Deuteronomy 5:12-15
The Fourth Commandment

I. “Arbeit Macht Frei” (German for “Work Makes Free”)
1. “Work makes free,” was the promise, emblazoned in iron over the gate of an institution 70 years ago.
2. In anything we do, from athletics to academics to marriage to careers, the secret to success is hard work.
3. That institution promising freedom for work, was Auschwitz. Sometimes the promise is a lie.
II. God Wants Worshippers, Not Workers
A. People Don’t Naturally Rest
1. God doesn’t want workers but worshippers, people who trust Him and rest.
2. People do not keep the Sabbath because they can’t. Their faith finds no resting place.
3. They just can’t rest. There is no peace, no rest for the wicked (Isaiah 48:22).
B. Observe
1. Do it. “Keep it holy,” separate from the normal, daily pattern.
2. “To the Lord” (5:14). It’s not just a day off. We serve the Lord by not doing any work.
3. We were slaves to sin. Our work didn’t gain our freedom. God did. Redemption is the reason.
4. Remember, (5:15) it’s not work that makes you free. It’s grace that makes free.
5. In the OT, they worked toward the Sabbath. We look back, we work from our Sabbath.
C. The Most Disputed Commandment
1. Many today claim it is not for us; that it was just for Israel. It’s not repeated in the New Testament.
2. Yet it applies even to “the sojourner (i.e. foreigner) who is within your gates” (5:14).
3. Salvation doesn’t free us from the commandment. It frees us for rest.
4. Now that we don’t have to be incessant workers, we can be worshippers.
5. Legalists make Sabbath observance a work that promises work makes free.
6. Don't keep the Sabbath because you have to. That is work that won’t set you free.
7. God is looking for worshippers, not workers. You worship Him when you take His light yoke.
8. He will give you rest. It’s not work that makes free. It’s the Lord of the Sabbath.
9. Our coming to church does not make us worshippers. Only God can truly make us worshippers.
10. We make a declaration in the way we worship. We simply sit and listen, taking in the Word.
11. “Six days you shall do all your work.” So every legitimate job can be done as service to God.
12. If we are a worshipper, we worship Him by resting in His presence, with His people.
13. “Strive to enter that rest,” by remembering that you’re not just a worker but a worshipper.
14. Assembling together is one way of striving to enter God’s rest (Hebrews 10:25).
15. In Sabbath keeping, we celebrate being a community that has been redeemed.
16. If in church, you are not worshipping, you are working. And you are breaking the commandment.
III. Four Rs to Keep the Sabbath
A. Rest
1. Practically we need to discipline ourselves to rest. Sometimes it takes discipline not to work.
2. Our restaurant workers have an admirable work ethic. But you have a need to rest.
3. Put your hope in the Lord, not in uncertain riches and show that by resting from money-making.
4. We keep the Sabbath by trusting in the Lord, that He is able to sustain us so we don’t have to work.
B. Remember
1. Remember, you were a slave. Work wasn’t setting you free. Slaves never earn anything.
2. We keep the Sabbath by “remembering” what Christ has done for you to win your salvation
C. Relish: “call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable. . .”. (Isaiah 58:13)
D. Revere
1. In keeping the Sabbath we show that our time is not our own. We have a temple in time.
2. In that sacred temple in time we show that our lives are about more than being productive or fun.
3. We are worshippers and so we stop for the temple in time and revere Him who set us free.
IV. Invitation: This command comes, really, as an invitation to worship, an invitation to Christ. God actively prevents people from enjoying true rest until they believe. Until they’re worshippers (Hebrews 4:3-5). We still have “fightings and fears within, without” because, as another hymn puts it, our faith hasn’t yet found a resting place. Until we cast ourselves unreservedly into the arms of the Lord, we cannot have rest. Come, all who are weary and heavy laden; come those of you who are tired of striving. Strive to enter that rest. Come to Him. Be a worshipper, not a worker. He will give you rest.