4th Commandment — Law Homily

Now, this week, as we would come to the law of God, we are at the fourth commandment, the fourth commandment, which is in Exodus chapter 20 at verse, pardon me, at verse eight, the fourth commandment of 10, at Exodus chapter 20, verse eight.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work.

But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it, thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.

For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.

Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Now, in this fourth commandment, a great example that we see of the

Lord applying or teaching his people the importance of Sabbath observance is when we look at the book of Nehemiah.

Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem and he finds something deeply troubling. It says, in those days saw

I and Judah some treading wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in sheaves and ladding asses as also wine, grapes, and figs and all manner of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the

Sabbath day. And I testified against them in the day wherein they sold victuals. There dwelt men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish in all manner of wear and sold on the

Sabbath under the children of Judah and in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah and said unto them, what evil thing is this that you do and profane the

Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus and did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city?

Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath. And it came to pass that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the

Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut and charged that they should not be opened till after the

Sabbath. And some of my servants set eye at the gates that there should no burden be brought in on the

Sabbath day. So the merchants and sellers of all kind of wear lodged without Jerusalem once or twice.

Then I testified against them and said unto them, why lodge ye about the wall? If you do so again,

I will lay hands on you. From that time forth came they no more on the Sabbath and I commanded the

Levites that they should cleanse themselves and that they should come and keep the gates to sanctify the

Sabbath day. Remember me, oh my God, concerning this also and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy.

The people of God at this time in the book of Nehemiah, people of God were treating his holy day like any other day.

They were treading wine presses, loading animals, buying and selling in the marketplace, conducting business as usual on the

Sabbath. But God had sanctified, they had made common. And Nehemiah's response was swift and serious.

He says, what evil thing is this that ye do and profane the Sabbath day? He reminded them that their father's neglect of the

Sabbath had brought judgment upon the nation and now they were inviting the same wrath by repeating the same sin.

Brothers and sisters, this is not just an Old Testament story, but the principle remains.

God has set a part one day in seven for himself and he expects us to honor it.

We call it the Lord's day, the first day of the week, the day our savior rose from the dead and it's a day that belongs to him.

But how do we treat it? Do we rush through worship to get back to our own pursuits? Do we fill the day with shopping and entertainment and unnecessary work?

Do we treat Sunday like any other day? When we blur the line between the

Lord's day and the rest of the week, we profane what God has made holy. We declare by our actions that his day is no different from ours, that his claim on our time is negotiable.

But notice what Nehemiah did. He didn't just complain, he took action.

He commanded that the gates be shut before the Sabbath began. He stationed guards to prevent violations.

He confronted those who tested the boundaries and he was intentional about protecting the sanctity of God's day.

And we must do the same. Keeping the Lord's day holy requires preparation and intentionality.

It means planning ahead so that you're not scrambling on Sunday morning. It means saying no to activities, even good activities that would rob this day of its sacred purpose.

It means prioritizing corporate worship and spiritual rest above our own convenience.

And why? Verse 22 tells us to sanctify the Sabbath day, to make it holy, to set it apart.

The Lord's day is not primarily about rules, it's about rest. It's a weekly opportunity to step away from the endless demands of work and the distractions of the world and to focus on our

God. It's a day to worship with his people, to feast on his words, remember his mercies and to find rest for our souls.

The fourth commandment has not been abolished, but rather we should, as it says, remember the

Sabbath day to keep it holy. This should still echo in our ears. When we treat the Lord's day carelessly, we dishonor the one who gave it to us.

But when we guard it jealously, when we delight in it as the Lord's own day, we honor him and we find blessing for our souls.

And so I'll ask as we prepare to confess our sin, how do we, how do you treat the

Lord's day? Do you approach it with the same casual attitude as Nehemiah's contemporaries?

Or do you, like Nehemiah, recognize its sacred character and guard it accordingly?

All of us surely fall short here to some degree or another. So may we ask that God would give us a heart like Nehemiah's, one that would yearn for righteousness here, that would prepare with the

Lord's day in mind, center its life even around this day. The Lord's day is a gift.

Again, it's a weekly reminder and a weekly call to us even as we begin our service.

The Lord calls us into his worship each week. It is a weekly reminder that we belong to God, that we are not slaves to our work, but slaves to him and that there is something more important than productivity and profit.

And so let us not despise this gift, but rather again, let us with Nehemiah's zeal preserve the sanctity of this blessed day.

Let us remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Amen. If you would please join me, if you're able, kneeling in confession of your sin this day to your

God. Father, we do thank you.

We thank you that as we do come before you in confession, we have confidence. We stand before a

God who is faithful and just and righteous to forgive us as we come confessing in the name of Jesus Christ, our

Lord. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to be a people who are aware of the ways in which we fall short, that we would see even here when it comes to this commandment to honor your day, that you would continue to be revealing to us the ways in which we are making this day about ourselves.

May you help us to be a church and a church filled with families who rejoice,

Lord, on this day and giving it entirely unto you, unto your worship, unto the fellowship of your people,

Lord, and to rejoicing again for all that you have done for us and the wonderful rest that you have granted to us.

May we rightly look at the Sabbath day and call it a delight. May we recognize that this was given for us,

Lord, by you for us, not for you, or but rather again, a gift to your people.

Help us to be people who would pursue righteousness in this law.

Father, we ask all these things in Jesus' name, and amen. Amen. If you would please stand with me.

The Lord God is faithful and just to forgive his people as we confess our sin to him and in the spirit of Christ.

And so we, as we do confess, we don't live in the idea that we are merely sinners, right?

We are sinners forgiven. We are sinners forgiven by grace extended to us, not because we've earned it, but because it was given to us as a free gift of God in Jesus Christ.

And so let us hear from the word of God as he assures us, reaffirms to us that we are pardoned, we are forgiven in the name of Jesus.

This week from Romans chapter four, verses one through five and 13 through 17. What shall we say then that Abraham, our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found?

For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not before God.

For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.

Now to him that worketh is the reward, not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.

Verse 13, for the promise that he should be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

For if they which are of the law be heirs, faith is made void, and the promise made of none effect. Because the law worketh wrath for where no law is, there is no transgression.

Therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace to the end the promise, excuse me, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed, not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations before him whom he believed, even

God, who quickeneth the dead and calleth those things which be not as though they were. The Lord God, Abraham being a picture of this to us, has made us righteous, called us righteous by faith.

Not that we've earned it according to the works of the law, but that we have received it, we've been justified by grace and through faith in the one who has fulfilled all of God's law, that is the