is Isaiah chapter 58. Isaiah chapter 58. Cry aloud. Spare not. Lift up thy voice like a trumpet. and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice. They take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast for strife, and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou covers him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee. The glory of the Lord shall be thy re-reward. Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer. Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am, if thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke. the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity, if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light arise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day. And the Lord shall guide thee continually. and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old places, thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord, hath spoken it." So far we read God's holy word. Based on that passage and many others is the instruction of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 38. Lord's Day 38 is the exposition of the fourth commandment Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work. Now in this Lord's day, the catechism asks in 103, what doth God require in the fourth commandment? And the answer, first, that the ministry of the gospel and the schools be maintained, and that I, especially on the Sabbath, that is, on the day of rest, diligently frequent the church of God, to hear his word, to use the sacraments, publicly to call upon the Lord, and contribute to the relief of the poor as becomes a Christian. Secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works and yield myself to the Lord to work by his Holy Spirit in me, and thus begin in this life the eternal Sabbath. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, as we approach this Lord's Day on the fourth commandment, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, we consider the question, what place does the Sabbath have in the kingdom? This Lord's Day makes it plain that the Sabbath day is about God's covenant. The fourth commandment teaches us that God is a covenant God. He is the triune living God. He enjoys the eternal life of love and fellowship within Himself as the triune God. And God is determined to bring His people into that covenant life in and through the Mediator, Jesus Christ. That His people might live together with God in covenant fellowship. But God has also determined an eternal kingdom. So how do those two things fit together, the covenant of God and the kingdom of God? Covenant has to do with life, that is, with living with each other and living with God Kingdom is the rule of Jesus Christ. Where Jesus Christ rules, there is structure, there is order. Where Jesus Christ rules, there is peace, there is justice and protection from evil and harm. In that kind of a kingdom, the citizens can live and work happily. There is peace there. They can enjoy life because the government enforces law and order. We have that in our country to a great extent, at least in our area of the country. where the government establishes law and order, and that means we're not really afraid as we sit here that someone might come in and do us harm. We can go home and enjoy life in the home. We can worship, we can work, we can have school, and we're not living in fear of threats. Well, the kingdom of Jesus Christ will have no threats at all. No violence, no harm can be done there. There will be perfect righteousness, perfect justice in his kingdom. And because of the perfect peace in the kingdom, the citizens of that kingdom can live the life of the covenant so that in a sense you could say the kingdom is the structure law and order and the rule of Jesus Christ where the glory of God is revealed and then within that kingdom the people of God can live in fellowship with each other and in fellowship with God. Now the Sabbath is rest And to understand what that means, to explain what that means, the Bible uses the word rest, Sabbath, in a number of different ways to help us grasp what is ultimately the eternal Sabbath. There is first of all the Sabbath day, the very first one on the creation week. God created for six days, and the seventh day He rested. God was not tired. God did not need a break. So when God rested, what did that mean? It meant He looked over everything that He had made, and He enjoyed it. It was His handiwork. It was His glory that was being reflected to Him, and He rejoiced in it. That's the rest of the Sabbath, God enjoying His own work. And then there's the land of rest, Canaan, a land of rest. And God gave Israel the land and promised that he would dwell with them in that land. The people could enjoy God's gift of the land to them. It was a land flowing with milk and honey, a place of peace and prosperity, especially under Solomon. and the people could live and work happily in the land of rest. That teaches us something more about the Sabbath. Then there's our Sabbath. Our Sabbath was changed to the first day of the week. And the reason why it was changed to the first day of the week is because on that day, the first day of the week, God accomplished, through Jesus Christ, the great work of salvation. Jesus suffered and died, and God sealed the work of