The Morgan County press. (Wartburg, Tenn.) 1916-1926, 1917-12-14

GOLDEN IEAI-ESIneHlper lHe ooo-
bath Day to keep it holy-Exod. 2O:S
Nehemiah remained in Jerusalem
twelve years, from B. G. 444 to b. Y.
432. He was then recalled and was
in Persia some years, perhaps five or
seven, but returned about B. Q. 40,
the year Artaxerxes died, for we know
that he returned by permission OF that
king. Therefore, the date of this les
son would be sometime in the summer
or early autumn of 426 or 427 B. o.,
16 or 1S years following last Sundays
lesson.
In the section. Wv. 1914, we see that
the gifts for the house of God ana
the Levites, who led in worship, had
been neglected. Whenever the house
of God and it's service of worship is
neglected, we may expect that the Sab
bath day and the worship of God Will
also soon fall into contempt. Ezra mas
dropped out of our history without a
him as to his end.
|. "Remember" ". 14) the Neglect
of Gods House. wv. 1-14). The neg
lect of Gods house grew up out OF the
incursion of heathenism into Jewish
life. Nehemiah realized that the pur-
ity of the race depended upon absolute
separation from the mixed multitude.
". 81. Nehemiah also confronted the
difficulty of having a priest wv. a, 81,
who had defiled himself and also desc
Grated the temple, and finally the por-
ton for the support of the priest ana
Ithe temple worship had been withheld.
". 1O.
II. "Remember" ". i2) the Sab
bath Day. wv. 1929. Nehemiah's
next and most difficult reform was re-
.garding the fourth commandment. lie
at once set about to learn the facts;
then relates what he saw ". 15). The
record also tells how he testified
against them in that they were selling
merchandise on the Sabbath day. lie
commended with the mobiles that they
had done evil on the Sabbath day. ".
I17). He testified against them that
the merchants and sellers of ware had
lodged about and within Jerusalem.
wv. 20, Ply. The root of the trouhle
with Judah was that they forgot GODS
word and followed the devices and de-
,sires of their own hearts. The jewish
Sabbath in it's outward form on the
exact day of the week is not binding
upon Gentle Christians (Col. PIG, 10.
1t was given to Israel as people,
'(Deut. IL, p, as memorial OF their
deliverance out of the land of Egypt
and the house of bondage. (Deut. 3 :6).
The Christian, by the death of Christ,
is made dead to the letter of the law
of Moses, (Deut. 7:4), but the prln-
chile of the Sabbath is older than even
the law of Moses and is as binding
upon the Christian believer as are the
many other principles which underhe
the Mosaic law. In its exact form, the
seventh day, the observance OF the
Sabbath belongs to the old order ana
not to the Christian order. Christ, VINO
rose from the dead (Rom. TAD, rose
on the first day Of the week, and we
as Joined to Christ, are not under oo-
LEGATIONS to the Mosaic law, but TO
Christ. Therefore, the Lords day, the
resurrection day, the first day OF the
week, Grew. 1 10; John 21:2O; ~
2e: Acts 27), is the day of privilege,
not of obligation and is more sacred
to us than the Sabbath day OF these
Jews. The Jews in Nehemiah's time
showed their contempt of the LORDS
day by making 1t day Of profit, hence
this exhortation which we see set forth
in this section. This should be a warn
ing and an exhortation to us in these
days of secularized Sabbath.
III. "Remember" ". 2e) the Holy
Priesthood. wv. 23-31). In this section
we see that the priesthood had even
def1led themselves with women, ana
again this Nehemiah entered upon
cleansing process, wv. 30-31. The use
of this word remember" In verses H.
% and % gives strong emphasis to the
three cardinal sins against which Ne
hemiah was battling.
~. Summary: As in Nehemiah's
time, so now, Sabbath dissertation Is
the surest road to national ruin, and a
large proportion of our present calam-
fly can be traced to growing irrever-
ence for the Lords day. Jesus swept
away the cobwebs of Sabbath irrever'
ence. but did not tear down the house.
He kept the principle. but removed the
barnacIes with which the Pharisees
and Jews had encountered 1t. Jesus
taught that the Sabbath was made for
niah AM not man for the Sabbath,
mark 2 :27, 2s), and he set himself as
an example In this regard, for he Is
Lord of that day as well as the other