Is Sunday a Corruption of the Sabbath?

Sovereign Grace Family Church

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May 31, 2020

00:02: This would ordinarily be the time for corporate prayer, but since we started this morning with corporate prayer, I'd like to do something else at this moment.
00:15: Last week I began to preach on the subject of the seventh day, and we talked about the seventh day as the day that God made holy.
00:28: And I said that today I wanted to focus on the fact that we no longer worship on the seventh day, but we worship on the first day of the week.
00:36: We worship on Sunday, the Lord's Day.
00:41: And so this week I sent a message out, and I asked several pastors that I know to tell me what it was that was their favorite thing about the Lord's Day.
00:53: And I got several responses, I mean, pages full of pastors who just wrote.
00:59: And I said, keep it to one or two sentences, and if you know pastors, you know that didn't happen.
01:06: But I just want to read a few of the things.
01:08: I went through and I highlighted just a few things that they wrote.
01:12: One of the ones said that it said, the reason why he loves the Lord's Day is that it's a buffet of grace.
01:20: He said he comes for words of encouragement, reproof, and rebuke for his sin, testimonies of how God is working in other people's lives, showing that he's still active and mighty even if we're not seeing him in our own life.
01:32: We know he's still working.
01:35: Another said he loves to come so that he might hear the voices of the church family singing the gospel together.
01:41: What a wonderful truth that is.
01:43: What a wonderful thing.
01:44: And what a thing that is being missed by so many today who cannot gather or are not gathering for whatever reason.
01:50: They're not hearing the corporate voices of the church this morning.
01:55: Another just simply said it is a joy to see my fellow believers.
02:01: Another quoted Psalm 8410.
02:04: He says, for a day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere.
02:07: I'd rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my Lord than dwell in the tents of wickedness.
02:15: Another said it's an opportunity to proclaim the riches of Christ to hungry sheep and the gospel of grace to needy sinners.
02:24: Aaron, my friend, our former worship leader, now the pastor of Redeemer Church, he said this.
02:29: He says, it is the visible, tangible reminder that we are the body of the resurrected Christ to include not only those who gather in our covenant community, but the entire covenant people worldwide.
02:42: See, when we gather on Sunday, we're gathering as a church, but we're gathering with the church universal as well that are gathering all around the world today.
02:50: Some in hiding, some in fear, but yet still gathered because it is the Lord's Day.
02:59: Another said it is the unity of God's people around the word and the gospel.
03:05: And another said it's the opportunity to collectively worship.
03:09: So I asked you this morning, what is your favorite thing about the Lord's Day? What is it that you look forward to most about this day as opposed to other days in the week? What makes this day special in your heart? Maybe take a moment this week and write down that answer.
03:29: I'd love to hear it.
03:31: Why is the Lord's Day important to you? As I said, we're going to move now into the time for the sermon.
03:40: Last week, we looked at how the seventh day that God created the seventh day and He sanctified it.
03:47: He made it holy.
03:48: He made it different from other days.
03:51: And we noted it was the first time that the word holy is used in the Bible is in Genesis 2, verse 3.
03:58: We showed how this seventh day established a pattern of work and rest for man's flourishing.
04:05: And we showed how God would later use that day as a sign of the covenant that He made with Israel through Moses.
04:12: And we showed last week that it typified the rest that we have in our Lord Jesus Christ.
04:21: Well today, I want to follow that message with a question.
04:27: And it's this question.
04:29: Since God hallowed the seventh day, why do we worship on the first day? Does the fact that we worship on the first day indicate some kind of failure on our part to observe that which is holy, which God calls holy? As the question on the board says, is Sunday a corruption of the Sabbath? Let's stand together and we're going to read two verses of Scripture.
05:04: We're going to read one in the beginning of the Bible, one at the end of the Bible.
05:07: One at Genesis chapter 2, verse 3.
05:09: And then we're going to jump all the way to the end to Revelation chapter 1 and verse 10.
05:19: Genesis chapter 2, verse 3.
05:25: So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all His work that He had done in creation.
05:37: And now way over to Revelation chapter 1 and verse 10.
05:47: This is John as he is receiving his revelation on the Isle of Patmos.
05:55: And he says in Revelation chapter 1 and verse 10, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches.
06:17: And he names those churches.
06:19: He says to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.
06:29: Father in heaven, I thank you for your word.
06:31: Father, as we study the word of God today, I pray that you would keep me from error.
06:38: For Lord God, I am a fallible man and I'm capable of preaching error, and for the sake of your name and for the sake of your holiness, for the sake of your people and for the sake of my own heart and conscience, Lord, I pray that you would keep me from that.
06:51: I pray that the words that go out today would be truthful and honoring to you.
06:55: For Lord, all truth is your truth.
