastor bethlehem baptist church in laurel mississippi god tells us in james 127 that pure and undefiled religion is a visit to fatherless and widows and their in the providence of god three years ago i discovered a poor small church outside lusaka zambia in a township called kabanana who are taking care of 24 orphans i found them just at the time when they had lost all their funding what was i to do could i just say god bless you and walk away the situation of the children said heavily upon me as i was praying concerning this need it came to me i trust from the lord to tell the orphans plight to a broader audience the entire need for their clothing food education and some medical services is 73 dollars per month per child if just 50 of us would give 35 a month we could meet the need bethlehem baptist church will pay the fee to get the funds there so if you give a dollar a dollar will get to the orphans in this season of hope and giving will you consider giving hope to 24 orphans please send your gift of any amount to bethlehem baptist church 838 reed road laurel mississippi 39443 or donate through our website bbclaurel .com

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thank you hi i'm buzz taylor frequent co -host with chris ironson on iron sharpens iron radio i would like to introduce you to my good friends todd and patty jennings at cvbbs which stands for cumberland valley bible book service todd and patty specialize in supplying reformed and puritan books and bibles at discount prices that make them affordable to everyone since 1987 the family -owned and operated book service has sought to bring you the best available christian books and bibles at the best possible prices unlike other book sites they make no effort to provide every book that is available because frankly much of what is being printed is not worth your time that means you can get to the good stuff faster it also means that you don't have to worry about being assaulted by the pornographic heretical and otherwise faith insulting material promoted by the secular book vendors their website is cvbbs .com

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then you add 50 worth of merchandise on top of that then you add the coupon code iron sharpens iron all capitals all one word and the cost of a pastor new york will be automatically subtracted from your total so if you want to make life easier for yourself just wait till tomorrow and sometime between 10 a .m

4 30 p .m eastern time call 800 -656 -0231 800 -656 -0231 and say i want the free book a pastor in new york the life and times of spencer cohen that you're offering on iron trip and zine radio with my purchase of 50 and of course any purchase will get you the book true love by dr james n marenahan so just keep those things in mind and always whoever our advertisers are remember to mention chris arnzen of iron trip and zine radio now i just have a few uh special announcements regarding upcoming events that i hope as many of you as possible will attend first of all august 1st through the 3rd the fellowship conference new england returns to portland maine at the deering center community church in portland this is being run by my dear friend mac tomlinson a very generous contributor to iron sharpens iron radio who wants this program to remain on the air and helps us out whenever he's aware that we are in need which is very often and uh i hope that you attend this conference it's uh always got excellent biblically faithful teachers uh one of the men on the lineup is pastor anthony methenia of christ church in radford virginia he is actually paul washer's pastor uh the aforementioned mac tomlinson of providence chapel in denton texas he is on the lineup pastor lee dodd who's going to be a guest on this program uh very soon in fact on the 31st of july he's going to be our guest on iron sharpens iron radio again pastor nathan pickowitz of the harvest bible church in gilmonton ironworks new hampshire who's also going to be returning to iron sharpens iron radio on tuesday the 23rd of july he's also an author and uh excellent speaker he is on the roster as well if you would like to attend the fellowship conference new england in portland maine go to their website fellowship conference newengland .com

fellowship conference newengland .com and register there and uh kind of overlapping with that uh in a different part of the country in texas for those of you who live anywhere near hockley texas my dear friend dr tony costa of toronto baptist seminary is going to be speaking at the church at friendship where doctrine makes a difference that is their slogan there at the church at friendship in hockley texas the conference is going to be held august 2nd through the 4th that's friday through sunday august 2nd through the 4th and uh if you would like to uh attend this conference and get more details on the conference go to church at friendship .org

