Our worship this morning comes from Psalm 92. The heading of Psalm 92 is a psalm or song for the Sabbath day. And in the first two verses we read this. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High, to show forth thy loving kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness every night. Let's prepare our hearts for worship in silent prayer. Praise him, all creatures here below. Praise him, our God, the earthly host. Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Amen. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth. Grace, mercy, and peace be granted unto you from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ through the operation of the Holy Spirit, amen. Let's worship God by singing Psalter number 227, 227. Sermon this morning has to do with the command to keep the Sabbath day holy. We sing here of our delight in church ordinances in the church and in the worship of God. Let's sing the three stanzas, all three. My soul is longing, waiting Thy sacred voice to sing. Thee, Thee, Thee, Thee, Thee, Thee, My dwelling place shall be. that tears like showers shall fill the strains of peace, and all the way to Zion their strains shall This time we hear God's law read and in so doing submit ourselves to God's searching of us through his word. And God spake all these words saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them. For I, the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me. and showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, In it thou shalt not do any work. Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. Summary of the law according to our Lord Jesus Christ is this. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Response to hearing God's law. Let's sing Psalter number 70. Psalter number 70. Sing in stanza one. Judge my integrity, the righteous judge thou art. Prove me, O Lord, examine me and try my inmost heart. Let's sing all the stanzas, all five of number 70. Prove me, O Lord, eternal King, and bind my inmost heart. Thy mercy and thy grace, my heart will proudly claim. Emmanuel I raise, as I thy altars see, where I may sing in grateful praise, and all thy wonders see. within. Oh, keep my heart, Savior, above all fellowship disdain. Dreaming of embrace, we soar Let's pray together. Our Father who art in heaven. We thank thee for the gift of the Sabbath day. Thank thee that in thy perfect wisdom Thou hast given us one of the days of the week. First day of the week in order to devote this day to thee. And to receive thy precious gift of rest. We're thankful that thou hast sustained us through another week. Of life and labor in the midst of this world. And we're thankful for the call. That now has issued and worked in our hearts. To seek thy face. So that with joy and gladness we declare thy face, Oh God, we will seek. We're thankful father that notice. Give us in this day. Rest for our bodies. We are weak creatures of the dust. We are unable to labor and labor always without rest or break. Thou alone art the all-powerful and almighty, the God who worketh at all times. And we confess then our frailty In the need that we have for the rest of this day. And so refresh us then strengthen us and renew us in our physical strength. So that once again in the week to come, we can serve and glorify thee. Especially father, we thank thee for the spiritual rest. Without us to apply to us by thy spirit in this day. Thankful especially to be able to meet together for the public corporate worship of the our God. This is our. Desire, this is the purpose of our. Existence and of our salvation that we might honor thy name. And extol the as the one true living God. Who is our father and our Savior? Thank Thee also for the benefit that Thou didst give to us in that worship. And especially as we come under the preaching of Thy word. We're thankful, Father, for the gospel of grace. For the good news of salvation, not by our own working. Salvation through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we're thankful also that Thou dost give to us lively faith, whereby we have ears to hear, and we do hear and understand and believe. We pray, Father, that Thou wilt bless the preaching of the Gospel to our hearts in this day, so that through that preaching our faith continues to grow and to be strengthened so that we are renewed spiritually every day of our life in the midst of the week to walk by faith and to look to Thee and to trust alone in Thy Son and in His cross. I pray, Father, that Thou wilt preserve the faithful preaching of the Gospel here in our midst Pray that thou wilt uphold our pastor. Give him the ability to rightly divide the word of truth and faithfully to proclaim the gospel and continue Heavenly Father to feed and to nourish our hungry and thirsty souls by thy word and through thy spirit. I pray for grace, Father, to keep the Sabbath day holy. To flee our own work and our own pleasure in this day and to give the day to Thee. We pray for strength as well in the other days of the week to labor. to carry out our callings and to do so in the strength of thy spirit in such a way that we demonstrate faithfulness and grateful service unto thee and to thy church and kingdom. Pray for those of our number who are unable regularly to meet together for worship with us. Because of sickness and old age are shut in at home on the Sabbath day. We pray for them. Pray that thou will continue to provide for them. Through the various means, cause them still to hear and to be strengthened by thy word. Grant also, Father, that they might yet know the fellowship of the body of the Lord Jesus Christ through us. Pray for others in the midst of our congregation who experience many hardships and sorrows. Pray for our widows and our widower and their ongoing loneliness and sorrow and loss. Continue to draw them near to thyself. Pray for those who are sick, who are dealing with infirmities of the body or who care