06:58: And I pray, Lord, that your Holy Spirit would go and that he would open the hearts to believe, that he would open the eyes to see, open the ears to hear the word of God.
07:10: And Lord, that we would be moved by the word of God toward closer conformity to our Lord Jesus Christ.
07:15: And help us to understand that while we discuss the subjects of Sabbath today, and while we discuss the subject of the Lord's day, and while we discuss these things that might seem to some just theological, small and inconsequential things, they are actually very, Lord, important because it helps us to focus on what matters to you.
07:37: And Lord, we want to be pleasing in your sight.
07:40: We want to do what you have called us to do.
07:42: So Lord, help us to be faithful to the word today as we study it.
07:47: In Jesus' name.
07:50: Amen.
08:03: Many people today, if not most, in the world and around the world, and especially in the United States, see Sunday as church day.
08:16: Relatively little thought goes into that.
08:19: It's just the way it's always been for most of us.
08:22: Sunday was the day you went to church.
08:24: In fact, there used to be a phrase for a certain article of clothing that you kept either in your dresser or your closet, and you called it what? You called it your church clothes.
08:36: Remember church clothes? Sunday best? You know, I remember when I first started preaching, I wouldn't stand behind this pulpit if I weren't wearing a suit.
08:45: I know some of you all wish that were still the case.
08:48: But today we're not talking about clothes.
08:50: But you remember church clothes? You remember when you were a kid and you wore your church clothes? If you wore it on a non-church day, mom said, no, go get out of those church clothes, put on your play clothes.
09:00: Right? There was a time not too long ago when everything was closed on Sunday.
09:08: Even today there are businesses like Chick-fil-A and Hobby Lobby that close on Sunday.
09:13: Did you know that Chick-fil-A recently, it was announced they were the second largest fast food restaurant? That they have moved to that level, and that is amazing, because they take off 52 days a year that other businesses don't take off.
09:27: It's an amazing reality that that happens.
09:31: So with such history surrounding Sunday, it might make one think that the fact that Christians observe this day is really an indisputable thing.
09:42: However, it might surprise you, and maybe it will, to learn that over the years, many years being here in the ministry, one of the things that has been most contested with people who come from the outside, not within the church, but from people from the outside, is the issue of Sunday and Saturday, and the issue of the Sabbath and the Lord's Day.
10:05: Last year Rob Hamm and I debated whether or not Sunday constituted a Sabbath, but one of the things we agreed on, we both agreed we should worship on Sunday.
10:18: And every letter, every response, every negative comment I have received about that debate has been something in the vein of you're both wrong, because you're both saying we should worship on Sunday.
10:35: You should worship on Saturday, because Saturday is the Sabbath.
10:39: In fact, just yesterday, I could prove it to you, I almost printed it out and brought it with me.
10:43: My wife knows, because I texted her.
10:45: I got an email just yesterday from a person who was saying Rob and I were so ignorant, and so wrong, and didn't know our Bibles, because we both believed that you should worship on Sunday.
10:59: And I was like, hey Jennifer, isn't this great? I was like, this is literally what I'm preaching on tomorrow, and this person reminded me how it's still relevant.
11:10: And I say it's relevant because not only about the debate, but you'd be surprised how much this comes up.
11:18: Currently there is a letter on my desk from an inmate from the Florida State Prison in Rayford.
11:25: Five pages, handwritten letter, that he wrote me to question me about my position on the Sabbath.
11:33: You might wonder how he came to know who I am, or why he would even care about me, but that's a longer story.
11:38: But the point is, that's how important it is to some people.
11:47: Last year at set free, there was a man who, he would get angry every time I would preach, and every time I would preach he would come to talk to me after, because he was a Torah observer.
11:58: A Torah observer is a person who believes their responsibility in Christ is to keep the old covenant laws, including the dietary laws, the food laws, the circumcision laws, and the Sabbath laws.
12:10: And he would get upset, and he would come and want to challenge me every time I would preach.
12:14: And I would be ready every time, because I knew it was coming.
12:17: Anytime the word, the law of God would come up in a message, I knew, well, giddy up, here it comes.
12:26: Two weeks ago I went to get a haircut.
12:28: As I was sitting, getting my hair cut, the lady who was cutting my hair wanted to argue with me about the Sabbath.
12:37: I didn't bring it up.
12:39: I didn't want to argue it.
12:43: In fact, let me give you a little piece of advice.
12:45: When someone's cutting your hair, agree with them.
12:55: I look like you, brother.
13:00: We've even had families leave the church, at least one that I can remember in the last ten years or so, because they became convinced that the seventh-day Sabbath was necessary.
13:12: They wouldn't hear otherwise, and so they left our church to go to the Seventh-day Adventist church.
13:18: And someone might say, well, that's fine.