church at friendship .org and you will get all the information that you need when you click on events that that will give you all the details on this conference and i hope that as many of you as possible attend the conference and please always remember to mention chris arnson of iron sharpens iron radio then uh in december i am going to be heading down or should i say heading up to my old stopping grounds in new york city to the foundations conference this is a conference for men in leadership uh this is going to be held thursday and friday december 19th and 20th and what better time of the uh the year to visit manhattan in the christmas season uh i am looking forward to this with bated breath can't wait and the speakers at the foundations conference include dr stephen j lawson of one passion ministries uh paul washer who is one of the most powerful preachers on the planet earth jeff thomas a dear friend who is also in that category reverend armand tamasian who i believe is also in that category of incredibly powerful gifted preachers even though he's a very young pastor his gifts and abilities far beyond his youth and i am telling you he's going to be a household name over the next decade because of his extraordinary gifts and faithfulness to the bible richard colwell jr and andrew quigley are on the roster i have never heard them preach but if sermon audio .com

selected them they must be excellent the sermon audio .com is very rightfully fussy and finicky in particular when it comes to who they want representing their ministry they are a very biblically faithful conservative and reformed organization so i know that they must be excellent so if you want to join me there december 19th and 20th in manhattan that's thursday and friday december 19th and 20th go to the foundations conference .com

the foundations conference .com you'll have all the details that you need then in january from the 16th through the 18th i will be once again manning an exhibitor's booth for iron trip and zion radio at the g3 conference the g3 stands for gospel grace and glory this is an extraordinary event of just phenomenal proportions that it's hard to even describe how much i enjoy the g3 conference and obviously many other people enjoy it as well because they draw over 5 000 people every year this january is on the theme worship matters and uh it's being held at the georgia international convention center in college park georgia a suburb of atlanta and the speakers as always are remarkable costy hinn the nephew of renowned or should i say notorious charlatan and heretic benny hinn costy hinn is on the lineup because he has renounced the word of faith heresy he was raised in and he spends much of his time outside of his pulpit that is exposing his own uncle and the word of faith heretics for the deadly and damning and dangerous deceivers that they are and he is very wisely chosen to be on the roster on a subject of worship he has renounced his word of faith background and has become a reformed baptist pastor he's also a cessationist on top of that uh he's a pastor out in california i really highly recommend costy hinn darrell bernard harrison who is a new addition to john macarthur's grace to you ministry what a insightful and brilliant writer darrell bernard harrison is a truly dedicated man biblically faithful uh he is an african -american brother who is disgusted by how the social justice movement is eclipsing the gospel and he is very opposed to those who are stirring up and fanning the flames of racism in the church over these issues uh i strongly recommend you you go to hear darrell bernard harrison david miller another extraordinary preacher derek thomas a name that is certainly not unfamiliar it's certainly not unfamiliar uh to the reformed listeners in our audience well known for his connections with banner of truth and just a phenomenal writer and preacher and teacher uh we have dr james r white of alpha and omega ministries uh he is my friend since 1995 and he is a brilliant man uh brilliant author brilliant speaker i just uh can't say enough about my dear friend james white and it's so sad how many in our day and age have attacked this dear brother who has remained so faithful to the truth jeremy volo who is going to be on again on this program what a wonderful humble brother in christ he is former soccer player for the san antonio scorpions now a reformed baptist pastor in laredo texas dr joel beakey president of the puritan forum theological seminary paul washer and stephen j lawson are on this roster as well just as they are on the other conference i mentioned uh phil johnson executive director for grace to you ministries stephen j nichols the president of reformation bible college the college founded by the late rc sproul and ligonier ministries todd friel of wretched tv and radio dr tom askell the executive director of founders ministries the calvinistic ministry in the southern baptist convention vody baucom who is one of the most remarkable uh preachers alive today and as you've been hearing announced on the commercials featuring todd friel and phil johnson uh john macarthur himself has just been recently added to the roster i cannot wait i have never been in the audience of a john macarthur event i've never flown out to california for the shepherds conference yet or anything like that i've never seen him face to face i am so looking forward to being in his presence physically when he is preaching i am expecting that to be a remarkable event if you want to attend the g3 conference along with me go to g3 conference .com

g3 conference .com and i would strongly urge you not only to register to attend but if you have a business if you have a parachurch ministry a church special event whatever it is that you want to promote to the body of christ i would strongly urge you to register for an exhibitor's booth just like i will be manning at the g3 conference because as i said earlier there's going to be over 5 000 people there no doubt and i strongly believe with the presence of dr john macarthur that there will be over 6 000 people that's just my educated guess so if you want to register either just to attend or also to have an exhibitor's booth along with me chris orans and a vine trip and zion radio go to g3 conference .com