for loved ones with trials and infirmities of old age, loss of memory, sickness, and disease. Continue, Father, to be near to them as well. Give them healing, if that's Thy will, but also grace sufficient to bear patiently these trials. Pray for those who have troubles in family, relationships with loved ones, whose relationship with parents or children, grandchildren, has been severed or made difficult. We pray, Father, that Thou wilt grant to them grace to bear those trials as well, and the assurance that when father and mother both forsake, then Thou, as our Heavenly Father, would certainly take us up. Pray for those who are dealing with disappointments and discouragements in their walk of life, whose way is made difficult by Thy hand. Pray for those who are dealing with fear and discouragement, who are confused and anxious and cast down. We pray, Father, that Thou will grant to them the peace that passes understanding. Pray for others, Father, who are hurting or whose families have been affected by the wickedness and the sins of others against them. Continue to grant to them the healing and the strength that they stand in need of to bear the hatred and the sins of others against them. We need Thee, Heavenly Father. We need Thee at every hour. We need Thee when life appears to be going very smoothly and there are joys that we know. And we need Thee when life is difficult and there are burdens that we bear that are too great for us. And so we roll our burdens upon Thee. Cry out to thee in our need and pray Father that thou wilt hear us, provide for us. Preserve and strengthen us. And continue to draw us ever more closely to thee. We thank the Heavenly Father for the forgiveness of sins. We pray blot out those sins that we've committed against thee. and wash us, cleanse us in the blood of Thy Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. We're thankful, Father, that we have this hope and comfort for body and soul, for living and dying, comfort that can never be taken away, a comfort that doesn't depend upon how good we are, but sure and unshakable, the comfort of belonging to our Savior. Pray, Father, that thou will keep us from sin, from distraction, as we continue in our worship here this morning. Receive this, our sacrifice of praise. For Jesus' sake, amen. This time, our offerings will be received, first of all, for our general fund, and then secondly, for the work of our church in evangelism. Let's sing Psalter number 416. Sing at the end of stanza two of the psalmist's desire to be in the house of God to worship him. Yea, my soul doth melt in me when I bring to memory how of your I did assemble with the joyful in thy temple. Let's sing the first three stanzas, the first three of 416. Let the heart of love to falter in its trembling agony, and then, for the first time, So my soul, look and believe, may the Lord be with you. to stand before thee in thy justice. Where is thou, thine amazing? May my soul not doubt in thee, Could I bring to memory Oh, my soul, why art thou grieving? Why this crying? Oh, may God my faith retrieve me, let him still my refuge be. I shall never ignore his grace. His face, He has shepherded my sorrow. We read the holy and inspired word of God this morning from Acts chapter 20. We'll read the first 12 verses of Acts chapter 20. And after the uproar was ceased, that is the uproar that Paul experienced in the city of Ephesus while he was there on his third missionary journey. After the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia. And when he had gone over those parts and had given them much exhortation, he came into Greece, and there abode three months. And when the Jews laid wait for him as he was about to sail into Syria, he purposed to return through Macedonia. And there accompanied him into Asia, Sopater of Berea, and of the Thessalonians, Aristarchus and Secundus, and Gaius of Derbe and Timotheus, and of Asia, Tychicus and Trophimus. These going before tarried for us at Troas. And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days, where we abode seven days. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow, and continued his speech until midnight. And there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together. And there sat in a window a certain young man named Eutychus being fallen into a deep sleep. And as Paul was long preaching, he sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead. Paul went down and fell on him and embracing him said, trouble not yourselves for his life is in him. He therefore was come up again and had broken bread and eaten and talked a long while even till break of day so he departed. They brought the young man alive and were not a little comforted. We read the Word of God that far this morning. On the basis of that and many other passages of God's Word, is the teaching of our Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 38. Lord's Day 38 is found in the back of our Psalters on page 22. This is an explanation of the fourth commandment of God's law, which is this, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work. Thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rusted the seventh day. Wherefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Now, Lord's Day 38, what doth God require in the fourth commandment? First, that the ministry of the gospel and the schools be maintained and that I, especially on the Sabbath, that is on the day of rest, diligently frequent the church of God to hear his word, to use the sacraments publicly, to call upon the Lord and contribute to the relief of the poor as becomes a Christian. Secondly, that all the days of my life I cease for my evil works and yield myself to the Lord to work by his Holy Spirit in me and thus begin in this life the eternal Sabbath. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ. What is your view of the Sabbath? What's your attitude toward the first day of the week? Is it the case that we look at the Sabbath through a legalistic lens? That our view of the Sabbath day is governed only by the keeping of certain man-made regulations and laws. And that we view the Sabbath and the keeping of it merely in that light. Is it the case that we view the Sabbath day as a cold obligation? Something that we know is demanded of us, in which we take no delight, and it's merely the checking off of a box in the Christian life. We view the Sabbath day as a kind of bore and drudgery, something to be endured for a little while before we can quickly go on to something else, something more exciting, something that we'd rather be doing. Woe to us if our spiritual state ever sinks into that low state that we view the Sabbath that way. Sabbath is a delight and it ought to be the case that we view the Sabbath day that way as a joy and a delight rather than a cold obligation or drudgery. We live in the midst of a world without rest. A world that's frantic, that's chaotic. People that are confused, anxious, depressed, restless. People who seek rest in all of the places where they'll never find rest. They seek rest in pleasure, in money, in entertainment. Some might seek it in alcohol or drugs or illicit sex. They don't know rest because they do not know the Lord Jesus Christ. For us who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, we have rest. We have precious rest in a restless world. We rest from all of our sinful labors. We rest from any attempt by our works to earn the favor of God. And we rest secure in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And the standing that we have with God. For the sake of Jesus Christ. And we have the hope in Jesus Christ that there will come a day when all of the trouble and the sin and the suffering of this life will pass away and we will know the perfection of rest in glory. We have the privilege, one day out of the week, in which we can especially enjoy and meditate upon that rest that's ours in Jesus Christ. That's the Sabbath day. The effect of that will carry over into the other days of the week, as we'll see in the course of the sermon this morning, God willing. God has given to us this one day out of seven in which especially We enter into and enjoy and meditate upon precious rest that's ours in Jesus Christ. Knowing that, then we can, from the heart, answer the question, how do you view the Sabbath day with this response? We view the Sabbath day to be the great joy and delight of our souls. Consider the Word of God this morning, taking as our theme the question, must Christians observe the Sabbath? First of all, we'll consider the command, secondly, the observance, and then thirdly, the effect. There are many in the world today that have no sense of obligation with respect to the keeping of the Sabbath day. It's evident simply by observing the life and the practice of so many in this world. The unbelieving of the world certainly have no sense of obligation to the keeping of the Sabbath day. It may have been the case years ago that there was some still semblance of observance of the Sabbath day. Businesses perhaps were closed on Sunday. But all of that is quickly gone away. Not only is that the case in the unbelieving world, but increasingly that's the case in the Christian world and even in reformed circles. It's the case often that where there is a second service on the Sabbath day, it's very sparsely attended. Many churches are giving up the second Sabbath because even if they had that worship service, there'd be very few who'd even come in attendance. And even with the one service in the morning that many have, attendance can often be hit or miss. sometimes there, but often not. And the day is filled up with all kinds of other activities that a person might find their delight in. The day becomes another day like a Saturday in which to do work around the house, or it's a day to lounge around and watch football, or it's time to be traveling all over the place because one's children are signed up for every travel sports team. From practice, it's evident that there's not obligation to the keeping of the Sabbath day. But not only is that a matter of practice, how one lives out what one truly believes, this is also a matter of theology. There are many theologians who teach that there is no enduring Sabbath command in the New Testament. He'll teach that the Sabbath belonged to the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament so that it was an obligation for God's people in the Old Testament to observe a weekly Sabbath. But, they say, with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, He has abolished the law, including all of those ceremonial laws. And that means, they say, that Jesus Christ has done away with the Sabbath obligation in the New Testament. Now many will still teach that it's a good idea to observe a day of rest in the midst of the week. In order to avoid burnout and working too much to the detriment of our health or our family, they'll say it's still a good idea to observe one day out of the week. And because it's traditional that that day of rest be the first day of the week, it's a good idea still to observe the first day of the week. But in the end, It's not because God requires it of us. But they say it's merely a good tradition that goes back many years and has practical benefits for our health that were to keep the Sabbath day. But the theological undermining of the requirement to keep the Sabbath day. Influences then the practice. Of those who believe that. In contrast, we believe and we confess here in our Heidelberg Catechism that there remains an enduring Sabbath command for Christians in the New Testament. Law of God requires of us that we keep one day out of the seven as a day of rest. The basis for that goes all the way back to the beginning and God's creation of all things. Having created all things in six days, God rested on the seventh day. God's