What united Whitfield and Wesley: the forgotten commandment

Here (at sermonindex) and elsewhere (on the internet) the debate that once raged between Wesley and Whitefield continues: election vs. free will (or calvinism vs. arminianism). Sadly, where these men were united we have gone astray.

Deuteronomy warns, "Cursed be he that confirmeth not all the words of the law to do them." Proverbs 19.6 says "He that keepth the commandement keepeth his own soul." Solomon (1 Kings 9.6) warned, "But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandmentts and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: THen will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them..."

Most leaders in the Christian churches confirm SOME of the words of the law to do them, but few anymore confirm ALL of them. The truth is most churches in doctrine and in practice only have 8 or 9 commandments. When I think about how often the commandments were reinforced, and how often failure to keep the commandments was given as the reason for Israel's troubles and how often even in the New Testament the commandments (1 Jn. 2.3,4; 3.4; 5.2,3, for example) were referred to, I find it frightening how terribly they have been neglected in our day.

Edwin Orr once wrote a book titled "The Church Must First Repent". I believe that if ever we will see true revival in NA he was right: the Church must first repent; and we must repent not only of homosexuality and other current sins. We need, specifically, to repent of our desecration of the Sunday Sabbath.

D.M. Lloyd-Jones once preached a sermon on Jeremaih 6.11 (on the weariness of God), and he warned of consequences for those who would disobey the 4th commandment and teach others to do likewise. It grieved him that in the 20's and 30's the churches were already growing forgetful.

In his day Robert Murray M'Cheyne warned his people of the same, as did J.C. Ryle and Charles Spurgeon after him. So also did men from most denominations whether arminian or calvinist... (Wesley, Whitefield, Brainerd and Edwards included) until the 20th century.

Should it surprise us that the century marked by horrific genocide, massive world wars, tragic doctrinal confusion and increasing immmorality and apathy in the Church should also the be the century to drop the 4th commandment? Many of us look around at the churches in NA and believe that we are in a kind of spiritual captivity. Is it any wonder? Where are the pastors who will call us to obedience to the commandments (let alone people to obey them)?! It was Malachi who once said, "For the priest's lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. But ye are departed out of the way; ye have mcaused many to stumble at the law..."

How I pray that the Lord would raise up laypeople courageous enough to go to their pastors, take them by the sleeve (as Andrew Melville once took the King's arm!) and plead with them to return to the law and to the testimonies. We need ministers who will keep knowledge.

If ever we will see revival we need the Church to remember the Sabbath to keep it holy!

the debate that once raged between Wesley and Whitefield

Brother, I believe they never fully reconciled over these things but agreed to disagree on the issue. The true unity was not on obeying the ten commandments but rather on loving Jesus Christ supremely and recognizing they are both part of one body of Christ. The way of Jesus Christ is higher than the ten commandments in that all of his commands in the New Covenant fulfill and walk in the ten commandments.

Another New Covenant truth is that Jesus Christ is our Sabbath. Here is a very good article to consider:

Principle 47 ”“ The Lord’s Day can be Everyday! (pdf)
http://gospelfellowships.net/pdf/principle47.pdf

Also the Sabbath was practiced by the Jewish saints on Saturday. Yet the early Christians (apostles and disciples) met together on the Lord's Day (Sunday) they did not feel the compulsion to continue the Saturday Sabbath.

May our unity be firstly in that we are part of the body of Christ.

Brothers (and sisters!) I want to plead with you to weigh very carefully the testimony of Church history. This site is evidence of the value we place on the teaching and preaching ministry of godly men. We all testify that the Scriptures alone are our rule, but we do go to others to help us to grow in our understanding of those Scriptures. Do consider reading what men like John Elias and Ryle and Spurgeon and M'Cheyne (ed. and Leonard Ravenhill - http://media.sermonindex.net/4/SID4361.mp3 or here for some of the transcript: https://www.sermonindex.net/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=48290&forum=34) said about the Christian Sabbath. They were familiar with all the arguments now being made against the keeping of a particular day, including the argument posed by brother Greg that every day is now a Sabbath - but they argued cogently and from the Scriptures that the first day of the week (which Scripture gives the name Lord's Day) is a day that we are to set aside particularly and especially for worship.

