Love the Lord with All Your Heart (Part 3)

Brian Andrews
11/07/11 - Knoxville TV

At the beginning of the study on the Ten Commandments we looked at how Jesus summarized the 10 commandments into two simple commands (Matthew 22:37):

1.           Love the Lord with all your heart (Commandments 1-4)

2.           Love your neighbor as yourself (Commandments 5-10)

 In previous shows we looked at “Love the Lord with all your heart” by examining the 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rd commandments.  In this lesson we will look at the 4^th commandment and finish up the deeper look of “Love the Lord with all your heart”.

Exodus 20:8-11

8              Remember to dedicate the Sabbath day:

9              You are to labor six days and do all your work,

10           but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. You must not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the foreigner who is within your gates.

11           For the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and everything in them in six days; then He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and declared it holy. (HCSB)

What does this command mean?

·         Exodus 16:22-30

o   Sabbath explained in context of mana gathering

o   BEFORE the giving of the ten commandments

·         Exodus 23:12 – no work on the 7^th day so you and others may be refreshed

·         Numbers 28:9-10 – Sabbath was a day of worship (offerings instructions)

What punishment comes from violating this command?

·         Exodus 31:12-17 – Work or Profane – DEATH!

·         Exodus 35:1-3 – Death to workers on the day of rest, even no lighting of fires!

·          Numbers 15:32-36 – man found gathering wood, stoned to death (remember no fires!)

·         Jeremiah 17:19-27 – keep the Sabbath and be blessed, desecrate it and be destroyed

Is this Command Important to God?

·         Ezekiel 20:12-13 (Exodus 31:12-17)

o   A sign between God and the Israelites

•    Deuteronomy 5:12-15 – Freeing from Egyptian bondage

o   God takes his law personally – “My Sabbath” (Ezekiel 20:13)

·         Leviticus 19:3,30;23:3,8;26:2, Number 28:25, Isaiah 56:2-6;58:13-14, Ezekiel 44:24 – All have the same purpose to instruct – Keep the Sabbath!

•          Why the 7^th Day? – Exodus 20:11,31:17 – The creation

Is this command part of the new law?

•          No – the Old Testament has passed away (see Backup Notes below)
•          The keeping of the Sabbath is not repeated in the New Testament

What is the Christian Sabbath?

•          Hebrews 4:9 – If we are faithful till death, our rest awaits us (just as it does for all God’s people)
•          The false teaching of the “Christian Sabbath”
  •    Many denominations (Baptist, Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness…) teach/promote/require the keeping of Sabbath for Christians on Sunday.
  •    “They” moved the day to Sunday based on the evidences in the Bible that:
    •   Christ was resurrected on Sunday (Matthew 28:1; Mark 16:2, 9; Luke 24:1; John 20:1)
    •   Christians met on Sunday not Saturday (John 20:19-26, Acts 2:1; 20:7)
    •   It is the Lord’s Day (Revelation 1:10) based on his resurrection day (Psalm 118:22-24)
    •   Other more obscure “theological” answers are out there too
    •   “They” moved the day because there is no mention of the Christians observing the Sabbath on any day
    •   “They” is thought by some to be Constantine – “In the year 321 the emperor Constantine made a new edict known as the Sunday decree: ‘All judges and city people and the craftsmen shall rest upon the venerable Day of the Sun. Country people, however, may freely attend to the cultivation of the fields, because it frequently happens that no other days are better adapted for planting the grain in the furrows or the vines in trenches. So that the advantage given by heavenly providence may not for the occasion of a short time perish.’” -http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/1999/9902fea1.asp (link contains multiple doctrinal errors)
    •   There is much debate on this issue with those who follow the Christian Sabbath claiming God moved the Sabbath, others Paul, others such as the 7^th Day Adventists say the Christian Sabbath is Saturday and Sunday worship is an apostasy.
  •    The Christian Sabbath is a false doctrine derived from the failure to understand the passing away of the old law (see Backup Notes if needed)
  •    Three excellent passages that require an answer if Sabbath is still demanded areColossians 2:16, Romans 14:4-5, and Galatians 4:9-11.  These passages trivialize days and their observance.  The arguments are similar in nature to circumcision.
  •    The Christian Sabbath is similar to Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, etc. – Man originated religious observations with claims to Bible authority but fails to provide a direct command, approved example, or required conclusion (necessary inference).

Conclusion

•          Hebrews 4:1-13
  •    Do not follow the rebellious example of the Israelites
  •    A Sabbath rest remains for God’s people
  •    We simply need to be diligent and turn to the word of God
•          Are you going to be part of the Sabbath rest?

Backup notes (from Ten Commandment Introduction):

·         The law:

o   Exodus 20:1-17 – The Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites at Sinai.

o   2 Chronicles 31:3; Nehemiah 8; Psalm 19:7 – God gave Israel a single law which included the Ten Commandments.

o   Malachi 4:4 – Israel was commanded to obey the Law of Moses; the law included the Ten Commandments.

·         The end of the law:

o   Romans 10:4 – Christ is the end [or goal] of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.  Christ is the end of the law because he nailed it to the cross (cf. Colossians 2:11-14).

o   Galatians 3:24-25 – The law was a tutor [guardian*]. Since faith has come, we are no longer under the tutor (i.e., we are no longer under (the law).
*Note from the HCSB: “The word translated guardian in Galatians 3:24-25 is different from the word in Galatians 4:2. In our culture, we do not have a slave who takes a child to and from school, protecting the child from harm or corruption. In Gk the wordpaidogogos described such a slave. This slave was not a teacher.”

o   Hebrews 7:12 – The law was changed. We no longer live under the Ten Commandments or any other part of the Mosaic Law.

o   Jesus could not be our High Priest until God changed the law (Hebrews 7:12-14; 8:4)

o   Hebrews 10:8-10 – Christ came to earth to take away the first covenant (law) and establish the second covenant (law).

·         The need for the end:

o   Jesus came to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17). Since Jesus fulfilled the law, we can be saved in Christ (cf. Acts 4:12; Romans 3:24; 6:3; Galatians 3:27; 2 Timothy 2:1, 10), walking according to the Spirit (Romans 8:1-4).

o   Romans 3:20; Galatians 2:16 – No one is justified by the works of the law.

·         Inconsistency of keeping both laws:

o   Galatians 3:10; 5:2-4 – Someone keeping one part of the law must keep the whole law. Someone keeping the Ten Commandments must keep the entire Mosaic Law.

o   Galatians 5:4 – Anyone attempting to be justified by law has fallen from grace.

·         Superiority of the New Covenant:

o   2 Corinthians 3:7-11 – The commandments that were written on stone (i.e., the Ten Commandments) brought death. Today we must obey the epistle of Christ which is written on our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3).