resting on the seventh day did not mean that he didn't work at all. Having created all things, he continued his work of providence, upholding and governing everything that he had made. But his resting on the seventh day meant that the work of creation being finished, God entered into the enjoyment of that finished work. He delighted in that work of his hands. In doing so, God ordained the structure of the week for the rest of the history of creation. So that there's six days in a week in which we labor, and there's one day out of the week that we rest. The basis for our keeping, the weekly Sabbath, Is also the fact that the Fourth Commandment belongs? To the moral law of God to the Ten Commandments. We'll see in a moment that there's a ceremonial element to it, but the Fourth Commandment as a whole does not belong to the ceremonial laws that have been done away with in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. It belongs to the abiding moral law of God. So that just as the first commandment still applies to our life today and the sixth commandment and the seventh commandment still apply to our life today, so also does the fourth commandment have abiding significance for the life of the Christian in the New Testament. And then also, the basis for the keeping of a weekly Sabbath is The nature of the work of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came into this world. Jesus Christ did not come to destroy the law. He came to fulfill it. And in fulfilling the law. There no more is the obligation to observe all of the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament, but Christ did not do away with the law altogether. The law of God still has application and bearing upon our life in the New Testament as those redeemed in Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ by his own example indicated the abiding obligation of the fourth commandment. Jesus Christ didn't do away with the Sabbath day. By his own example, he didn't show to the church that you don't have to keep the Sabbath day any longer. He opposed all of the legalistic additions to the Sabbath by the Pharisees. But Jesus kept the Sabbath day. Every Sabbath day, he was found in the synagogue worshiping. And on the Sabbath day, it was a day of doing works of mercy and serving those who were in need. There abides in the New Testament the obligation to keep one day out of the seven. And for us in the New Testament that one day out of seven is now the first day of the week. When the Senate of Dorton that in the 1600s. It addressed the matter of the Sabbath day in a helpful way and distinguish the fact that on the Sabbath day there is a ceremonial element. And a moral and an abiding element. The ceremonial element is keep the 7th day of the week. And that's changed now in the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. But what abides is the moral element. Keep one day out of the seventh and that day now is the first day of the week. The change from the last day to the first day is not merely the thought and the idea of the church. But is in effect the command of Jesus Christ himself. Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the first day of the week. In rising from the dead there was the declaration of the victory of his finished work at the cross. He then appeared to his disciples as they gathered together on the first day of the week and he proclaimed to them the gospel of the resurrection and his finished work. And then the next week they were assembled together again on the first day of the week and again he appeared to them. And then he poured out his Holy Spirit on the first day of the week as the early New Testament church was assembled together on that first day. Jesus Christ himself as the risen Lord has made that change from the 7th in the Old Testament to the 1st in the New Testament. And the New Testament scriptures make plain that the church understood that and assembled for worship on the first day of the week. We read that here in Acts 20 verse 7. And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them. And what's understood there is that this is their custom. This is when they would assemble together to break the bread of the Lord's supper and hear the gospel proclaimed, the first day of the week. 1 Corinthians 16, verse two, upon the first day of the week, let every one of you lay by him in store as God hath prospered him. that there be no gatherings when I come. And then in Revelation 1 verse 10, the apostle John says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. The Lord's day is the day of his resurrection, the first day. I was in the spirit on the Lord's day and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. The early New Testament church, after the death of the apostles, understood this. The writings of the earliest church fathers indicate that they understood the church was to assemble now together on the first day of the week. That change is understandable from not just the history of the church and the tradition of the church as well as the explicit teaching of the word of God, but it's to be understood theologically. There's theological significance to that in the Old Testament. As they're under the law and as they're looking and hope to the coming of Jesus Christ, it was first labor. Six days of labor. Looking ahead to the rest. But now with the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in his finished work at the cross. The structure of our week and the way we view that is entirely changed. It's first rest. Every week begins with rest in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ and then we labor. We labor out of the rest that's ours in the Lord Jesus Christ so that theologically this change is necessary from first work and then rest to first rest and then work. If the Sabbath is a requirement of the law of God, then how are we to observe that in the New Testament? Our observance of