Greg, I read through that document. One of the arguments made against fighting over the day of worship is the persecutions of Christians in places like China. Lets admit, brother, that we would never allow such an argument to have any part in a discussion over the first commandment. Men and women and even children have laid down their lives rather than disobey God for centuries. The question isn't "how does this doctrine/ethic work in the persecuted world"? Rather, we ought to be asking "What is God's will?"

Of course, if we were contending for the Sunday Sabbath based on personal preference, we would be foolish to foist those preferences on the persecuted - but if Sunday is the Lord's Day and therefore to be given to Him (as the Saturday used to be) then persecution (or consequences) are quite irrelevant. As our forefathers used to say, "duty is ours, events are God's."

Let me add that the early Christians did not continue to keep the Saturday Sabbath because they were now keeping the first day of the week.

I think we need to keep in mind that the OT believers were required to love God with all their heart mind and soul, which is no more than what the NT says. They were to love Him and worship Him and serve Him every day of the week just as you (Greg) and others are arguing... still, God wanted them to specially set aside one day a week for Him.

Heydave, the church in Acts 15 met specifically to address whether or not the ceremonial laws should be required of the Gentiles. The 4th commandment is not a ceremonial law. It was observed and obeyed before the fall! [edit: Which is why Colossians 2 is not relevant. Colossians 2 is a reference to the ceremonial days that came with the 4th commandment including the additional sabbaths. These are done away with because they were shadows. The Sabbath itself was instituted at creation before the fall and therefore cannot be included among the shadows which must be done away with. So also Romans in its discussion of days is a reference to ceremonial days and other kinds of days like our Christmas and our Easter - a very different thing from a commandment]

Greg, you observed: "May our unity be firstly in that we are part of the body of Christ." I wholeheartedly agree with you, but I would add that when men claim to be part of the body of Christ and live in sin we have trouble with that. We have trouble uniting with 'gay Christians' and 'idolatrous Christians' because we recognize that something very fundamental is wrong. To preach Jesus is to preach Him in all His offices, prophet, priest and King, and when He is not obeyed all the body of Christ ought to mourn.

I think part of the difficulty with this commandment is that the hermeneutic of the contemporary church is so different from that of our forefathers. We want to see it in plain language in the New Testament because we have so divided the New from the Old. But I would contend that if we are to walk as Christ walked and follow the example of the apostles we have enough. They called it the Lord's Day. Calling a meal the Lord's Supper is enough to indicate to everyone it is not an ordinary meal and that treating it as if it were ordinary can lead to serious consequences. The very designation of the day as the Lord's Day ought (I think) to be argument enough. But we do have the example of our Lord in John 20, we have the pattern of the apostles, and we have the many foreshadowings in the OT of the coming 8th day.

Hi MaryJane, did you read my post? As I explained there

"I think we need to keep in mind that the OT believers were required to love God with all their heart mind and soul, which is no more than what the NT says. They were to love Him and worship Him and serve Him every day of the week just as you (Greg) and others are arguing... still, God wanted them to specially set aside one day a week for Him."

I have work to do and chores to do that have to get done sometime. God in His wisdom and kindness has given us a day in which we are allowed and commanded to be shut up with Him.

The difference is between my enjoying fellowship with my wife at the kitchen sink vs. going out for dinner where we have each others time and attention. We love both, but we especially love that one on one time specially devoted to enjoying each other.

Brother I post this with reservation as I see how the other thread on the Old Covenant vs the New Covenant has progressed.

But that is the heart of the matter. To put it simply. The Old Covenant was given to Israel. The Sabbath was a command for Israel to keep.

We are under the New Covenant. As others have said Christ is our Sabbath rest. Everyday is to be a Sabbath rest to Him.

I do agree with the wisdom that one should set aside a day to reflect upon Christ and His word and be refreshed in Him. But that day need not be Sunday. It could be any day of the week. And what I am suggesting is Christ centered wisdom and not command.

I believe the reason we are not seeing seeing revival on a national level is not because we are keeping Sunday as the Sabbath. It us more that the church had turned sway from Christ.

One other thing. Believers in the 10/40 window are being persecuted because of their faith in Jesus. Not because they fail to keep Sunday as the Sabbith.

Bearmaster.

