A Song for the Sabbath Day
Psalms 92
January 3, 2021
Tonight we title our sermon from the subtitle given in your Bible.
“A Song for the Sabbath Day”
One could read that title as though this were a song to be sung on the Sabbath Day, which would be true for a lot of Psalms.
I prefer to read the title as though it is a song
In favor of observing a Sabbath Day. (i.e. “for” a Sabbath Day)
And I think the content of the Psalm would agree with me there.
Either way, the title of the Psalm opens of a massive can of worms for us
That we need to wade through before we start working through our text.
What do Christians do with the issue of the Sabbath?
THE ROOTS of the Sabbath day come to us in the 2nd chapter of the Bible.
Genesis 2:1-3 “Thus the heavens and the earth were completed, and all their hosts. By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.”
From the very beginning, even before the Law of Moses,
We have God setting apart the seventh day as a day of rest from labor.
• God completed all His work.
• God finished all His task.
• God rested, signifying that nothing else needed to be done. It was all fully accomplished.
And then God set apart the 7th day as a day of rest.
WELL, THE NEXT TIME this issue of a Sabbath comes up is immediately after the children of Israel are delivered from Egypt.
• Moses goes up on Mt. Sinai and God gives him the 10 Commandments.
• And the 4th command on the list is:
Exodus 20:8-11 “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. “Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
Clearly linking it back to creation, Moses called upon the children of Israel
To cease from their labors on the seventh day of the week (Saturday).
They were to obey this command with an eye to the fact
That God had also rested from His labor.
It was obviously important to God that His people
Understand the issue of rest from their labors.
Well, by the time we get to the New Testament, this law regarding the Sabbath had obviously gotten WAY OUT OF HAND.
The rabbinical traditions had sought to define the word “work”
And the details were exhausting.
• You could carry enough medicine to keep someone from dying, but if you carry enough to make them recover then you were working.
• You could carry paper and ink, but not enough to write one advertisement or that would be work.
• The list is extensive, but you get the idea.
And of course you are aware that of all the issues with the Law,
Jesus didn’t challenge any of them as much as
He challenged their understanding of Sabbath Law.
When you read the gospels one would almost ask if Jesus was willing to heal anyone if it wasn’t the Sabbath.
• He constantly stuck His finger in the eye of the Pharisees by healing on the Sabbath.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 12:1-14
When you read those first 8 verses you realize that the Pharisees had pounced on Jesus for apparently violating the Sabbath since the disciples were eating grain.
However Jesus straightened out their theology.
1) The Sabbath doesn’t restrict deeds of necessity (vs. 3-4)
• Jesus will expound on this in verses 9-14 when He heals a sick man and gives
the “sheep in a pit” analogy.
2) The Sabbath doesn’t restrict acts of worship (5)
• Since the priests clearly work very hard on the Sabbath in order to orchestrate
worship to God.
3) The Sabbath was never meant to be a burden but a blessing (6-7)
4) The Sabbath was never about work, it was always about the Lord (8)
• The Jews had totally missed the point of Sabbath Law, just as they had missed
the point of every other command and Jesus continually exposed that.
But it still leaves us a little confused.
Indeed many debate and argue this very point today.
SO SHOULD CHRISTIANS REST AND WORSHIP ON SATURDAY OR NOT?
Or Perhaps more relevantly: DID SUNDAY REPLACE SATURDAY AND SHOULD CHRISTIANS NOW REST AND WORSHIP ON THAT DAY?
Well, let’s dive a little deeper and see if we can gain some clarity.
One thing that must be understood is that Christ fulfilled all the Law.
• We are released from the burden of the Law.
• We are no longer seeking to prove our perfection to God through the Law.
• Christ fulfilled it all on our behalf and the righteousness He earned has now
been imputed to us.
THAT INCLUDES SABBATH LAW.
It is somewhat perplexing to me the number of people who have chosen the Sabbath Law and dietary restrictions as commands that are still binding today,
• But don’t seem to care about wearing T-shirts that are 50% polyester and 50%
cotton (which would have been forbidden)
• They don’t seem worried about mix-breed cattle…
• They don’t grow the hair long on their temples…
• Women aren’t declared unclean for having a baby…
• Etc.
