If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, and here comes the promise. And you shall delight yourselves in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. Do we really believe that God is a benevolent God? That God is a good God? Do you have a view of God that he's begrudgingly, giving you blessings. He doesn't really give you good things from his heart. Do you ever view a God that he's a God who wants to lavish upon you more than you can imagine? There's a danger, isn't there, in reacting to the prosperity gospel, in reacting to false teaching which promises peace where there is no peace, that we throw the idea of spiritual blessing completely out of the window. The question we have to ask is, are we called to see in scripture that there is spiritual blessing for an obedient people? And I think the answer, as we will see today, is absolutely yes. God does bless obedience. Parents, you have three children or four children. You love your children equally. Your children are in a right relationship with you. They're yours, and they have the same access to you, the same status before you. But if one is behaving in a way that is pleasing, and one is behaving in a way that is displeasing, you're going to obviously reward and bless the positive behavior. It doesn't mean you love that child more than the other child, but it is just that that behavior is that which pleases your heart. and you can enjoy a fellowship. And I can remember at times growing up as a child, and if I was being naughty and I was in trouble and I was experiencing the loving discipline of my parents, saying things like, you love that person more. The problem I was failing to see is that my behavior was incompatible with that which my parents expected from me. How could they bless me in the condition and in the state that I was living in? But nevertheless, every parent, is it not true, you know this, parents, isn't it, that you don't delight in disciplining your kids? If you get a kick out of disciplining your kids, there's something wrong with you. You do it because you love them, but not because you delight in doing so. You would much rather not have to, and you would much rather lavish blessing upon your children. And I can tell you this evening that God is a God who wants to bless his adopted children. God has saved us with an everlasting salvation. God has called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. He has lifted us from the miry clay. He has set his love upon us. He has not loved everyone else in the same way that he has loved you. He has elected you unto salvation, and he gave his son to purchase that salvation, and in time and in space, he called you to experience that salvation. And then as we live the Christian lives, there is so much more to enjoy and experience. None of us can claim to have experienced all that there is to enjoy with our God. That our God is an infinite God. He is infinitely good. He is infinitely glorious. He is infinitely marvelous. He is infinitely powerful. And there is always more to enjoy in knowing the God of our salvation. Problem is, though, is ever since the fall, Men and women have been hardwired by their sinful nature to believe that God isn't good. And that's the problem Adam and Eve had, wasn't it? When God made Adam and Eve, do you know their first day was a Sabbath day? They were made on the sixth day. Isn't that wonderful? Their first day wasn't a day of work. Their first day was a day of enjoying God and the creation that he has made for them. If that wasn't an expression of God's benevolent intent towards his own creation, I don't know what is. But they came to believe the lie that God is holding back from you good. And if you listen to me, Satan said, if you do things my way, that's where blessing really consists. And as we know, the rest is history. The great tragedy is that our first father, Adam, we are one blood, We are one race. Our first father, Adam, sinned. And we've inherited that tendency, that genetic fallen nature to believe that lie that they believe that very day. That God's way won't bless me. The true blessing is found in a different path, a path of my own choosing. And so what that means is there's two ways that manifests itself. The first is not really what we're considering in Isaiah 58, but I will mention it. The first is that, well... you have to then reinvent the way of blessing. So in Christian terms, you'll get teachers who will reinvent what the Bible says, reinterpret what the Bible says, because they don't want to do what the Bible says, because they don't believe the blessings found in what the Bible says, and so they redefine the boundaries and create doctrines and teachings which suit their tastes and appetites better. But that wasn't the problem of Isaiah today. I think the problem of Isaiah is that it's a bit closer to home in Reformed circles. It is when you have a higher view of God's word, you know that you can't play loose and fast with scriptures, you know that you can't twist the scriptures, you know that the word of God is to be taken as it is, and yes, to study it, of course, and to understand its context, but you know that we're not a liberty to add to scripture or take away from scripture. You accept everything it says. So here's the problem then. What do you do when you know what you