Well, please do turn in your Bibles to Isaiah 55, page 702 in the gallery, and page 653 down below. Isaiah 55. Isaiah, under the inspiration of the Spirit, has been speaking staggering things, unbelievable things, in chapter 53. He spoke of the fact that there's a suffering servant, this coming Messiah, this coming king is going to be a king that suffers, that will die for our iniquities, that will be crushed, that God would bruise him and make his soul an offering for sin. And then you move into chapter 54 and you've got this promised end of a covenant of peace, a covenant of grace. And then you get to chapter 55 where we are now, and on the basis of what this coming suffering servant will do, and what this covenant God will make will be, there's a gracious invitation to come. And that's where we start in Isaiah 55. Ho, behold, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear and come to me. Herein your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, the sure mercies of David. Indeed, I have given him as a witness to the people, a leader and commander for the people. Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, and nations who do not know you shall run to you because of the Lord your God and the Holy One of Israel, for He has glorified you. Seek the Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his faults. Let him return to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him. And to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my faults are not your faults, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as high as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my faults than your faults. For as the rain comes down and snow from the heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth. It shall not return to me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. For you shall go out with joy and be led out with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth into singing before you. And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come the cypress tree. Instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree. And it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. And then our chapter this morning. With us saves the Lord. Keep justice, and do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come. And my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold on it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Do not let the son of the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, The Lord has utterly separated me from his people. nor let the eunuch say, here I am, a dry tree, for thus says the Lord. To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbath and choose what pleases me and hold fast my covenant, even to them I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. also the sons of the foreigner who join themselves to the Lord to serve him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone who keep from defiling the Sabbath, and hold fast my covenant, even them I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar, for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations, The Lord God, who gathers the outcast of Israel, says, yet I will gather to him others beside those who are gathered to him. And it's those first eight verses in Isaiah 56 that we'll be considering this morning. I have four points. Obviously, I'm gonna be doing more teaching this morning, so it'll be a bit more to follow. But four points this morning. Glorious blessings produce great obligations. glorious reassurances for a distant people, glorious characteristics of a welcome people, and glorious promises to an obedient people. Those are my four points, and Lord's willing, I'll work through them. But the first thing we see in verses one and two of Isaiah 56 is glorious blessings produce great obligations. Thus says the Lord, keep justice and do righteousness, for my salvation is about to come, and my righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who lays hold upon it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. You see what he's saying there? There's an amazing salvation that is about to come. I am about to reveal my righteousness in all of its fullness. He's speaking here of the coming of Christ. He's just been telling us what he will do in Isaiah 53, and he's saying, therefore, in light of these glorious blessings, in light of this amazing grace that is about to come, live obediently. Keep my commandments. Blessed is the man who does this. Keep justice. and do righteousness. Do you think of that link? That great grace, glorious blessings? produces great obligations? Is that something in your mind? That the great grace that we have received lays upon us obligations, responsibilities, and duties? Or do you think that grace just leaves us in a state of, well, we get to decide? And that's what we're going to be looking at in this passage we're going to be considering. And what I want to propose to you this morning, from the scriptures of the Old and the New Testament, is that grace always fuels duty. Grace always causes willing obedience. Grace always manifests in producing wholehearted devotion. Having been saved, We want to obey. We don't need to be pushed. We don't need to be beaten over the head with a stick. We don't need the Grace Baptist police