13:20: You know, Seventh-day Adventist is just another denomination.
13:22: And while I do believe there are saved people in the denomination, I don't believe the denomination is founded on right principles, because it's founded on the teachings of Ellen G.
13:29: White.
13:29: And Ellen G.
13:31: White was herself a proclaimed prophetess, and the prophetess Ellen G.
13:35: White made many false prophecies, thereby demonstrating she was not, in fact, a prophet of God.
13:41: And I have two quotes from her this morning.
13:43: Number one, the observance of the Lord's memorial, the Sabbath instituted in Eden, the Seventh-day Sabbath is the test of our loyalty to God.
13:55: She said that.
13:56: And then she also said, the sign or seal of God is revealed in the observance of the Seventh-day Sabbath, the Lord's memorial of creation.
14:06: The mark of the beast is the opposite of this, the observance of the first day of the week.
14:11: Did you know that's one of the things that you have to believe and accept if you become a Seventh-day Adventist? That is, if you worship on Sunday, you have accepted the mark of the beast.
14:26: So you see, for some, this is no small issue.
14:30: For those in the Seventh-day Adventist movement, the Hebrew Roots movement, and other Seventh-day Sabbath keepers, there is no liberty here.
14:37: There is no opportunity for the variation of opinion.
14:40: You either keep the Sabbath day, or you are in league with the devil himself.
14:47: My hope to show you this morning is that just ain't so.
14:51: I hope to show you this morning that not only are Christians allowed to worship on Sunday, but we are encouraged to by the Bible and by history.
15:03: Not because Sunday is the new Sabbath, but because Sunday is the Lord's Day.
15:09: It is the day the Lord was raised.
15:11: It is a celebration of the new covenant instituted in Christ, and it commemorates the unique event of the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior.
15:21: Sunday, as D.A.
15:22: Carson said, and if you don't know who D.A.
15:24: Carson is, you should.
15:27: He's one of the preeminent New Testament scholars alive today.
15:31: And D.A.
15:31: Carson said this in his book, Sabbath to the Lord's Day.
15:34: He said, Sunday is a new day of worship that was chosen to commemorate the unique salvation historical event of the death and resurrection of Christ, rather than merely being another day for celebrating the Sabbath.
15:48: You see, we haven't changed the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday.
15:52: The Sabbath has been fulfilled in Christ, and now we celebrate Christ's finished work.
15:58: The first day of the week is a celebration of what Christ has accomplished in becoming our Sabbath.
16:07: In Him we have our rest.
16:12: So here's what we're going to look at today.
16:13: Three points, if you will.
16:15: They're rather long, so you might not want to try to write this down, but at least you know the direction that we're heading.
16:21: Number one, I want to look at the biblical and historical evidence that the New Testament church observed the first day of the week.
16:27: I think that's necessary.
16:28: We have to see that it's biblical and historical, that what we're doing.
16:31: Number two, we're going to see the continuity and discontinuity between the Sabbath day and the Lord's day.
16:36: There are some things in which they are similar, and there are some ways in which they're dissimilar.
16:41: And finally, we're going to look at the liberty and responsibility that all Christians have in the regardance of holy days.
16:49: And that's a lot to get to in one message.
16:51: But if you promise to keep up, I'll get through it in one sitting.
16:55: That way we're not talking about the Sabbath for another three weeks.
16:58: All right, so let's look at number one.
16:59: Let's look at the biblical and historical evidence that the New Testament church, or the New Covenant church, observed the first day of the week.
17:07: Turn in your Bibles to Matthew 28 and verse 1.
17:16: While you're turning, I want to make mention of this.
17:19: The Bible does not use the days of the week like we do.
17:24: The Bible doesn't say Saturday or Sunday, though some of your translations might.
17:29: In general, what you see is first day of the week.
17:32: That is the phrase that's used.
17:35: The words Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, did you know all of those words have pagan backgrounds? Sunday is the day of the sun.
17:45: Monday is the day of the moon.
17:46: Tuesday is actually the day of Mars because that is one of the ways that Mars is represented by Tuo, the god Tuo.
17:53: And then you have Woden Day, which is Wednesday.
17:55: Thor's Day, which is Thursday.
17:57: Saturn Day, which is Saturday.
17:59: All of those days are named after pagan deities or celestial bodies.
18:07: So the Bible doesn't use that language.
18:09: The Bible uses the language of the Sabbath, and it makes the Sabbath the marker.
18:16: So let's look at Matthew 28, verse 1.
18:18: Now after the Sabbath, which is what day? Saturday.
18:24: So after the Sabbath, toward the dawn of the Mian Sabaton.
18:29: That's the Greek there.
18:30: It literally means the first of the Sabbath.
18:32: And what's the first of the Sabbath? The first day of the week, because the Sabbath is the marker, right? The Sabbath is the marking post.
