The Lord's Day

[0:00] I want to talk about something special. A special day, the Lord's Day. And our world sees Sunday as just another day. Just another day, the weekend.

[0:19] ! We can often fire the world and its trends and its wants and its interests. There's a seven day a week disregard of God today, isn't there? As we know, as we see the world around us.

[0:35] And when we observe the Lord's Day, we show honour to the Lord. It's something that's honouring unto the Lord. And I want to urge you today to consider Sunday something special. It's His. It's an honourable day, a blessed day, a day set apart.

[0:52] And that's what I want to talk about. So you've got Acts 20, verse 7. It says there, Paul went to minister at Troax. And this is Acts 20, verse 7.

[1:06] 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.

[1:18] So we're going to be very scriptural tonight. So we're going to be very scriptural tonight. But no, the point is that it was the Lord's Day. It was God's Day. It was the Lord's Day.

[1:31] And that was the day that they met. And they ministered. They partook the Lord's Supper. And the Christians met for their worship service on Sunday. On Sunday night.

[1:43] We read here, it was their regular day to me. And think about the Lord's Day through the pages of the Bible. It was on the Lord's Day that the Lord Jesus rose from the dead.

[1:54] He met with His disciples on the Lord's Day, numbers of times. After the resurrection, the following week, He met on the Lord's Day. He gave the Great Commission on the Lord's Day.

[2:07] He ascended most likely on the Lord's Day. Pentecost happened on the Lord's Day. Peter preached his first sermon. Three thousand were saved and baptized on the Lord's Day.

[2:19] The early church began to meet, as we read here, on the Lord's Day. And collections for the church were made on the Lord's Day. 1 Corinthians 16, 2.

[2:30] And John received the revelation of things to come on the Lord's Day. So it's a special day. Sunday is really the Lord's Day. That's the Bible word for it. The Bible term for it.

[2:41] It was their regular place, their regular time to me. And what is the significance of it? It's something important. I know there's some folk, the Lord's Day observance society, they take it really seriously.

[2:53] And in fact, this address I first prepared for them. They asked me to speak about the Lord's Day. It's a day of significance. A day that's important. It's part of the eternal law of God. The Lord's Day.

[3:05] It's meant to be an honour to God and a blessing to man. And firstly, the Lord's Day is meant to be a day of rest. A day of rest. And I know generally it has a go at me sometimes that I don't have a rest on a Sunday.

[3:17] But really church is recreation. It's not work. The Lord's Day is a day of rest. That's what the word Sabbath means. Sabbath means rest. And of course we in the New Covenant, our Sabbath is the Lord's Day.

[3:32] And the day of rest, it's really God's remedy for tension. It's a 6,000 year old answer for stress. You know, in our world today, in the hustle and bustle, the rat race, the soft tent, and sometimes we can't help it if we work shifts and so on.

[3:47] But the world is full of this ceaseless busyness, isn't it? And people can become joyless, disgruntled and grumpy. You know, someone asked her wife one day if she ever wakes up grumpy.

[4:01] And she replied, no, I let him sleep. So, you know, some men are grumpy. You don't ever wake up grumpy, ladies? No. If all you do is work, it can make you grumpy, unhappy.

[4:15] As the saying goes, all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. And Julie says that about me sometimes. But for some, life is just a busy helter-skelter rat race, isn't it?

[4:29] Chasing after activities and pleasures and work. And some literally work themselves to death. But God has given us a day of rest. And it's the Lord's Day.

[4:40] In the Old Testament, it was referred to in the context of Exodus 31. Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord.

[4:52] And of course, then it was Saturday for the Jews. For the believers, it's the Lord's Day, the first day of the week. The day of resurrection. And God has intended us to have a rest day.

[5:04] A day of rest for the weary body. A time of recovering strength. We all need it, don't we? I know I like to have a Sunday afternoon now. I can get really spiritual on that day, the word of God.

[5:16] On that one. The day of rest. God gave us a day of rest. For the good of our soul. For the benefit of our mind. And for our body. It's good for us to rest. To come apart.

[5:27] Jesus says, rest. Come apart. And rest a while. Rejoice in God's mercy. And enjoy His goodness. In the midst of a hurrying, bustling world. We all need a day of rest.

[5:39] It's kind of sad these days, isn't it? Where employers sometimes just want to squeeze every last bit of your strength out of you. And work you seven days a week. That's the way the world is now, isn't it?