to go looking to see what we're doing to then say, right, you're not doing it right. Let me, because we have received such a great salvation and we feel that we are debtors to the one who has saved us. Let me read to you some scriptures from the New Testament. to support what I'm saying here from the Old Testament, which lay upon us the duty and responsibility we have, the obligations we have. Ephesians 6, verse six to seven. Now, if you know the book of Ephesians, in the first three chapters, you've got these glorious descriptions of what God has done for us in Christ. blessed in Christ Jesus in heavenly places with every spiritual blessing. You have been chosen in love, for we have been saved by grace and not of ourselves. It is not of works so that man can boast. So chapters one through to three, grace, grace, grace, grace. You get to chapter five and chapter six, duty, obligations, responsibilities, obedience. Bondservants, obey your earthly masters with fear and trembling, with sincere hearts, as you would Christ. Not by way of eye service, as people pleases. You're not doing this to please your pastor. You're not doing this to please people at church. You're not trying to impress people. You're not living to please men. Who are you living for? God. Doing the will of God from the heart, as bondservants of Christ, What's a servant? A servant is someone that has a duty. If you're a servant, your master gives you duties. And I don't think Christians today in 21st century easy believerism think like that, that we have duties. We do. We are servants of Christ. We are slaves to righteousness. We have been saved by grace. We're not saved by the law. Of course not. Who could be saved by the law? You could never be saved by the law, obviously. But having been saved by grace, the law is written on our hearts and there's this willing desire to fulfill the obligations that are upon us. And it is no burden. It is a delight. Or here, Romans 12, verse one, I'm just giving, I don't like to always do this, but I want you to see that this is something across the grain of scripture. Romans 12, verse one, Paul says, I appeal to you. Isn't it staggering that Paul had to say it like that? I appeal to you. He's pleading with the church at Rome, please get this. I'm desperate for you to understand this. He says, I appeal to you by the mercies of God, present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God. which is your spiritual, your rational worship. Now do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Or 2 Corinthians 5, verses 14 and 15. For the love of Christ compels us. See that? I've experienced such love that I feel a compulsion. To what? because we judge this, that if one, that is Christ, died for all who believe, then all died, and he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for him who died for them and rose again. Great grace, great blessings, demands, produces, great obligations. He gave himself for us, that we might live for him, that we might love him, that we might serve him, that we might worship him, that we might live to God. Do we think like that? And that's what we see in these first two verses. I'm preaching tonight on the sinful woman who was forgiven. And I don't want to steal the thunder for tonight and give you a reason not to come because I've already preached. But I have to mention it because it really illustrates what I'm saying, doesn't it? She was a woman who knew great sin. And she was a terrible sinner. She was a renowned sinner. Everyone knew she was a sinner. She was a great sinner. Oh, she'd been forgiven much. She'd been shown so much grace. She'd had blessings showered upon her. and she therefore showed great devotion to Christ. And obviously we'll consider tonight exactly how she did. But there was nothing too much to ask for her. The duty, the obligation came from within. She was compelled to love Christ and to pour upon Him all that she was. And this is always the case. Would you keep your finger in Isaiah 56, but would you please turn to 1 John, chapter 5? And again, I'm just trying to bring teaching together to see that this is what the whole scriptures teach. 1 John, chapter 5. Here again, we see that such devotion, such obligation, such duty, and we've got to get out of our minds duty as a dirty word. I guess it's a dirty word, isn't it? If the duty you're being called to is to do something for someone you don't like, and you can't stand them. If you have a boss or an employer who gives you nothing but a hard time, for them to say, do your duty, you think, do I have to? But when you put duty and Christ together, Christ who gave himself for you, shed his blood on the cross that you might be forgiven, therefore do your duty for him. If that in your mind brings up negative connotations, I would humbly, lovingly, and gracefully put to you, I wonder whether you've understood the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. I wonder whether you've even truly known what it is to be forgiven of your sins. Because if you've experienced such love, such grace, it's gonna overflow in such devotion, such commitment. 