must do, but you don't want to do it? This is the problem of Isaiah's generation. They understood exactly what God required, but the thing is that their hearts were still not inclined to do it. But what they did is they did it outwardly, but didn't really have their heart in it. And that's exactly what we find in Isaiah chapter 58. Now you will forgive me because I know I said tonight we're continuing our series through the Sabbath. And you'll forgive me if I don't start with our focus on the Sabbath straight away because we need to do context to understand exactly how these verses, verse 13 and 14 particularly fit in our passage this evening. And the first thing I want us to see is a surprising rebuke to an outwardly compliant people. So a bit of a long one. I know I wasn't as successful on thinking of a short, snappy one for this chapter, so you can pray that I get better at my headings. But a surprising rebuke for an outwardly compliant people. You see this in verses one through to five of Isaiah 58. Cry aloud, spare not. Lift up your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sin. So you're thinking, whoa, so Isaiah's got the task of preaching with authority and passion and earnestness. Cry aloud. This is really important. Make sure everyone listens to you and you're thinking, what have they done? Have they been worshipping idols again? Well, you actually read what it says, you think, is this what they've done? This sounds pretty orthodox. Tell the house of Jacob their sins. Well, what are their sins? Well, here they are, verse two. They seek me daily. You think, well, that's quite good. They seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice. They take delight in approaching God. That's their sin. And I read that and I thought, how can that be sin? That sounds pretty orthodox. They seem to be doing exactly, outwardly at least, what God says to do. Delight to know my way, so they're happy to hear expositional sermons. They're happy to listen to the great preachers of Isaiah and Jeremiah and all the other gang. They're a nation that did righteousness, they're known. There's a nation that obey God's law. They've not forsaken the ordinances. So, these are not just Sunday morning Christians. These are Sunday morning and Sunday evening Christians and midweek Christians. These are really zealous people. They claim to know God. They pray for conversions and for revival and for protection. They ask of me the ordinances of justice. They ask God to fight for his people, to act for his people. Problem. Verse three. This is the people of Israel having done all that. This was their own assessment. This was their own issue with God. They had an issue with God. We've done all this and here's what they say. Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen? They're saying we're not being noticed by God, this one we're seeking. Why have we afflicted our souls and you take no notice? Hmm. seem pretty keen, and yet God clearly isn't pleased with them. What's the problem? Well, you see, it all seemed good on the surface, but their worship was hypocritical and false. And poor Isaiah, you realize how you think, poor man, had the task of preaching to this generation. And one of the things we learn then straight away is the job of a preacher from Isaiah. That the job of a preacher is one of his primary tasks is to tell God's people their transgressions and sins, verse one. And that's why Noah should enter the ministry lightly. He needs great fear of God to do this. And what that also supposes to us is that God's people, we all, I, we, us, we all have serious blind spots. They really didn't believe they were sinning. That's evident in their frustration that God hasn't heard them, that God hasn't blessed them. They really thought things were all going tickety-boo. And I think that means that there is, in all God's people, a thoughtlessness about our lives. that sin by its very definition is deceitful. They were clearly, I think, and I think this is what, again, as I was reflecting on this myself, I was thinking, God, Lord, search my heart, is that there was a sense in which they were a bit oblivious to things as they really were. They clearly thought God should be blessing them in light of their obedience. But clearly there was something lacking in their obedience. And I had to tell them what that was. Now I'm not a prophet, God hasn't told me, go and tell Belvedere their transgressions and their sins in quite that sense. It's not like he woke me up today and gone, this is the issue there. He was specifically told, this is the issue of Israel generation. But God has given this to us nevertheless to preach and to instruct us and it may be that perhaps this could be said to some extent of us all. I would imagine it could, I think it could be said of me. So speaking for myself, I know that there must be areas in my life which grieve my heavenly father. So there's a faultlessness about sin. Proverbs 14 verse 89 says, the wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way. But the folly of fools is deceit. Fools mock at sin. Very interesting way of saying that. The wisdom of the prudent, the wise, is to understand his way. Now as a Christian, we are supposedly those who are wise. We've been given the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, Proverbs says. And