[5:51] We need a day of rest to replenish our spirit. To refresh our minds. And rest our bodies. So we can be more ready to serve the Lord.

[6:02] And that's why we have the day of rest. And we can all get run down. But God says, be still. Be still. And stop striving. Let the Lord recharge your batteries.

[6:13] There was a coal miner in Pennsylvania. A long time ago. They had meals those days. They went down into the coal mines. And they were tied up the meals in the front yard. And one day a neighbour stopped in curiosity about why the miner was tying up the donkeys out of the mine.

[6:31] And the miner said, the donkeys will go blind if we don't have one day of natural sunlight. Now how to take the donkeys out of the coal mine. We too can grow blind spiritually unless we have that day of rest.

[6:46] That day of spiritual refreshment. God the Creator made us this way. And he set the example, didn't he? Our world's culture says, hurry, worry and bury.

[6:57] Now after six good days of work we need to stop and rest our bodies. A weekly refreshment break. And he gives us that balance in our lives between labour and leisure.

[7:10] It's been said, if you keep a violin at concert pitch all the time, that string on the violin will eventually snap. You've got to ease it off.

[7:21] If you farm the same land year after year, with the same crops the soil becomes depleted. If you never stop a machine long enough to do maintenance on it, it will soon break down.

[7:33] It's the same with us, isn't it? God's given us that day of rest, the Sabbath. It means to cease, to desist, to quit, to stop, to take a break. To change your pace and alter your routine.

[7:46] Our bodies are seven day clocks. They need one day to wind up. If not, they'll eventually lose their spring. You need a day of rest and worship. To find balance, for your body and soul to take a break.

[8:00] To renew your physical and spiritual energies. Like it's been said, you're not wasting time when you stop to sharpen the axe. It's true, isn't it? We can work that axe and it gets duller and duller.

[8:13] It won't work as good. It's like us as well. We need to take time to get that axe sharpened again. And Isaiah 14, 31, it says, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

[8:27] It's a foretaste of heaven's glory to rest. To rest in the Lord. To wait on the Lord to renew our strength. And our Lord offers to you and to me, Come, come unto me, you that labour.

[8:39] I will give you rest. You know how busy life can be. And how torn we are at times with life's weight. It's a healthy and wise principle for all of us to adopt.

[8:50] A day of rest is just good practice. It's good philosophy, let alone Bible. It's good sense to take time to rest. God made you so that you can have a day of worship and rest.

[9:03] And use this day. Use this one day a week for a time of reflection and worship. Take one day a week to refresh yourselves with worship, with service, with recreation, with family time.

[9:16] It says that the wicked, in the Bible it says, The wicked are like a troubled sea, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. The wicked are restless. They're full of this unstopping labour.

[9:30] The Lord says there is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. We can have peace. And it's not a peace that's manufactured or self generated.

[9:41] It's a peace that comes from Him. My peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world gives, give I unto you. My peace I give unto you. That's what He wants to give.

[9:52] And there is no rest for those outside of Christ. So firstly there's a day of rest. The Lord's day. Secondly, it's a day of worship. It's a day of worship.

[10:03] It's the Lord's day. It refers to an object. The Lord's day. In other words, it belongs to the Lord. It's His day. It's His day.

[10:14] So we want to spend time with Him. And it's uniquely His day. In all the other six days, there's this one. The seventh day. The Lord's day.

[10:25] The day of the Lord. The first day of the week is the Lord's day. The day of worship. So we can seek Him. We can honour Him. We can glorify Him. For His greatness.

[10:36] For His power. For His majesty. A day of worship. Honour the Lord's day. In obedience to Him. That's why we like to fellowship. On the Lord's day. But of course, as believers, we're not tied down to one day.

[10:48] We can worship Him seven days a week. But we are to work hard. The Bible says to work six days. And worship hard for one day. Some make excuses why they can't attend church.

[11:01] Sunday's a day to do anything. Rather than the things of God. They will not put God first. In their week. Because really, it's the first day of the week. You see on the calendar.

[11:12] Sometimes they put Sunday on the end. But really, Sunday is the first day of the week. They will not put God first in their week. Other things come first for them.

[11:23] They have no time for God. But our Lord's custom in Luke 4 was to go and fellowship. Luke 4, 16 was His custom to go into the synagogue. Let's follow His example.

[11:35] Whenever the church gathers for worship, let us be there. Gather together with other believers so you can encourage and be encouraged. It expresses our personal relationship with the Lord.

