Comprehending Pink’s Commandments Part 28

Foreword:

The following exerpt is taken from The Ten Commandments  by Arthur W. Pink

(BAKER BOOK HOUSE, 1994 GRAND RAPIDS, MI)

In this blog series I will work through this very important article a paragraph at a time – asking my reader comprehension style questions at the end. I have been much convicted by the writings of Pink and I pray your walk will also be strengthened meditating on his teaching of scripture …

THE FOURTH COMMANDMENT PART IV

This Commandment makes it clear that God is to be worshipped in the home, which, of course, inculcates the practice of family worship. It is addressed more specifically than any of the other nine Commandments to heads of households and to employers, because God requires them to see to it that all under their charge shall observe the Sabbath. To them, more immediately, God says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy." It is to be strictly set apart to the honor of the thrice holy God, spent in the exercises of holy contemplation, meditation, and adoration. Because it is the day which He has made (Psa. 118:24), we must do nothing to unmake it. This Commandment forbids the omission of any duties required, a careless performing of the same, or a weariness in them. The more faithfully we keep this Commandment, the better prepared shall we be to obey the other nine. Three classes of works, and three only, may be engaged in on the "Holy Sabbath." Works of necessity, which are those that could not be done on the preceding day and that cannot be deferred till the next--such as tending to cattle. Works of mercy, which are those that compassion requires us to perform toward other creatures--such as ministering to the sick. Works of piety, which are the worship of God in public and in private, using with thankfulness and delight all the means of grace which He has provided. We need to watch and strive against the very first suggestions of Satan to corrupt our hearts, divert our minds, or disturb us in holy duties, praying earnestly for help to meditate upon God's Word and to retain what He gives us. The Lord makes the sacred observance of His Day of special blessing; and contrariwise, He visits the profanation of the Sabbath with special cursing (see Neh. 13:17, 18), as our guilty land is now proving to its bitter cost.

"A Sabbath well spent, brings a week of content

And strength for the toils of the morrow;

But a Sabbath profaned, whate'er may be gained

Is a certain forerunner of sorrow."

1) As was correctly observed by my pastor at church this very Sunday: – the man is the spiritual leader of the home; in a sense the pastor of the home. It is therefore the duty of the man to see to it that he has a clear conscience about how he first and his family second follows the fourth commandment. If you are a man of God examine your own leadership of your home on Sunday. Do you fall short of the mark? What improvements can be made? How can Saturday be spent better so that Sunday is more holy?

2) “The more faithfully we keep this Commandment, the better prepared shall we be to obey the other nine.” What fraction of the week do we really owe to God? Half? Seven out of seven? A third? And what fraction does He merely ask us for? I keeping the day holy a box to be checked or an attitude of the heart that flows over into obedience in the other commanments?

3) We are all guilty to some degree of bringing some part of the week into our Sunday. How can we bring Sunday into every day of our week instead?

4) At what point does avoiding work on a Sunday become a work in of itself? How do we judge our use of the time rightly and what do we do when we suspect we have it wrong? Who is Lord even of the sabbath?

5) Finally reading Nehemiah below and thinking on why God instituted the Sabbath Law – can you identify the carrot (reward/blessing) and the stick.

"In those days I saw people in Judah treading winepresses on the Sabbath and bringing in grain and loading it on donkeys, together with wine, grapes, figs and all other kinds of loads. And they were bringing all this into Jerusalem on the Sabbath. Therefore I warned them against selling food on that day. 16 People from Tyre who lived in Jerusalem were bringing in fish and all kinds of merchandise and selling them in Jerusalem on the Sabbath to the people of Judah. 17 I rebuked the nobles of Judah and said to them, “What is this wicked thing you are doing—desecrating the Sabbath day? 18 Didn’t your ancestors do the same things, so that our God brought all this calamity on us and on this city? Now you are stirring up more wrath against Israel by desecrating the Sabbath.” (Nehmiah 13:15 – 18)