It is peculiar to me that of all the commands they want to hang on to
The only two that really get chosen are the Sabbath & dietary restrictions.
But either Christ fulfilled all the Law or none of it.
Either He satisfied God’s righteous requirement or He didn’t.
We are either under all of the Law or none of the Law.
Certainly we believe that Christ fulfilled it all, as He said He would,
And that “in Him” we have fulfilled it too.
There SEEMS TO BE A MISUNDERSTANDING OF THE PURPOSE behind the Sabbath Law.
Incidentally, many Sabbath holders today would say that
The Sabbath was instituted back in Genesis 2 (before the Law)
And that is why it is binding.
But there is a failure to understand
WHY God instituted it and WHAT it meant.
The writer of Hebrews is the one to make this clear to us.
TURN TO: HEBREWS 4:1-10
We don’t have time to fully unpack this (you can go listen to those Hebrews devotions if you want more insight)
But the writer of Hebrews is using Psalms 95 as a text where David
(many years after Joshua) is STILL OFFERING REST to Israel.
Specifically he tells them that they should not harden their hearts like the children of Israel because God swore to them that they would not enter His rest.
And of course those people did not enter the Promised Land.
But now, many years later, already in the Promised Land,
David is still talking about entering God’s rest.
Clearly then, rest meant more than just entering the land.
Which is the point the writer of Hebrews makes.
(8-10) “For if Joshua had given them rest, He would not have spoken of another day after that. So there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”
David said it first and then the writer of Hebrews said it again,
NAMELY THAT REST IS STILL AVAILABLE.
And then he tells you what he means.
“For the one who has entered His rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from His.”
The writer of Hebrews now tells us the whole point to God resting
And instituting a day of rest.
God rested because He was finished
And there was no more work to be done.
And God told us to rest as a prophetic picture
That we too would one day rest from our labors.
But the labors He was talking about was not physical labor,
Rather it was spiritual labor.
THERE WOULD COME A DAY WHEN
We would no longer have to work to please God.
When did that happen?
Matthew 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. “Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. “For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
How could Jesus offer rest?
Because on the cross He said, “It is finished!”
Jesus completed the work on our behalf.
The whole notion of rest was a prophetic picture
That one day Christ would do all the work for us
And we would sit down relieved
And rest from the struggle of trying to earn God’s favor.
In this way, the Sabbath laws were no different than things like the Passover or Day of Atonement (which we do not observe).
They were prophetic pictures, but we now have the fulfillment.
AND WE ARE NOT REQUIRED TO DO IT.
It’s not a sin if you do, it’s not a sin if you don’t.
Romans 14:1-9 “Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. One person has faith that he may eat all things, but he who is weak eats vegetables only. The one who eats is not to regard with contempt the one who does not eat, and the one who does not eat is not to judge the one who eats, for God has accepted him. Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand. One person regards one day above another, another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it for the Lord, and he who eats, does so for the Lord, for he gives thanks to God; and he who eats not, for the Lord he does not eat, and gives thanks to God. For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living.”
HOWEVER – there is another aspect of this
That I think is often overlooked and yet is very important.
And that is the issue of PRIORITY
It is the idea of knowing that
The things of this world are not as important as the things of God.
There is something very telling about those
Who see no importance in committing to a day of worship.
INCIDENTALLY, when God did get angry at the children of Israel regarding the Sabbath Laws,
It was always because they saw the Sabbath as a burden,
Or an unwelcomed intrusion into their business.
Amos 8:4-6 “Hear this, you who trample the needy, to do away with the humble of the land, saying, “When will the new moon be over, So that we may sell grain, And the sabbath, that we may open the wheat market, To make the bushel smaller and the shekel bigger, And to cheat with dishonest scales, So as to buy the helpless for money And the needy for a pair of sandals, And that we may sell the refuse of the wheat?”
See the issue is not about earning God’s favor, we do that through Christ.
But the issue that remains is one of trust and priority.
Do you TRUST Christ enough to rest from your worldly labors? (He will provide)
Do you LOVE Christ enough to rest from your worldly labors? (priority)
THAT’S THE ISSUE.