the Sabbath day means that this is, first of all, a day for physical rest. It's not the main thing. We'll come to see in a moment what The main thing really is, and that's spiritual rest, but it does belong to the Sabbath day that we rest physically. The 4th Commandment does require of us that we also work six days of the week. We don't often think of that with the commandment, but the requirement of the 4th Commandment is six days out of the week work. Work hard, work to the best of your ability. But on the first day of the week, rest. That's a testimony to our frailty. God alone is able to work always without ever tiring, without slumber or sleep. He's the Almighty. He's the Sovereign. And when man tries to be like God and think that he can work and work and work without rest, without break, God will expose the folly of that. We are not God. We're called to work six days out of the week and then we need a day of rest. And what that declares is how weak and how frail we are in the fact that we are not God. What it also testifies to is our dependence upon God. as Old Testament Israel when they were wandering through the wilderness had to rest on the Sabbath day and not go out and try and get manna and trust and depend. God is going to provide enough for us as Israel in the land of Canaan had to rest on the Sabbath day and not like the heathen nations around them be out plowing their fields. They had to trust God is going to provide for our needs though we're not working on the Sabbath day. The same is true for us. The fact that we lay aside our labors on the Sabbath day is an expression of our trust in our dependence upon God that God is the one. Will provide for us. I know it's it's with a view to physical arrest. That God in the Fourth Commandment requires of us that we lay aside the work of the other days of the week. The fourth commandment itself states that very plainly. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work. We know from the example and the teaching of Jesus Christ that there are a few exceptions to that. A Christian is permitted in certain circumstances to engage in works of present necessity. Something that must be taken care of at this moment that cannot be put off till tomorrow. There are works of mercy that can be done as we care for others who are in need. But apart from those exceptions in unique circumstances, God calls us to lay aside the work of the other six days of the week. It means, of course, that we don't take a job that requires of us to work on the Sabbath day. It means as business owners that we're not running our business or having our employees be carrying out work and making sure the business is going on the Sabbath day. It means that the day isn't filled up with answering work calls and fielding work emails and setting the schedule for the week that is to come and doing paperwork that needs to be done. It means that we ought to seek to limit as much as possible the constant thought and conversation about the work of the rest of the week as well. With a view to physical rest, God requires of us as well that we lay aside the ordinary activities, pleasures, entertainments, and play of the other days of the week. We call it the rest. But as mentioned just a moment ago, physical rust is not the main thing with respect to our observance of the Sabbath day. That physical rust from our ordinary work has in view spiritual activity. God says to lay aside this work and this play and these other things that belong to the rest of the week so that there's this temporary vacuum that's created that's immediately then filled up with spiritual activities. This is a day for spiritual rest. Rest does not mean inactivity, doing nothing. Rest means to enter into the enjoyment of a finished work. As God on the seventh day of creation week entered into the enjoyment of his finished work of creation, so on the Sabbath day we enter into the enjoyment of a finished work. We enter into the enjoyment of the greatest of God's works, which is His work of saving us through the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ who gave Himself for us at the cross and rose again on the first day of the week victorious. We enter into the enjoyment of that finished work on the Sabbath day, delighting in this greatest of the works of God's hands. And that means that the observance of the Sabbath day for us centers on the public corporate worship of God where the gospel of the finished work of Jesus Christ is proclaimed. The worship of God publicly was part of God's commandment to Israel in the Old Testament. When we read the Old Testament, often it's a warning negatively against work and one's business on the Sabbath day. And it doesn't often speak of the positive of the worship of God, but it is the case that God commanded Israel to worship. In the wandering in the wilderness, as they were all camped together around God's house, the tabernacle, on the Sabbath day they were called to worship. Leviticus 23 verse 3, six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest and holy convocation. Israel entered into the Canaan land and they were scattered in all of their tribes. It wasn't possible for those who lived at a distance to travel every week to gather for worship at the tabernacle and then the temple. What took place then was that they were to worship certainly in their homes and their families with father leading the family in worship. But also the priests were supposed to be scattered throughout the tribes. They didn't have their own tribal land but were scattered amongst all of the people so that the priests could teach the people. And the people then would have gathered together in their own Villages in order to hear the instruction of the priests and to worship God together. And in the New Testament, it's playing that. The Church of Jesus Christ understood the Sabbath not only negatively as a day don't work. But understood it