1689 London Baptist Confession (part 57)

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Our Father in heaven what a blessing it is what a privilege it is to be able to gather together
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On Sunday morning to worship you to learn more about you to be reminded of The gospel about the truth that Jesus Christ saves sinners
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Lord, I pray that you would bless our time even as we look into somewhat controversial and difficult issues father,
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I pray that you'd bless our time and Encourage us as we wrestle with How we ought to think about the
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Sabbath day Lord, I pray that you'd bless us in Jesus name. Amen well, so we've been talking about the
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Sabbath for the last few weeks and When we ended last week just talking about the importance of the first day of the week
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And I feel like the room is tilted to this side And we concluded with this with a with a quote from R .c.
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Sproul, he said when God rested on the Sabbath day. He did not sleep for 24 hours
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And I'll go on for just a minute but it just sort of reminded me of how the world views Sunday and I go back to when
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I was 18 and my very first job working in a warehouse and Some of the guys that I worked with had been there for a number of years.
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I mean like 10 12 15 years Which was interesting because I think the maximum salary at the place was probably about 365 an hour.
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I was making a hefty 285. I Don't mean to brag and paying union dues thinking and Some of these guys only they you know, they just struggled through the week and they lived for What's that?
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The weekend everybody's working for the weekend. I got it in there and They you know, it's party
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Friday night party Saturday night and then do what on Sunday Sleep it off, right and I'm just like this is not
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That is not the picture of the Sabbath God did not sleep for 24 hours.
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He rested from his work of creation and delighted in his own glory when we enter into our rest we rest from travail struggle and from the sweat of our brows in other words
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We sort of unwind and we Kind of detach from the world and enter into the rest of Christ.
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In fact, he says We rest from pain from internal conflict and from anguish
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We enter into the joy and peace that the Holy Spirit will give us in heaven That promise of heaven is communicated every
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Sabbath day That is why I'm convinced there is a perpetual significance to the Sabbath day at least until the
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Lord returns now we've established that the first day of the week Sunday was the day that the church met and Now we come to the part where we read that Christ's resurrection sanctified the first day of the week.
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Let's look at Mark chapter 2. Well, that can't be right.
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Can it? Mmm. Oh, yes it is Christ's resurrection sanctified the first day of the week
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But first he is Lord of the Sabbath mark 2 verses 23 to 28 Mark 2 verse
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I'm always sketchy because you have to understand that I think the first class
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I ever taught was fundamentals of the faith and I used to use pastor Mike's notice notes and Whenever I went to the verse
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I had complete confidence that the verse would be right because it was pastor Mike's notes Wasn't always right so Besides I'm typing these up.
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I'm the guy who put in peach instead of peace. Anyway, would somebody read? Mark chapter 2 verses 23 to 28, please mark chapter 2 verses 23 to 28
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Now one question first, what is Mark's source for his information? Besides the
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Holy Spirit Peter okay good. So we have basically
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Peter's testimony here Most likely Peter's testimony that Of what
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Jesus said eyewitness testimony and what was Jesus really trying to stress to them?
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About the rules of the Sabbath how important are those rules?
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I'm not sure. I understand that but in other words, what did?
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when Jesus says that it's not The Sabbath isn't
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Well, what does he say the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath What's he trying to emphasize to them the importance of caffeine again?
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haunts us Yes Okay, then it's a gift right the
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Sabbath is a gift and it's a gift in the sense that we are to Rest but the other thing he's trying to stress is the importance of Charlie okay, that is for the benefit of men, right?
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For rest and not you know somehow some Yeah winning favor with God.
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I'd like to put it if you think about it this way if if it was reversed if what
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Jesus said was reversed if Man was made for the Sabbath. Then what would we expect?
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if What's that We'd be doing special work for God, right true,
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I Okay, let's let let me see if I can put it this way Is it possible that what
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Jesus is saying is? We are not created to serve the
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Sabbath in other words
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It's this idea, you know somehow for the Pharisees the Sabbath was if I could put it this way a treadmill
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Right you got on and you were just you were performing you were doing or Not doing depending on the case in this case.
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How can you possibly do that because you're not supposed to do that You guys don't get it.
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This isn't about a series of rules that you need to obey. It is a day of rest and if that day of rest
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Comes in conflict with legitimate needs that you have like food
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Then you should eat Right one man wrote this
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Not I you know when I say one man It could be somebody really famous or it could be somebody you've never heard of in this case is somebody you've never heard of it's just from founders org
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He says God created the Sabbath after he created Adam and Eve in the garden God didn't make human beings slaves to the
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Sabbath to hurt or to burden them rather he gave them one holy day and seven on which to rest and Worship listen, this is the important part for their good
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Christ showed that the Sabbath continues into the New Testament The Son of Man is even Lord of the
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Sabbath is Lord even of the Sabbath Just as he is Lord of the church Lord of the family and Lord of all creation
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Okay so Because we're gonna have a little interaction here.
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I hope in a minute or two The confession goes on to say the observation of the last day of the week being abolished
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The Sabbath was on Saturday Why is the Sabbath no longer observed on?
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Saturday as with our good friends I think They're not our good friends, but they think they are
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Again the same man says this he says the Old Testament anticipated the transfer of the Sabbath From Saturday to Sunday particularly in eighth day
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Sabbath observance such as Pentecost and other eighth day ceremonies Revelation 110 speaks of the
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Lord's Day which refers to a day of the week that uniquely belongs to the Lord Just as the Lord's Supper refers to a meal that uniquely belongs to the
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Lord The book of Acts teaches us that while Israel Observed the Sabbath on the last day of the week the
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New Covenant Church observes the Sabbath on Sunday the first day of the week Celebrate not only creation, but also
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Christ's glorious resurrection Paul confirms this transfer the last day of the week when he says in 1st
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Corinthians 16 to that on the first day of every week that they met on the first day of every week The transfer of the day of worship from Saturday to Sunday does not violate the
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Sabbath command since it fulfills Old Testament types and shadows We have the same pattern six days of work and one
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Sabbath day in a week in the New Testament believers worked Monday through Saturday and observed the
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New Covenant Sabbath on Sunday and aren't we blessed that we only have to work money through Friday and Have Saturday for other things and then
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Sunday as a day of rest. Okay, so back to the confession The Sabbath is then kept holy unto the
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Lord when men after a due preparing of their hearts I'd like to stress that effect.
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I I'd like to start sending that out on a Saturday afternoon the Sabbath is then kept holy unto the
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Lord when men after a due preparing of their hearts get ready for Sunday and ordering their common affairs a forehand
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Do not only observe and holy rest all day from their works words and thoughts
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About their worldly employment and recreations but are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship and into the duties of necessity and mercy
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That seems like a lot But let's just kind of break down a little bit
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Christians Even those following this same confession differ on how the Lord's the
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Lord's Day. The Sabbath is to be observed the Lord's Day view basically priority prioritizing worship, but no rules per se and then
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Sabbatarians those who say that Sunday is a day of complete rest And as we've said the
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Puritans believe that the Sabbath was for worship only You could study you could do works of mercy mercy or necessity
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But you could not go on picnics play sports or take part in any recreation
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RC RC gives the example Actually the historical little story
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John Knox the great Scottish reformer he's driven out of The United Kingdom during the reign of Bloody Mary.
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She's a Catholic and she is persecuting the Protestants and so John Knox flees he goes to Germany and eventually he goes to Geneva And he says when he arrived in Geneva Knox found the entire
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Calvin family Lawn bowling on the Sabbath day and this shocked him.
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This isn't what he was used to Here's Calvin, you know out having fun on the
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Sabbath and you know Knox was like, you know, we don't do that. We only Yeah, we only go it's
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Scottish after all but let's back up a minute
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Let's talk about the idea of preparing our hearts for Sunday. How many of us think about that?
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I mean in a certain Way to a certain extent. I have an advantage over most of you because I have to prepare my heart for Sunday, right?
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I have something to do here today But a lot of us don't and so we just show up and maybe we don't think about it
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But the Confession says that we should prepare our hearts for Sunday The Puritans because they were so against working on Sunday would actually prepare double meals on Saturday So they wouldn't have to cook on Sunday So they would have leftovers and just eat leftovers on Sunday.
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Okay. There you go. Seventh -day Adventist We'll do a double meal on Friday So they can have leftovers on Saturday and then
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I guess Sunday is their day for having fun But how about a good night's sleep on Saturday Going to bed at a decent hour
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Skipping Saturday night live which shouldn't be hard to do The Confession says it's okay to do good works on Sunday Even the
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Sabbatarians permit works of mercy and works of necessity on the Sabbath. Now, what would that mean? What would be a work of mercy or a work of necessity?