For those who argue that Sunday is to be a day of rest. A Sabbath. They are often the most exhausted by the end if the day.

Here is how a typical Sunday or Sabbath may go. Get up. Get some time with the Lord. Get breakfast. Get family dressed. Off to church. Run to Sunday school. Get kids to nursery. Run to church service. Out the door. Eat lunch. Maybe grab a 30 minute nap. Have some quick time with family. Then back to church for evening service. Take care of s few things in evening. Then collapse in bed. Is this s Sabbath rest.

Monday morning at work is almost quite relaxing compared to Sunday.

Bearmaster.

Hebrews 7:12
For when the priesthood is changed of necessity there takes place a change in law also.

Hebrews 8:6
But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been built on better promises.

Hebrews 8:13
When He says "A New Covenant", He has made the first obsolete. But whatever is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to disappear.
.........................................................
Brothers, respectfully, I must challenge your notions that the New Testament teaches a Sabbath obligation to believers. For you to insist such is putting New Testament believers under a yoke which according to Peter neither our father's nor we have been able to bear (Acts 15:10).

As New Covenant believers we are not under a command to keep Saturday or Sunday as a day unto the Lord. If anything all days are alike as unto Christ ad Paul writes in Romans 15:5. And because we live in the reality and substance of Christ no one is to be our judge over feast days and sabboths as Paul writes in Col. 2:16-17. For he states that these are a shadow of Him who is to come. That being Jesus.

Brothers, Hebrews 4, the whole chapter, teaches that Jesus Christ is our Sabbath rest in the New Covenant, not a day. As such New Covenant believers are bound to the Sabbath Rest of Jesus Himself. Not to observe a day.

Bear.

Hi MaryJane, thanks for your reply. I just want to say that I share with you 100% what you said: ///and for me living unto HIM every moment of every day is what it is all about not one day a week.JESUS is my all, HE deserves my attention in all things.///

So it should be for every Christian... and so it was in the OT when the people were commanded to love God with whole heart soul and mind. Nonetheless, God in His wisdom and His grace gave them a special day where they could specially focus on Him. MaryJane, the more that we feel that way about Him the more we are going to cherish a day in which we have nothing else but Him! The more I enjoy my wife every day the more I look forward to special days where we can enjoy one on one time free of distractions. Of course, you and I are talking about preferences, but it does come down to the question of whether or not God's commandments are still applicable to us.

Heydave said: ///Stephen - As you stated that the Sunday Sabbath is something we should be keeping, I think it only right that you tell us how exactly you keep this day in a practical outworking, so we can see what you mean.///

Brother, I think someone else on this thread has pointed out that often at the end of a Sunday they are tired out. So am I... but I believe it was the Pharisees mistake to think the Sabbath was a day off. The Sabbath even in the OT was very busy for the Levites. The Sabbath is a day for worship not a day off.

I can tell you a little of what I do, but far less important than how I keep the day is how the day should be kept.

In my home we try do all our chores the day before, so that on Sunday we don't have any work to do (and we don't make others work by going to restaurants). We also put aside all kinds of entertainment and sports... then with all that free time we go to worship service twice, and in between we do Bible stories and worship with the kids. In our home we try to - in a sense - shut ourselves up with God. This is how our forefathers treated the day and the more that I have sought to keep this day holy the more that the Lord has blessed our family. Our whole family looks forward to Sundays, and we come away physically tired but spiritually refreshed.

Bearmaster, Acts 15 is dealing with the ceremonial component of the law. Of course, the 10 commandments when treated as a means of salvation or justification are a burden no one can bear. I find it very fascinating that when we take the 10 commandments to the unsaved they invariably take offense. To the unbeliever God's holy standards are a burden that is unbearable. What makes the Christian such a miracle is that he is so changed by the miracle of regeneration that like David he delights in God's law and longs to do it and as Ezekiel 36 says, is actually made able to do it.

"For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous (1 Jn 5.3)." What I find sad, is when Christians talk like non-Christians. No, the law properly understood is not a burden but a joy! "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law."

We could discuss Hebrews more, but I gather from the posts so far that the debate we are having is more fundamental... its back to the question of the newness of the new covenant. Does our Bible begin at Matthew or Genesis?