therefore, what characterizes wisdom in God's people is a desire and a willingness to try and understand their way, to understand what we do, to understand why we do it, to understand our comings and our goings, to understand ourselves. Why? Because then we know how to serve God. Then we know what He requires of us. Then we know how He is to be worshipped. Then we know how we are to live for Him. But if you're a fool, someone who doesn't have the fear of God in you, fools mock at sin, or are a bit cavalier about it, careless about it. And that was certainly, I think, the case here. The nation was under the judgment of God, God wasn't blessing them, and they wondered absolutely why. And I think I could go this far, I can't speak for us as a congregation, I can't speak for every congregation, but I think I can speak genuinely at this stage and say, I do wonder, and I'm speaking broadly here, we as the church, as part of the church, okay? I do wonder whether the same issue could be said of us. We can have this view that we are the righteous remnant, can't we? That we are the righteous faithful. The nation is under the judgment of God, which it is, But we are the ones holding fast. And I wonder whether the same could be said of God's church in this country as is said of Israel then, that though we may be the remnant in that sense, that we've made a mistake of assuming that part of the problem doesn't lie with us. The problem lied here. God wasn't hearing them and God wasn't blessing them because there was things in their lives which they were not reckoning with and were not considering. And I think it is right, therefore, to at least ask the question. At least ask the question. If we want a revival, we need to first get our own house in order, don't we? As individuals, as families, and as churches. Because if there are things that are grieving God, we can't expect God to bless us. And that's one of the things that we see here. But, you know, these people, they were happy with their religion, and they were happy with their outward compliance, because it was pleasing to those around them. They were known as a nation that did righteousness. But the ultimate question is, is not whether our lives seem to be okay to those around us. The ultimate question is, do our lives conform to holy writ, to scripture, to the word of God, to the spirit of the law, to the understanding of scripture? And as Isaiah famously said, if not... ...to the law and to the testimony. We must go to the Word... ...and measure everything in our lives... ...according to Scripture. And this is what Isaiah was doing. He was calling them... ...to measure their lives... ...not to the letter of God's law... ...but to the Spirit of God's law. The meaning of God's law. Now, of course, Isaiah was not liked. Think of people like Elijah... They called him the Troubler of Israel. There he was, Elijah, speaking to King Ahab, calling him to repent of his sins. And only when God had sent him to do God's people good, they called him the Troubler of Israel. Why? Because he was rustling the feathers. Because he was unsettling the conscience. Because he was getting to the heart. Because he was pricking the soul. And it's often the same today in the church. Such ministry is not welcomed. I like my peace with my comfortable Christianity. But we must know, friends, that God speaks. As I said this morning, God speaks that we might have life and have it more abundantly. God speaks that we might know Him. God speaks that we might walk with Him. God wants to bless us, friends. God wants to make his face to shine upon us. God wants to be good to you in ways you can't imagine. In fact, that's what he says in verse 19 of Isaiah 57. Please look there for me, Isaiah 57 verse 19. You see, Jeremiah said that the false prophets, I refer to this again this morning, they preach peace where there is no peace. And listen to what God says in verse 19. I create the fruit of the lips, peace, peace, to him who is far off and to him who is near. That's a direct reference to the false teachers. God is saying, I am the one who brings peace. I produce the actual fruit of what those lips are saying. I bring peace. Now if I say here, which one of you wants peace? I think every single one of you would say, me. My friends, it is found in your maker and in your creator and your redeemer and in your savior. It is found in him and in him alone and in his way alone. Tell the house of Israel their sin and their transgression. What was wrong with it? Well, outwardly it was all fine, but there was something missing and it was inward devotion. Very similar to this morning. There's a lot of matching up here, but for different reasons and different emphases. Because you see that at the end of verse three, don't you? In the day of their fast, their supposed fast, and their religious observance, something else was going on deeper, at a deeper level. You find pleasure. So they're claiming to worship God, and seek God, and know God, but in so doing, they're seeking their own pleasure. They're living for their own interests. Verse four, indeed, you fast for a strife and debate, and to strike with the fists of wickedness. You will not do as you do this day to make your voice heard on high. The Lord Jesus, didn't he, he was consistent with these prophets in his teaching. He spoke