g3 conference .com that's january 16th through the 18th 2020 on the theme worship matters now uh the most uncomfortable time of the program uh has come uh and it is not to speak with my guest bill hill is to beg you for money i hate doing this but we need to do it because we have bills that urgently need to be paid uh iron trip and zion radio cannot exist without our advertising dollars and without the generosity of listeners who donate so if you love this show you don't want it to disappear from the airwaves you listen to it frequently if not daily you share the free downloadable mp3s with loved ones you uh you can't wait to hear the guests and topics that sometimes are not heard anywhere else you love receiving free books when i interview authors and free new american standard bibles well please go to iron sharpens iron radio .com

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chrisarnson at gmail .com and please give us your first name city and state and country of residence if you live outside the usa only remain anonymous if your question involves a personal and private matter and bill uh pastor bill you know that before the break we had another question waiting for you from our guest or should i say a listener yeah luke luke in uh your neck of the woods in tennessee uh newport tennessee and he says since the sabbath that creation and the fourth commandment both state to remember the sabbath to keep it holy why do we try to follow the legalistic views oh wait a minute that's the one we already asked i think i answered that one yeah you did uh this is the one this is the one he asked yeah uh and by what mandate or reason has it changed to sunday since the bible doesn't say that the new testament church was observing sabbath on sunday but that they were meeting on sunday why then shouldn't we be observing a saturday sabbath just because christ rose on the first day doesn't make it the sabbath where is the biblical verse that says it changed yeah well there's no verse um so i'll immediately put myself in the hot seat there's no verse that says the the sabbath is now sunday however uh we extract from by good necessary consequence uh the practice and habits of the apostles and so we have at least three references in the new testament by which the apostles gathered together with god's people for the purpose of worship on the lord's day called it the lord's day and because they are apostles they had the authority to do that it was never corrected uh by the spirit and in fact they they they got that because of mark chapter two where it says that that the lord he's the christ of the lord of the sabbath and so that's where the etymology comes you know i i realize that we call it the christian sabbath because we're trying to draw a direct line from the fourth commandment into in its continuity into the new testament and that's okay to do um i prefer to say the lord's day uh that's the language of those these three references acts 20 verse 7 first corinthians 16 1 and 2 and revelation 1 10 so you have those three examples uh that demonstrate at least an apostolic example by which they practiced in the very infancy of the new testament church and there's no uh there's not any to my knowledge anyway there's no record of the church practice uh worshiping as it were um like the seventh day adventists would argue that the seventh day is still the seventh day and it hasn't been changed and yada yada yada so you don't agree with their argument that even not only seventh day adventists but seventh day baptists and other seventh day groups they argue that constantine forced christians by threat of violence or other persecution to uh worship on sunday rather than saturday and their claim is historically that the majority of christians were still worshiping on saturday continuing the jew jewish day of rest and so you're saying that that is historically uh has not been proven to you that well i i don't know i can't speak to the constantine thing i know he was a convert at least it appears that he was the persecution ended for god's people under his reign but but be that as it may um whether they were on saturday or not doesn't prove anything the apostles prove however because of by designation who they were uh so paul uh in those two examples the acts x pass x 20 and first corinthians 16 then you got john revelation 1 they are demonstrated by their own example and by their office that there's a distinction now been made changed moved of course what's the genesis of the change why would where would they have got that information from in the first place well i think we have a clear example of that in the case of the resurrection of christ by which in each encounter where he appeared to his apostles after the resurrection it was on the first day of the week and the passages are explicit they they they go out of their way to make sure that the reader understands that this is happening on the first day of the week uh it doesn't just gloss over that like that like that doesn't have any influence on the understanding as to what is happening in fact the john 20 passages even more striking as it relates to the first day of the week the lord's day and where the apostles probably derived this issue but in acts 20 they they clearly are worshiping jesus appears to this on the evening of that day the first day of the week and so john repeats himself first one he says on the first day of the week and then here we go again verse 19 the evening of that day the first day of the week doors being locked the disciples were for fear jesus comes to them okay i'm summarizing but when he comes to them they worship him so there's an aspect by which the lord by his example and the disciples apostles response on the first day of the week he doesn't call it he doesn't call the lord's day granted but he does say it's the first day of the week and so therefore we have a very likely example which christ is giving to them and then they follow that example through the infancy of the church into acts into the church of corinth and then of course in revelation there john is he's in the spirit on the lord's day you know what's the lord's day it's obviously has a significance to the apostles they they obviously designated it as something special so so again that we try to draw that continuity from the purpose of the day of rest which we know that christ upheld the purpose of the day arrest is worship that's the umbrella by which we operate and so while some might argue that all of life is worship i would say of course it is and then that i would say but it's a unique opportunity to do what you're not afforded by other necessities of life on other days of the week and so usually what i do when you know these kinds of questions come as to uh as to what you know what can we do on the lord's day without avoiding while avoiding a legalistic attitude that is overbearing and actually robs us of the joy and delight that we're to have for the lord's day the biggest thing we are we do this we are list making people that's what the pharisees did that's the religious leaders of old did we make like to make lists so we can know what's right what's not right okay and that's all great and wonderful but if we follow the principle which is it's a day of worship and it's a day of worship it's not an hour of worship it's not two hours of worship it's a day of worship uh the day was set apart the day was made holy by god the purpose of the day was for god's for people to worship him we keep that in front of us and then extract from that the principles that christ laid down in the new testament that under acts of necessity and mercy if we follow that logical progression the fact is that there's lots of things we can do on the lord's day and not violate the lord's day so what i typically try to encourage people to do is to ask themselves what is it i get to do on the lord's day that you know just start making a list what's the list i get to worship god with his people wonderful i get to fellowship with his people wonderful i get to enjoy a meal and hospitality with his people great i can go to the nursing home and i can minister to someone who never gets visitors because they're infirmed and they're old and whatever the case may be and no one ever comes and visits but i have opportunity on a sunday to do something that i can't do on tuesday because i'm too busy with everything else um i get to sit and pray in a fervent way that i can't typically do during the week because i'm busy doing other responsibilities that are good and necessary i can lead my wife in worship in our living room and teach my wife the salient truths of our precious religion i can teach my children i can do other things that are so beneficial that i don't if i'm not afforded any other days it's a joyful time of delight and you can also pass out on the couch in the afternoon when you might not normally do that truth be known i mean i'm a pastor i preach in the morning i preach in the evening i'm pretty tired in the afternoon sometimes i take a nap sometimes i don't but um yeah can you go for a walk on the lord's day so now we're getting into all the negatives you know you know and this is when we start creating problems for ourselves we start creating ours we start sticking ourselves in this box that god wants us to delight in the day and operate under the principle of worship to him in a unique way that we don't we're not afforded other days and if we just would operate under that principle a lot of these what we can't do questions would just disappear all by themselves for instance now someone said to me as a pastor a pastor is okay for me to go for a walk in the park in the lord's day i say sure why not well you can sanctify that time and redeem that time in a tremendous way while you're walking you can be praying for every member of the church while you're walking you can be beholding god's creation and giving praise to him while you're while you're walking you can be teaching your children things you can be speaking of him as you go as you come in the way and all that deuteronomy six lesson that we get there's so many positives so many benefits so many things that we can delight in but instead we're too busy worried about whether i can watch football so someone asked me that question you know is it lawful to watch football on the lord's day i simply report by saying does that conflict with the purpose of the day hey i'll leave that up to your conscience if you think you can watch football and worship the lord at the same time then okay have at it i don't happen to think you can but that's just not the point i i leave it to them to just wrestle through that question because the issue really is what i've been trying to get across it's a day of delight and we have turned it into day of misery and we can't wait to look for at the end so i can go do what i want to do and see that's the problem isn't it we're worldly we're sinful people and we're easily distracted by the passing things of this life the lord says hey look you get to enjoy me in a unique way on this day because that's what you're going to be doing with me for eternity and you have trouble with it and why is that because you still have worldliness in your heart and so why is it you you feel the tension between being uh fellowshipping with my people over a meal and speaking about the sermon and talking about what the lord's doing in our lives and the things that we want him to do for us praying together why is that competing against the television that has a bunch of men running around chasing a football that won't make me anything in a million years and it competes because we're worldly that's why we have that tension that's why we have that problem and so this is what you get to do all these great wonderful benefits if we focused on those benefits we