Jesus, atoning death, by raising him from the dead And therefore, as we have a Sabbath day, we are resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ and enjoying the blessings of salvation. We only have those blessings in principle, in seed form, but we are enjoying the rest, that is, enjoying the finished work of Jesus' salvation. What then is the eternal Sabbath? The Heidelberg Catechism makes mention of that. The eternal Sabbath. Well, that's heaven. And what will we do in heaven? We will enjoy the blessings that Christ earned for us in the cross. But you see, that's what I just said our Sabbath today is, enjoying the blessings that Christ earned for us in the cross. And now, eternally, that will be the Sabbath, enjoying the blessings that Christ earned for us in the cross, now in principle, but then in a much greater degree. So there's a very direct connection between our Sabbath and the eternal Sabbath, so much so that you could say this Sabbath that we have is just preparing us for the eternal. And this Sabbath is a foretaste of the eternal Sabbath. And you could say this is just the beginning of the eternal Sabbath. And that's the three points of the sermon. Let's look then at the kingdom law, the fourth commandment, which teaches us, remember the Sabbath day. Remember the Sabbath day. And we'll notice, first of all, preparation. Secondly, foretaste. And thirdly, beginning. Our Sabbath is preparation for the eternal Sabbath. The main way, the main means rather, that God uses to prepare us for the eternal Sabbath is preaching. Preaching. Catechism starts right off with that. What does God require in the fourth commandment? That the ministry of the gospel be maintained. And that I come to church to hear the preaching. Why is preaching the main way that God prepares us? Well, first of all, because the preaching teaches us about the blessings of salvation that we will enjoy in the eternal Sabbath. We need to be taught about the eternal Sabbath. We are of the earth worthy We can study all kinds of things about the earth. We can learn about continents and oceans. We can learn about trees. We can learn about animals. We can study stars and planets, and we can study the creatures of the deep ocean. But we know little about heaven. If you were told that you are going to be transported by the U.S. government to a place called Kazakhstan. Would you prepare for that? Or would you just wait for the day when the government dropped you off in Kazakhstan and said, well, here I am? Would you not Would it not be far better if you would study something about Kazakhstan? That you would study the geography, and the laws, and the government, and who's the ruler there, and what's the food like there, and what are the customs there, and maybe I should learn a few words of the place where I'm going to live. And the more you learned, the better prepared you would be for living there. And the more you learned, perhaps the more excited you would be about it, because, oh, they have this there, and they have that, and that's beautiful, and we can do that when we go to this strange new land. People of God, you're going to heaven. Do you know anything about it? Heaven is not this earth. Heaven is the place of angels. Heaven is the place where the saints are who have died and gone before. Heaven is the place of the church triumphant. There is no need of the sun there, or of the moon, because the glory of God lightens heaven. There's no sin there. There's no sorrow there. There's no death. There's no growing old. There's not even a getting tired in heaven. There are not separate continents there. There are not different nations that live all by themselves in isolation. It's the kingdom of Jesus Christ, but that's the kingdom of God, of course. It's his kingdom, and the ruler of his kingdom is not someone that the people elect, but the ruler is the king appointed by God himself, his own son, and God has invested him with all power and authority, and every good that ever comes to anyone in that whole kingdom has to go through the king. Every blessing comes from him. Are you preparing yourself for the place where you are going? Preaching prepares us by teaching us about God and His kingdom. teaching us about the King to whom God has given all power and all authority, teaching us about His wisdom, His majesty, but also His love and His grace and His mercy We will get to meet Him face to face, this King of that kingdom, and we will possess the blessings of eternal life, the blessings we now have but in principle, in seed form, if you will, but then grown beautifully and developed and bestowed upon us. Preaching prepares us for that. Preaching should get us excited about where we're going and it strengthens our faith and our hope that we're going there. That's what preaching does. So God prepares us by instructing us in preaching about the place we are going. But the second way that preaching is preparation, preaching is more than merely information. Preaching is, in fact, the power of God unto salvation. And salvation is salvation from sin unto everlasting life. Preaching is the power of God unto salvation in everyone that believes. Preaching is a power that prepares us spiritually for heaven. Heaven is God's dwelling place. Are you ready? Are you ready to stand before God? Are you