All right, please turn with me in your Bibles to Exodus chapter 20. We are looking at the fourth commandment this morning. This is gonna be a difficult one, I think, because of the onslaught of cultural influences against it. I would just say this from the very beginning. If you have questions regarding it, please email me those. I would love to try to answer them, and if there's enough, we'll actually have a Q&A sermon answering those questions at the end of this series. So Exodus chapter 20, starting in verse eight. 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 to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days, the Lord made heaven and 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. Grass withers and the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Let's pray. Father, as we just sung, be thou my vision, we ask that you would give us vision into your word this morning. We thank you that your word is breathed out by you and is profitable for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, and for training. So Lord, please do all four of those things amongst us this morning, for we pray it in Jesus' name, amen. All right, you may be seated. Like I just said, the Sabbath command is the commandment most under attack in the broader church today. The basic objection against it goes something like this, and perhaps you've heard this before. The Sabbath was a ceremonial law for Israel only, And therefore, Christians are under no obligation to keep it today. Anybody hear that before? Curious? Yeah. So let's carefully define our terms from the very, very beginning. The moral law, such as we find in the Ten Commandments, is based on God's nature. His very character. But ceremonial laws, also called positive law, is based on God's mere command. So Thomas Withrow contrasts those two like this. Moral law can be discovered by the light of nature. It's written on our hearts and our consciences tell us when we disobey God's law or when we obey it. So thou shalt not kill is a moral law and everyone knows it. Ceremonial law, on the other hand, cannot be known unless God tells us. So circumcision was made known to the Jews only because God told them. Moral law is permanent. Ceremonial law can be set aside if God so decides. Moral law binds every single man, woman, and child. Ceremonial law binds only those whom God intend. Moral law can never be repealed. Ceremonial law, what I mean by that is that the Ten Commandments will still govern us in heaven. We won't be able to lie, but it'll still be against God's law to lie. Ceremonial law, on the other hand, can be set aside whenever God pleases. And so here's the question this morning. Is the Sabbath part of God's unchanging moral law, or is it ceremonial law such that we have no obligation to keep it today? So let's look then at our exposition. And I'm just gonna say right away, the difficulty here is that this question is not strictly an either or. The Sabbath command is the one command in the Ten Commandments that's mixed. we'll see its positive aspect. So what I mean by mixed is it's both moral and positive or ceremonial. So we're gonna see the positive aspect in a bit, but first we have to consider how is it moral? And so there's four clues in our passage that demonstrate that Sabbath command is moral in nature. So clue number one is remembering creation. Clue number one is remembering creation. In verse eight, we see the verb remember, zakar. And this is not a normal imperative in the Hebrew like we've seen in the first three commandments. It's infinitive absolute. And sometimes these infinitive absolutes, they intensify the commandment. So it's something like this, be sure to remember the Sabbath. Remembering something is calling to mind something, something that has already happened. So what event was the Sabbath meant to remind Israel of? Well, creation. Verse 11 tells us, look at verse 11, for in six days the Lord made heaven and 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." So to take away from this, just remember that the Sabbath existed before Sinai, before ceremonial law. So that's the first clue that the Sabbath is moral, in existence precedes the ceremonial law. It's built into the very fabric of human existence. Clue number two, remembering God's marriage to Israel. Clue number two, remembering God's marriage to Israel. We must remember what's happening between God and Israel here at Sinai. Scripture calls this event at Sinai God's marriage to Israel. Hosea chapter 2, 15 through 16, Jeremiah 2, 1 through 2, Ezekiel 16, 1 through 14. And this marriage ceremony started playing out when they were back in Egypt. God paid the dowry price for his bride with the blood of the Passover lamb at Exodus 12. And these 10 commandments are Israel's wedding vows, as it were. And we're gonna see in just a few chapters, the construction of the tabernacle where God comes down and dwells with his people is like the marriage suite between God and Israel. So in light of that, consider the flow of the first four commandments. So first, God told his bride not to have any other lovers, no other