wouldn't have time for the things that we question whether we can and cannot do just zero in on the things that we know we get to do and that's acts of mercy visiting shut -ins i mean how many families don't take advantage of an opportunity to teach their children about the value of acts of mercy to uh to older people in our churches to shut -ins to people in nursing homes that never can leave a room and never see a visitor and you can take your children down there and you can show them what it looks like to to be like christ and minister to strangers and and sunday the lord's day you have a more you have more opportunity for that let's face it than you do on tuesday and so look at all the positives and so i day at 58 just comes you know comes to mind here you know we want to avoid being legalistic well the first thing we have to do is correct our heart lord my heart is sick i don't delight in your day well i want to but i don't but i know that if i do look at the positives that come look what happens if i do delight in your day look at all the blessings that you're ready to pour out upon your people if we only delight in your day but we don't and so the western church is anemic and i'm convinced this is the reason i'm absolutely convinced we're seeing it die left and right because we don't look any different than the world on sunday we go to church then we go to cracker borough and then we go home and watch nfl and we don't darken the door of anybody we don't talk with anybody we don't have to go into hospitality we don't do fellowship we don't delight in the lord we do our duty and we go home and the lord is not honored by that and that's what happened with the people of israel they did not honor his day because they did not honor him and that's the issue but again it's a day of the light now as a pastor who believes these things do i delight in it perfectly every lord's day no by no means i'm a sinner i wrestle with it like everybody else however uh i sure would like to get there and i won't in this life but i know when i enter my eternal rest then i will now have it completely because that's what we'll be doing for eternity we'll be laboring and working for each other serving the kingdom of god worshiping our god every single moment sunday's a picture and it's a good one all right there i'm done preaching i i want to let our listeners know i don't know if i hope that we still have these recordings i for some reason have it in the back of my head that there was a malfunction but i i will check as soon as possible to make sure that we still have them somewhere because not all of the old iron tripens iron radio programs that were archived on a different website this is what i was broadcasting in of new york not all of those programs are on the new website yet because my webmaster eric nielsen is such a wonderful volunteer but he also has a full -time job and and he has a very busy life so uh but there is a debate that i orchestrated on iron sharpens iron radio i think it may have even been four days long uh but uh dr sam waldron who is a well -known reformed baptist author and pastor and seminary professor uh he debated a seventh -day baptist on the day of the sabbath and it just so happens that this seventh -day baptist that he debated did have a lot in common with sam because he was one of the rare seventh -day baptists today that is also a thorough thoroughgoing calvinist uh five -point calvinist reformed baptist but he is a seventh -day sabbatarian but anyway they had a very cordial and fascinating debate a number of years ago and if you ask for that i will try to send you the audio links for that debate for those of you who are still wondering about the day changing from saturday to sunday by the way just a bit of trivia here i think it is fascinating that a man who was as strict and rigid in many of his views john gill uh the 18th century baptist theologian truly a giant of uh christianity uh he had a dear friendship with samuel stennett a local pastor who was a seventh -day baptist and they used to do pulpit exchanges as strict and as rigid as i said as john gill was he did have an affection towards this man and in fact samuel stennett the seventh -day baptist pastor preached at john gill's funeral at john gill's request before he died but um this is a an issue that i know our brothers are going to be disagreeing over until we're in heaven when we have an eternal sabbath rest which is interesting chris they they they'll they'll admit that that's true they'll say that we have an eternal sabbath thrust and then but then i would quickly ask them but so you don't see a picture of that given to the church today and they would say no and that's to me so inconsistent we have um we have let's see here harrison in mechanicsburg pennsylvania who asks why is it that sunday sabbath observers do not carry through other things into the new covenant that were in place in the old for instance why do we not consider saturday night the beginning of the sabbath and saturday and sunday night the end of the sabbath when the sun goes down and other things like that that would seem to be more of a continuity between the old and new covenant sabbaths and the principle of sabbath itself the other thing is i very rarely hear of a sunday sabbath observer who believes that a man must actually work six days a week many sunday sabbath observers take saturday off as well and do not consider that a day of work how do you respond to this yeah okay first the first one is not complicated the the jewish calendar uh is uniquely different from the calendar we operate in so is their time frame we simply follow the day that we you know in our current what's the date what's the day to you and me when does when does the day begin technically are you talking it begins midnight okay so we follow the day that we normally operate in if i was living in that that context that day would begin at 6 p .m

