Keeping the Sabbath Day
Minister: |
Rev. Ronald Van Overloop |
Date: |
9/6/2009 AM
|
Text:
|
Psalm 92;
Lord's Day 38
|
Psalters: |
225, 140, 380, 350 |
- Our God is a covenant God, Who takes His people into a beautiful restful relationship.
- This command is positive, requiring a positive spiritual labor, not in not doing.
- The emphasis.
- The Sabbath is a positive blessing (not to be a burden), for God blessed the Sabbath (Gen. 2:3).
- God?s blessing sets the day apart for sacred use, which separates it from the other six days of labor.
- This command gives us our privilege (?may?) more than our obligation (?must?).
- Thus the fourth command touches all the days of our week and life.
- Then the Sabbath is not an end in itself, but is the means God uses to equip us unto all good works.
- Our contact with Christ on the first day of the week has a sanctifying effect on us all the other days.
- And the Sabbath day is a picture of Heaven, the eternal Sabbath (Heb. 4:9,11)
- The legitimate change in the form of the fourth command does not destroy the principle (confer Heb. 4:9).
- The manner of keeping the Sabbath is resting on Christ, our Savior.
- ?Sabbath? means ?rest;? the enjoying of an accomplished work (as God did, Gen. 2:2).
- Real rest is found in the finished work of Jesus Who labored to bear our guilt and punishment.
- There is no rest for the wicked (Isa. 57:20,21) because they never find rest.
- This Sabbath rest is the heart of the ministry of the gospel to a restless world and to saints in such a world.
- The church proclaims rest to the weary and heavy laden in the way of coming to Him (Matt. 11:28).
- The ?schools? refers primarily to the education of men for proclaiming the gospel.
- How do we maintain the ministry of the gospel and the schools.
- The implications.
- Cease from my evil works all the days of my life.
- It means that we work for six days, just as our Father works.
- Every day we must walk in sanctification.