1 John 5, whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. And everyone who loves Him, who also loves Him, who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. See that? Love God, keep His commandments. The two things are absolutely parallel. You don't love God if you don't keep His commandments. Of course, it's possible to try and keep His commandments in a legalistic way without loving God. And that's as much as an abomination to the Lord as not keeping His commandments and claiming to love God. But if we love God, we keep his commandments. And his commandments, sorry, verse three, for this is the love of God that we keep his commandments. For this is what loving God consists of. Do you think like this? Does love of God consist of emotion on a Sunday? Well, of course, if you love God, it may do from time to time. I'm not saying it doesn't. But does the love of God primarily consist in a feeling or in a euphoric ecstasy? No, the love of God consists of keeping God's commandments from the heart. Not as men pleases, but as those seeking to please your heavenly Father. And His commandments are not burdensome. For whatever is born of God overcomes the world, and this is the victory that has overcome the world, our faith. Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. So what you've got there is a subjective, do you claim to love Christ, verse one. Well, if you love Christ, if you love God, you know you do. Verse two, if you have a willing desire to keep his commandments. And if you admire the God who has saved you, it is no burden to do so. Verse four and five, you see there that this is the victory of our faith, that our faith has overcome the world. That by nature and by constitution, we do not love God's law. By nature, we could not be subject to God's law, for the flesh does not desire to do the things of God. but our faith in Jesus Christ has overcome our fallen natures, has overcome the fallen world. We've been given a new heart, a new desire, and a new willingness to obey God's law. The buzzword today in New Testament churches is becoming Christ-like. Amen. But what is being Christ-like? Being Christ-like is being godly. Christ was the godly man. Godliness is living to God. Christ was godly. Why was he godly? It's my food and drink to do the will of him who sent me. I must be about my father's business. Your law is my delight. He willingly obeyed God's law because he absolutely loved his father. He loved Father and Holy Spirit. It was no burden for him. Christ, if you would say, what does a godly man look like? It looks like Christ. And what was Christ? Christ was a law keeper. Christ willingly and lovingly fulfilled his duties and responsibilities. And so when we say, I want to be Christ-like, what we're actually saying, if we understand it correctly, is, I want to obey God's law. because Christ obeyed God's law, for we who did not, that we who are saved might live for him. Christ said himself, didn't he, I did not come to destroy the law, but to fulfil it. Now many people today have made that, I did not come to destroy the law, but to destroy it. I came to fulfill it. I came to exposition, when you bring something out of the scriptures and you come to explain its true meaning. As soon as I come to fulfill it, he's saying, I've come to exegete the law. I've come to unpack the law, to fulfill it, to show you what it really looks like when a human being obeys it properly. And as we get, when we get to the New Testament, we're gonna see that was the issue with the Pharisees. The Pharisees made the law consist of their own interpretations and traditions. And they had thousands and thousands and thousands of lists of things you couldn't do. Jesus says, it's not that the law doesn't stand anymore. It's not that the Sabbath doesn't stand anymore. But Jesus said, let me come and show you what true Sabbath-keeping consists of. Let me show you what true law-keeping in a child of God saved by grace will look like. And that's why then Paul says to his believers, for his ministry, follow me as I follow who? Christ. So what we see in Christ, we follow. Great blessings produce great obligations. Duty is not a dirty word to the Savior. And it shouldn't be a dirty word to the Christian. Now, as we come back to our passage, You see, one of the greatest objections to the idea of keeping the Lord's Day, keeping the Sabbath today, is that the New Testament doesn't encourage that. Now, we'll park that issue, because I believe it absolutely does. But before I get that, I wanted to ask another question. I think it's a legitimate question. Does the Old Testament anticipate Sabbath coming in New Testament times? Does the Old Testament have a looking forward and an expectation that in this coming New Testament age, in this gospel age, in this time of great blessing when this savior comes, is it going to be characterized by a Sabbath-keeping among those who enjoy the blessings that that new covenant will bring? And I believe that chapter 56 definitively says to that question, yes. Absolutely. Does the Old Testament anticipate a New Testament Sabbath? Or is it, as some would argue today in the Church of Jesus Christ, that the Sabbath will pass away when the New Covenant comes, because the Sabbath is part of the Old Covenant? Now, in previous weeks, I've dealt with some of the answers to that question. Sabbath goes beyond the Old Covenant. It goes back to creation. But for the sake of the argument, let's take them at face value. Okay, then, what is