positively as a day to assemble together for worship. It's evident from what we read out of Acts chapter 20. And reading that chapter, it can almost put us to shame. The commitment that they had to meeting together to worship, to break the bread of the Lord's Supper and to sit under the gospel of grace as Paul on this occasion preached for hours. Long into the night and beyond that into the early morning so that Eutychus, so weary, falls asleep. but the church was committed to meeting together for worship and at the heart of that to hear the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ proclaimed. Hebrews 10 verse 25 indicates that as well, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another and so much the more as you see the day approaching. The Lord's Day 38 summarizing the testimony of God's word says this, that we diligently frequent the church of God to hear his word, to use the sacraments publicly, to call upon the Lord and contribute to the relief of the poor as becomes a Christian. To diligently frequent the church of God is referring to the public corporate worship of God and our faithful attendance at public corporate worship. Now some, in their objection to the Sabbath day might raise the question, what harm is done if I don't assemble with God's people for public worship? I can understand what harm would be done if I don't keep the first commandment, God requires I worship him alone. And that guards against all idolatry. I can understand, say, the sixth commandment or the seventh commandment, if I don't keep that, the harm that that does to my neighbor's life or his marriage. What harm is done by not keeping the Sabbath day? Or what harm would be done if all I'll do is worship privately by myself on the Sabbath day? This fourth commandment is intended to guard something very precious. What it guards is the public corporate worship of the one true God. The fourth commandment serves as a defense. Of. That public worship of God and the will of God is such that he requires that he be publicly worshiped. Not only privately and personally in our own life, but that publicly his church come to expression in the midst of this world where there's the gathering of believers and their seed and his name is. Proclaimed. Adored, honored, confessed publicly. So that there's a public testimony to his work in the saving and the gathering of his church. And a public. Confession of his name as the one true God. The main point of the Fourth Commandment in our observance of the Sabbath day is the honor of the name of our God publicly. The God in his mercy is also tied to that spiritual benefit for us. The spiritual benefit for us is something we receive in every aspect of the worship service, but especially at its very heart, the preaching of the gospel. We meet together for worship. Praise the name of God. And at the heart of our worship is the proclamation of the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ in His death and in His resurrection. So that hearing the gospel of grace proclaimed, God's people by faith enter into the enjoyment of that finished work. As we live and labor in the midst of this world, Necessary and how precious that every week we be brought back together. We be reoriented as to who we are. And that we receive the strength and the comfort of the Gospel of Grace. It's that that explains the seemingly strange reference at the beginning of Lord's Day 38 about the support of the ministry and of the schools. The explanation for that is the high regard that the Church of Jesus Christ has for the word and the word preached and for an educated ministry to be able rightly to divide the word of truth. And if that's at the heart of our worship and our rest on the Sabbath day as we rest in Jesus Christ, then we need ministers of the gospel educated to be able to proclaim that word faithfully. And it's this that motivates us to the careful observance of the Sabbath day and our faithful attendance at the worship services of the church. Thanks for the rest that's ours in Jesus Christ in recognition of our need for that. We're found faithfully in the house of God publicly worshiping Him with God's people. Certainly the case. That there are some who because of old age and sickness are unable. To gather together with God's people in God's house. And that's a grief for them. There's nowhere else that they'd rather be than to be back in God's house. Certainly there are those exceptions because of old age or because of sickness, but apart from that. We are found faithfully on the Sabbath day. Worshiping God and hearing his word in the church. That ought to be something we face practically in our own lives. Without descending into legalism. and the addition of man-made laws and regulations for the Sabbath day, nevertheless, we ought to face that question practically. What does this mean for our vacationing? What does this mean for us if we're gone many, many times throughout the year on vacation and away from the worship of God or for weeks on end away from the public corporate worship of God. What does this mean about our travel? How easy isn't it to say, well I don't want to lose a week of vacation time during the week, so Sunday then, well that's a good day to travel, that's free and I can not have to lose one of my weeks of vacation in the week then. What does this mean about our use of YouTube? Sermon audio? How quick we are to say, I don't feel up to going to church today, but hey there's YouTube and there's sermon audio. And that's the same as the public corporate worship of God in his house. It's not. Fourth Commandment requires of us that we assemble faithfully for worship publicly, corporately with God's people. Then the day is a day for all kinds of good spiritual activities in which we also rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. A day for personal and private worship of God when we're not assembled publicly for