And this is really the issue of Psalms 92.
• It’s NOT so much a Psalm to be sung on the Sabbath…
• It’s NOT so much a Psalm about the legalities or prophecies of the Sabbath…
• It IS a Psalm that encourages a day of worship because it is good…
And in that sense it is very applicable to us.
• We are not saying that you cannot work on Saturday or Sunday.
• We understand the Lord’s instruction about deeds of necessity.
But what we are talking about is that
In every believer there ought to be a general understanding of
The importance of walking away from the chaos of the world
And fixing our eyes on Christ.
And for those who see that as unnecessary,
At the very least we would say they are missing a blessing.
This Psalm is a Psalm that makes an appeal that
If you aren’t setting aside a day for worship, then you should.
So now let’s work our way through it,
It is not hard to understand and won’t take us long.
The Psalmist gives 3 reasons why you should participate in the Sabbath, or at least devote a day to the Lord where you walk away from the world and focus on Him.
#1 IT IS SATISFYING
Psalms 92:1-4
Now before you run too far with that title, let me reign you in.
When I say that setting aside the world to participate in a day of worship is satisfying, I DON’T INITIALLY MEAN that it is satisfying for you.
Now, I happen to believe that a day of worship is extremely satisfying to me personally, as it feeds my soul and encourages my life.
But the real point here is that the setting aside of the world
For a day of worship is satisfying to God.
The Psalmist begins with 3 words.
“It is good”
And you know that “good” is not a word that God throws around lightly.
• Creation, before the fall was “good”.
• Jesus told the Rich Young Ruler that only God is “good”
• Paul reminded us that there is none “good”
The link here is to the “good” of creation,
Where God was fully satisfied in all that He had created.
He saw no need to tweak it…
It had no need for renovation…
There were no finishing touches…
God saw it as complete, finished, and good.
That is the phrase the Psalmist uses here.
SEEING THE SAINTS depart from the world to SET ASIDE A DAY
For thanksgiving, praise, and declaration of the goodness of God
IS A GOOD AND SATISFYING THING TO GOD.
And the Psalmist even gets specific as to what sort of things should consume that day.
THANKSGIVING – SINGING OF PRAISES – DECLARATION OF GOD’S GOODNESS
“It is good to give thanks to the LORD”
• The New Testament tells us that we should “give thanks” in all circumstances.
• Paul reminded us that it is the unredeemed who do not honor God as God or “give thanks”.
There is certainly an expectation on the part of God
That a people so blessed by Him
Would consistently gather to thank Him for all He has done.
Psalms 50:7-15 “Hear, O My people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you; I am God, your God. “I do not reprove you for your sacrifices, And your burnt offerings are continually before Me. “I shall take no young bull out of your house Nor male goats out of your folds. “For every beast of the forest is Mine, The cattle on a thousand hills. “I know every bird of the mountains, And everything that moves in the field is Mine. “If I were hungry I would not tell you, For the world is Mine, and all it contains. “Shall I eat the flesh of bulls Or drink the blood of male goats? “Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving And pay your vows to the Most High; Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.”
God didn’t want some ceremonial goat, God wanted gratitude.
When we gather, it should be “to give thanks to the LORD”.
• He is the “Father of lights with whom there is no shifting shadow” and “every good and perfect gift” comes from Him.
• It is Him in whom “we live and move and exist”.
• It is Him who sustains our life and promises to care for our needs.
• It is Him who “chose us” for salvation and “sent His Son” to save us.
The reasons are endless.
And they are more than enough to warrant that everyone
Set aside 1 day of their week to tell Him “thank you”.
There is another thing that should occur.
“And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;”
• Singing praises is “good” to God.
• Singing praises is satisfying to God.
James 5:13 “Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray. Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises.”
And might I point out how important this is to God?
In His Bible, He gave a book with 150 songs in it.
Singing is the expectation.
Praising God in song is by His determined design.
• I don’t want to hear about you being a bad singer…
• I don’t want to hear about you not liking to sing…
• All I am concerned about is the fact that singing praises is “good”.
“sing praises to Your name, O Most High”
God’s name is a representation of who He is.
