We've been studying on the Ten
Commandments, and we're going very slow through
the book of Deuteronomy. I want to look at two things
tonight. I want to comment just a little bit more on the Sabbath,
and then I think while we're here, secondly, I want to look
at the first day of the week, because Sunday really replaced
the old Jewish Sabbath. Some say that that's not necessary
so, but it really is. We see that in the New Testament.
But I want to read you in Deuteronomy chapter 5, again concerning the
Sabbath, and make just a few comments on it because I love
what this represents. I think you and I crave the rest
that the Sabbath represents. If our conscience is ever tormented
with its guilt and its fear, then when we understand what
the Sabbath represents and we experience something about the
rest for our conscience, then that's got to be a joy and a
quietness to us. But let me read it again in Deuteronomy
chapter 5, verse 12. Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify
it, to set it apart as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six
days you shall labor and do all your work, but the Sabbath day
is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any
work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your manservant,
nor your maidservant, nor your ox or your ass or any of your
cattle, nor your stranger that is within your gates, that your
manservant and your maidservant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a
servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord your God brought
you out through a mighty hand and by a stretched-out arm. Therefore
the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath." Now there
are three things that you and I saw from this last week, and
that was the rest that God Himself entered into there in Genesis
chapter 1 and chapter 2. And then we saw the rest that
Jesus Christ Himself entered into when He accomplished our
redemption. He said it is finished. And the
Bible says He purged our sins and He sat down on the right
hand of God. And then we looked in Hebrews chapter 4 where the
saint, the believer, enters into rest, the rest of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And let me just say three things
quickly about this aspect of this again, because this is a
wonderful thing. You read there in the book of
Genesis, chapter 1 and chapter 2, and you let your mind imagine
the way God appeared and the way He was thinking in His heart
when He finished his work. And the Bible says he looked
on it. Now, let's not read over that
too quick and too hasty and not get anything out of this. He
looked over this. Everything that his hand had
touched and created and finished and everything, the breath of
his mouth had breathed life into the soul of Adam. And he had
built this magnificent man. And the Bible says he looked
at it. He considered it. And he thought
about it. And his countenance lit up. And
this pleasure filled his heart. And he said, very good. Now, can you imagine that? When
we think of rest, it's not just sitting down asleep. It's not
just relaxing. It involves other aspects. It involves pleasure. Now you
say, Bruce, how do you know that God entered into pleasure? Because
Revelation chapter 4 verse 11 said, Thou hast created all things,
and for Thy pleasure they are and were created. When God rested,
He had this sense of pleasure. He rested with pleasure in His
heart. He took great pride, if you will,
and pleasure in what He had created. Now, that had to be a magnificent
thing if Adam had any consciousness of what this rest meant to God
Himself. The pleasure He took in His creation. Because, you know, He did it
for His glory. And the Bible says He not only created all
things for His pleasure, but they are and were created. Not only they were, but they're
still there for His pleasure. He still delights in His creation. Now, that's amazing. And He rested. He rested. And in Hebrews chapter
12, concerning the rest of the Lord Jesus Christ, there's not
only pleasure involved in rest, but when you think of rest, you
think of joy. The Scripture talks about the
joy of rest. Hebrews chapter 12, listen to
this. It's speaking of Jesus, the author and finisher of our
faith. who for the joy that was set
before him endeared the cross, despised the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of God." For the joy that was set before
him. When we think of rest, we think
of joy. He has entered into a joyous
rest. He endeared his cross. And he sat down and he says it's
finished and he's full of joy. He's joyful about the work that
he's finished. And why wouldn't he be? My goodness,
why wouldn't he be? His heart is so full of joy.
He's rejoicing. Think of this little mythical
story. I made up a little mythical story today to help us relate
to this. What if you, what if somebody, this little mythical,
Maybe like the little Greek gods, you know how they used to do
all the stuff, you know. What if you were told that if
you would crawl on your hands and knees for ten miles, that
all the sicknesses, all the disease of mankind would be healed? All
the ills that man had would suddenly be cured if you crawled on your
hands and knees for ten miles. And here you went crawling. Would
you do it? Huh? Well, if you really believed
that all, if your wife was dying of cancer, and maybe your children
were eat up with some kind of awful disease, and you watched
your neighbor as the ambulance came and took them to the hospital
and said, she's got only days to live unless a cure is found,
would you do it then? I would do it. I would do it. If Samantha was dying of cancer,
and I said to Shannon, this is a mythical story now. Listen,
this is not true. This is a mythical story. I made
this up. This is mythical. And somebody
comes to Shannon and says, Shannon, if you crawl ten miles on your
hands and your knees, That last step, when you roll over on your
back, you're not only healed, all of the blisters and all of
the skin and muscle that you've taken off of your hands, and
your kneecaps that were almost out, that last step that you
take, and you flip over on your back, not only are you completely
healed, Samantha is completely healed. Would you do it then?