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Helping the cranes move It could be
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I'm not I'm not committing to that one Work of mercy or a work of necessity,
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I mean I guess you know that depends on your definition of what? Necessity or mercy is now certainly we would say that say a fireman a policeman a
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Paramedic a nurse a doctor somebody like that who is called to work We would certainly say well that person if they have to work they have to work and that is not
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That could never be a bad thing Because they're helping people and I think if you you know, if you take it to the greatest extent
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Some people would actually consider it a sin to work On Sunday unless it is in that sort of profession.
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I Wouldn't hold to that. I do think and I said this last week. I think if you're in a position that And this is especially true of people who work in retail sales and that kind of thing if you're in that sort of profession
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I would encourage you to look at either other professions or to find some kind of way that you could get to a place where you didn't have to work on Sunday because it is
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You know, let's just think about this if If you have a child and you say that child, we're not going to educate you in any way, right?
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We're not going to send you to school. Whatever you learn on your own. That's up to you What we think of a parent who'd said that they'd be in court but for some people they see going to church and everything as completely optional,
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I Don't understand that mindset because here's what I would say. I would say Just as we would send a child to school or we would educate a child at home we would want as Children of God we would want to learn about him.
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We would want to be educated in the scripture We would want to think rightly about doctrine. We would want to have fellowship with other believers.
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You know, I mean I had a professor in seminary. He used to say The lone wolf and by that he meant the lone
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Christian or even the lone pastor. The lone wolf is The dead wolf
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Wolves go in packs and his point wasn't that we're wolves But his point was that we need as Christians.
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We need fellowship. We need to be in fellowship with one another. We need to be part of The pack or part of I guess more biblically correct the flock
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But you can't say the lone sheep is the dead sheep because this doesn't it's not very poetic
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But that is true, right what happens to a sheep that's on its own It dies a miserable death because sheep are stupid and they do stupid things
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And the wolf gets them and you know what to a certain extent it really is it? Well, it's a great analogy because the
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Bible uses it What do Christians who are on their own apart from the church apart from the fellowship of other people?
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What do they do? watch Joel Osteen on TV and Eventually make shipwreck of their faith.
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Well because they don't know any better, right? The right thing to do is to be in fellowship with like -minded
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Christians So we're talking about preparing on Sunday works of mercy
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We should view Sundays as a particular delight And I've said this before I'm going to try to say it in another way if your view of the workweek is
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My highlight is Friday. My low light is Monday Wednesday's kind of okay, and that's all you think about that.
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You're sort of missing the point Sunday should be the highlight of your day. You should be thinking about Sunday Sunday is the day where I charge my battery so that I can get through the week where I have to be surrounded by what?
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The world right? I'm submerged in the world of sin, but for a couple of hours on Sunday I get to hear
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Transcendent good news about the Lord Jesus Christ about the forgiveness of my sins I get to be reminded of how blessed
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I am and I use that to just kind of spur me through the week When my boss wants to yell at me when my co -workers are slacking off whatever is going on At least
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I had a few hours on Sunday where I had a preview of heaven and I could think how blessed I am
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To deal with the rest of the week. I could do that Well, it depends on how bad it is, you know, it's
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I Talking to a man, I really wish he would come here to church today.
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I've talked to him this week a few times Texted with him and whatnot He went to a bad church,
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I mean a really bad church fact I went to you know, he goes it's just a typical church So I went to the website and I looked at it and I'm like it probably is a pretty typical church, especially for New England That doesn't make it good.
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In fact, it was quite bad, you know I mean it looked like a really good concert, but not so much on the other things and What he got from there was not a consistent intake of Scripture that would nourish him what he got was starved to death and This man is absolutely convinced
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He has a horrible understanding of a few passages and is absolutely convinced That he cannot be forgiven for his sins
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He cannot be forgiven of his sins. He's bound for hell now.
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What do you suppose something like that does to you? I'll tell you what it's done for him
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It's put him in panic and put him in depression where he won't even leave his room, which is kind of hard to believe so what would
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I say I would say, you know to a Christian who's going to a bad church
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I would encourage them to go to a good one to one who's not going to one at all. I would say
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Again, I I just think if you understand what the New Testament says
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But not forsaking the assembling of the Saints about the need to exercise your spiritual gifts
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About the need to bear one another's burdens to come alongside one another to sing together to even you know
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Colossians 3 it talks about how we are to sing new songs together and just exhort one another basically in song all these things
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To hear the word preached To hear the word read to pray corporately.