• Jehovah Jireh – provider
• Jehovah Nissi – banner
• Jehovah Rohi – shepherd
• Jehovah Tsidkenu – Righteousness
• Jehovah Mekadesh – Sanctification
• Jehovah Rapha – healer
• Jehovah Shamma – present
• Jehovah Shalom – peace
Who God is; is bound up in His name.
And we sing praises accordingly.
We praise Him for who He is.
That is good.
And on this day we gather:
(2-3) “To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning And Your faithfulness by night, with the ten-stringed lute and with the harp, with resounding music upon the lyre.”
More singing, but this in the form of declaration.
I like the picture.
“declare Your lovingkindess in the morning”
• In the morning we sing of God’s loyalty to us as we declare what God will do
for us today.
And then in the evening we gather again and we declare “Your faithfulness by night”.
• That speaks to all that God has done for us.
One is faith, the other is gratitude.
They all are declarations of praise to God.
And it is “good” that we do that.
It is satisfying to God that we do that.
(4) “For You, O LORD, have made me glad by what You have done, I will sing for joy at the works of Your hands.”
Because we delight in who God is and what God has done,
We know that setting aside a day to thank and praise God for it
Is a privilege.
Do you understand that?
• It’s why I’m a proponent of Sunday morning and Sunday night church.
• It’s why I think that we make these things a priority.
• It’s why I think we push aside the world on Sunday.
• It’s why I think we let the things of this world wait for a day.
It’s NOT so that we might earn salvation.
It’s NOT so that we might be considered righteous.
(Christ already did that)
It’s because God deserves it, and God delights in it,
And I am grateful and want to give it.
The world can wait 24 hours for me to tell God thank you.
It is satisfying
#2 IT IS SENSIBLE
Psalms 92:5-9
After speaking of how good it is to set aside a day for worship,
THE PSALMIST NOW CONTRASTS
The person of praise with the person of the world.
The person spoken of here is the person who is too busy or too consumed to stop his worldly pursuits to come and praise God.
It seems counterproductive to his success
To stop for a day and give thanks.
• He is like that person mentioned in Amos who thinks closing on Sunday is dumb because there is money to be made on Sunday.
• It is the person who would rather use Sunday as a day to get ahead, or get ready for the week, or whatever.
• It’s simply a person who thinks devoting a whole day to the Lord is a waste of time.
The Psalmist speaks of them and what they don’t know.
(5-9) “How great are Your works, O LORD! Your thoughts are very deep. A senseless man has no knowledge, Nor does a stupid man understand this: That when the wicked sprouted up like grass And all who did iniquity flourished, It was only that they might be destroyed forevermore. But You, O LORD, are on high forever. For, behold, Your enemies, O LORD, For, behold, Your enemies will perish; All who do iniquity will be scattered.”
Now consider this.
• Here we have a man who would rather work on Sunday or use Sunday to get ahead.
• Stopping to give credit to God is seen as a waste of time because there is money to be made today.
And, the Psalmist points out
How for them IT SEEMS LIKE IT WORKS.
Skipping a day of worship in order to get ahead in the world
HAS caused them to get ahead and to prosper.
But the Psalmist says that thought process is “senseless” and “stupid”.
There is something they don’t understand.
(7) “That when the wicked sprouted up like grass And all who did iniquity flourished, it was only that they might be destroyed forevermore.”
In other words, through all their efforts they did get rich,
But what is the benefit in getting rich?
• The question is where do they end up?
• Did their money buy them heaven?
Psalms 49:16-20 “Do not be afraid when a man becomes rich, When the glory of his house is increased; For when he dies he will carry nothing away; His glory will not descend after him. Though while he lives he congratulates himself — And though men praise you when you do well for yourself — He shall go to the generation of his fathers; They will never see the light. Man in his pomp, yet without understanding, Is like the beasts that perish.”
That is to say, he is “senseless” and “stupid”
Psalms 73:18-20 “Surely You set them in slippery places; You cast them down to destruction. How they are destroyed in a moment! They are utterly swept away by sudden terrors! Like a dream when one awakes, O Lord, when aroused, You will despise their form.”