to the Pharisees, and he said to them, when you pray, when you pray, Go into your bedroom and shut your door, that your Heavenly Father who sees you may reward you. Seek God's face. Seek His presence. You don't need to let anyone know that you're praying, because you're only interested in Him. But the Pharisees wanted everyone else to pray. We know that when they fasted, they'd disfigure their faces. They'd want everyone to know how hungry they looked, how much they were struggling in their devotion. And this was the issue here. They were, what you might say, half-hearted. Charles Simeon, any of you heard of Charles Simeon? Mike gave me a book on Charles Simeon to really encourage me in my first year of pastoral ministry, and I read about him that he was locked out of his church. I was thinking, well, I hope this doesn't happen to me. I was like, I hope this isn't a hint. Charles Simeon said of these believers, the people of God here in Isaiah's day, their hearts were not right with God. They were partial in the law. They put outward obedience in the place of vital godliness. They're confused because everything they're doing outwardly is right. Today, they would be the Reformed Baptists, because we think it's right, our convictions, don't they? They would have reverent worship. They would have good time given to preaching. They would have prayer meetings. They would be reading their Bibles, the Murray-McShane plan in a year, perhaps. They'd be reading the sermons of Charles Haddon Spurgeon. But their hearts are not in it. On the surface, they appear to be spiritual. They pretend they are righteous. They expect God to act. But despite all the motions of going through this worship, God is not pleased with them. God is not pleased with them. Now, because the focus tonight is on the Sabbath, I'm not going to spend time explaining all the issues with what they were doing. You can read commentaries on that if you have an interest or listen to sermons on it. But just to summarize it, what the issue was there was that they were claiming to love God whilst at the same time hating their neighbor. They were being hypocrites. For example, they were fasting and seizing from their labors, but whilst they were doing that and claiming to honor the Sabbath, they were piling on the work to their servants. So they were sort of saying, you know what, we'll have a day of fast, we'll have a Sabbath, we'll worship God and seek blessing, but you know what, we'll just crush those people over there whilst they work so we can be free. And God's saying that's hypocrisy. You can't claim to be pleasing me by obeying one part of the law by neglecting the other part of the law. So that was part of, in a broad sense, the issue you see as God rebukes them in verses four through to verse seven. They draw near to me with their mouths and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. And this can go on today. This isn't just an issue for Isaiah's contemporaries. This is coming to church, isn't it, friends? and be thinking about other things. This is being a Sunday Christian, but then not a Christian Monday to Saturday. This is claiming, I want to be holy in the prayer meeting, but then your secret TV habits during the week, and so on and so forth. I think when you actually start to get under the surface and apply it, we can begin to see that this is just as much an issue for believers today. One thinks, I think this is illustrated with Cain and Abel, isn't it? Cain and Abel. Cain killed Abel. Why? Well, Abel loved God. And he bought the best that he had to God because he loved him. Cain thought the bare minimum would do. And God was not pleased with Cain's offering, but he was pleased with Abel's. and Cain killed Abel out of jealousy. Now, my friends, the reason this is all important, and I think it's important to be doing this groundwork in the context, is because there's a danger. We've been working through the Sabbath, and I do hope you've been convinced from Scripture that though we are not justified by the law, we are to obey the law, and that the whole Ten Commandments have been written in our heart, including the fourth. I hope you've been persuaded by that, that it goes back to creation before sin, But there is a danger, and this is not what I want to happen, you see. It's not what I want for me. It's not what I want for you. Look, even if you're persuaded of the rightness of it, you don't enter into the spirit of it, isn't there? There is a danger, isn't there, that your doctrine may be right, but your practice may not be. And there is a danger that we approach it in a legalistic fashion. There is a danger that we approach it outwardly and not inwardly. And if that's what we do, we'll miss the point. We'll miss the point completely. And we'll find ourselves wondering, why isn't God hearing us? We need to live our lives, don't we friends, with the awareness that God sees absolutely everything. Even before a word is on our tongue, the Lord knows. Because the Lord knows what we're thinking. That's why you can pray and if you're feeling weary and tired and heavy burdened and you're too tired to actually pray out loud, you don't need to. You can commune with God with your soul. Prayer is the lifting up of the soul to God, because God hears and knows all the inner groans of your soul. But that's the