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None of those things can happen outside of a church And it would be akin to you know
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Like when Peter says as newborn babes long for the pure milk of the word If you're out there on your own what you're basically doing is you're trying to survive on water
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You're trying to survive on water as a Christian and that over the long run is not going to work So what would
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I say to somebody like that? I? Would say how could you expect to grow? It's like somebody who says, you know,
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I'd like to my New Year's resolution is I'd like to bench press 375 pounds Well, how often are you going to the gym?
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I'm not really going to the gym I'm just kind of counting on the fact that December 31st of this year I'm gonna go to the gym and put 375 pounds on it and see how it goes
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You're not going to grow if you don't take the proper steps. And if that's true of Weightlifting and it's true of that if it's true of preparing for any physical endeavor how much more true is it of preparing for a spiritual endeavor or just kind of growing in Christ period and People who have no desire to grow
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People have no desire to hear the word To have fellowship with other
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Christians, you know, what does first John say? That those who are in Christ they love the brothers and if you don't love the brothers then what
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If you don't love your brothers and sisters in Christ if they aren't your favorite people to be around there's something wrong Like maybe you're not saved
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So I you know the lone wolf dead wolf Not a good not a good scenario
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Thank you for that clarity. No, I think I think the confession and Many people would say and I think it just comes down to this
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You know if you believe that the Sabbath is operational at all And I think there's certainly reason to look at it this way you know as I mentioned maybe last week or the week before if we look at Genesis 2 and we see the emphasis that is placed on God right in the beginning of Genesis 2 of him resting from all the work that he had done and then again
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It's said and you just go why is that stress like that? And that's before the
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Ten Commandments before any of these other things occur, and I think there's a reason for it I think certainly the pattern of Rest would be a good one
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I mean if somebody said my Sabbath is Saturday, and then I come to church on the Lord's Day. I Okay but I I think we'll
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Hopefully maybe clarify a little bit what the Sabbath What the Lord's Day what it is and what it isn't
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The same man From founders says this and and you know I'm not advocating this
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I think we just need to think about this and consider it He says do I structure my whole life around God's design for six days of work at home at work in the community and one?
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Day of rest and worship with the church Do I allow God's creational rhythm to organize my own time and existence in this world
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Or do I believe I am Lord of my own time now that might be a little strong for me But I do think there's a real sense in which the church believers
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Just kind of discount Sunday all together He says am
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I willing to sacrifice Extracurricular activities and entertainments for the church's assembly of on the
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Lord's Day now. I have to tell a story This is it's true, and it's kind of it might sound funny, but it was really kind of painful at the time
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It's really not funny, but it might sound funny Some of you might remember this a few years ago
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And this wasn't last year, but it seems like every year the Patriots are in the Super Bowl But a few years ago the
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Patriots were in the Super Bowl Pastor Mike was gone I was doing communion because communion comes up on the first Sunday of February and That's also the
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Super Bowl So we were to have Sunday night service on that particular occasion
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Because we weren't doing the whole pot Providence thing yet And so I said at the conclusion of all the services and everything like that I said you know
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I want to encourage everybody to come back tonight, and in my mind. I'm thinking nobody's coming because it's you know Super Bowl Sunday, so I said
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I said well, how about you know how about this? I'm gonna record it and Anybody who wants to watch the game.
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You know and is afraid of missing like the first Quarter or third of the game can come over my house.
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We'll just fast -forward through the commercials and we'll catch up And I posted that on Facebook, and I get a
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Facebook message, and it says Steve is a legalist
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Because he's trying to make people come you make people feel guilty for staying home, and you know force them to come on Sunday night
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Of course what they didn't know was That it was me. I didn't say that they didn't say Steve is like this
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They said you know this sounds you're a legalist you know to even put this up on Facebook So I wrote back, and I go by the way.
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This is Steve. I wrote that and And What I didn't say was this is legalism legalism would be this
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If you don't come tonight, there will be spiritual consequences We're gonna take Attendance you know and if you don't show up there are gonna be issues like we're gonna drum you right out of the church
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How can you call yourself a Christian if you don't come to hear me on Sunday night? That would be legalism.