18:39: So if you say the first of the Sabbath, you're saying the first day after.
18:42: If you said the second of the Sabbath, it would be the second day after, third of the Sabbath.
18:45: So Mian Sabaton is the first of the Sabbath.
18:48: So it says the day after the Sabbath is Mian Sabaton, or the first of the Sabbath.
18:52: Okay, we see that? And what happened on the first of the Sabbath? Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb, and what did they find? An empty tomb.
19:01: Now, I don't want you to have to turn to all of these, but just so you understand, Mark 16, verse 2 says the same thing.
19:08: Very early on the first day of the week, when the sun had risen, they went to the tomb.
19:11: Luke 24, but on the first day of the week at early dawn, they went to the tomb.
19:15: John 20, verse 1, now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark.
19:20: So every one of them references the first day of the week.
19:24: This is one of those places, one of those glorious places, where all four of the Gospels say it the exact same way.
19:31: There is no disagreement in the Gospels about what day Jesus rose from the dead.
19:37: There's no disagreement about the fact that the women came.
19:40: There's no disagreement about when they came.
19:41: They came early on the first day of the week, and it's designated as the first day of the week.
19:47: You may think I'm beating a dead horse here, but I tell you what, it's important, because it designates for us a unique time, and that all the Gospel writers made a point to tell us about this unique time, that it was the first day of the week.
20:06: Now, in John chapter 20, verse 19, it says, On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being locked where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
20:25: What is this? This is Jesus appearing to His disciples.
20:28: When does He appear to His disciples? The first day of the week.
20:32: So not only did He raise on the first day of the week, but He also appears to His disciples on the first day of the week.
20:40: And then we move over, and again, you can write these down, you can try to keep up if you want, I've got a lot of Scripture to get through, but Acts chapter 20 and verse 7, this tells us about the early church.
20:52: Now remember, by Acts chapter 20, this is several years, even decades into the history of the church and what is happening after the resurrection of the Lord, but it says in Acts chapter 20, verse 7, it says, On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.
21:16: So we see here, they gathered on the first day of the week, they gathered together to break bread.
21:21: That's biblical language for the participation in the agape feast, which was accompanied by the taking of the Lord's Supper.
21:28: This was a biblical worship time, and it was done on the first day of the week, and Paul preached.
21:37: And Paul preached until midnight.
21:40: Y'all ready? You don't even wonder.
21:45: We can make it happen.
21:47: I'll just rotate out with Mike and Andy and we'll keep it going.
21:51: So Acts chapter 20 and verse 7, it doesn't give us a command, it's not an imperative, but it gives us an example.
22:03: It's an indicative.
22:03: It tells us what happened.
22:06: And what happened is that the early church, when they were meeting, were meeting on the first day of the week.
22:13: Now, in 1 Corinthians chapter 16, we have another reference to the first day of the week.
22:19: 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse 2.
22:23: This one is kind of interesting because a lot of people argue and say, well, it doesn't say they gathered, but listen to the passage and listen to what Paul says and consider what I'm going to say in regard to it.
22:36: 1 Corinthians 16 verse 2.
22:39: On the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up.
22:43: So right there, there is an imperative, but the imperative is not gathering.
22:48: The imperative is offering.
22:51: He says, On the first day of the week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper so that there will be no collecting when I come.
22:59: Why is it that Paul would designate the first day of the week as the day when offerings were to be gathered? Could it be? And I don't think it's a stretch to imagine that the reason why it was that day that he pointed out to do, because it was that day that the church was gathering to come together and worship.
23:16: And so Paul is saying, when you come together, collect an offering so that when I get there, we don't have to do a massive collection, but you've already collected.
23:26: And here's the thing.
23:27: Some people say, No, Paul isn't saying gather.
23:29: Paul is saying keep it in your house.
23:31: But that's not what it says.
23:33: And if that's what it said, why would he designate a day of the week? You can store up things any day of the week.
23:38: You could put things in your closet or in your piggy bank or wherever any day you wanted to.
23:44: But the fact that he designates it on a certain day of the week tells us that the early church was already meeting on that day.
23:52: Therefore, Paul says, when you meet, essentially, store up an offering so that we won't have to make a big collection when I arrive.
24:04: Another important event.
24:06: By the way, today is Pentecost.
24:10: The traditional liturgical color for Pentecost is red.
24:15: But I didn't know that until I got here and Pat told me.
24:19: I forgot.
24:19: But it just so happens fortuitously that I wore a nice big red polo shirt.
24:25: Today is Pentecost Sunday.
24:28: Pentecost was on a Sunday.
24:30: What happened on Pentecost? The giving of the Holy Spirit of God.
24:35: So Jesus rose on the first day of the week.
24:38: Jesus appeared to the disciples on the first day of the week.