positive side of it, isn't it? The negative side, or the difficult side, is that He also knows all the sinful sides of us. And we should be conscious then, and sensitive to His presence. and seek him not with an outward devotion, but an inward devotion. Psalm 51, verse six. This is David, isn't it? After he's committed that terrible sin of adultery, he's been brought to repentance, and he says, behold, you desire truth in the inward parts. in the inward parts. So let us avoid this mistake of outward compliance. And therefore, it's consequential loss of spiritual blessings. God couldn't bless an outwardly conforming people. That's the first point. But secondly, and lastly, wonderful promises to a spiritual people will move from the general to the specific of the Sabbath. But generally, you see it in verse 8 and 9. respond in the right way with renewed inward devotion and love to God and their neighbour, we're told, then your light shall break forth like the morning. Your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard. Oh, there's wonderful promises here. Then your light shall break forth in the morning. Here you have an idea of a new beginning, Let there be light. Israel have been walking in darkness and God is promising them a new start. The light of God will shine upon them. There's a promise here of restoration. Your healing shall spring forth speedily. It doesn't matter whatever you've done. It doesn't matter how backslidden you are. I'm going to totally heal you of your backsliddenness. I'm going to restore you. I'm going to change you. Isn't these, aren't these glorious promises for God's people? And then there's this glorious promise of security. I love this. The glory, oh wait, lovely language. The glory of the Lord shall be your rearguard. That's speaking of protection. I'll protect you. I'll fight for you. I'll be behind you. I'll be in front of you. I'll be around you. These are glorious promises. And then they get even more wonderful. Verse 11, the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and strengthen your bones, and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. You've got a promise here of guidance. The Lord will guide you continually. He'll teach you, He'll open up His word to you, and He'll show you wonderful things. He'll meet with you. He'll bless you with understanding and intimacy. There's a promise here of provision. He will satisfy your soul in drought. Oh, isn't this a promise we need to avail ourselves of? That in these times of darkness, where there is a famine of the word, of the hearing of the word in the land, it is a time of drought. But if we seek God with all of our hearts, He will satisfy us in drought. We may not see in our lifetime a national revival, but we can all, if we want to, experience a personal revival. We can all experience individually a revival in our souls, so that out of our heart shall flow fountains of living waters. There's a promise here of continual, sorry, constant resources. and beauty. You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail." It is a promise of beauty, of holiness, a well-watered garden. You people who like Chelsea Flower Show and all that kind of stuff, I for Christmas was brought Monty's Beginner's Guide to Gardening. I'm really excited to read it in the summer now that I have a garden. I can't wait. I'm hoping to take this up as a little side hobby. But we're told here that you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. Wow! That's to do with vitality, isn't it? There will be a vitality to our Christian life, a beauty to it. Don't you want these things? And then these promises, verse 12, those from among you shall build up the old waste places, You shall raise up the foundations of many generations. And you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. Now, of course, this had an immediate fulfillment as Haggai's generation went back to rebuild the foundations. But nevertheless, I think there's a sense there where if you ever read church history, you find yourself going, oh, to live in those days. Oh, I was reading a George Whitfield diary entry from yesterday and he said something along the lines of, had two hours sleep, but preached, and the spirit came down mightily, many converted. And you're just like, oh. or to have times like this. Well, what I'm being told here is if we seek the Lord of all, I'm not saying it will be therefore, it'll be exactly like that, but there'll be a sense where we'll be able to have a taste and an enjoyment of the same experience of God that us, the saints in the past, have. Maybe, of course, God will give it in the measure that he's pleased to give it, but I think this is a wonderful promise of continuity with the saints of the past, entering into the joys that they have known. And then we come now to our focus. Forgive me for doing the work, and we're getting there now. Verse 13 and 14, particularly our focus this evening. The blessing to a people who delight to keep the Sabbath holy. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath. Now, I was like, oh, this is a really frustrating translation. It means I'm gonna have to spend a few minutes, which I don't always have, to explain it differently. I'm just gonna read from the NASB. NASB captures it the best. And hopefully you'll hear the difference of what it's saying, because it sounds like there, doesn't it, when you read it, that he's asking you to turn your foot from the Sabbath. Doesn't it? And I was like, well, the rest of the context can't be that. The NASB gets a sense. If because of the Sabbath you turn your foot from doing your own pleasure on my holy day. So if because of the Sabbath you turn your foot from doing your pleasure, And call the Sabbath a delight, a holy day of the Lord honourable, and shall honour him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord. I will cause you to ride the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. Now, I'm very indebted here, as I was preparing this, to Jeremy Walker, actually. He's written a little book on the Sabbath. It's yet to be printed. He's given me an advanced copy on PDF to vet, and I've been reading it, and I'm hoping to get lots of copies to give to you all. It's very good. And he breaks up verse 13 and 14 into three headings, which are very helpful, and I thought I'm just gonna tell him I've done it, and I'm just gonna use them, okay? The glory of God, verse 13. Okay? And then, I've lost the other headings. The glory of God. The light in God. and I've lost the last one. Enjoyment of the promises. Enjoyment of the promises. So the first thing we see here in verse 13 is the glory of God. Some of this is overlapped to what we've considered already. The Sabbath is a day for the glory of God. Not for our own glory, but for his glory. Verse three, not for our own pleasures, to find our own pleasures, but for finding the Sabbath our pleasure, for finding God our pleasure. Now you might be saying here at this point, but pastor, Jesus said the Sabbath was made for man and not for God. Correct. It was made for man's good. But man's good is found in God. The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. So it's a day for man, made for man, yes, but it's a day for man to delight in God, to delight in His glory, to pursue His glory, to seek His glory, because here's the crux of the issue. Our fallen natures, which don't like our new nature, they have a problem, our fallen natures. They have an issue. They have a disease. And it is this, they want to put themselves at the center of the universe. And our fallen man or woman wants our lives to revolve around our own priorities. But a redeemed people are to revolve their lives around God. and his priorities, and that is not to deny ourselves in the sense that we will be harmed, but as I've been saying, it is actually to do us the greatest good. To quote Jeremy Walker, it was a day given to man to do what he was created to do, to put God and not himself at the center of life. Well, how do we do that? Well, it says, doesn't it, in the text? It says, don't find your own pleasure, nor speak your own words. Well, what on the earth does this mean? Well, it means that we're not to be on this day doing things that are legitimate on the other six that are to do with our own interests and advancements that are absolutely necessary to do. They are our own priorities, but it's a day for doing the law's priorities, which the other six days do not allow us the time to do to the extent we wish to do them. It means that this is a day entirely focused on God. Those other things are legitimate things, and they have their rightful place, but not on this day. And it's not legalistic to say that. It's in the text. And it's a day, therefore, also not for our own ways, our words, our own words. Not speaking your own words. Now what on the earth does that mean? Well, this might be quite challenging and quite radical. It is for me, if I'm honest. But it's a day to be taken up talking about the Lord. We don't spend this day talking about the football. This is a challenge. This is a challenge for me. It's very easy, isn't it, after church service. Oh, Chelsea were rubbish yesterday. Straight after you've heard the word of God. And I'm guilty of this sin myself. But it's not a day for just talking about flippant and random things that you spend the other six days talking about. It's a day to seek to do souls good. to edify one another, to encourage one another. Now, of course, this is where you have to be careful of legalism. To do that may mean asking them about their week. It may mean asking them about their work, so that you can minister and encourage them. So, a legalist would then say, I'm not talking to you, because you're asking me about work. That's my own words, that's not the words of the Lord. That's where you have to get into the spirit of the commandment. But the focus is our conversation should be all around knowing God, glorifying God, and doing one another great good. And that's why you think working it out requires a little bit of thought, doesn't it? And we'll mess it up. We will. We call the Sabbath a delight. Isn't that interesting? We call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord, This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. I think, and I think that perhaps the reason, I've been thinking, why is it that we, generally speaking, as Christians today, we know we should find it a delight, but perhaps we don't always find it a delight. I just simply wonder, because we've never fully entered in, to practice today as it should be. I'm thinking of my own life at this moment in time. Have I truly