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We didn't do that in fact. I said come on over my house. We'll watch the game together Okay, I don't know how that's legalism
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But this is how some people kind of view things if you want to you know sort of in any way interfere with what
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I think I should be doing or What I want to do, then you must be a legalist, and I'm like I I'm just offering this you know you can do both
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You can have it all as it were And get skip some of the dopey commercials, which you know are usually nothing but a distraction, but that's just how
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Some people view it and Here I have my notes as soon as pastors start prescribing and prohibiting in other words saying thou shalt and thou shalt not on Sunday we are we're on the path to legalism.
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I'm not going to tell you what you can and can't do I say over and over again especially with regard to the
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Lord's Day. It is a matter of conscience right If I can't point to the passage you know you say well
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Where does it say in the Bible that Sunday is the new Sabbath, but it doesn't I? Think the question is is there a
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Sabbath principle laid out in Scripture, and I think there is But some basic principles
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Seeking order in your life is good, right? It's called you know
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Discipline it's good to live a godly and disciplined life right we want a peaceful life We want to be at peace with all people well
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How do we do that we have a nice disciplined orderly life? Because we we don't you know we don't work to live anymore
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I mean we you know it's it's not a matter of life and death, so we're not putting in the 70 80 90 hundred hour work weeks
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You know except for lawyers Who when they first get out of law school, that's what they have to do and frankly they deserve it, but I digress
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The yeah, no, I think that's right. You know we're so out of kilter here in fact. I I read about some of the things to kind of Further employment you know to create more jobs one of the ideas is to cut the work hour or the work week to 32 hours
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Right so there'll be more demand for labor and more jobs, and and of course what does that mean
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I guarantee you you know? I'm I'm gonna go in a full -profit mode, so please don't stone me if I'm wrong
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If we go to 32 -hour work weeks Depression will increase and the reason it'll increase is just like my friend that I was talking to you this week on the phone is
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The less you have to do The the more you know inward you become in your thinking and the more depressed you become
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It is good For us to work. I don't know if it's really necessarily good to work 80 90 100 hours
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But it's good for us to work, and we are blessed in the situation We are now where we don't have to grind ourselves into nothing and you know
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I Just kind of look forward to Sunday as like a momentary pause in the grind of life right.
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It's not like that so Okay Organizing our life.
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We should sleep daily. You know we should get a reasonable amount of sleep It's good to have a day of rest
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It's good to prioritize Attending church. I mean, that's what the Bible talks about in Hebrews 10
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Says that we should not forsake the assembling together. It's good to serve the body first Peter 4 10 as Each has received a gift use it to serve one another as good stewards of God's very grace
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It's good to have fellowship. It's good to reflect on the goodness of the Lord Now talking about Sunday What about?
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working on Sunday What about playing sports events or going to sport events or going to restaurants what about shopping
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What about all these things well? I want to talk about them for the next few minutes because I have a few of these things kind of typed out as I Wanted to give a quiz, but we don't really have time for a quiz
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I Read this and I thought this was pretty good. Let's say the Patriots are playing in the
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Super Bowl this year and You got tickets to go Would you go?
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And I read a pastor. He's a lifelong Chicago Bears fan. He said if the
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Bears were in the Super Bowl, and I had tickets I would not go because I'd Rather be in church.
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I did think if the Red Sox were in the World Series They were this year and if they were playing the Dodgers they did this year and I could get tickets
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I didn't have tickets would I go I don't know that'd be pretty pretty hard to turn down But he says this pastor says what's more special than being gathered together around God's throne with God's people
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I think sometimes you know just are
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I I'm not gonna say that you know if you if you Miss church a time or two a year for some optional event.
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That's the worst thing in the world I think the question is what is our intent? What is our pattern?
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What is our practice and? You know so here's a question Think about this when you want your you know
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You want your six -year -old to play t -ball You find out most of the games are on Sunday morning
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What do you do? Anybody I mean, it's it's easy to say
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I wouldn't do that Or I don't know why
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I would do that or whatever, but people people do that people choose to do that And I think it's you know
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I think it's incredibly important to just take a step back and consider these things not in a legalistic way
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But like for example, I mean You know let's let's go in the way back
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Machine when I was a kid I can remember Because we were strict Sabbat arians being
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Mormons The idea of doing anything on Sunday. I mean anything
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My dad not being a Mormon if he was to take us somewhere like say Disneyland on Sunday the whole time
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What was I thinking I'm I'm in sin, man. This is bad.