24:41: The Holy Spirit fell on the first day of the week.
24:42: The early church was meeting on the first day of the week by the book of Acts.
24:46: And Paul referenced the first day of the week in the book of 1 Corinthians.
24:49: So I think we see a pattern here developing.
24:55: But I think, for me, what really convinced me, and I'll give you just a little bit of a history on this because I used to wonder about this.
25:07: I used to say, boy, are we wrong worshiping on Sunday? And really, again, all of us have to go through times of learning and things.
25:16: And there was a time when I was really, you know, this many, many, over ten years ago, I was really thinking about this.
25:21: But this was the passage that really got me, and it was Revelation 1.10.
25:26: Because Revelation 1.10, which we've already read, says something, and it uses a unique phrase that is not used anywhere else in the New Testament.
25:37: It uses the phrase, the Lord's day.
25:41: And it says that John was in the Spirit on the Lord's day.
25:49: And you say, well, wait a minute.
25:50: How do we know what day that is? God sanctified the Sabbath.
25:54: That must be the Lord's day.
25:56: Oh, nay, nay.
26:00: And here's why.
26:02: Because even though the Bible is the only infallible source that we have for truth, the Bible is not the only historical record that we have from the time period.
26:15: Therefore, if we have a unique phrase in the New Covenant, the phrase, the Lord's day, and so we have no other place in the New Testament to compare that language, we would go outside the New Testament simply to see how other people in the same time period were using that language, right? That's how you would determine its meaning.
26:36: You would do a cross study of how that language was used.
26:39: And so what I have done is I've compiled a list of about 10 different resources, all from within the 1st and 2nd century, so up to the time of about 200.
26:50: Remember, Jesus died around the year 30.
26:54: The church and mainly the New Testament was all written up until the time of AD 70.
27:00: Some people believe there were some books written after AD 70, but we know they were at least all completed by AD 95.
27:04: So the New Testament's written, completed, and finished at least by AD 95.
27:08: There's no really contesting of that.
27:10: And then we go into the 2nd century.
27:12: And who are the people in the 2nd century? The people in the 2nd century are the students of the apostles.
27:18: The students of the apostles are now writing, and we have a wealth of literature from what we call the early church fathers or those who were the students of the apostles or second-generation students of the apostles, meaning the students of a student.
27:32: Now, there are some things in the early church fathers that we would contest because we would argue and say there are some things where they disagree with one another.
27:43: And again, they're not scripture, so we don't have to accept everything that they say as law.
27:49: But when they all agree, that helps us to understand at least some uniformity of thought within the early church.
27:58: So we look at the early writings, and we see consistently over and over and over, the Lord's Day was not the Sabbath.
28:08: The Lord's Day was the day Jesus rose from the dead.
28:12: I'll give you a few examples.
28:14: One, this is from what is known as the Apostolic Constitution.
28:17: This is from Book 7 of that.
28:19: It says this, That is, the Lord's Day.
28:36: Right there.
28:37: That's what we do.
28:38: That's a 2,000-year-old document.
28:40: It's the same thing we do today.
28:41: You gather together on the Lord's Day to sing, to praise, to offer up songs and praises and studies.
28:47: All of that's right there.
28:49: 2,000-year-old writing.
28:52: Ignatius, in his epistle to the Magnesians, said this.
28:57: He said, He goes on to say, have come raised from the dead.
29:24: This is referring to the resurrection.
29:27: But he's talking about the fact that the Lord's Day is not the Sabbath.
29:32: The Lord's Day is the day Jesus rose.
29:36: Epistle of Barnabas.
29:37: We know who Barnabas was.
29:39: The Epistle of Barnabas.
29:40: It says, Clement of Alexandria.
29:50: Glorifying the Lord's resurrection.
29:53: Justin Martyr.
29:55: Sunday.
29:55: Now, he actually uses the word Sunday.
29:59: And he says, And it goes on and on.
30:14: I've got quotes from Tertullian.
30:16: I've got quotes from Origen.
30:18: And there's quotes.
30:19: And if you want to copy my notes, I'll just give them to you.
30:22: Because I'm going to sit here and read over and over.
30:23: But they all say the same thing.
30:25: The day that the church was gathering, by the second century, these men who themselves, many of which had been taught directly by the apostles, they were arguing that we don't keep the Sabbath.
30:37: We keep the Lord's Day.
30:39: Because it's a new day for a new covenant.
30:41: And we are members of the new covenant.
30:45: As Philip Schaaf says, in his writing on this time in history.
30:49: He's a biblical scholar.
30:51: He said, There's only one reason why the whole church would be gathering on Sunday in the second century.
31:06: It's because the church gathered on Sunday in the first century.
31:08: There is no evidence of anyone coming in and changing.
31:12: And you might hear.