[11:49] It helps us to fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ to hear the preaching of His word. To worship the Lord. Take time. It's important for you.

[12:00] It's important for you to be here to bless me. And for me to be here to bless you. To bless one another. To encourage and exhort one another. It expresses our worship and our relationship with Him.

[12:12] And take time together as believers to worship Him. Spend this day honouring the Lord. Gathering together. Attending your church faithfully. Spending time with God's people.

[12:24] Feeding on the Gospel. And hearing of the Lord Jesus and His truth. So pause today. It's a great day to pause, to think. To spend time. To concentrate on worshipping the Lord.

[12:37] Place your thoughts on things above. Read God's word. Pray. Meditate. Commune with Him. And enjoy fellowship. We can separate from all the other things that distract from worldly activity.

[12:51] To pray for one another. To consider one another. To encourage one another. And to join in witnessing the conversion of souls. Be a light to the world.

[13:02] It's the Lord's day. It's His. Use it for Him. For His glory. As you gather faithfully. He'll help you to grow spiritually. To advance in your Christian walk.

[13:13] To get involved in serving the Lord. And belonging to His family. The world today. They snarl at giving a day to God. To God. The thought of keeping a day sacred.

[13:25] Of keeping a day holy. Set apart. But we should. It's a good practice. The Bible says that the Lord's day matters. Seek to do His pleasure.

[13:36] Seek to do His pleasure. On the Lord's day. As a start for doing this on all the other six. And as we commit to honouring the Lord on His day.

[13:47] Our souls will benefit. You'll benefit in your soul. And your church will benefit. So a day of rest. A day of worship. Thirdly. A day of holiness. A day of holiness. A day of holiness.

[13:58] In the word it talks about keeping it holy. Keeping the Sabbath holy. Do you keep the Lord's day holy? Or do you dishonour Him? On the Lord's day.

[14:09] It's a day that should be holy. That's got the sense of separated. Separated from worldly activities. Separated unto the Lord. A special day for God.

[14:20] Where we put aside work and play. The things that might take away from that holy time. A day set apart for the people of God. Observe the Lord's day with holiness and godliness.

[14:34] Make a God-sensitive day. A day set apart. A day for godly living. For your desire to worship and love Him.

[14:45] To please and obey Him. It must be kept holy. Do we seek our own thing? Or God's will? That's a question we can all think about and ponder tonight.

[14:56] Do we spend the day seeking our own pleasure and interest? Doing it your own way? Or doing it God's way? So a day of rest. A day of worship.

[15:07] A day of holiness. Fourthly, a day of delight. This is a day to delight. To rejoice. To enjoy. To enjoy. The day of the Lord.

[15:18] In Isaiah 58, 13. It calls the Sabbath a delight. A delight. A time when we can get better acquainted with God. A time to be delighted in the Lord.

[15:29] In our Lord's time, the Sabbath day was a day of gloom and legalism. In the old, the way the Pharisees observed the Sabbath as it was then.

[15:41] A man could break the Sabbath 1,521 times. 1,521 ways to break the Sabbath. Consider that.

[15:52] You had to really watch your step. But you didn't do something you weren't supposed to. In the Pharisees. Now what the Pharisees did, the religious crowd of the Old Testament.

[16:04] The religious crowd made all kinds of man-made rules. That was added to God's Word really.

[16:15] And really not true teaching. And for example, they said that they would not carry anything heavier than a dried fig. For it was declared a burden.

[16:27] But then if you got one maybe a little bit smaller than that, it was okay to carry that. Now they have these rules about the weights of whatever they were carrying. Whether that was considered carrying a burden on the Sabbath or not.

[16:39] A woman could not gaze into a mirror because she might discover a white hair and be tempted to pluck it out, which would be a great sin. So I'd be in big trouble if that applied to the men.

[16:52] But there's these rules that man makes about the Sabbath. You could not salt a radish and let it sit too long for them.

[17:04] That would be the labour of pickling on the Sabbath. So you are afraid to breathe. Because they are kind of rules that aren't in the Bible. It's man made rules. And some religions today are just like that too.

[17:18] All the man made kind of rules about how you are supposed to live a Christian life. But it's here. What God says is here. And when people add to it or take away from it, that's when you've got to watch out.

[17:30] But God didn't mean the Sabbath, the Lord's Day, to be a time of drudgery or being afraid to breathe. But a meaningful and joyful time. The Lord's Day.