gods. Second, God tells her how he wants her to love him by not making idols. Third, God tells her how she must carry his name in the world. Not in vain. Here in the fourth commandment, God tells her when to celebrate their mutual love, which is on the weekly Sabbath. In a real sense, dear congregation, the Sabbath was God and Israel's weekly anniversary. Now if that sounds like a stretch, listen carefully to Exodus 31.13. Exodus 31, 13, God tells Israel, above all, you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generation. So just focus on the Sabbath being a sign. Husbands and wives have a sign of the ring of their marriage, right? God is saying that the Sabbath is a sign of God and Israel's union. That's why Israel was to keep it holy, verse 8. That's why Israel was, in verse 10, told to keep the Sabbath to the Lord your God. The Sabbath was a time that God set aside for Israel to meet with him. Now, ask yourselves, do husbands and wives have a moral obligation to spend time with one another? Well, when you put it like that, right, of course they do. That's what the Sabbath is. It's a specified time for God and his bride to be together. So that's the second clue that the Sabbath is moral. Time between a husband and wife cannot simply be discarded. Clue number three. remembering the character of God, remembering the character of God. For over two centuries, Pharaoh enslaved Israel. And back in Exodus 1, verse 13, we read that he made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service. And so when God redeems them, what's one of the first things that he does? I mean, even before this, in Exodus 16, He immediately gives them a day off, mandated day off every week from their labors. Now that's important because what kind of a master was Pharaoh? He was cruel, he was a tyrant, right? He was an abusive man and he was hateful of other men. But what kind of a master is God? He's the greatest humanitarian. He cares more for man's welfare than anyone else. That's why the psalmist says, what is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? So is this care for man a moral thing, something that is immutable and everlasting, or is it something that's ceremonial and that can just be put aside? So that's the third clue that the Sabbath is moral. God is a kind master who schedules time for us to rest. Clue number four, remembering man's obligation to others. Remembering man's obligation to others. In verse 10, God requires household masters to give rest to their children and to their servants, and he requires political masters to give rest to the non-covenant strangers within their future gates. Look at halfway through verse 10. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gate. So question, is this a moral or a ceremonial issue? Children, boys and girls, pretend that your dad made a new rule in your home. And he said, okay, here's the new rule. You have to work, work, work, and never, ever rest. Would that be just or unjust? Unjust, that's right. See, is human justice, because we're talking horizontally here, is human justice an issue of the moral law or the ceremonial law? The moral law. We're never allowed to be unjust to those that we're supposed to take care of. So that's the fourth clue that the Sabbath is moral. It forbids masters from abusing those under them. So let's look at our doctrine then. And it is just this, that the Sabbath is a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages. Now here's the delicious thing about this little sentence right here. This sentence is the exact wording in both the Westminster Confession of Faith and of the London Baptist Confession of 1689. And what that means for all of us is that both Reformed Presbyterians and Reformed Baptists have held to this very doctrine. So let's see what it means here. This word positive means that part of the Sabbath is ceremonial. Part of it is determined by God's command alone. So for instance, well what part's ceremonial? This is the part, the frequency. God could have said, I want you to rest one in five days or one in 10 days, but he gives it to us in one in seven days. That was determined by his mere command. The second part that is positive is that he chose, at least in the Old Testament, the last day of the week to be the Sabbath. Whereas in the New Testament, he changed that to the first day of the week. Now we'll see More of that shortly. But the point here is that both the frequency, one in seven, and the specific day, Saturday versus Sunday, belong to the positive aspect of this law. However, the obligation to rest and to worship remains unchanged. Those are moral and perpetual duties, the doctrine says. So let's consider two proofs that the Sabbath is a moral and perpetual obligation for all men in all ages. And proof number one is this, the Sabbath in the old creation, meaning the beginning of the world. The Sabbath in the old creation. Verse 11 tells us that God's work, rest, rhythm in creation is the reason for the Sabbath. So let's consider creation a little bit more carefully. There are three things in particular that God gave Adam, our first father, in the creation account. The three things that he gave Adam was labor, marriage, and Sabbath. Labor is established in Genesis 128. Be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, subdue it and have dominion. Marriage is established in Genesis 224. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife and they shall become one flesh. Sabbath is established in Genesis 2.3. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. Now theologians call these three things creation ordinances. Creation ordinances shape all of our human existence, our 24-7, month-by-month, year-by-year life. If we were to ask the question, how does God want us to live and regulate our lives? These three ordinances are the answer. So how does God want us to regulate our social life? Labor, be fruitful, multiply, subdue, have dominion. How does God want us to regulate our family life? Marriage, man and wife, one flesh, fruitfulness and having children. How does God want us to regulate our religious life? Sabbath. Set one day apart, keep it holy in the worship of God. And these three things are definitional to being human. Just challenge for this week. Maybe look at The Hollywood Reporter or something and ask yourself, OK, which one of these things? Why is this person unhealthy? Which of these three things are they neglecting in their life? Or perhaps they're neglecting all three. These three things are moral issues. If one abandons labor, It's sinful. Proverbs 21, 25, the lazy will come to ruin. If one abandons marriage, it's sinful. Matthew 19, 9, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality and marries another commits adultery. And the Sabbath is no different. When a man abandons the Sabbath, he abandons his relationship with God. Isaiah 58, 13, and 14, if you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, then you will take delight in the Lord. So that's proof number one, that the old creation account teaches us that the Sabbath is moral, perpetual, and definitional to being a human being. So let's look at proof number two, which is the Sabbath in new creation. The Sabbath, a new creation. When Jesus Christ accomplished his gospel work, God was recreating the world. Christ's redemptive work is called a new creation over and over again in the Bible, 2 Corinthians 5, 17, et cetera. So under this new creation, what was God's expectation for the Sabbath? Well, please turn with me to Isaiah chapter 56. We're asking the question, what was God's expectation for the Sabbath in the new creation, in the new covenant age? And as we read just a few verses here, ask yourself, what time period is God referring to? So let's look at verses one through two. Isaiah 56, one through two, thus says the Lord, keep justice and do righteousness. For soon my salvation will come and my righteousness be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it and keeps his hand from doing any evil. And this idea of Sabbath keeping is seen also in verse four. For thus says the Lord to the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant. And then again, it's seen in verse six. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and hold fast my covenant, these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Clearly, in Isaiah 56, Sabbath-keeping was a moral obligation. But the million-dollar question is, when is Isaiah referring to? He's referring to the age of the Messiah, to the age of Jesus Christ. How do we know that? Because that's what the broader context has been speaking of. Just go back to Isaiah 53, what do we read of? We read of the suffering servant. What do we read of in Isaiah 54? We read of how his offspring would possess the nations. What do we read of in Isaiah 55? We read of how God is going to make an everlasting covenant with the son of David. Here in Isaiah 56, verse one alludes to the coming of Christ. Look at verse one again. For soon my salvation will come and my righteousness be revealed. And what will still be required of God's people when Jesus comes? The Sabbath. The people that are saved by Christ will love the Sabbath. That's proof number two, that during the new creation, the New Testament times, the Sabbath is still a moral and perpetual command. Now, let's tackle some objections that may be arising in some of your heads. So first, someone might say, well, Josh, the Sabbath command is not repeated in the New Testament, and therefore it's not valid. Well, the command against bestiality is not repeated in the New Testament. Does that make it okay now? No. And you might say, well, that's ridiculous, Pastor Josh. And I would say, I agree. It is ridiculous that God has to repeat himself. Mothers, do you feel the need to repeat yourself every day to instruct your children on the things that they know they already have to do? The second objection is a little bit more substantive. Please turn with me to Colossians chapter 2, 16 and 17. Paul deals with Sabbath observance here in Colossians 2, 16 and 17, and also in Romans 14, 5 and 6, and Galatians 4, 10 through 11. And notice what he says here, Colossians 2, 16 through 17. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival, or a new moon, or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. So is Paul rejecting the Christian Sabbath here? Another way we could say this is, is Paul saying that all days are perfectly equal, that there's no distinction of one day over the other? Is that what he's saying? If he is saying that, then he's contradicting his own practice and he's contradicting his own commands. Paul rested and worshiped on the first day of the week with other Christians, Acts 20, verse seven. Furthermore, Paul instructed the church specifically to rest and worship on the first day of the week in 1 Corinthians 16, two. The apostles, just like the prophets, in the Old Testament said that this day belonged to God. Can you think of any verse that says that the first day of the week belongs to the Lord? The Lord's day, right? That's from Revelation chapter one, verse 10. Hey, so, well, then what is Paul saying here? Well, Paul, in many of these places in the New Testament, he is opposing the Judaizer heresy that made following the ceremonial law necessary to salvation. He's pointing back to those festival days, to the new moon days, to the Jewish Sabbath, and he was saying, no, the Judaizers are wrong. Those things aren't necessary for salvation. He's not even talking about the Christian Sabbath here. Now lastly, some would say that if we're really serious about the Sabbath, then we should observe Saturday, because that is the seventh day and we have no right to change it. And I agree, we have no right to change the Sabbath, but God does have the right to change it. The particular day of the Sabbath belongs to positive law, which means it depends upon God's mere will. So why is the Sabbath right now on the first day of the week? Well, in the old creation, God blessed the seventh day because his work was completed. In the new creation, God blessed the first day because that's when Christ's work was completed. Loved ones, what was happening on Saturday before Jesus rose from the dead? He was still in the tomb. His work of rising from the dead was not yet completed. It was on Sunday when he gloriously rose from the dead. It was on Sunday when the Spirit fell at Pentecost, which had the effect of sending the gospel all over the world. And the early church recognized this, which is why they began meeting on the first day, Acts 27, and why the apostles commanded worship on the first day, 1 Corinthians 16, 2. O. Palmer Robertson says here, quote, the current believer in Christ does not follow the Sabbath pattern of the people of the old covenant. He does not first labor six days looking hopefully toward the rest. Instead, he begins the week by rejoicing in the rest already accomplished by Christ's resurrection. Then he enters joyfully into his six days of labor, confident of success through the victory which Christ already won. So in summary, both the old creation under Adam and the new creation under the second Adam Christ, we see that the Sabbath is a positive moral and perpetual obligation binding all men in all ages. So that's our doctrine. Let's then look at our application. How should this change our lives? How should we live in light of this truth? Well, our first duty is simply to understand that that Sabbath breaking is immoral, like adultery or like stealing or blasphemy or other parts of God's moral law. This is something that the Western church has largely lost. Loved ones, if we acknowledge that Jesus died for our sins, and he did, He not only died for the sin that was imputed to us from Adam, but he died for all of our actual sins that we've been committing from birth. And we need to recognize that Sabbath breaking is one of those sins that he died for because it's a moral issue. And we need to recover that. It's not, the essence of the Sabbath is not ceremonial. We can't simply dismiss it. So then that brings us to the specific duties of the Sabbath. And first, First of all, we're to rest from our ordinary work on the Sabbath. Now, in a future message, we're gonna see the works of necessity and mercy. Those things must be done. So that is my qualifier for all that I'm about to say. I'm just talking about ordinary work here. For now, consider that all ordinary work ought to cease. Look at verse nine. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work. Now let's just pause there. Some theologians understand verse nine as a mandate to work the other six days. Well, maybe so. We'll wait to see that in the eighth commandment. But our catechism uses a slightly different language, saying in question 62 that God allows us six days for our own employment. Now, think of that for a second. He allows us six days for ourselves. I don't think that that diminishes the necessity to work, rather it emphasizes God's generous heart. James Durham says here, just as God gave Adam the use of all the trees in the garden, but reserved one for himself, so in the same way God gives us six days for whatever work and employment and recreation we have, and he saves the seventh for himself. Joey Pipa says here, God gives us over 85% of the week for our own work and recreation. He also