31:13: You might go home today.
31:14: You might look it up.
31:15: And you might see on the internet.
31:16: Somebody will say, well, Constantine changed it.
31:19: Constantine wasn't born until the third century.
31:23: He wasn't in power, really, until the early fourth century.
31:32: How could Constantine, not yet born, affect the behavior of the church 200 years before he lived? It just ain't so.
31:43: In fact, that's what the lady who cut my hair said.
31:47: She started saying, well, I think we should keep the Sabbath because Constantine...
31:51: And I said, eh? And I literally lifted my hand.
31:55: I said, just let me stop you.
31:58: Everything you're about to say is wrong.
32:01: I wasn't trying to be ugly.
32:02: But everything she was about to say was going to be historically inaccurate.
32:10: Did Constantine set apart Sunday as a day of rest? Yes, he did.
32:16: But that has nothing to do with the history of the church because it's so far removed.
32:24: It is an anachronism to say that Constantine could have anything to do with the behavior of the early church seeing as he lived 300 and some odd years after the founding of the church.
32:36: It just ain't so.
32:39: And you'll hear people say, well, the Catholic Church changed it.
32:43: Just understand this.
32:46: The Catholic Church as it is today and the seat of power that has arisen within the Catholic Church did not exist in the first centuries of the church.
32:55: That is something that rose over time and the power seated in the church was a development over time which became a collective between the empire and the church which came together to make up the Holy Roman Empire.
33:09: But the very first person to even be called Pope was not until Gregory in the 7th century.
33:17: So the idea that the Roman Catholic Church changed it to Sunday is baloney.
33:24: That ain't what happened neither.
33:26: So you'll hear it and you'll hear people say it and it sounds so good because they heard it on the History Channel or they read it on a website.
33:37: But it just ain't so.
33:40: So let me summarize for you.
33:42: Why do we worship on Sunday? 1.
33:44: Jesus rose on the first day of the week.
33:46: 2.
33:46: He appeared to his disciples on the first day of the week.
33:48: 3.
33:49: The Holy Spirit was given on the first day of the week.
33:51: 4.
33:52: At least two scriptures reference the early church gathering on the first day of the week.
33:56: 5.
33:56: The Bible refers to the Lord's Day which history recounts was the name given to the first day of the week.
34:02: 6.
34:02: Extrabiblical writers in the 2nd century show that the Lord's Day was observed instead of the Sabbath.
34:07: 7.
34:08: There is no biblical passage in the New Testament which commands the church to keep the seventh day Sabbath.
34:13: 8.
34:14: And all the references in the New Testament to sins not keeping the Sabbath is not listed among them.
34:22: Is that enough? I think it's enough to say that when we go to the New Covenant, the New Testament, we find a people that are meeting not under the old law but in the beauty and reverence of the New Covenant which had a new day.
34:43: Now, that's our first point.
34:45: That's the biblical and historical reason for gathering on the first day of the week.
34:49: Now, quickly I want to go through the other two and these will be a lot more brief.
34:53: 2.
34:53: The continuity and discontinuity between the Lord's Day.
34:56: Is there any continuity between the Sabbath and the Lord's Day? I think there is.
35:01: I think there's some continuity.
35:02: Number one, it's one day and seven.
35:05: It maintains the pattern that God established in creation for work and rest.
35:09: It maintains a certain pattern that God established and showed and I think that that is one way that there's what we would call a familial link between the Sabbath and the Lord's Day.
35:19: It's not like we take two Lord's Days or three Lord's Days.
35:21: No, there's one day and it's one day and seven.
35:24: And I do believe there's a certain continuity between the Sabbath and the Lord's Day.
35:30: But the discontinuity should be observed even more.
35:34: Because here's the way they're not the same.
35:36: The Sabbath and the Lord's Day are not the same and number one, they do not have the same precepts.
35:42: You realize on the Sabbath, the regulations were fairly strict.
35:47: You were not allowed even to gather sticks under penalty of death.
35:54: Let me ask you a question, Brother Mike.
35:55: Would we excommunicate someone in this church if they were gathering sticks on a Sunday? No, we would not.
36:04: There is nowhere in the New Testament where anyone was disciplined or reprimanded for treating the Lord's Day unlike the Sabbath.
36:16: Now, you might say, well, that's an argument from silence.
36:18: Yes, but I think it's a pregnant silence.
36:23: Number two, the Lord's Day does not have the same purpose as the Sabbath.
36:26: The Sabbath was a sign for God's covenant with Israel.
36:32: We learned that last week.
36:33: Remember, Exodus clearly says the Sabbath was given as a sign to Israel and it distinguished them from all other nations.
36:40: They were going to rest on the Sabbath, the last day of the week, the seventh day.