entered in? Have I truly reckoned with what this day involves? Because maybe the absence of the delight is simply because we've never truly entered into the day in the way that we should. And so we've got to continue to seek the Lord for his guidance and for his leading and for his help. into practice today, the way it should be practiced, with the spirit with which it should be practiced, with the motive with which it should be practiced. And we can be sure here, as we're going to see, that there are promises for us. Now, Jeremy Walker, again, it's a good little book. It's a really good little book. And I don't always do this in sermons, but sometimes you just think, I don't need to reinvent the wheel here. And Jeremy's used a wonderful little illustration to explain to us the generosity of God in giving us this day. And I found this really helpful. He said, if a man gave you £700 to use, on condition that you use £100 for him, would that be considered unreasonable? Of course not. He says, in Jeremy's words, only a wolf's sense of entitlement would insist that the giver had no right to impose any conditions at all. And here's the wonderful thing. That £100 that you give back to the Lord, figuratively speaking, has a return, an interest, that pays dividend far more than anything you spend this other £600 on. Isn't that wonderful? This is a day for man's pleasure. It is a day for your pleasure. But that pleasure is not found in your own pleasure. It's found in God's pleasure. It's found in God's ways. It's found in God's word. We've got to, I think, again, get out of our mind. This is not a day where you turn away from everything that is pleasant to that which is unpleasant. And it's not even a day where you turn away from that which is unpleasant to that which is pleasant. Every good gift is from God. It's OK to play football, to watch football, to enjoy good gifts if they're wholesome and pure and lovely. It's OK to do that. It's a day from turning to what is pleasurable to that which is even more pleasurable. That's the distinction we need to have in our minds. It's a day from turning away from the created to the creator. It's a day from not finding rest in strivings and the daily hustle and bustle of life. It's a day of stopping, taking a breath, and enjoying the view of our almighty and glorious God revealed to us in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And if you're concerned with, I just wanted to caveat this point, if you're concerned with the idea of blessing in the Christian, because I think this is an issue, within the eldership, we've been muddling this over actually together, because it is a kind of a hard one, because I'm saved by grace, I can't earn God's favor and yet he promises blessing for obedience. Now I hope the illustration I used of the child in the relationship with your parents helps you on that one. But I think we need to re-emphasize the scripture's own teaching on this subject. For example, is it true the Bible teaches rewards for Christians for their faithfulness? It is, isn't it? And that reward will vary from person to person. You're not loved more or loved less, but God can't help but reward faithful service because he's just and because he's good and because he's faithful. Wouldn't it be a terrible thing if Hugh Latimer or any of the great Protestants that burnt at the stake or Tyndale were not rewarded for their devotion to the Lord? They were saved by grace, friends. They were not saved by their works. God didn't love them more because of their service, but it's perfectly legitimate that God should reward their faithfulness and their devotion to him. And I think if we take out the idea of God rewarding and God blessing, we lose one of the huge motivations for zealous Christian living. Because God is no man's debtor, friends. And if I'm asking myself, why should I go to this great lengths? Of course, one of the answers is legitimately because Christ gave himself for you, absolutely. But positively, and to add to that, and to add more layers to that, because of this, God promises me, nothing that I do will be in vain. I will reap, whether in this life or the life to come. Now, of course, for the true Christian, the reward isn't stuff. I'm persuaded that the reward will be a greater experience of God. That what will differentiate Christians in a new heaven and new earth, the reward will be some will be given greater experience of God because of their service for God. Now, none of us will be jealous because we'll all be taken up with what God is giving us of himself, and it will be amazing, and it will be wonderful. And if you're like the thief on the cross who slipped in at the last minute, he will be delighting in God, shining in Jesus at this very moment. But that's not to say the Apostle Paul, who went to great lengths, will be given wonderful, is being given tremendous privilege as he beholds his God. So I hope that helps. You know, we have to, I don't think, we've got to say it's okay to talk about God blessing obedience. It's okay to talk like that. And then the promise is, I'm going to wish through these, wish through these, because time has run away, it really has. Well, you shall delight yourself in the Lord. Wonderful. Wonderful. He promises himself to me on this day. I will actually delight myself in the Lord. He promises