gives you one whole day to devote to enjoying him. He is saying this to us. I have given you six days, and I require you to give me one. And PIPA then applies this in three categories, personally, domestically, and then socially. So let's look at those personally first. Personally, whether we work professionally or whether we're a homemaker, we're to rest from our ordinary work. So what does that look like concretely? Well, men, if you are currently in a job where your boss requires you to work on the Lord's day, then start praying. Talk to your boss. Look for another job. God wants you to rest. Women, put down your ordinary house chores on Sunday. God wants you to rest. Children, boys and girls, when you get your interview for your very first job and your future boss asks you, are there any days you can't work? What should you say? You should say, yes, I can't work on Sunday. And if they ask you why, you say, because it's the Lord's Day. And so you get to keep both the Sabbath and you get to be a witness to your boss at the same time. We're to rest from all of our ordinary work, our manual labor, business, trading, commerce, domestic chores. Now, this might take planning and preparation, but we've seen this in Exodus 16, when God gave manna to the Israelites, he commanded them to prepare for the Sabbath by collecting twice the amount on the sixth day. That's why our confession says that we need to order our common affairs beforehand. Planning and preparation is something that we all do. If you're gonna go on a trip, you have to plan and prepare. If you're gonna start a new job, you have to plan and prepare. The Sabbath is a weekly reminder to plan and prepare. So ask yourself, what practices do I personally need to change right now in order to keep the Sabbath? Second category is domestically, domestically. There's also a domestic responsibility in this command. Halfway through verse 10, we read, on it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter. Now the you here is speaking to heads of home. Notice that wife is not mentioned on this list. I got a funny text a few months ago. Does that mean wives are the ones that have to work and do all the work? No, it's not. It doesn't mean that. In many cases, a wife would be the head of a home because her husband dies or some other circumstances. The point here is that the head of homes have a responsibility to ensure that everyone under their care is keeping the Sabbath. So fathers, it's your responsibility to teach your children how to keep the Sabbath. Make sure that they are free of their work, of their chores, of their homework, so that they can rest on this day. This is a loving thing. You know, it's not a surprise that as Sabbath breaking has become the norm in our culture, that our children have become more anxious. And the reason why is because God did not make them to work, work, work, work, or play, play, play, play. He built a rhythm in our lives that's the only healthy rhythm for human existence. Our children have soul needs and only the Sabbath can fulfill them. So wives, two things here. Maybe some of you wives are already convinced of Sabbath keeping and your husband is not. So here's the charge, be patient. Win him over with your respectful and pure conduct. Don't nag. Or maybe you're not convinced, but your husband is convinced. Well, don't resist his leadership. you are to be one flesh with him. You're to submit to your husband as you do to the Lord. So don't make his leadership dreadful. So ask yourself, fathers and mothers, what practices do you need to make in order to help your family keep the Sabbath? The third category is socially. There's also a broader social responsibility with this command. Look at the end of verse 10. Among those that we shouldn't make work include your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. What does that mean? What means that we have a responsibility before others, sorry, we have a responsibility before God to not encourage or require others to work on the Sabbath. And he mentions servants. So most narrowly, this means that if you own your own business, you should not require your employees to work on Sundays. But more broadly, it speaks about servants in the public sector. Again, Piper says here, quote, those who serve us in the public sector are our servants. were to protect their Sabbaths as well as our own. Thus, we need to avoid shopping, unnecessary dining out, and recreational activities that cause others to work on the Lord's Day. This would include those events mediated by television, which necessitates hundreds of employees being at work." End quote. Now, here is the immediate objection. Somebody's gonna say, but wait a second, people are going to work and engage in ordinary work at Albertsons or wherever else, regardless if I go there or not. So it doesn't really matter what I do. Some of you are smiling. Okay, so how do we answer that? Well, suppose you're in a pawn shop and you knew the item that you wanted to buy was stolen. Would you be justified in buying it because someone else would do it if you didn't? No. That is not a justification