ready to stand there before the throne of the Almighty God and the throne of the Lamb? Are you ready for that? Preaching strengthens our faith and the hope of the life of heaven. It is a means of grace, preaching is, because it strengthens our faith, and everything we receive comes to us by that bond of faith. Faith is our connection to the King already there upon the throne. It's our connection to Him. And every blessing is already flowing to us. Even though it's in principle, it's already flowing to us from Jesus Christ. That sustains our spiritual life. It strengthens our spiritual life. And again, that's the life of heaven. Spiritual life. You can see then why the first thing that the catechism brings up is this. The fourth commandment demands that we maintain the preaching of the gospel. What does that mean? What's included in that maintaining the gospel? Well, the ministry of the gospel must be maintained by supporting it financially. The people of God give generously to be sure that preachers are supported. Paul stressed this to the Corinthians. He says they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel. They shouldn't have a necessity for another job. They should live of the gospel. The people to whom he preaches should support him in that way. So when we give in the genera fund We are, yes, paying for the electricity and the heat. We're paying for the maintenance of the building and the janitor. But the main point of the general fund is the preaching. The support of the gospel ministry is the main part of the general fund. And that's so that the minister can devote himself to the work of preaching. That's found in the call letter to the minister. Every minister that gets a call from a congregation receives a letter that says this, to encourage you in the discharge of your duties, and to free you from all worldly cares and evocations while you are dispensing spiritual blessings to us, we, the elders and deacons of the Sud PRC, do promise and oblige yourselves to pay you." And then they say what they will pay. So financial support. But if there will be the gospel maintained, there must be preachers. And that's part of the reason why the catechism immediately goes on to the schools. The schools. Because if no one in the congregation or the churches gets an education, There will be no ministers. They need an education to be a minister. So everything from kindergarten on up is a way of us saying we're looking for ministers to come out of our schools. and that all the way up to the seminary, and that too is part of what is in the general fund that we give week after week, the support of the seminary, that they may have people to train ministers for the pulpit. But if there will be ministers, if the gospel will be maintained, there must be young men who seek the ministry of the word. If not, if there are no young men, there will soon be no ministers, and the people of God will no longer hear the gospel. Young men, pray seriously before God, and ask him whether you are called by God himself to the ministry. Pray. Someone who is called to the ministry will love the church and will love God. And if you find either of those lacking in your life, that's something we all need to pray for, a greater love for God and a love for his church. a love for his truth. Someone whom God calls must enjoy studying. We can pray for that too, to grow in our love for the word and our desire to study the word. That's a good prayer for all of us. And if a young man has that, then he ought to seek counsel from parents, From office bearers in the church, from professors in the seminary, do you see that I might have qualifications for the ministry? Seek counsel. Talk to others to know whether they see qualifications for the ministry. But all of us need to be praying for more ministers. for men who are strongly devoted to the church and to the truth of Jesus Christ. Even as Satan tries to make the church loathsome in the eyes of the world and of the church, Satan wants us to witness division, ugly division, to hear loud condemnation of the church of Jesus Christ. Satan wants to discourage us by departures from the churches of members and ministers, to be discouraged by many vacancies. But the believer loves the church. She's the bride of Jesus Christ, the temple of God, the sheepfold of Christ, the church that is one, that is holy, that is Catholic, the essential class, I hope, is recognizing what we've been studying about the church when I say these things. The first requirement of the Sabbath is maintaining the gospel ministry. From all of this, it should be obvious how vital it is for us to be here in church on the Lord's Day, every opportunity we can. that the Catechism points out, that I diligently frequent the house of God. That's where the Word of God comes to us as His people, teaching us about God, teaching us about His kingdom and life in heaven, and strengthening that life, that life that does long for heaven, wants to be there in the presence of God, God has given us a Sabbath day when we can go to church to learn where we're going, preparing us for the eternal Sabbath. But the second requirement, which is also still preparation, is maintaining the Christian school. We've said that an education is necessary for ministries, but an education is important for the