on saturday and it would end at 6 p .m on sunday i do happen to know some people who follow that principle i don't quibble over it frankly uh at least they're making some effort to be faithful to uh their conscience and in the fourth commandment in this in that way i i don't i don't really get too upset about it i you know someone asked me when when should we practice the lord's essay on sunday when does sunday start so um you know for the jews it started at 6 p .m

fine but be that as it may that was their clock that that was how their clocks were wired our clocks aren't wired that way we don't live in that world and so we we live we uh we we give the the issue here is not the time it's the day it's the whole day given to the lord so what day is that in our context the day is 12 p .m

or 12 midnight to 12 midnight now i'm not so rigid i mean most of us go to bed before 12 midnight on sunday night most of us go to bed before 12 midnight on saturday night so we're not talking about 24 hours we're sleepers maybe eight of it unless you're like me who ever sleeps but um be that as it may we just follow you know the clock that we in the world we live in while you know those in rome do you know do what what's that expression uh something about being in rome do what when while in rome do what the romans do right yeah so i mean that's what we're doing we're you know we live in the united states we live in the western hemisphere we live the clocks that we follow are not the clocks that the jews of old followed and so you know i again i don't get too bent if people want to insist they have to start at a certain axis o 'clock fine that's what they want to do um i i know a ruling elder who uh once the benediction was pronounced on sunday night for him the lord's day had terminated now whether he's right or wrong that you know i have opinion on that but be that as it may you know that's just to me it's just okay fine if that's what you want to do okay well what about the six days of work okay the command is not that you must work six days the command is that you have six days in other words it's setting apart the one over against the six the lord is the lord has blessed you with six days for your own recreation for your own worldly employment and recreations to do what the you know to go to a baseball game if that's what makes you happy and it doesn't conflict with your other responsibilities you you he's giving you those other days to do all of those things he's not demanding or commanding that you must work six days okay so six days you shall work and do all your labors not it's not an expressive command it's simply stating over against the one that these six days are given to you to do those things so if you only work five days a week because that's what you have for a job you're not breaking this fourth commandment because you don't work on the sixth day chances are really good you're working on the sixth day anyway because you're probably doing your yard work you're probably doing a whole lot of other things um that demand your time and attention and take you away from your focus but the fourth commandment really is speaking to which is the one day over against the six so my answer to that okay we have to go to our final break it's much more brief than the last one if you have a question send it immediately to chrisarnson at gmail .com

chrisarnson at gmail .com don't go away we'll be right back with bill hill and more on observing the christian sabbath without becoming a legalist as host of iron sharpens iron radio i frequently get requests from listeners for church recommendations a church i've been strongly recommending as far back as the 1980s is grace covenant baptist church in flemington new jersey pastored by alan dunn grace covenant baptist church believes it's god's prerogative to determine how he shall be worshiped and how he shall be represented in the world they believe churches need to turn to the bible to discover what to include in worship and how to worship god in spirit and truth grace covenant baptist church endeavors to maintain a god -centered focus reading preaching and hearing the word of god singing psalms hymns and spiritual songs baptism and communion are the scriptural elements of their corporate worship performed with faith joy and sobriety discover more about grace covenant flemington new jersey at gcbcnj .squarespace