promised about the New Testament age? What is promised about the New Covenant? And those who enjoy the New Covenant, Will they be expected? Will they be characterised by a Sabbath-keeping? That is what we're going to answer today. And what I think is absolutely clear when you read Isaiah 56, is that this whole section, verses 1 through to 8, is speaking of the times we are living in. It's speaking of the times of the Gentiles, of the non-Jews coming to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. You see that in verse 3. You see that in verse 6. You see that in verse eight. The Sabbath keeping is going to characterise the people of God in the times when the salvation of God is coming. In fact, that's the clear from verse one of 56. My salvation is coming. And because it's coming, let not the foreigner say, or the eunuch say, I am cut off from the Lord. that this coming salvation is going to mean that there's going to be a whole change in who are the people of God. It's not just going to be the Jews, it's going to be all peoples, and they're all going to be characterized by what? Sabbath keeping. In fact, the context is clear, because remember, you wouldn't have chapter divisions, would you? If you were to turn to Isaiah 54, for example, and this is all one big argument here. This is speaking of one coming time from chapter 53 onwards. 54 verse 13 to 14, I think it sets it very clearly in a new covenant context. Isaiah says, all your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. In righteousness you shall be established. You shall be far from oppression, for you shall not fear, and from terror, for it shall not come near you. All your children shall be taught of the Lord. What other scripture does that ring in your mind? Jeremiah 31, promise of a new covenant. I will write my law on their hearts. It will no longer be a tablet of stone, but it will be on the human heart. No longer shall they have to teach their neighbor. Obey the Lord, come on, obey the Lord. As the Jews had to, they had to motivate one another, because they weren't all born again. But in this coming new covenant, they shall all be taught of the Lord. They shall all know the Lord, from the least to the greatest. And then you get to Isaiah 55, verse 1. Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come buy, eat. What does that sound like? When do you see that kind of language fulfilled? Before Christ came? No. What did Jesus say? John 6, come to me. If anyone thirsts, let him drink. If anyone hungers, I am the bread of life. Come, eat, eat my flesh. And so what we're seeing is then when you get to Isaiah 56 verses 1 and 2, my salvation is about to come near, it is absolutely clear he is speaking of the coming of Christ and the new covenant that he will inaugurate and what will characterize those who share and are involved in this new covenant. That's the context. You think of John 14, Jesus was a woman of Samaria. If you drink of me, you will never thirst. Tell me, where can I find this water? So that's the context. So secondly then, I went off to, I've lost my point. Secondly, glorious reassurances for a distant people. You see, there are people spoken of here who, under the old covenant, were cut off. And this, again, proves that it's speaking of a new covenant time. Do not let the son of the foreigner, verse 3, or nor let the eunuch say, here I am a dry tree. Now, this is speaking of the fact that under the old covenant, a eunuch was not allowed to approach temple. Deuteronomy chapter 23 verse 1 says, he who is emasculated by crushing or mutilation shall not enter the assembly of the Lord. Now, that was never changed until the new covenant came. But he's speaking of a time here when that will all change. When the eunuch will be allowed the same kind of access as the Jew has had. They will be allowed the same kind of privileges and blessings as the Jews have enjoyed. Of course, there were exceptions. There were individuals like Rahab wasn't there. You had the odd Gentile here and there that were converted. But there was nothing before the coming of Christ which fulfills these promises. That a time is coming when, verse 8 says, God says, I will gather others beside those who are already gathered to Him. And there's going to be foreigners, verse 6, who join themselves to the Lord to serve Him. So he's speaking of a great coming time of complete change in the way things have been going up until that point. That under the Old Covenant, it was primarily the Jews. In fact, we read, didn't we, in Ephesians 2 at the start of our worship, where we're told very clearly that we were once, by nature, by Gentiles, cut off, weren't we? We were separated. You see that in Ephesians chapter 2 very clearly. Remember, you are without Christ. Strangers from the promises. You had no hope. But now in Christ Jesus, you who once far off have been brought near. It's absolutely clear. These verses are speaking of the time. when all peoples will be allowed the same access and benefits and salvation as the Jews have known since the beginning of time. And so he speaks glorious reassurances to the Gentiles. He says, do not let the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord speak, saying, the Lord has utterly separated me from his people. Verse six, all the sons of the Father who join themselves to serve him and to love the name of the Lord, to be his servants, everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and holds fast my covenant. Even them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. He's saying that everything is going to change when this new covenant comes. the separation that existed under the old covenant will be gone. And when the new covenant comes, all peoples, the nations, the foreigners who were in utter darkness, left in their sin, cut off from God, are reassured that when this salvation comes near, when this righteousness is revealed, they will be able to know God. they will be able to approach him, worship him, pray to him, have access to him, and enjoy the blessing of God with his people. Because as foreigners and eunuchs could not enter the temple, they could not have the same access a Jew could have. And to not be allowed access to the temple was to be cut off. from the presence of the Lord. And so when he says that they will be allowed in my holy mountain, they will be allowed to come before me, he's saying they will be able to enjoy the same blessings and privileges. If you are a Gentile and you heard these words, these would have been wonderful reassurances. And as a wonderful fulfillment, which again confirms what I'm saying, this is speaking of the New Testament age. The Ethiopian eunuch. Acts 8. He's reading from where? Isaiah the scroll. Isaiah 53, right in our context. And Philip tells him how he can be saved. And the Ethiopian eunuch rejoices and goes, well, what's preventing me from being baptized? Here you had in this one Ethiopian eunuch both these two fulfillments. He was a eunuch and he was a foreigner. And because of the new covenant that Jesus was about to bring, he was being told that these blessings are now being fulfilled. in his life and they will go on being fulfilled and we are living in the light of these. And so you get to Hebrews 8 verse 13 and we read, in speaking of a new covenant he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish. And so in this wonderful time that we're living in, a time where we can come to the waters, buy and eat, and enjoy our salvation, we are told that not only Jews will enjoy it, but foreigners, we Gentiles will enjoy it. And we're reassured of that, that we're no longer going to be outside, that we're going to have the same privileges and enjoyments. But there are going to be certain things that characterize us, that might surprise us. And what you see is that when you read The characteristics of the units and the foreigners who are outside, one of the things that's very clear in this passage that will characterize them is they will not defile the Sabbath. They will keep the Sabbath. You see that in the text, verse 4. To the eunuchs who keep my sabbath and choose what pleases me. Those who were cut off under the old covenant, when they're brought in in the new covenant, they will be those who keep my sabbath and choose what pleases me and hold fast my covenant. To the foreigners who were once separated aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, when they join themselves to the Lord through the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice on the cross, they will serve him and keep from defiling the sabbath. These are speaking of New Testament times, Gospel age, and it's saying that Sabbath keeping will characterize this redeemed people who were once far off and have been saved by grace and have been brought near to the presence of Almighty God. Because the truth is, my friends, great grace, as I said in the first point, leads to great obligations. We think of that hymn, O to Grace, how great a debtor daily I am constrained to be. Let that grace now, like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart. Oh, take and seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. Such glorious reassurances, such glorious promises lead to such wonderful obligations and blessings and privileges. So we've had glorious reassurances for distant people. Thirdly, Glorious characteristics of a welcomed people. Glorious characteristics of a welcomed people. They were once lawbreakers. They were once hostile to God in their hearts. These foreigners, and when you see a foreigner, put your name there. We weren't Jews. Our ancestors, I've been doing my family tree, I've got quite far back. They were smugglers on the Kent coast in Whitstable. They were thieves. They used to hide things under their floorboards. Now I hope they weren't professing Christianity at the time. That's my family background, I was a foreigner. And in His grace, through the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrifice on the cross, the dividing wall of hostility has been torn down. The curtain has been torn in two, which again is a wonderful fulfillment of this promise, that what separated us, namely our sin, through the Lord Jesus Christ, that separation no longer exists if you have faith in Him and you've repented of your sin. And we have, so to speak, joined ourselves to Him. We have said, oh, I'm yours. I want to follow you all my days. I want to live for you. I want to know you. Write your law on my heart. Change my heart. Make me love what you love. Make me hate what you hate. For no wonder then, in this time of the new covenant, when God writes his law on his heart, those eunuchs, those Sabbaths, who once despised the Jews, who once had no knowledge of God's special day, They would keep the Sabbath and choose what pleases Him, hold fast to the covenant. No wonder they would serve Him, love the name of the Lord, and keep their feet from defiling the Sabbath. Because these are the glorious characteristics of a transformed people, of a people who were once far off. And again, the New Testament has this ring everywhere, if you look for it. Obviously, New Testament language, of course, You have to use New Testament to understand the old. But you see it. You see it. In the scriptures. Everywhere. I think I've got a long reference, I think, in Colossians 2. Oh yeah, now I've got it. But now you yourselves are to put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man, who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. So, what are the characteristics then of this saved people who were once far off and have joined to the Lord? Well firstly, verse four, they keep the Sabbath. To the eunuchs who were separated and now joined, they keep my Sabbaths. They hold it in special regard. This is the day the Lord has meant. They do on that day what God made it for. they could do acts of piety or devotion. It's a day for worship, to fulfill your biblical responsibilities. You pray, you sing, you fellowship, you show hospitality, you love one another, you spend time with one another, you enjoy knowing God. There's no legalism in that. You keep the Sabbath. Acts of mercy, as you have opportunities and time allows, you seek to do good to your fellow men and women. This day is special to you and you keep it as a special day. Because who is your treasure? God. And whose day is this? God. And whose promise is blessing on this day? God. And you think, well, if God is to be supremely known on this day in a way he's not to be known on all the other days, if God can only be known in the assembly of the gathering in a way that he can't be known through watching a video on a stream, then I need to be, and be where God is, and do where God, do what will involve experiencing God, because I'm doing the things that God loves. Keep the Sabbath. Negatively, not positively, keep it positively, but negatively do not defile it. The characteristics of these redeemed people. Verse 2. Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who lays hold on it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Verse 6. Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath. What is it to defile? Well, to defile is to do on that day which should not be done on that day. And that's not legalism to say that. It's legalism when you start doing what the Pharisees do, and out of absolute paranoia and fear, you try and cross every dot on the iota. But there are some basic principles of things we should and shouldn't do, and if we do those things we shouldn't do on the day we shouldn't do them, we're defiling it. We're making something that is holy Unholy. Whatever is legitimate for the other six days, you regard as that which will defile this day. And again, these are characteristics of a people saved under the new covenant by the blood of Jesus. Do you, therefore, going back to the earlier question, see grace as something which drives, motivates and fuels willing, devoted obedience? Do you put those two things together? Or is grace that you might know that, OK, I'm saved now. I can go to heaven. And then you live in license. But I'm saved by grace. It doesn't really matter. May I propose to you, if that's how you feel, you've not got the fear of the Lord in you. You haven't got an awe and a wonder and an adoration for him. And you haven't known his grace. Oh, to grace, how great a debtor. Daily, I am constrained to be. I'm a sinner, friends. My sin grieves me because I love my Saviour and I know that He gave Himself for me and loved me. And when I cheapen His grace by discerning and defiling His laws, it must grieve His heart so much when He's done so much for me. Why was Christ given for the church Ephesians 5? Why did he give his blood? But that he might sanctify her by the washing of water with the word, that she might be a pure and spotless bride. That's what God wants from his church, a holy church, a devoted church. And they choose what pleased me. Do you see that in verse four? It makes me think again of Romans 8 verse 7 to 8. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God. For it does not submit to God's law. Indeed it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. I think the Sabbath is despised today because people do not love God. And if they don't love God, they're not going to love the day upon which God is found. But if you have a renewed heart, You may be the most wretched sinner. You may have failed your Lord a thousand times over, but I can guarantee you, if you have a redeemed and new heart, deep down in your heart, whatever you've done up until now, whatever your approach to the Lord's Day has been, you will agree with me that your heart wants to know God, and you want to know the Lord Jesus Christ. God is the delight of your soul. You would say, Jesus, lover of my soul. all-consuming passion. And therefore you would choose to do the things which delight the heart of the one in whom you love. It is no difficulty, is it parents, buying a present for your children if you know it's going to delight their hearts because you absolutely love them. And you will want to do the things that please him. One thing I have asked the Lord, that I will seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. And how soon can the service be over? to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, to inquire in his temple. If you've seen something beautiful and wonderful, you wanna go back and see it again, don't you? If you've been captivated by the loveliness of Christ, you're gonna avail yourself of any opportunity where Christ can be known more, where Christ can be seen in all his majesty and beauty and fullness. If you're just flippin' about it and go, I don't really want to, have you seen him? Have you truly seen the Lord Jesus Christ? This is his day. This is the day he rose. This is the day he appeared to John on the island of Patmos. John said, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day. And then Jesus appeared to him. Oh, my friends, if you love Christ, you will want to be where Christ is. And that involves keeping his day. Not out of law, not to make yourself right with God, but out of love for the one who loved you. And therefore you will hold fast my covenant, verse 4. Hold fast my covenant. In fact it's repeated in verse 6. Now what does that mean? Hold fast to the covenant. Well, God has made with us a covenant of grace. It's a wonderful covenant. because it doesn't hinge on you. The covenant of grace is all God's doing. God has accomplished a covenant whereby he saves us by his grace. And he invites all to come and know him and enter into that covenant. And to know that and experience that covenant doesn't depend on your works. But nevertheless, that doesn't mean you just sit there, does it? It's like when we preach the gospel. Just because I believe salvation is all of God doesn't mean I don't say to people, come and know the Lord. Put your faith in Him. And though the covenant of grace is initiated by Christ, we still, in order to enjoy the reality and the blessings of that covenant, have to hold fast to it. We have to avail ourselves of all the blessings that this covenant has to us. We take seriously the promises that blessed is the man who does this, verse 2. Blessed is the man who does not walk in the path of the wicked, but who meditates on the law day and night. Blessed is the man. We hold fast to the covenant. We say, if I do what pleases Him, His face will shine on me. I will know His presence. Because when I grieve the Spirit, I can't expect to know His presence. But when I'm walking in the things that He is pleased with, how can two walk together if they're not agreed? How can the church ask God to send a revival if the same church of Christ in this nation just spurns his commandments? The first thing that will happen, my friends, when a revival comes is God will sort out his church. And God will call his church to devotion. He will make known His holiness. He will make known His presence. And He will call us to hold fast to His covenant. There are also those who have joined themselves to the Lord. I'm just preaching the text here. And I know this is more teaching than I normally do. But we have to see it from Scripture. Otherwise you would accuse me of preaching my own opinions. And I'm not preaching my own opinions. I didn't want to believe this. I believed it because Scripture has revealed it to me. Verse 6. You've joined themselves to the Lord. You were once in the world. You've been called out of darkness into His marvellous light. You once had different priorities, you've now got new priorities. You once had different affections, you've now got new affections. And so, you join yourself to Him. You're with Him. Now, my friends, there is nothing that defines God's people more as those who have been joined to the Lord than the Sabbath. than keeping the Sabbath. Because if you keep the Sabbath, what you're saying to a watching world is this. God governs my life. He governs my week. He governs my time. My whole life is about devotion to Him. And therefore that shows in my whole week. And that day is the pinnacle day. I have ordered all my affairs in relation to that day. He is my treasure. He is my priority. And it declares to a watching world that you have joined yourself to the Lord. If you get married, friends, and you marry, and your spouse that you've married is still going home to her mum all the time, or you're still spending all the time with your dad and you're not spending time with your wife, if all your priorities are not for your spouse, though you may have formally said, I've joined myself to the Lord, your actions speak louder than your words, But if we claim that we have joined ourselves in marriage to our Saviour, that we are His bride, that we are the sheep of His pasture, that we hear His voice, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me, that's going to show in our approach to this day. And they love the name of the Lord. You see these characteristics? They love the name of the Lord, verse 6. To be his servants, there it is, servants. That's what Paul keeps saying, I'm a bondservant. Love the name of the Lord. Now, what does the name of the Lord in Scripture mean? The name of the Lord represents