entire congregation as far as preparation for the kingdom of heaven is concerned. This does not mean that everyone has to seek to have a higher degree. that we all ought to pursue things like being a doctor or an engineer or a college professor. But education, obviously, gives us the ability to read, the ability to study, the ability to use our minds in the service of God. Is that important? What's the summary of the law that I read Sunday after Sunday and tonight? Love God with all your heart, and then what? Your mind. Love God with your mind. Develop your mind so that you can use that mind to serve God. That's what education does. It equips the young believers' minds. It gives them knowledge that they can use so that they can serve God. That's the goal of education, developing their minds so that they can be fitted to kingdom service, serving God. Christian education gives knowledge of God in all subjects. That's why it's such a blessing to have Christian school teachers who devote their lives to this. They grow continually, not merely in the ability to teach—that's great—to teach math and science and English better and better as they go through the years, but especially to be able to take the Word of God and say, This is at the core of history that I'm teaching. This is how we are to understand mathematics. This is why we study English, and to bring it all in the light of the Word of God. That's what Christian education is. Christ is at the center, otherwise it isn't Christian. Schools are preparing our children for kingdom service, not service that goes out and does good works for this world, but kingdom service, serving Jesus Christ in his kingdom. Christian schools must be maintained. solid support, not half-hearted support of Christian schools, promoting them, praying for them, being involved in them, encouraging our youth to be teachers in those schools, supporting and encouraging teachers in their high calling. Because, you understand, that while it's true our schools are preparing them by giving them a knowledge to be able to live in this world in the service of Jesus Christ, ultimately the teacher should understand and does that these children on their way to heaven That's ultimately where the goal is of all my instruction that their minds are focused on God and that somehow, somehow the instruction they are receiving from me is preparation for the kingdom that is eternal. Solid support. Financial support. It is fitting that week after week, the Sunday morning service has an offering for Christian schools. Support of our schools should be top priority in our lives. No Protestant Reform member should take a vacation if the tuition is not paid. Far more important than vacations. A very practical point of view. Think of how our schools touch on our Sabbath days right here and now, giving our children the ability to read, giving them some sense of what's good literature to read, so that our children on the Sabbath day can read the Bible, they can read the Beacon Lights, grow up to read the Standard Bearer, read good profitable literature, so much preparation for the eternal Sabbath. So that, first of all, our Sabbath, Maintaining the gospel ministry, coming to hear the gospel ministry, maintaining Christian schools is part of God's preparation of us for the eternal. Secondly, our Sabbath is a foretaste of the eternal Sabbath. In what ways is that true, that our Sabbath is a foretaste? First of all, because it is a day of rest. And that means putting aside everything we possibly can of the earthly in order to investigate, enjoy, the things that are heavenly and spiritual. We rest from everything that is earthly, the ordinary activities of life. That means not only the job that dad has, that he doesn't go to work that day, But it also means the ordinary things of school, the ordinary things of homework and play. We put that aside. We put aside fixing anything in the house that might need repairs. We put aside cleaning and baking. But surely we put aside the entertainment of the world. The television set is not what occupies their time on a Sunday. The Internet, immersing ourselves in surfing the Internet and all kinds of ways of communicating socially, that's not what's taking up our time on the Lord's Day. Anything earthly that diverts our attention from the heavenly, we want to put aside. That's part of the rest of the Sabbath day. We put aside the toil the toil of this life. Work in this life involves toil, whether it's study in school, in high school or college, that we set aside, and that also if it's construction work or office work, we rest from our toil. This life is toil. But when we look ahead to heaven, that's not toil. That work will be joyful. That work will never be something we'll say, I'm sick of this. I don't feel like doing this anymore. We'll never have that feeling in heaven. It will be a perfect joy to be able to work in heaven. So when we set aside our earthly labors and the toil of this work, we are in fact in a certain sense experiencing a foretaste of the eternal Sabbath. It's also a rest rest from everything earthly, a rest from the toil of this life. It's rest because it is a ceasing from sin. Ceasing from sin. Psalm 38.3 says, I have no rest in my bones because of my sin. Ceasing from sin is part of the rest of eternal life. That's