See what I'm saying? See what I'm saying? But listen,
how would you feel when you took that last crawl, and you flipped
over on your back, and Samantha came over the top of you, and
her skin was like a child, and she was completely whole, and
you saw all the diseases eradicated. How would you feel? Why, they couldn't hold you down,
could they? You'd begin to laugh. You'd begin to clap your hands.
You'd begin to shout and run. Why? Because of what you accomplished
for mankind. All the disease is eradicated.
How do you thank the Lord Jesus Christ for this? When He entered
in to that rest and said, It's accomplished. I have healed my
people. I have eradicated their sins."
Oh, you know how he felt, don't you? He was so full of joy he
could not contain himself. You know, I don't believe heaven
has one ounce of sorrow in it. I don't believe there's anybody
there that is sad or has any tears or diseases. Because you
remember the parable the Lord spoke and told his servant, you've
been faithful over a few things, enter unto the joy of the Lord. That's all that's there. Bunyan
and Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, he was talking about when faithful
and Christian entered the gate, he was standing there watching
them enter the gate, and he was peeping in as they went in. And
he saw the bodies of the people in there, and everything was
bright, and he could see that it was wonderful. And he said,
I envied to be among them. I envied to be among them. Oh,
the Master said, when he's lost one of his sheep, and he goes
out and finds it, and he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing,
and he goes and calls his friends and his family, and said, Come,
rejoice with me. What's he doing in heaven? I
don't believe he's wringing his hands. I don't believe He's frustrated. I don't think He's crying. I
think He's rejoicing. Who for the joy that was set
before Him endeared the cross, He finished His work, and now
He's up there resting. So joyful. So joyful. And thirdly, let us think of
this, the rest that we enter into. This is what this Sabbath
depicts for us in Hebrews chapter 4, they which have believed do
enter unto rest. And you know, really, I don't
know how to say this, but to say it this way, this is really
not a one-time rest. I think there is that initial
rest. when the Lord makes himself real
to us, how precious did that grace appear the hour I first
believed. But as we are unable to believe
from time to time, and able to enter into this rest, isn't it
a joyful thing? I mean, sometimes we go along
and we're so confused, our understanding is so darkened, We're so guilty
we have this apprehension of God that He's high and He's holy,
and we're a mess, and we're confused. But when we see through the eye
of our understanding, through the Word of God, that our Master
has finished the work, He's purged our sin, and we're able through
faith now. It's through faith. It's not
feelings. It's through faith we enter into
this rest. We believe that He has actually
indeed, now listen, that He's purged every sin that I've ever
committed, that I ever will commit. And when you believe that, oh,
and as you believe that, isn't that tranquility? Isn't that
peace? Isn't it rest for your soul?
Let me show you one passage of Scripture before we leave this.
Look in Isaiah chapter 32. Isaiah chapter 32. This is the
effects. When the Lord Jesus died upon
the cross, I tell you, that wasn't just hopefully that He accomplished
something. It wasn't that He did His best
and He's just now hoping somebody will avail themselves of it or
apply it to themselves. That wasn't an effect. that came
out of the death of Jesus Christ. When He came to this world, He
did a work of righteousness. The Bible says He brought in
everlasting righteousness. He worked out this righteousness,
and He finished the work of redemption, and there's an effect to that.
And what is it? When we believe it, it's peace.
It's quietness of our soul. Here's what He's saying in Isaiah
chapter 32, and look in verse 16. Isaiah 32, 16. Then judgment
shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the
fruitful field. And the work of righteousness
shall be peace. He's made peace, hasn't He? Christ
made peace by the blood of His cross. And look at this. And
the effects of this righteousness is quietness and assurance forever. Quietness and assurance. Look
what he said in verse 18, "...and my people shall dwell in a peaceable
habitation, and sure dwellings, and in quiet, resting places."
Quietness, peace, tranquility. That's the effect of us entering
in by faith unto the rest of the Lord Jesus Christ. And you
know it's hard for anything to disturb that peace and that quietness. Look what he said in verse 19,
when it shall hail. They're going to have this peace
and this tranquility when it's hailing. Coming down on the forest
and the city shall be low in a low place. Even when it's hailing? Yeah, when it's hailing, there's
peace. I tell you, if we can live by
faith in the Son of God who finished our work on our behalf, nothing
will disturb our peace. We'll dwell in quiet, resting
places. We desire that, don't we? And
that's what this Sabbath day represents to us. That's what
it represents to us, the Sabbath. Now, let's go from that, and
next week we'll pick up our concern in honoring your father and your
mother. But I thought this would be a good time to look, just
for a few minutes, at the day that replaced the Sabbath. We've
experienced this. what the Sabbath represents.