me joy. Do we find sometimes ministry isn't a blessing to us? Well, it may be the fault may lie with the preacher, of course. That's a perfect consideration. But it may also, could it be suggested that perhaps we've not approached this day in the right way? My text sells me here. If we call the Sabbath a delight, we will delight ourselves in the Lord. It's a promise, and it's not conditional. It's only conditional on our delighting ourselves in the Lord, but there's no one who does that who will not find blessing in the Lord's house, in His word. where promise victory, I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth. Now again, I haven't got the time to unpack that kind of language, but in Deuteronomy chapter 32, verse 13, that language is included in the Song of Moses as they've been delivered from their enemies around them. It's language which speaks of triumphing over their enemies, riding on the high hills of the earth, overcoming all the obstacles that are in your way. What a very interesting promise. God is promising His people who seek Him on this day spiritual victory. Having trouble with besetting sins? Having trouble with sins which cling so closely? Having trouble with particular patterns of behavior? Well, we're promised here, my friends, if we delight ourselves in the Lord and call the Sabbath holy, He's promising us spiritual victory here. that our approach to this day will give us resource and strength to overcome our enemies. And could it be said therefore also, that's speaking on the individual scale, that the reason the church, it's just a thought for you to mull over, the reason the church is so weak today and is on the retreat, could it be that because the church doesn't call the Sabbath a delight? He can't cause us to ride on the high hills of the earth. He can't cause us to triumph if we're not delighting in Him. I think that's personally a fair suggestion, that until God's people start coming back to the Lord in this way, there won't be victory over our enemies. We won't have a triumphant church in this land. And as I've mentioned it to you before, in revivals, these two things will go hand in hand. The Sabbath is kept holy. And thirdly, and lastly then, there's that enjoyment of promise, isn't there? Enjoyment of promise. I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father. Now, what is all that about? Well, that's referring to the promise that was given to Jacob to inherit the land. And you think, lands, that's a strange promise. Well, the land was just a type, a picture of the new heaven and the new earth. The powers of the age to come. And what we're being told here is that when Sabbath observance is characteristic of God's people, it's an assurance that we will inherit the land. We will inherit the promises. But I think not just in the life to come. I think a foretaste in this life. In Hebrews, something that's very interesting, Hebrews 6, in a very controversial passage about believers who experienced God's power, but yet have fallen away. One of the things that is said that they experienced was the powers of the age to come. What that means is that as Christians, we are those who have a glimpse and a foretaste of heavenly realities. That we know something in our lives of the powers of the age to come. So, that fulfilment which we'll find is ultimate fulfilment when he comes again and he makes all things new, but I think there's a sense in which God will, in his grace, as we delight in his day and in him on this day, he will cause us to inherit, enjoy, experience what is rightfully ours in foretaste and in deposit form. Now, what a mouth-watering prospect. These are the promises. Time's run out. These are the promises. But I'm sure that any Christian who loves God, who loves Christ, is going to avail themselves of any opportunity to know him more, grow in his experience of him, and to enjoy these kinds of blessings. I want joy. I want spiritual victory. I want a strong church. and I want to experience a foretaste of what is to come here on Earth now. These are what's offered for me. Now, of course, unbelievers will mock. Unbelievers will mock at us and laugh at us, but this hymn came to mind as I was preparing this. Savior of Zion's city, I through grace a member am. Let the world deride or pity. I will glory in thy name. Fading is the worldling's pleasure. All his boasted pomp and show, solid joys and lasting treasure, none but Zion's children know. They can have the world. Give me Jesus. And my friends, if we are devoted to God on this day, Not only will we have great blessings, I believe, for us, but we will proclaim to a world, a sick world, a dark world, desperately around us, that the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace, and joy. And my friends, peace and joy are things our society desperately needs to know. May we all in these dark days keep the Lord's Day holy, in the right spirit, with the right motives. May we work this out together. May we not be in a judgmental spirit. May we be gracious to one another. May we bear with those who are struggling. May we lift up those who need lifting up. May we encourage those who are faint-hearted. May we instruct those who need clarity. May we be patient with one another as we seek to do this. And may God cause us to ride on the high hills of the earth. Amen.