.com that's gcbcnj .squarespace .com

or call them at 908 -996 -7654 that's 908 -996 -7654 tell pastor dunn that you heard about grace covenant baptist church on iron sharpens iron radio gotta tell you for my money chris arnzen's radio program is just the best iron criticizing i think that's what it's called this is todd friel of wretched radio and tv with phil johnson of grace to you inviting everybody to come to the g3 conference which has almost instantly become one of the best conferences in the country and it is it's a great conference i love it and chris arnzen was there last year he's been there i think every year it's great to see him there you and i actually did some recordings in the lobby at that place which is a highlight tons of stuff going on tons of great speakers and no matter where you are in the building you will hear chris arnzen's laugh and that's worth the price of admission alone if you would like to join phil me chris and a cavalcade of great preachers so it should be a cavalcade and me g3 conference .com

g3 conference .com and now there's even more exciting news john mccarthur himself is now also on the lineup at the g3 conference thursday january 16th through saturday january 18th 2020 go to g3 conference .com

g3 conference .com see you there i'm pastor bill shishko host of a visit to the pastor's study and i am so thankful to be part of the advertising family right here on iron sharpens iron if you live on long island or if you're visiting the metropolitan new york area i invite you to join us for worship at the haven on sundays at 4 30 p .m

we meet at the ascension lutheran church facility 33 bayshore road in deer park new york at the haven you'll find god's saturated singing gospel rich ministry and great commission opportunities learn more about us at the haven li .com

and join us this sunday at 4 30 p .m 33 bayshore road deer park new york hello my name is james renahan and i'm the president of irbs theological seminary in mansfield texas the word of god says if a man desires the office of an overseer he desires a good thing do you have the desire to serve jesus christ in pastoral ministry 20 years ago the institute of reform baptist studies at west minster seminary california was born for those two decades these institutions worked together to train men for ministry in reformed baptist churches it's been a wonderful partnership now we have advanced our school into an independent seminary offering a full program of courses leading to the master of divinity degree this is irbs theological seminary we believe that the scriptures of the old and new testaments are the inspired and inerrant word of god that jesus christ is god in the flesh who came to save sinners by his life death and resurrection and that the task of the church is to honor and serve the triune god in all things irbs theological seminary is dedicated by god's grace to preparing godly ministers who will be committed to these doctrines do you sense a call to serve jesus christ in his church as a pastor why not consider irbs theological seminary you'll find more information at irbs seminary .org

that's irbs seminary .org two s's in the middle i hope to hear from you soon god bless you paul wrote to the church at galatia for am i now seeking the approval of man or of god or am i trying to please man if i were still trying to please man i would not be a servant of christ hi i'm mark lukens pastor of providence baptist church we are reformed baptist church and we hold to the london baptist confession of faith of 1689 we are in nofolk massachusetts we strive to reflect paul's mindset to be much more concerned with how god views what we say and what we do than how men view these things that's not the best recipe for popularity but since that wasn't the apostles priority it must not be ours either we believe by god's grace that we are called to demonstrate love and compassion to our fellow man and to be vessels of christ's mercy to lost and hurting community around us and to build up the body of christ in truth and love if you live near nofolk massachusetts or plan to visit our area please come and join us for worship and fellowship you can call us at 508 -528 -5750 that's 508 -528 -5750 or go to our website to email us listen to past sermons worship songs or watch our tv program entitled resting in grace you can find us at providence baptist church ma .org

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that's batterydepot .com linbrook baptist church on 225 earl avenue in linbrook long island is teaching god's timeless truths in the 21st century our church is far more than a sunday worship service it's a place of learning where the scriptures are studied and the preaching of the gospel is clear and relevant it's like a gym where one can exercise their faith through community involvement it's like a hospital for wounded souls where one can find compassionate people we're a diverse family of all ages enthusiastically serving our lord jesus christ in fellowship play and together hi i'm pastor bob waldeman and i invite you to come and join us here at linbrook baptist church and see all that a church can be call linbrook baptist at 516 -599 -9402 that's 516 -599 -9402 or visit linbrookbaptist .org

