WSC Bible Unit IV-Bprinted from rfbiese.com Page 1 of 5
Winona Christian School: High School Bible Education
Unit IV-B: The Law of God: God’s Name and Day
Scripture Memory (due Friday): Isaiah 58:13-14, “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,from doing your pleasure on my holy day,and call the Sabbath a delightand the holy day of the LORD honorable;if you honor it, not going your own ways,or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;then you shall take delight in the LORD,and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
Essay Question (due Friday): what are some of the ways people commonly break the Third Commandment and how can we be careful not to break this command?
- Introduction and Review(!)
- Context of God’s Law (Exod. 20:1-2)
- Three Uses of God’s Law
- Jesus’ Application of the Law (cf. Matt 5:21ff)
- What is Sin?
- The First Sin: Breaking all ten of the Commandments in the Garden
- The Third Commandment
- Overview: God’s Name
- What is God’s Name?
- Personal Name of God: Yahweh (Jehovah?)
- How Does God Reveal Himself
- God’s Name is Not Merely a Label
- God’s Name is Powerful
- The Command Itself
- Catechism (cf. WSC 54-56)
- PBC60, The third commandment requires the holy and reverent use of God’s name, titles, attributes, ordinances, words, and works.
- PBC61, The third commandment forbids all profaning and abusing of anything whereby God makes himself known.
- Positive and Negative Force of the Command: you shall lift up the name of Yahweh your God to nothingness
- Positive: Use God’s Name, attributes, titles, works with reverence
1)cf. Jewish superstition about God’s Name
2)cf. Use of God’s Name in the Psalter
- Negative: Do not misuse or take God’s name, etc. lightly
- Implications of the Command
- Calling Oneself a Christian
- For Our Prayers
- For Our Worship
- For Our Speech
- How We Use God’s Word
- Conclusions
- The Fourth Commandment: The Command Itself
- The Longest Command (Exod. 20:8-11)
- The Scope of the Fourth Command: God’s Lordship Over Time
- Simply a List of Dos and Don’ts?
- The Command Itself (v. 8)
- Catechism (cf. WSC 58-62)
- PBC64, The fourth commandment requires the keeping holy to God such set times as he has appointed in his word, expressly one whole day in seven to be a holy Sabbath to himself.
- PBC65, From the creation of the world to the resurrection of Christ, God appointed the seventh day of the week to be the weekly Sabbath; and the first day of the week ever since, to continue to the end of the world, which is the Christian Sabbath.
- PBC66, One day in seven should be especially devoted to corporate worship and other spiritual exercises that restore the soul’s rest in God and zeal for His name. It should provide physical refreshment and fit one for a week of devoted service to Christ.
- PBC67, The fourth commandment forbids dishonoring the Lord’s Day by actions or thoughts that divert the soul from spiritual refreshment, or deprive the body of renewed energy or distract the mind from its special Sabbath focus on the Lord.
- PBC68, The reasons attached to the fourth commandment are, God’s creating the world in six days and resting on the seventh and his blessing the Sabbath day.
- Positive and Negative Force
- Six days of work to the glory of God
- One day of holy rest and Christian service
- Arguments to Keep the Command
- God Commanded It
- God’s Observance of It
- Justice of the Observance
- Rationality of the Command
- Benefits of Observance
- Promotion of the Worship of God
- Purpose of the Command
- God’s Honor and Glory
- Our Growth in Grace and Eternal Good
- Holiness
- Remember Redemption
- Reminder of Heavenly Citizenship
- Summary
- The Fourth Commandment: Jesus’ Teachings and Practice
- Correcting Pharisaical Additions
- Who Were the Pharisees?
- Easier to Add to God’s Law than Obey It!
- Fear of Exile
- Burden of the Sabbath
- The Lord of the Sabbath (Matt. 12:1-14; Mark 2:23-3:6)
- Jesus’ Purpose in Teaching Here
- Eating Grain
- Healing, Restoring What is Broken
- Jesus Frees the People from the Burden
- Who Imposed the Burden?
- What Burdens are Lifted
- Who is Breaking the Sabbath Here?
- Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath (is He still?)
- Works of Piety, Necessity, and Mercy
The Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe an holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly employment and recreations, but are also taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy. (Philadelphia Baptist Confession of Faith 22.8 cf. WCF21.8)
- Works of Necessity
- What is Necessary?
- Sabbath is not Simply About Ceasing Activity!
- Works of Piety
- Works of Mercy
- Contrast Between Jesus and Pharisees
- Jesus Shows Us How to Show Mercy
- Conclusions
- The Fourth Commandment: Keeping the Sabbath Day Holy
- The Parts of the Fourth Command (Exod. 20:8-11)
- Which Day is the Sabbath
- The Jewish Sabbath: Different from the Christian Sabbath
- Can the Church Change the Day of the Sabbath?
- God has Changed the Day
- A Day for Holiness (not idleness)
- Isa. 58:13-14
- Negative: Prohibitions (do no work)
- Positive: Commands (keep it holy)
- “It is good to rest on the Sabbath-day from the works of our calling; but if we rest from labour and do no more, the ox and the ass keep the Sabbath as well as we; for they rest from labour. We must dedicate the day to God; we must not only keep a Sabbath, but sanctify the Sabbath”(Thos. Watson)
- A Day for Freedom from the Curse
- Preparation for Worship
- A Day for Worshiping Him
- A Day to Give Rest to Others
- Civil Laws
- Service to Others
- Should We Seek to Compel Others?
- Conclusions