worship. It's a day to read God's word. A day to read other good reformed literature. It's a day to pray at length, to sing, to meditate, It's a day for families to worship. The fourth commandment is addressed to fathers as the heads of their houses to see to it that their sons and their daughters observe the Sabbath day. It's a day for families to come together in worship of God. It's a day for Christian fellowship with others of God's people. As the church of Jesus Christ comes together in her visible manifestation to be together, to break bread together, And it's a day for service, acts of mercy, caring for the lonely, the sick, the suffering, the shut in. Often, we look at life and we say that life is very, very busy. We say we're so busy, we don't have time Always to read the word of God and pray. And we're busy and the family's scattered and we don't always come together to worship as a family. And we're busy with other obligations so we don't have time to commune with others of God's people. And we're busy, we don't have time to join a Bible study and we don't have time to help out that one who's lonely or sick. We have the Sabbath day. We lay aside all of the busyness of our work and our life and our labors and our play of the rest of the week and we have a day in which we can assemble for public worship and we have a day in which we can privately and as a family worship God and we have a day in which we can fellowship with God's people. We have a day in which we can serve the sick and the lonely and the suffering. The effect of the Sabbath day carries through in the whole of our life. We live and we work the other six days of the week out of the rest and the strength that we receive on the Sabbath day. Lords Day 38 speaks of that when it says in the last half of Lords Day 38. Secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works and yield myself to the Lord to work by his Holy Spirit in me. Every day of the week were to. Rest. That is, we're to cease from our evil labors. Every day we're to flee from sin. Every day we're to cease from seeking to work. in order to earn with God. Every day we're to cease from working in order to think that we will then meet with the approval of God or that we'll work so that God will love us more. And that our standing with God is on the basis of our working. Every day we're to cease from working as men pleasers for the approval and the praise of others. It's not rest, that's bondage. Every day we are to rest by faith in Jesus Christ and His finished work. Every day we are to rest In the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ which is alone our standing before God. Every day we rest in the security of the love of God for us in Jesus Christ. Every day by faith we rest and rely and depend and trust upon Jesus Christ and Him alone. Every day we rest in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. Every day we rest in Jesus Christ for strength to live the Christian life and to carry out our callings in the midst of this world. Every day we rest in Jesus Christ for comfort in our trials and strength to bear our burdens. Even while we're working in those six days at our daily occupation, we're resting by faith in the finished work of our Savior. We learn that, as it were, on the Sabbath day. As we rest on the Sabbath day in order publicly to worship God and to come under the preaching of the gospel of grace, And by faith rest in Jesus Christ the Savior. We learn that as it were on the Sabbath day and that's going to carry through in the other days of the week. And then as the catechism concludes, we thus begin in this life the eternal Sabbath. There is a everlasting Sabbath that awaits when we will know perfect rest. When all of the the wearisome laboring and toiling of earthly life when all of the struggle with sin, when all of the heavy crushing burdens that weary us are all removed. And we will only and forever know the perfection of rest and the fellowship of God in the face of the Savior Jesus Christ. That day is coming for us. We begin to have a taste of that now already. We have a taste of that on the Sabbath day, especially as we meet together for worship. And we have a taste of that every day of our life as we rest by faith in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We begin in a small way, To enjoy the wonders of the unending Sabbath to come. Let that then motivate us in thanks and the knowledge of what we have in Jesus Christ and the hope of an everlasting rest. Let that motivate us then to keep holy the Sabbath day. Amen. Let us pray. Father, who art in heaven, we're thankful for the rest that Thou didst give to us. And we pray, Father, that Thou will apply that to us now by Thy Word and by Thy Spirit and the knowledge of our salvation and forgiveness in the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray, Father, for the strengthening of us in this day so that in the week to come we might live and fight the good fight of faith and bear the burdens of daily life in the strength that Thou dost provide in Christ. Father, strengthen our faith, our trust, our dependence upon Thee and upon Thy Son. In His name alone do we pray. Amen. Sing Psalter number 348. Title, Detachment to the Church. Let's sing the first three stanzas and then stanza six. I hear the call to prayer. Let us go up to that old house, and bow before him there, and bow before him there. He standed in thy sacred halls, all triumph last foray. Where'reth the people of the Lord, united on its way? May come to earth a whole lot well. It might be peace to all. For there is judgment for all. as I have dreamed before. Pray for the sin of my delving, my life desirous, my peace. Pray for the heart I love you. Sing, O Lord, thy proudest crown, eternal King of Kings, glorious King! sing forevermore of heaven, and that his glory will be heard from shore to shore. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen.