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Lesson 11: The Ten Commandments
Part 2
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Exodus 20:8-11 8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 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: 11 For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it. |
I. The first question we need to ask ourselves concerning the Sabbath is…what is it?
A. The Sabbath was first mentioned in Exodus 16:23.
1. The children of Israel were to gather the manna in the morning of each day.
2. On the sixth day, they were to gather twice as much as normal so they could honor the Sabbath and not gather on the seventh.
B. There are 137 occurrences of the word Sabbath in 116 verses of the Bible.
C. The Sabbath was never established to be arduous or depressive.
D. The Sabbath was established to provide a time for the cessation of work.
E. The principal of the Sabbath has its origin in the book of Genesis chapter 2 verses 1-3.
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Genesis 2:1-3 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made. |
F. The root of the word for Sabbath means to cease. The use of the double b in the word has an intensive force implying a complete cessation or making to cease.
G. Verse 10 says the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord.
1. This day belongs to Him.
2. This is a day dedicated to Him.
3. This is not a day of taking a vacation, or going to the beach.
4. This day was a day dedicated to the worship and service to the God of deliverance.
H. What is the purpose of the Sabbath?
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Deuteronomy 5:12-15 12 Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. 13 Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: 14 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, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. 15 And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. |
I. Verse 15 explains the purpose of the Sabbath.
1. The children of Israel were slaves to Egypt.
2. In order to commemorate their deliverance, they were to take the Sabbath and rest from all work and celebrate their deliverance in worship to God.
3. The principal of the Sabbath is not the cessation of work but the celebration of deliverance.
J. The Sabbath is commanded to be celebrated on the seventh day.
1. There is no scripture telling us what the seventh day is.
2. I e-mailed a Seventh Day Adventist Pastor asking what the scriptural proof was of using Saturday as the seventh day was and his response was this:
Read the end portion of Luke 23 and the first portion of Luke 24.
3. I did as instructed and did not find Saturday mentioned.
4. There is no way to be able to doctrinally dictate Saturday is the Sabbath.
II. During what hourly time was the Sabbath observed?
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Leviticus 23:27-32 27 Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. 28 And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God. 29 For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall be cut off from among his people. 30 And whatsoever soul it be that doeth any work in that same day, the same soul will I destroy from among his people. 31 Ye shall do no manner of work: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 It shall be unto you a Sabbath of rest, and ye shall afflict your souls: in the ninth day of the month at even, from even unto even, shall ye celebrate your Sabbath. |
A. This is the only Sabbath I can find that gives us a time to celebrate the Sabbath.
1. Evening starts at 6:00 pm.
2. There are those who prefer to use the time of sunset in their observance of Sabbath.
3. I have been told, they would rather use the scripture. They don’t want to use any other writings.
4. However, it is these same individuals who use the Almanac to determine the time of the setting of the sun.
5. Most legalistic Sabbath observers do not keep a Biblical Sabbath. If they did, they would keep it from 6:00 pm to the next 6:00 pm.
III. How does the fourth commandment apply to the New Testament church?
A. It would be easy at this point for me to point out scriptures such as:
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Colossians 2:16-17 16 Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days: 17 Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ. |
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Galatians 4:9-11 9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage? 10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years. 11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain. |
B. In light of these scriptures we could easily say the fourth commandment does not apply to us today.
C. However, remember the 10 commandments are the moral laws of God.
1. The moral laws of God deal with the principal of the relationship between right and wrong.
D. When the rich young ruler came to Jesus asking how to be saved…look at the Lord’s response.
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Matthew 19:18-19 18 He saith unto him, Which? Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, 19 Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. |
E. The Sabbath is not mentioned.
F. In the Lord’s response He dealt with every other commandment but the Sabbath.
1. Why callest thou me good, there is none good but one that is God.
a. Jesus was saying if you are willing to call me good, you better be willing to me God. Commandments 1-3
2. The fifth commandment is honoring parents.
3. The sixth is murder.
4. The seventh is adultery.
5. The eighth is theft.
6. The ninth is false witness or lying.
7. The tenth is not to covet your neighbors stuff.
IV. Remember the principal of the Sabbath is not the so much the cessation of labor as it is the celebration of deliverance from bondage.
A. Egypt is a type and shadow of the world and the bondage of sin.
B. Israel’s exodus is a type and shadow of our repentance.
C. The crossing of the red sea is a type and shadow of our baptism. I Corinthians 10:2-4 and I Corinthians 12:13.
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Joshua 22:4 4 And now the LORD your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he promised them: therefore now return ye, and get you unto your tents, and unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of the LORD gave you on the other side Jordan. |
D. The entrance to Canaan is a type and shadow of us receiving the Holy Ghost.
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Joshua 23:1 And it came to pass a long time after that the LORD had given rest unto Israel from all their enemies round about, that Joshua waxed old and stricken in age. |
E. This rest is possessing the promises of God and celebrating deliverance from Egypt.
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Isaiah 28:11-12 11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people. 12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. |
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Acts 3:19 19 Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the Lord |
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Hebrews 4:1-10 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it. 3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works. 5 And in this place again, If they shall enter into my rest. 6 Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first preached entered not in because of unbelief: 7 Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. 8 For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. 10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. |