Sure, by neglecting the Lord they got rich,
But that is to falsely assume
That getting rich is somehow beneficial.
Jesus was pretty clear:
Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
It is to assume that we were placed on this earth
For the purpose of being successful, and that isn’t the case.
We were placed on this earth for the glory of God.
Jesus made a remarkable statement:
Luke 12:23 “For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing.”
If you think the only reason God placed you in a body
Was so that you’d have something to feed and something to clothe
Than you really don’t understand your purpose.
WE ARE HERE FOR GOD’S GLORY.
Our bodies are to be used for His kingdom and His glory.
PEOPLE WHO DON’T UNDERSTAND THAT ARE SENSELESS.
(8-9) “But You, O LORD, are on high forever. For, behold, Your enemies, O LORD, For, behold, Your enemies will perish; All who do iniquity will be scattered.”
God is going to win, and in the end being with Him is all that matters.
Why should setting aside the world for God be your routine?
• You should do it because it is satisfying to God.
• You should do it because it is the sensible thing to do.
A smart man would see that “forsaking that which he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose” is a wise investment.
Satisfying, Sensible
#3 IT IS SUPPORTED
Psalms 92:10-15
After talking about the coming scattering of the wicked
The Psalmist now lays out what he expects after a life of worship.
He now lays out the benefits
Of being someone who loves God more than the world.
Do you want to see what he receives from his devotion to God?
POWER – “But You have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox”
There is a strengthening that comes into a life
When they spend time in praising the Lord.
We have heard before that “the joy of the Lord is my strength”
Isaiah 40:31 “Yet those who wait for the LORD Will gain new strength; They will mount up with wings like eagles, They will run and not get tired, They will walk and not become weary.”
REFESHING – “I have been anointed with fresh oil”
Stopping the busyness of life and focusing on the Lord and His goodness
IS A REFRESHMENT TO A WEARY SOUL.
It revives and makes one energized for this world.
Psalms 19:7a “The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul…”
VICTORY – “And my eye has looked exultantly upon my foes, My ears hear of the evildoers who rise up against me.”
That is to say “I only hear of what they want to do, but they never win”
And the picture here is that they never totally win or finally win.
My confidence in victory grows when I stop and behold the Lord.
This world often times makes me feel like a loser,
BUT I NEVER FEEL LIKE A LOSER WHEN I LEAVE CHURCH.
2 Corinthians 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the knowledge of Him in every place.”
ABUNDANCE – “The righteous man will flourish like the palm tree, He will grow like the cedar in Lebanon.”
John 10:10 “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”
When is the last time you ever forsook the things of the world to go and worship God and you felt like you got cheated?
God is not stingy, and He is always worth it.
ENDURANCE – “They will still yield fruit in old age; They shall be full of sap and very green,”
This world has a bad habit of discarding the aged as no longer of any use.
But in God’s congregation the elderly hold a place of honor
As those who have the wisdom of walking with God
And seeing His faithfulness.
I would submit especially to the aged
That you have no place in this world
Where you hold as much value as in the church.
And so the Psalmist points out that
• Not only is forsaking the world to worship God satisfying to God,
• Not only is it the sensible thing to do in light of eternity,
• But it is also something that God supports.
In fact, if you will devote yourself to Him,
THEN HE WILL SUPPORT YOU WITH
Strength and refreshing and victory and abundance and endurance.
He doesn’t give that to the world, but He does to those who worship Him.
WHY DOES HE GIVE THAT TO THEM?
(15) “To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”
He gives them those things
So that they can keep on doing what they are doing.
• When you forsake God to gain the world you are on your own.
• But when you forsake the world to worship God, you gain God as an ally.
And that is the encouragement I give to you.
This is why setting aside an entire day should be the objective.
Come on Sunday morning and sing of the loyalty of God.
Come back on Sunday night and sing of His faithfulness.
• Don’t skip it so you can be successful in the world,
• Don’t treat it like you can’t wait for Sunday morning worship to be over so you can get back to chasing the world.
• Stop, slow down, and give the Lord His day.
• It is satisfying, it is sensible, and it is supported.
Psalms 122:1 “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the LORD.”