that's linbrookbaptist .org every day at thousands of community centers high schools middle schools juvenile institutions coffee shops and local hangouts long island youth for christ staff and volunteers meet with young people who need jesus we are rural and urban and we are always about the message of jesus our mission is to have a noticeable spiritual impact on long island new york by engaging young people in the lifelong journey of following christ long island youth for christ has been a stalwart bedrock ministry since 1959 we have a world -class staff and a proven track record of bringing consistent love and encouragement to youths in need all over the country and around the world help honor our history by becoming a part of our future volunteer donate pray or all of the above for details call long island youth for christ at 631 -385 -8333 that's 631 -385 -8333 or visit liyfc .org

that's liyfc .org hi this is john sampson pastor of king's church in peoria arizona taking a moment of your day to talk about chris arnson and the iron sharpens iron podcast i consider chris a true friend and a man of high integrity he's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions while always defending the key doctrines of the christian faith i've always been happy to point people to this podcast knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray i believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide this is a day of great spiritual compromise and yet god has raised chris up for just such a time and knowing this it's up to us as members of the body of christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances i'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting iron sharpens iron financially would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry i know it would be a huge encouragement to chris if you would all the details can be found at iron sharpens iron radio dot com where you can click support that's iron sharpens iron radio dot com and don't forget uh if you have a church where your pew bibles are falling apart and filled with graffiti you perhaps outgrew the translation that you've been using for decades you want a new fresh translation uh that's new to your congregation that is not necessarily new uh in existence uh one that is faithful an english translation that is faithful to the original languages please consider the nas bible the new american standard bible and go to nas bible .com

nas bible .com and order new bibles for your pews in your building uh and also if you never had church uh bibles pew bibles please consider it now there are many people who are lost who visit churches so have a bible within reach of them where they can be sitting and just grab a bible because they probably do not have their own if they are lost in attending a worship service because perhaps the lord is drawing them go to nas bible .com

nas bible .com and please tell the publishers of the new american standard bible that you heard about them from chris arens and an iron sharpens iron radio well we are now back with the final few minutes of our interview with bill hill on the christian sabbath and our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com

if you have a question you got to send it in immediately because we're going to be out of time any minute now and uh let's see here uh we have uh an anonymous listener who says i fear that many people who become sabbatarian also carry with that the legalism that your program is trying to convey does not necessarily have to be accompanied by a sabbatarian view how is the best way for a christian to prevent legalism and legalistic attitudes in his home in his own life well usually the issue of legalism is when people begin to erect standards that perhaps by conscience they feel bound to let i can quickly illustrate that there are families out there that believe that for them they ought to homeschool their children and for them to send them to public school would be sinful and whatever's not done by faith is sin so i would as a pastor i would never try to correct that that's their conscience they believe that that's what they need to do it's not an ill -informed position where the legalism begins to manifest itself is when they begin to assert to other people that they must be like them in that particular department i'll apply that to the sabbath um my wife and i do specific things on the lord's day because it helps us as a husband and wife maintain uh the lord's day within our own con in our own construct all right but those specific things don't necessarily have to be uh rules that i make everybody else in the church if you're not do it the way i'm doing it then you're not keeping the lord's day you see that's the problem starts uh but we're all legalist anyway uh tries we might uh we erect rules we want everybody else to be to sign off on our rules like we sign off on them and when people don't we become dismayed because why is it we're so convicted about this position how come they're not so we think less of them we begin to ascribe to them things that's not fair um so again the way to avoid legalism on the lord's day is just focus on the positives and say what is the lord giving me to do what if he told me i can't do and those are the things i need to delight in when i do that i'll avoid legalism if i begin to try to add to it by erecting all sorts of lists and then as i do that they may be good things and then i became i become puffed up and i start while i start living in my own self -righteousness that's when danger comes so just remember that the lord gave us the sabbath he gave it to us for our good for us to delight and benefit in and if we just operate within the confines of that we can avoid a lot of the other pitfalls that come with every command that god gives and we are out of time unfortunately and the website happens to me the website for fellowship presbyterian church where our guests are pastors in newport tennessee is fellowship -pca .org