But we don't keep the Sabbath anymore. We keep it in this sense,
and you mentioned this in your message the other day. We keep
it in this sense. We keep what it represents. The
way the Sabbath is kept now is by resting in Jesus Christ. That's the way we keep the Sabbath.
But the Sabbath, the literal Sabbath, the Jewish Sabbath,
is not kept anymore. Now, the Seventh-day Adventists
say they keep it, but they don't. The Gentiles never did keep the
Jewish Sabbath. It was impossible for the Gentiles
to keep the Jewish Sabbath because the Jewish Sabbath had ceremonies
attached to it. I told you this last week. On
the Sabbath day, they offered four lambs. Two were offered
in the morning and two in the evening. Every day through the
week, two lambs were offered. One in the morning and one in
the evening. But on the Sabbath day, Saturday, four lambs were
offered there by the priest. To keep this Sabbath, you have
to have a priesthood. The priesthood is gone. In 70
A.D., Titus came in and carried the temple, the vessels of the
temple, off, sold them, Whatever was in, it's gone. The priesthood's
been abolished. It's gone. Some of those Orthodox
Jews say they keep the Sabbath, but they don't. They don't. What has replaced the Sabbath? But what day replaced the Sabbath?
Let me say it that way. What day? First day of the week,
didn't it? The first day of the week. Now,
for 2,000 years, In 70 A.D., the Sabbath ceased. It's impossible
to keep it. The first day of the week replaced
the Sabbath. We call it Sunday, the first
day of the week. Now, how did this come into being? How did Sunday, how did the first
day of the week come into being? And I want to give you four things
from Scripture. These are Scripture. I want to
prove the importance of Sunday. Forget about the Sabbath. You
keep that by resting in Christ. And let's not call it Christian
Sabbath. I don't whack that. Our forefathers
dressed the earth, and that's fine. But I think when we come
to understand some things better, we ought to drop these things.
This is not the Christian Sabbath. If the Bible called it that,
then we would. But it's the Lord's Day. It's the first day of the
week. How did we get this? And I hope
that we can see with these four things here that the importance
of Sunday. Because I'm afraid, brothers
and sisters, we're quickly losing this day. And one of the reasons
we're losing it is because you and I, the church, has forgotten
how this day is established and what it's all about. Not anything
legal. It's a gracious blessing. First
of all, here's the way it started. Here's the way it had its rise,
its beginning. The resurrection of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus died on the Passover. He was killed on the Passover.
The next day was Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath. He rested on
that day. His living Mason now, even in
his death, he fulfilled the law. And Sunday morning, the first
day of the week, He raised from the dead. The first day of the
week. That's where Sunday, the Lord's
day, had its rise. And if you'll notice, in all
four of the Gospels, the Holy Spirit is very careful to emphasize
every time on the first day of the week. Early the first day
of the week. That's when the Lord Jesus rose
from the dead. So that tells us something about the importance
of Sunday, doesn't it? The first day of the week that
we still gather after 2,000 years ago. Where did this come from? What was it that replaced the
old Jewish Sabbath? It was the Lord's Day. And some
people, some of our forefathers, go all the way back to the apostles,
some of those men, said that it was known as the Lord's Day
because it's the day Christ raised. That's His day. His day. That's the first thing. Secondly,
I want you to turn some scriptures with me. I want you to turn over
here to John chapter 20. The second day, so you and I
can see the importance of the Lord's day. Every time, John chapter 20,
every time that the Lord appeared to His disciples after His resurrection,
where the day is mentioned that He appeared to His disciples,
It was on the first day of the week. Every time He appeared
where the day is mentioned. Now, one time He appeared when
they were fishing. We don't know what day that was.