[17:41] It's not meant to be a drudgery or man made rules and traditions. It's a day of gladness. A delight. Isaiah 58 verse 13. A day of gladness.

[17:52] A day of rejoicing. A day we can be glad in the Lord. Our Lord has risen from the dead. He's alive today. That's a good reason to praise Him, isn't it?

[18:03] To thank Him that He's alive on the Lord's Day. The Lord's Day is a day of love. A day to love the Lord. A day to rejoice. To praise Him. A day to serve Him.

[18:14] The Lord Jesus makes a difference in our lives. And this is just one portion of our lives. This one-seventh of our week. Let it be a day of delight. Let it be a day that you worship. That you praise Him.

[18:25] You wonder about His salvation. In the early writings, there was a Peter, Bishop of Alexandria, in AD 300. He writes, We keep the Lord's Day as a day of joy because of Him who rose thereon.

[18:42] We keep the Lord's Day as a day of joy. He's given us one whole day to serve, to worship Him. The Lord said, This day is such a precious gift to us who love God.

[18:55] This is the day, the first day, in which we may enjoy the fellowship of our God in such a way that it carries us through the week, through all our trials and sorrows.

[19:06] This is the day in which we may receive strength from on high, strength which comes in knowing our Saviour walks with us and talks with us. A day of delight. It's a joy to worship.

[19:18] It's a day that we can enjoy in our salvation, in our God. A day to delight, to worship Him, to rejoice, to praise Him. A day to fellowship and have time with God.

[19:29] To set aside our normal labours, to honour God, to live in reverence for Him. Now sometimes, for Christians, sometimes you're in an occupation where you can't avoid working on a Sunday.

[19:41] We know that that can happen. You may not be able to swap your shift and be able to attend worship. I understand that. And I'm sure the Lord understands when believers are in that circumstance.

[19:55] So this is not to condemn anyone who works on a Sunday. But the Lord's Day is precious. It's important. It's important that we fellowship. And it's one of the brightest and most cheerful days of the week.

[20:07] So let's love the Lord's Day. Let's find a blessing in it. Let's be a blessing in the Lord's Day. Keep the Lord's Day in the Lord's way. What did the Lord Jesus do?

[20:18] He was in the house of the Lord on every day of worship, with His people, proclaiming the goodness of the Lord. Let the Sabbath be a delight. Let it be a delight to you. Delight in the Word of God.

[20:30] Psalm 1 verse 1, it says, Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

[20:41] But His delight, His delight is in the law of the Lord, God's Word. And in His law doth He meditate day and night. There's a delight here.

[20:52] We talked about, in part this morning, the good news. It's glad tidings of great joy. There's reason for rejoicing. This is great news, glad news.

[21:03] The good news, the greatest news we can ever know and tell and share with others. The goodness of God. Delight in it. An old-time preacher, Ryle said, There are five things which were given to the father of the human race in the day that he was made.

[21:21] God gave him a dwelling place, a work to do, a command to observe, a help me to be his companion, and a Sabbath day to keep. Interesting, isn't it?

[21:32] It bears repeating. Five days to the first father of the human race, Adam. In the day he was made, God gave him a dwelling place, a work to do, a command to observe, a help me to be his companion, and a Sabbath day to keep.

[21:48] So the Lord's day. Be encouraged, brothers and sisters today. Be encouraged to have that day. A day of rest, a day of worship, a day of holiness, a day of delight.

[22:00] Observe it, keep it, and be blessed as you do so. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you today that you've given us today. It's the only day we've got, Lord, is today, as it were, the moment that we're living in.

[22:14] We thank you that you've been in this place of worship, in this time of gathering together unto your name, Lord Jesus. And we thank you for the wonderful joy it is to know your saving grace, to know the joy of being able to praise you and worship you, our Saviour.

[22:29] And we pray, Lord, for any here who need a lift, that you would bless and encourage. For any who have a soul that's searching, that they find that peace with God today.

[22:41] Lord, that we find that wonderful good news and make it real today to each one. We pray for every life, every hope, that we might know what it is to keep this day and treasure this day that you've given to us, Lord.

[22:56] Help us to appreciate this day as we look forward to further Lord's days to come. And to all of you, in that we cry, in Jesus' name, Amen.

[23:09] I love to tell your story of haunting things above, of Jesus and His glory.

[23:23] To all of you.