all that he attributes. I am the Lord. The Lord speaks of his power, his self-existence, his greatness, his mercy, his holiness, all that he is. Friends, this is the Lord's day. He has attached his name to this day. And therefore, it's on this day that he is known. And if you love the name of the Lord, you're going to want to be on the day where the name of the Lord is made known. So they love the name of the Lord. But fourthly and lastly, and briefly. So we've seen that glorious blessings produce great obligations. We've seen glorious reassurances for distant people that we are by nature. And we've now seen glorious characteristics of a welcome people. But there's also glorious promises to an obedient people. And this is going to be a foretaste of my next sermon on this, which I really will labor the promises, the blessings that are there on this day. It will have a different tone to this message. But there are some promises here, aren't there, in these verses? You see them everywhere. Even to them, verse five, I will give in my house and within my walls a place and a name better than that of sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. Verse seven, even them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. My house shall be called the house of prayer. for all nations. He's promising us, if we take Him at His word, if we hold fast to His covenant, there are glorious promises here, that our prayers will be heard. Our prayers will be heard in a very special way. That's what it says, that we'll be joyful. That there's joy. And that's the difference, I think, between legalism and just loving obedience. That there's joy in this approach. There's great joy. Because you see, my friends, what partnership does darkness have with light? As I said, how can two walk together when they are not agreed? But when we walk hand in hand with our saviour, when we and we choose what pleases Him, and when we faithfully adhere to His commandments, having been saved by grace, He's with us. He's with us. He's with us. He can bless us. The Lord is there. That's the wonderful promise. There's privilege, isn't there? There's gonna be assurance. He says, I will give to them a name, verse five, better than that of sons and daughters. That's talking about our inheritance. Because you see, most people's names, again back to my family tree, what's staggering is how quickly people's names are forgotten. My name will probably be forgotten in three generations. I won't be remembered anymore. But what we're being told here is that for we who walk with the Lord like this, that we'll never be forgotten. That God will always be mindful of us. that God will always be favorably disposed to us, that God will always be gracious to us. There's a promise here of intimacy when he says, I will bring them to my holy mountain. What happened on the mountain? God spoke with Moses face to face. But the promise of the new covenant is that we, with all unveiled faces, are beholding the Lord. And so what we're being promised here is that if we want to know Christ, if we want to see Christ, keep his Sabbath. Keep the Sabbath, we're going to see Him. He's going to give us great privilege and intimacy. And blessing. I will accept their offerings. What are the offerings? Well, a Jew, it's figurative language, a Jew would bring offerings. They'd have some sort of need, some sort of burden. It may be forgiveness of sin, it may be something else. They'd bring their offering, they'd recognize they don't deserve it, but they'd make their offering and ask the Lord to hear their prayer. They recognized that without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin, therefore God could not hear their prayers. And what we're being told here is that God will hear our prayers. God will bless us. You see, friends, we are saved by grace, empowered by the Spirit, that we might not be slaves to sin, but to righteousness. That we might die to self and live to God. And I can tell you this much, nothing will encourage this more than a heartfelt devotion to keep the Sabbath holy. And I hope I've shown you from the scriptures today. If you're not persuaded, I welcome you to come and talk to me. That's fine. I'm not going to bite your head off. But I hope you've seen that here we have a New Covenant context that was only fulfilled in the New Covenant context. It wasn't fulfilled before because the Old Covenant was still in standing. And as long as the Old Covenant was standing, eunuchs and foreigners were cut off. It was fulfilled under the New Covenant age. And here we're being told that these people spoken of in advance, will be those who keep the Sabbath and do not defile it. And I don't know, when God looks down upon this congregation, could that be said of us? That we're holding fast to the Lord. Holding fast to his covenant. That we've joined ourselves to him and not another. That he is our number one. He is our greatest treasure. And that's the question we have to ask ourselves. And the only thing that can motivate that is God's grace. His way has come tonight. God's grace. We'll hear more about God's grace tonight. So may we all know the blessing of verse two. Blessed is the man who does this and the son of man who lays hold of it, who keeps from defiling the Sabbath and keeps his hand from doing evil. Amen.