But the rest of the times that He appeared to His disciples,
we know what day they were. It was the Lord's day, the first
day of the week. That tells us something about
that day's message. He had a reason for telling us
it was the first day of the week. Now, look in John chapter 20. And here in verse 1, we're told
this. John 20, verse 1, And the first
day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early when it was yet dark unto
the sepulcher, and sifteth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. And then in verse 2, she runs
and tells Peter and John, and then they come and look into
the sepulcher, and they go back towards Jerusalem. But verse
11, look at this. But Mary stood without at the
sepulchre, remember now what day this was, the first day of
the week, and she was weeping. And as she wept, she stooped
down and looked into the sepulchre, and she saw two angels in white
standing, one on the head and the other on the feet, where
the body of Jesus had lain. And they say unto her, Woman,
why weepest thou? And she said unto them, Because
they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they laid
him. And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and
saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. Jesus
said unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? She
is opposing him to be the gardener. Said unto him, Sir, if ye have
borne him hence, tell me where ye have laid him, and I will
take him away. Jesus said unto her, Mary, and she turned herself
and said unto him, Rabbona, master. And Jesus said unto her, Touch
me not, for I am not yet ascended to my father, but go to my brethren
and say to them, I ascended to my father and your father, and
to my God and your God. And Mary Magdalene came and told
the disciples that she had seen the risen Lord. And what day
was this? First day of the week. And John
takes a break here. He doesn't record this. But if
you run references on this in Luke chapter 24, you insert that
right in here after verse 18, and you have those two disciples
on the road to Emmaus. Remember that? That was this
same day on the first day of the week. The Lord opened their
understandings that they might understand the Scriptures. And
He spoke with them. about how he had fulfilled all
the Old Testament Scriptures. And he sat down to meet with
them, and while he break bread, he made himself known. They saw
him. They saw him. And he vanished out of their
sight. And one of them looked over to the other and said, Did
your heart burn and you like mine burn indeed? And they jumped
up and headed seven miles back into Jerusalem. They walked fourteen
miles this day. They got back here into Jerusalem,
went in and said, we've seen the Lord. And in verse 19, look
at this. And look how the Holy Spirit
says this. Then, the same day, at evening, being the first day
of the week. Now, why does He emphasize that?
He wants us to know that this day has some importance attached
to it. He is establishing this day that's
going to be observed by his church now for 2,000 years. There's
the importance attached to this day. And when the doors were
shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews,
and Jesus stood in the midst and said unto them, Peace be
unto you. And when he had so said, he showed
them his hands and his side. Then were the disciples glad
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again,
Peace be unto you, as my Father has sent me, even so I send you.
And when he had said thus, he breathed on them and said, Receive
you the Holy Ghost. Whosoever sins you remit, they
are remitted unto them, and whosoever sins you retain, they are retained.
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with
them when Jesus came. The disciples therefore said
unto him, We have seen the Lord. That is what they kept saying,
We have seen the Lord. And he said unto them, Except
I see in his hands the prints of the nails, and put my fingers
into the prints of the nails, and thrust my hands in his side,
I will not believe. And after eight days, count them,
eight days, from that time to the next Sabbath, to the next
Lord's Day, the next Sunday, eight days. Eight days. Why not five days? Why not six
days? Why not seven days? Why eight
days? He's establishing something, isn't he? After eight days, his
disciples were within, and Thomas within. Then came Jesus, the
doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, Peace be
unto you. And he said to Thomas, Reach
here to your finger. Behold my hands, and reach here
to your hand. Thrust it into my side, and be not faithless,
but believe. And Thomas, the work is done,
bud. It's done. I've redeemed you.
I've washed all your sins away. I've purged them. They're gone.
You'll never stand in judgment and be condemned for them. And
right there's the evidence. You want to feel it, Thomas?
You say you're not going to be satisfied until you see them
and you feel them? Well, come ahead. I welcome you
to do it. I want you to know the work is finished. Thomas said in verse 28, My Lord
and my God. Jesus said unto him, Thomas,
because you've seen me, you have believed. But there's somebody
more blessed than you, buddy. Blessed are they that have not
seen and yet have believed. This was the Lord's day that
all of this was taking place. The Lord's day. He established
it, didn't he? Thirdly, and quickly, is this. The day of Pentecost. The coming
of the Holy Spirit. That blessed day, remember? The
Lord told them to tarry at Jerusalem until you be endued with power
from on high. I'm going to send the promise
of my Father to you. And there in that upper room
in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, when the day of Pentecost was
fully come, there came from heaven as the sound of a rushing, mighty
wind. And He set upon them, He filled
them with Himself. Do you know what day this was?
This was the first day of the week. This was the Lord's day. There were three great feasts.
And you'll have to find this. You can find it in Deuteronomy.
Or you'll find it in Exodus. You'll find it in Exodus 23. You'll find it in Leviticus.