because other people are gonna go shopping and those people are gonna work anyway. Imagine, loved ones, the witness that the church could be to the lost and sinful world if they see Christians not working or engaging work on the Sabbath because it belonged to the Lord. We desire to be witnesses, don't we? Don't we pray for that? This is a powerful weekly witness. As an exercise for family worship this week, go read Nehemiah 13 and see how Nehemiah exercised Sabbath reforms in Jerusalem and how it blessed the people and honored the Lord. It was such a witness that it's recorded in the scripture. I didn't even mention the animals that God wants. rest for. I don't live on a farm. I don't have service animals. Maybe you do. So if so, give those animals rest on the Sabbath. The thing to see at this point for that is that God is such a compassionate God that he even has care for the animals. He's built that into the very design of creation that they're all to rest on this day. We'll look on the sojourner on a future week. But ask yourself, what practices do you need to make in order to help your servants in the public sphere keep the Sabbath? Finally, we see the main command on this day is that we worship the Lord. Loved ones, physical rest, as glorious as it is, is not the ultimate essence of the Sabbath. If physical rest were the ultimate essence of the Sabbath, then pagans could keep the Sabbath. The ultimate essence of the Sabbath is worship. Look at verse 8. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. I spoke of Israel's marriage to God at Mount Sinai and how the Sabbath was their weekly anniversary. But we know that Israel was the shadow, the church is the substance. In the realist possible sense, the church is the bride of Christ. And every single week, we partake of the marriage supper of the lamb, which is the Lord's supper, and we will finally fully partake of it in glory. The Sabbath is more of a weekly anniversary to us than it was with national Israel. Christ tells us here in the fourth commandment that we're to remember it and keep it holy. What does it mean to remember? Well, think of human anniversaries. If someone were to ask you, did you remember your anniversary? Were they just asking if you remembered the date? No, they're asking to see what you did to celebrate it. The Sabbath is meant to be remembered by celebrating the triune God in public and private worship all day long. Verse 10 says, it is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. This is the ultimate reason that Sabbath exists, that we would have fellowship with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Don't you? realize the type of fellowship that this entails. It's the fellowship that your soul needs most. Loved ones, what does your soul need most? What do you need when sorrows like sea billows roll? What do you need when all around your soul gives way? Is a pillow gonna help that? I love my pillow and I'm not saying that we can't take naps on the Sabbath, we can. I'm saying that your soul needs spiritual rest and the only way to tap into that is in this rhythm that God gave us every week. You need the God of the Sabbath, you need the Lord Jesus Christ You know that Sabbath means rest. Jesus gives us rest by ensuring us that our redemption has been completed. He says it is finished on the cross. He said, peace be to you in his resurrection. He gives us rest from our spiritual works, testifying us through word and sacrament that we have been saved by grace through faith and this not of ourselves. It is the gift of God, not by works, lest anyone should boast. He gives us rest by declaring that we have peace with God. He gives us rest by declaring that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord. He gives us rest every Sabbath by conforming us more and more to the image of his Son through the power of the Holy Spirit. This is what communion with God is. We worship him and he brings us back into paradise in the garden. Loved ones, don't you see that the Sabbath answers the chief end of man? What is the chief end of man? You say, to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Yes, exactly. That's the Sabbath. To rest in God through the Son by the Holy Spirit is what it means to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever. Let's pray. Father, as we learned more about this gift that you have given us in the Sabbath, Lord, we pray that you would help renew our minds through the scripture, that you would help us, Lord, to test all things and hold fast to what is true. Lord, whatever I've said that is unbiblical, Lord, let it be tested and rejected. But Lord, help us, whatever assumptions that we have in our own mind, Whatever traditions that we have been passed down to help us to test those as well. Help us to not be unthinking Christians that continue to do things simply because that's what we've always done. Help us to Lord to be those who conform their lives according to your word. And we know that you will do this because you are the one who works in us both to work and to will according to your good pleasure. In Jesus name we pray, amen.