36:44: In the New Covenant, we have a sign of the covenant, but it's not the day that we worship.
36:48: What's the covenant sign today? The table and baptism in the table.
36:54: We have two, if you will.
36:55: We have the initial sign of entrance into the covenant, which is baptism, and we have the participation in the weekly ordinance or however often we do it, we have the ordinance of the table.
37:05: So, we have signs in the New Covenant, but the Lord's Day is not called a sign and that's important because the Sabbath was called a sign.
37:12: So, there's a distinction to be made there.
37:14: And number three, they don't have the same practice.
37:17: What was the focus of the Sabbath? What was the main thing that you were to do? Nothing.
37:23: Thank you.
37:23: You weren't supposed to do nothing.
37:25: It was a day of rest.
37:28: What are you supposed to do on the Lord's Day? Praise God.
37:32: Worship God.
37:33: Gather with the saints for worship.
37:36: So, it does not have the same precepts.
37:39: It does not have the same purpose.
37:40: It does not have the same practice.
37:41: Therefore, I would say the Sabbath and the Lord's Day are not the same.
37:43: I would agree with the early fathers who said, we're not celebrating the old Sabbath.
37:47: We're celebrating the new day, which is the Lord's Day.
37:51: The New Testament church, I believe, saw the Lord's Day as something new.
37:57: And I'll give you an example, probably the best illustration of this I could give you is the table.
38:04: You realize that this table has a familial link to something from the Old Testament, right? What happened in the Old Testament that preceded the table? Passover, right? So, Brother Mike, I keep pointing at you, I'm sorry.
38:19: If somebody came up to you and they saw you taking this table, and they said, hey, you're celebrating Passover, would you agree? But you would say, we're not celebrating Passover, we're celebrating the Lord's Supper, right? Because while this has a familial link, it's not exactly the same.
38:35: There's a continuity, but there's also a discontinuity.
38:38: And that's the point I'm trying to make, is that when somebody comes and says, on Sunday you're celebrating the Sabbath, we say, no, there's a familial link, but it's not the same.
38:45: And you know there's only two things in the New Testament that have the possessive of Lords? There's only two things that are called the Lords in the New Testament.
38:53: The Lord's Day and the Lord's Supper.
38:57: The Lord's Day is in Revelation 1.10, the Lord's Supper is in 1 Corinthians 11.
39:02: Both of them are the only time we see the possessive Lords.
39:06: Both of them are new things that take the place of something in the old.
39:12: The new table takes place of the old table.
39:16: The new day takes place of the old day.
39:18: You see? So we have a continuity and a discontinuity.
39:25: But we have a wonderful blessing, because in this day, it's a new day for a new covenant.
39:31: I've got to tell you something.
39:32: I'm so glad to be part of the new covenant.
39:33: You have no idea.
39:34: You realize Moses would have given his eyes to be where you are.
39:41: You say, but Moses went on the mountain and got to be in the presence of God.
39:46: Yes, but you have God living in you.
39:50: Just think about that.
39:59: So are there similarities? Yes.
40:01: But are there distinctions? Yes.
40:03: And I think we need to understand the distinctions.
40:06: Lastly, liberty and responsibility.
40:10: Liberty and responsibility in regard to holy days.
40:14: There is a sense in which we have liberty in regard to what days that we recognize as Christians.
40:22: And if you want the verse for that, it's Romans 14, verse 5.
40:25: The Apostle Paul clearly says that one person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike.
40:32: Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.
40:36: So as a result, if there are people who observe a different day than we do, we should not necessarily be judgmental about their need or desire to celebrate a different day.
40:47: This is why I would say, if somebody felt convicted to keep the Sabbath day, keep Saturday.
40:52: I don't think that's damnable heresy.
40:56: But I want to say this.
41:00: Anytime you have liberty, you also have responsibility.
41:05: For instance, in the United States, we have the liberty of free speech.
41:09: But we also have the responsibility not to go yell fire in a crowded room.
41:14: Right? We have the liberty to own firearms, but we also have the responsibility to take care that no one else can access our firearms and use them to harm other people.
41:22: So with liberty comes responsibility.
41:27: And just because we have liberty regarding the day that we observe, that does not mean that we have the right to do things the way we want.
41:36: We should try to want to do things the way God wants.
41:44: And the first thing to remember is gathering is not an option.
41:50: Hebrews 10, verse 25, Do not neglect the gathering of yourselves together.
41:58: So therefore, if somebody says, Well, I just treat every day the same, and I don't need to go to church.
42:02: I don't need to be a part of the worship service.
42:03: I don't need to be in the body.
42:05: Hogwash.
42:06: Absolute garbage.
42:08: And if you're watching this via the Internet, I'm talking to you.
42:10: No, not necessarily.
42:12: Some of you may be home sick.
42:13: Some of you may be home still worried about the thing.
42:14: But if anybody says to you, I'm a believer, but I don't need to be in the body, that is dead wrong.
42:23: Absolutely dead wrong.
42:26: So if we should gather, that's our responsibility.
42:31: The question then is, when should we gather? Well, I believe the Lord's Day is the day we should gather.
42:40: You say, well, why do you say that? Because of Scripture and tradition.
42:45: Oh, I used the ugly word.
42:48: I got to repent.
42:50: I used the word tradition.
42:51: But don't.
42:53: Listen.
42:55: Brother Andy and I were talking about this Wednesday night.
42:57: Don't take a fence down until you realize why it was put up.
43:01: You ever heard that phrase? You don't take a fence down until you realize why it was put up.
43:09: Why has the church consistently worshiped on the Lord's Day? Because it's the Lord's Day.
43:16: Because it's the day He rose from the dead.
43:20: Why would we want to worship any other? Why would we want to gather any other day? Why would we want to have it our way when God has showed us His way? I mean, that's the point, right? I'm not saying we don't have the liberty, but with liberty is the right to be wrong.
43:38: I remember a while back, I saw a post online.
43:45: We're now having Saturday evening services, so you can have your Sunday free.
43:50: That was the ad.
43:51: That was the ad for the service.
43:53: Come and have service on Saturday night, so you can have Sunday all to yourself.
44:00: And I had to keep myself from typing, because I was thinking.
44:04: No, it said, you can have your Sunday all to yourself.
44:07: That's the line.
44:07: You can have your Sunday all to yourself.
44:09: And I just wanted to respond and say, it's not yours.
44:16: If it's the Lord's Day, by nature, it's His.
44:22: And I believe there's something special about the Lord's Day.
44:25: That's why it's called His Day.
44:27: I didn't invent that language.
44:28: I didn't change history.
44:31: I didn't come up with this on my own.
44:33: That is the language the Holy Spirit chose to use to identify Sunday.
44:39: Therefore, I would stand on both Scripture and apostolic tradition and say that it is not only right, but proper that we should worship on the Lord's Day.
44:52: Now, some might hear this message and wonder if it's really relevant.
44:57: But I ask you this.
44:59: And I want you to really think about this.
45:02: How would you respond if you received a letter from someone, as I did just a few weeks ago, saying it was wrong for you to worship on Sunday? Better yet, how would you respond to the question of why do you worship on Sunday? Why have you forsaken the Sabbath? Why have you forsaken the day God rested? That's the kind of question that you may have one day.
45:31: Before this morning, were you ready to answer it? Were you prepared to give an answer? Moreover, do you know why you should? As believers, I believe we should know why we do what we do.
45:47: I don't think we should accept anything just because.
45:51: I think we should know why we do what we do.
45:59: And again, I don't think we should call this day the Sabbath because I think that confuses terms, it sets unbiblical expectations, and it takes away from what Sunday is supposed to be.
46:07: Sunday is not the Sabbath, Christ is our Sabbath.
46:11: In Him we find our rest, and in Him we celebrate on the day He was raised from the dead.
46:17: Sunday is the Lord's day, our weekly recognition of the resurrection.
46:22: The gospel, as Paul declared it in 1 Corinthians, is the death, the burial, and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
46:33: And without the resurrection, there would be no gospel.
46:37: The Apostle Paul says, if Christ were not risen, you would still be in your sins.
46:45: Therefore, we set aside the day that Christ rose to proclaim the risen Christ, to celebrate His name in worship, to pray through Him to God our Father, to celebrate His body and blood, to sing songs to Him, to hear from His Word, and to know that this day is not my day, this day is the Lord's day.
47:09: Let's pray.
47:10: Father, I thank You for having the opportunity to celebrate the Lord's day together.
47:16: And Lord, I know many churches in many places today are having a very difficult time because while they want to celebrate the Lord's day, they're coming against a force they've never had, a force that's telling them not to gather.
47:32: And Lord, some of those churches don't know what to do.
47:34: They don't know how to respond.
47:36: They don't know how to stand up for what is right.
47:42: And some of them feel like they don't have the power.
47:46: But Lord, we know that You are the one who gives us power to do anything that is right in Your sight.
47:52: So Lord, I pray for those churches that can't meet today or are choosing not to.
47:56: And Lord, I pray for our church.
47:59: Lord, I pray that we would learn to truly set aside this time that we come to worship as a truly sanctified time in our life.
48:07: Thank You for the Lord's day.
48:09: Thank You, moreover, for the Lord Himself, whose work on the cross, His death, burial, and resurrection gives us this day.
48:16: For Lord, we would have no good news if Jesus were still in the tomb.
48:22: So thank You, Lord.
48:23: Thank You for this day.
48:25: In Jesus' name, Amen.