You can look this up. There was three great feasts
that the Jews had to observe. The Passover. You spoke of the
Passover, didn't you? They had the feast of the harvest,
the wheat harvest. And they had the feast of the
in-gathering. And this was the feast of the
harvest, the wheat harvest. They called it Pentecost. And
here's the way they established Pentecost. Here's the way the
day that they observed Pentecost. That was the Passover. The Passover
was on a Friday. It was before the Sabbath. And
then on a Saturday, they counted seven Sabbaths. And that was
49 days. And then the next day, was Pentecost. The Lord Jesus died on the Passover. Remember that? They crucified
him on the Passover, then they buried him because the Sabbath
was coming. On the Sabbath he rested. And
then count seven Sabbaths from that. That's 49. That's on a
Saturday. You add the next day, which is
Sunday, the first day of the week, and that was Pentecost.
And what happened on Pentecost? The Spirit came as a rushing
mighty wind and filled it. All of these things took place
on the first day of the week. So that teaches us the importance
of this day, doesn't it? All of this would have took place
and been emphasized by the Holy Spirit. And one thing, and you
can read this, I'm not sure where it is. I think it's in Exodus
32. You can look it up. But this, what was said of this
Pentecost this wheat harvest, it was reaping the firstfruits
of your labor. The ground had been tilted up,
the ground had been sowed in wheat, and this, it was time
now to gather it, and they got the firstfruits, and they brought
it to this harvest. And they called it the firstfruits
of your labor. Now, don't that tell you something?
Two thousand souls were saved on the day of Pentecost. What
was that? That was the fruit of His labor,
wasn't it? The labor of the Lord Jesus Christ. That was the fruit
of His labor. And it took place on the Lord's
Day. You ever think about that as
we gather here on Sunday morning? Just back then, and all the Sundays,
all the Lord's Days since then, can you imagine the souls that
have been saved? I imagine that the Lord has been
pleased to save more people on the Lord's Day than any other
day of the week. And you know, I don't know this.
This ain't even speculation, but I'll just throw this out
there. I wonder when the Lord comes again, if maybe it will
be on the Lord's Day. It wouldn't surprise me. Wouldn't
it be wonderful to be worshiping and the Lord come again? Lastly
is this. The early church met on the Lord's
Day, the first day of the week. Let me show you a couple of places
in that, and I won't keep you any longer. Look in Acts chapter
20. And look in verse 6. You often see the Apostle Paul
as he went from place to place traveling in his missionary journeys.
You often see him go into the synagogues on the Sabbath day,
on the Jewish Sabbath. But when he gathered with the
church, it was always on the Lord's Day. Here in Acts chapter
20, and look in verse 6. Acts chapter 20 and verse 6.
And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened
bread, and came unto them and to Troas in five days, where
we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the
week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul
preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued
his speech until midnight. The first day of the week, they
came together, had the Lord's Supper, and Paul preached. Preached
till midnight. A fellow fell asleep, fell out
the window. Paul went down and raised him from the dead. He
came back up and preached till daylight. And then walked for 20 miles
to another city. When did they gather? On the
Lord's Day. The first day of the week. One
more place. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. 1 Corinthians chapter 16. Look in verse 1 and verse 2.
1 Corinthians 16, verses 1 and
2. Now concerning the collection of the saints, when you come
together to give your money that you give, as I have given orders. Now this is a commandment. I've
given this order inspired of God. He told me to give this
order. I've given order to the churches of Galatia. Even so
do you. This isn't an order. Not an option,
an order. Upon the first day of the week,
let every one of you lay by him in store, as God has prospered
him, that there be no gathering when I come. The collection for
the saints. They give. They kept their money
back through the week, and they do it just like you and I do
it today. They put their money in the offering.
They took up the collection. to support the work of the ministry,
the poor and the missionary, they did it all on the Lord's
Day. And for 2,000 years, that's the
way they did it. Now, don't you imagine that it
took a while to establish the first day of the week? Because
remember, the old Jewish Sabbath, boy, it ruled the days. But now the Lord's Day, it began
to take over and take root, and then it swept through the whole
You know there's times even now, even now as far as I know, you
can check me out on this, even as far as I know, there's not
a nation in the world that doesn't observe the Lord's Day. Now ain't that something? Even
the communist nation, even North Korea, there is an aspect in
which they observe the first day of the week. Most of their
factors are shut out. I hope we realize the importance
of this day. It's not a legal matter. Dear
Arthur Pink, bless his heart, I love him to death, but I read
one of his letters where he said, my wife hasn't cooked a meal
in years on the first day of Christmas. Well, that's all right
if that's the way he feels, but you won't find that in the Scripture.
It's not something legal, but it is a wonderful holy principle,
isn't it? What would we rather be doing
on the first day of the week? But setting that aside to the
worship of our Lord who raised on that day. So I hopefully,
hopefully, maybe, you and I will protect this day better. Don't
be so busy on this day. If you do some other things on
the other days, maybe use this day a little bit more for meditation. and thinking upon the message
and upon the Lord and His work.