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You know I'm having fun, but this is really bad How about?
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Something else you want to start? Running marathons, but this will take you away from Sunday services.
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What do you do? Me most Sundays are on or most marathons are on Sundays.
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So what about that would that be wrong to do? I'm gonna run for the glory of the
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Lord. I don't know.
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I think it's kind of hard Now here's it. Here's a good one and I like some feedback on this one because this is common you're on vacation
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Where do you go to church? I had somebody recently say they were going to vacation
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I don't even see where they went and they asked me they said Where would be a good church to go to while I'm on vacation?
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Is that a good question or a bad question? I think it's a great question, and I think it's one that sometimes people don't
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Think about now supposing you're going somewhere, and there is no good local church You go in there for vacation.
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I'll tell you what bothers me what bothers me is when people like move someplace Without knowing that there's a good church, but if you're going on vacation and going on vacation you go on vacation
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There's no good church. What should you do while you're on vacation, right? Yeah, so I mean you go to a church
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You look for fellowship. I mean is it possible I can't I can't say that every masters grad is infallible because I could give you a list of fallible masters guys
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But that's a way to go. You know there are other places to look for you know In terms of worship, but you want to be with God's people it's amazing
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How you can travel literally around the world and go into a place where you know nobody and For me anyway,
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I could just feel right at home Because we love the same Christ We're united we're gonna be together in heaven and if we're together for a couple hours on one
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Sunday. That's fine, too but how about this for An excuse no
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I inserted pastor Mike's name But this was basically the one I heard for or when
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I read on the internet. I'm gonna skip church today I've heard everything pastor Mike can possibly teach anyway
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Right, it's just like you know what I've heard everything. He has I I'm just gonna take today off of church
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What about that it is pride, thank you
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How about this one I'm swamped right now, I'm working two jobs and my grad school finals are all next week.
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I need to study What's that?
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It well it I mean because here's it is I mean the person probably wouldn't appreciate that But here's what you're saying my grad school is more important than going to worship the
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Lord. I can't take Two hours out of that you know I can't risk getting an a -minus whatever yeah
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I mean, it's all about what's that word putting things off. Oh Yeah, procrastination.
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I Worked 80 hours this week. I just want to take it easy today Therefore I'm not going to church.
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I worked hard. I deserve this rest, and I'm not gonna waste it on Sunday That's it. That's a translation.
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You know I'm not gonna waste it by going to church I think
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I'd feel closer to God rather than going to church if I went to One on a motorcycle ride to Maine and back no,
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I'm not picking on Chuck. I actually know but I I don't name names
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And and actually Chuck wasn't even in my mind yes, okay, so they're They're more concerned with arrest for their brain or whatever so they don't have to think
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You know I I do have to agree. You know just backing up a little bit It is arrogant to think well, you know
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I've heard everything Mike has to teach well, that's wrong because it's not Necessarily what pastor
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Mike has to say it's the Holy Spirit working through him And I I think if you think you know everything about the
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Bible if you think you've explored it all of its depths Then you really just did that that is arrogant, but yeah
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This idea that you can do other things on Sunday and still worship the Lord Well here's the problem with that and we spent several weeks talking about it
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God says this is how I will be worshipped Right I will have the word read.
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I will have corporate prayer. I will have singing I will have giving I will have the word preached and you say nah
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I'm gonna go to Maine ride my motorcycle That would be my worship for the day
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Okay, I don't know what to say You know it's a couple hundred miles of strange fire while you're rolling down the road there, how about this
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I Just need a week off. I don't get that much out of church anyway going for the wrong reason
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And you know what here's what I would say to anybody who comes week in and week out and says I don't get that much Out of church
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That's not what it's about right. What are you doing at church?
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How are you serving others at church? You know if you take that week off because you don't get much out of church anyway is anybody gonna notice that you're gone number 10 on my list of 10
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I've got some things going on that make me feel guilty about going to church I'm gonna stay home for a few weeks until I've straightened them out
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Carol's laughing. I just don't feel good about going to church right now.
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I Feel like everybody's looking at me I'm Too sick to go to the hospital.
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I'm gonna wait a few weeks see if I feel better Then I'll go it that person there.
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I feel like everybody's looking at me. I feel guilty. What are they really saying I? am guilty
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I Am guilty I'm in sin and when I walk in I feel like everybody knows
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I'm in sin That person needs to be here right that person needs to be triaged
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Needs help and if they stay a few home a few weeks to straighten things out, then maybe they'll never come back
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Because sin will increase its grip on them I Think you know the key.
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Yes, I see that hand over there. I Totally agree dr. Carden Lloyd -jones It's it's just to kind of reiterate what he said in in short form for the tape
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It really is our lives are we're in a spiritual battle all the time 2nd
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Corinthians 10 would tell us that and All these false ideas are fed to us all week long right whether it's just from co -workers
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Innocently giving us their poison, you know innocently giving us their poison other religious ideas that come into our into our minds
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Whether it's the entertainment that we take in but everything is leading us in a particular direction and Generally speaking.
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It's not a good one unless you're listening to sermons or something like that So if we thought of Sunday as this and only this it wouldn't be bad right?
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If we thought of it as kind of spiritual detox all week long my mind is getting poisoned You know and so for a few hours on Sunday morning.
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I get the antidote for all this poison That would be a good way to think about it, right it's more than that, but it's certainly that's part of it
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Again, we live in a world that is not neutral. It is not neutral to the things of Christ and It is surprising how often
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I mean I if you have The one good thing about social media is you really get to see
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I don't have to make generic statements I don't have to make blanket sweeping statements about how the world is
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I see it there in Facebook, right? I see what my more liberal friends think of Christianity, and they think pretty much this if you believe that God came took on an additional nature as Man lived a perfect life
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Died on the cross and was resurrected from the dead you're an idiot There is no life after that you know that's that's the basic thought and so if you live in that world all week long
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Then to come here on Sunday morning and hear the truth It ought to be like a vacation
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Right this is a relief for your mind This is kind of the all week long as it were the world is holding you underwater
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Trying to drown you and for a couple hours on Sunday you get to lift up and breathe in oxygen
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Hear the truth be reminded of the glories of Christ Exalt him now, you know to just kind of wrap up the idea of the
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Sabbath. I think it's easy Right to come up with some rules. Here's what you can do on Sunday Here's what you may not do you may not go to a gas station
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You may not I mean we could make up a whole list of things that you cannot do, right? But what would those lists be?
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They'd be nothing more and nothing less than Kind of you can't pick the heads of grain on the
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Sabbath. You can't heal a man on the Sabbath You can't in other words. We just be the new
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Pharisees. I Think it really is it depends on the individual. I Think what you have to decide is you have to look at what the word says
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You have to think through the implications for your life and it's a responsibility
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I think we have but there are some basics that are non -negotiable and one of them is, you know prioritizing attending
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Church being with the God's people hearing the word taught. Those are things that There there's no excuse for because they're black and white in the scripture as far as other things, you know
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You can't do this. You can't do that. I mean, I've told you before, you know We weren't that I grew up in such a legalistic system that there were
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Sundays where we weren't even allowed to watch the wonderful world of Disney sad times
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You know the mutual Mutual Omaha's Wild Kingdom about animals eating each other, you know, sometimes we were allowed to do that.
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But I Don't know why Hey kids watch that lion eat that whatever, you know, so but the point is
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The Sabbath isn't a series of rules it is created for us to give us rest and to also focus us on God and That's the way we
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I think we ought to view it and then it's a matter of conscience But I think we ought to not dull our conscience instead.
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We ought to sharpen it by staying the Word of God. Let's pray father Thank you for your word.
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We thank you for the men who throughout the ages have taught it Have written about it have even compiled things like confessions that we can look at and Try to understand how we ought to think through things issues like the
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Sabbath. What does it mean? When is it is it important for us? How should we view? Sunday worship.
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What kind of other things can we do? These are all matters where father we we don't have black -and -white descriptions
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What we do know is that we have been called by you to worship you and to gather together with fellow called -out ones other people that you have separated from the world
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You've called us together in communion to be together to worship you father son and spirit
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To be reminded again and again of the goodness that you've given to us
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And also to be exhorted to love and good works as we your people gather together father bless us
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Strengthen us give us better understanding of your word of what you would have us to do in Jesus name.