why this day is called holy. Holy because it's separated from Monday through Saturday, but holy also because we're striving in this day to keep sin down, to put sin out of our lives. Resting is not inactivity, but it's rather using the Sabbath day for good. Jesus healed the sick on the Sabbath day. Likewise, we can use the day for that which is good for others. Visiting the lonely, visiting those who are shut-ins and in the hospital and contributing to the relief of the poor is part of that. It's giving, it's doing good. We're thankful we have deacons who love the church and who are eager to help people who need help and eager that we can give, thankful we can give also to that cause and assist personally when possible. This is a foretaste of heaven, resting from everything earthly, resting from the toil of this world, taking away, removing sin as much as possible from our life, and doing good, and showing love to fellow saints. And the eternal Sabbath, that's what life will be. Showing love. In the eternal Sabbath, you will not have a little group of friends, and that's all you have. You will never be excluded from any group in heaven, because the whole wide expanse of heaven and earth will have an innumerable company of friends. who would love to assist you. Each one unique, each one having a gift that they are able to give in a certain way. And you will have a certain ability that you will be able to give and assist others in the kingdom, whatever that will be like. The kingdom of heaven will not be independent citizens all doing their own thing. not like America. This, the kingdom of heaven, the joy will be fellowship. The joy will be giving of self to others in the service of the King. We have a foretaste of that in this life. But as to foretaste, it's especially on the Sabbath day that We have a delight in God. A delight in God, and that especially in the worship service. We come to church. We come to church whenever possible because we're seeking God. Worship is fellowship. We come into his house. That's where God dwells in a special way. We bow before him. We repent of our sins. We confess our sins before Him. We express gratitude to God for all that He has done for us. We humble ourselves, acknowledging that we are nothing, we are insignificant and worse than that. We're sinners before a holy God. He's great. He's glorious. He's worthy of all praise. And when we come to church, we delve into that. We delve into the greatness of God and we marvel at it. The greatness of God in His creating work. The greatness of God in His providence. The greatness of God in His salvation. We look at the great work of the church, this mighty work of God. And we marvel at the wisdom and the beauty of God reflected in the church. We see the salvation of Jesus Christ and how it is applied to the church. Regeneration, calling, faith, justification, and all the other blessings that are given to the church. And we marvel at God's greatness and His grace. Through it all, we come to know God better. And that, said Jesus, that is eternal life. This is eternal life, John 17 3, that they might know thee. and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. This is eternal life. This is what heaven is all about. Knowing God. Enjoying God. That's the eternal Sabbath. So we come to his house and worship and fellowship. We fellowship by bringing our prayers to Him and singing His praises. We confess His name when we confess our faith, and we hear our King speaking to us the Word of God, telling us about God and about the blessings of salvation. In the kingdom of heaven, We will enjoy the eternal Sabbath, discovering more and more about this God. So you understand, God has given us a Sabbath day when we can learn more about Him so that there will be a foretaste of what the joy of heaven will be, learning about God, marveling at His glory and His goodness to us. So consider your Sabbath now for a moment and evaluate. If your Sabbath is a day when you can catch up on sleep. Or as a college student or high school student, I'm busy Friday, I'm busy Saturday, but Sunday I can catch up on my homework. Or if we are immersing ourselves in the world of the internet, or God forbid, NFL football, citizen of the kingdom, you're wasting the day. You're wasting the day. Heaven is not that. Heaven is not homework. Heaven is not the internet. Heaven is not football. Heaven is the great joy of knowing God, growing in that knowledge, seeing God face-to-face in Jesus Christ. Rejoice in God today. Use the day As God said in Isaiah 58, call the Sabbath a delight. Cease from your own works. Cease from your own thoughts. Call the Sabbath a delight. Let this Sabbath day and every day of the Sabbath be a foretaste of the eternal. It's preparation. It's a foretaste. And it's a beginning. It's a beginning. And that's especially the last part of this question, this answer. Secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works and yield myself to the Lord to work by His Holy Spirit in me, and thus begin, begin in this life the eternal Sabbath. All the days of my life yield myself to the Lord. What does that mean? To yield myself to the Lord. Understand that by nature we are enemies of the Lord. We have been purchased by Jesus Christ out of sin, and he gives us commandments, but our nature is rebellious, devoted to sin, and delighting in every violation of the commandments. Christ has set up his throne in our hearts. He rules us by his grace and his spirit and word. And yet, each one of us can be dominated by our old man of sin. Romans 6 warns us about that. Romans chapter 6 verse 12 says, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Don't let your old man rule you. Don't let sin rule you. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Don't do that. But yield yourselves unto God. It's the same language as the Heidelberg Catechism. Yield to the Lord. And obviously what Romans is teaching us is fight sin. Fight sin. Do not allow it to have dominion over you. You have a new life of Jesus Christ and yielding to Him means that you're living according to that life, not the life of your nature, not what we normally would follow naturally. If we find when we get up and we get going that there really isn't any struggle, then we're probably simply following the old nature down the paths of sin. There has to be a struggle here because naturally we'll follow sin. There must be something I'm saying no to. No, not that. Not that music. Not that way of life. This way. There has to be a redirection. That's yielding to the Lord. and then living out of the work of the Spirit in us. We aren't left on our own. Jesus does not give us commands and say, now get going. You have to do this. He gives us His Spirit, and His Spirit is working. That's what the Catechism says. Yield yourself to the Lord, and then live according to the work of the Spirit in you. And if you want to see the difference, look at Galatians chapter 5, and it says this is what you're going to find in your nature. And it gives a whole long list. I won't read it all, but it starts with adultery and fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, envies, revelings, and all of those who live in that will not enter the kingdom of heaven. That's contrary to the kingdom through the eternal Sabbath. But the fruit of the Spirit is things like love and joy and peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness. Against such there is no law. So the fourth commandment says, it demands of us, don't walk according to your own nature. Live yielding yourself to Jesus Christ. The Spirit works in us. and we must live out of that. He works sorrow for sin, and we must live out of that and repent of our sins. He works obedience and good works in us, and we live out of that by His power. That's the only hope we have, that the Spirit is in us, and we're living out of His work. But how is that now related to our Sabbath? Well, first of all, in worship, the power to fight sin, the power to live unto God, is very much related to the worship service, because it's the preaching of the gospel that equips us. It's the preaching that is the means of grace that the Spirit uses to direct us away from sin unto righteousness, gives us strength to fight. When we use the means God gives us and we take the time on the Lord's Day to study the Word of God, we are being equipped to yield to the Lord and to live out of the work of the Spirit. And Sunday is our motivation for that. Again, Think about this, if your mind is crammed full with work, and sports, and recreation, and vacations, and homes, and cars, and all the things that you have to deal with Monday through Saturday, if that's what's filling your brain, and then Sunday comes, but it's a day for sleeping, Or it's a day for enduring an hour and a half of worship in the morning and an hour and a half of worshiping at night. If that's what Sunday is like for you, heaven is not going to be on your mind Monday through Saturday. It won't be important. won't be something you're looking forward to. You will not yield yourself to the Lord. You will not be beginning the eternal Sabbath. You'll be just like the world. But if the Sabbath is your delight, because this is a day you get to learn more about God, this is a day you get to fellowship with Him in a special way, delight in hearing what God, what Jesus has done for us. Yes, you're still going to have to go out and live in the Babylon of this world. You're still going to have to work for a time here. But God says, there is coming a day. I'll take you out of that. I'll take you out of the Babylon of this world. I will bring you unto myself, and you will enjoy the eternal Sabbath. Now you just get a foretaste, now you just get a brief respite one day out of seven, but then an eternity of life and fellowship and joy in God. So you see, we're beginning that. As we live unto Jesus Christ, we're beginning our eternal Sabbath. What a blessing that God has given to us our Sabbath day. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we give Thee thanks. Thy wisdom is matchless. Thou hast given Thy people a place that they must live for a time in the midst of this wicked world And yet, to encourage and strengthen and to motivate, Thou hast given us the Sabbath. Lord, forgive us when we misuse it. Forgive us when we fail to use it as we ought. And use even this tonight to direct us to see how important it is to have this preparation for the eternal, and that it is indeed, if used well, a foretaste of the eternal. Lord, equip us to live day by day unto the King Jesus. We pray this in his name alone. Amen. We sing of that rest in Psalter number 56. The Lord is my shepherd, of course, Psalm 23. My shepherd is the Lord who knows my need, and I am blessed by quiet streams and pastures green. He leads and makes me rest. The three stanzas, number 56. ♪ Jesus Christ is born in Bethlehem ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, ♪ Son of God, Son of God, Lord God of Hosts ♪ so you The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen. so you Is Isaiah chapter 58, Isaiah chapter 58. Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgression and the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinances of justice. They take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not. Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast, ye find pleasure, and exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high, Is it such a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou covers him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee. The glory of the Lord shall be thy re-reward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity, if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light arise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day. And the Lord shall guide thee continually. and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. And they that shall be of thee shall build the old places, thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shalt honor him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father, for the mouth of the Lord, hath spoken it." So far we read God's holy word. Based on that passage and many others is the instruction of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 38. Lord's Day 38 is the exposition of the fourth commandment Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God, in it thou shalt not do any work. Now in this Lord's day, the catechism asks in 103, what doth God require in the fourth commandment? And the answer, first, that the ministry of the gospel and the schools be maintained, and that I, especially on the Sabbath, that is, on the day of rest, diligently frequent the church of God, to hear his word, to use the sacraments, publicly to call upon the Lord, and contribute to the relief of the poor as becomes a Christian. Secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works and yield myself to the Lord to work by his Holy Spirit in me, and thus begin in this life the eternal Sabbath. Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ, as we approach this Lord's Day on the fourth commandment, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, we consider the question, what place does the Sabbath have in the kingdom? This Lord's Day makes it plain that the Sabbath day is about God's covenant. The fourth commandment teaches us that God is a covenant God. He is the triune living God. He enjoys the eternal life of love and fellowship within himself as the triune God. And God is determined to bring his people into that covenant life in and through the Mediator, Jesus Christ, that his people might live together with God in covenant fellowship. But God has also determined an eternal kingdom. So how do those two things fit together, the covenant of God and the kingdom of God? Covenant has to do with life, that is, with living with each other and living with God. Kingdom is the rule of Jesus Christ. Where Jesus Christ rules, there is structure, there is order. Where Jesus Christ rules, there is peace. There is justice and protection from evil and harm. In that kind of a kingdom, the citizens can live and work happily. There is peace there. They can enjoy life because the government enforces law and order. We have that in our country to a great extent, at least in our area of the country. where the government establishes law and order, and that means we're not really afraid as we sit here that someone might come in and do us harm. We can go home and enjoy life in the home. We can worship, we can work, we can have school, and we're not living in fear of threats. Well, the kingdom of Jesus Christ will have no threats at all. no violence, no harm can be done there. There will be perfect righteousness, perfect justice in his kingdom. And because of the perfect peace in the kingdom, the citizens of that kingdom can live the life of the covenant. So that in a sense you could say the kingdom is the structure, law and order and the rule of Jesus Christ where the glory of God is revealed and then within that kingdom the people of God can live in fellowship with each other and in fellowship with God. Now the Sabbath is rest. And to understand what that means, to explain what that means, the Bible uses the word rest, Sabbath, in a number of different ways to help us grasp what is ultimately the eternal Sabbath. There is first of all the Sabbath day, the very first one on the creation week. God created for six days, and the seventh day He rested. God was not tired. God did not need a break. So when God rested, what did that mean? It meant he looked over everything that he had made and he enjoyed it. It was his handiwork. It was his glory that was being reflected to him and he rejoiced in it. That's the rest of the Sabbath, God enjoying his own work. And then there's the land of rest, Canaan, a land of rest. And God gave Israel the land and promised that he would dwell with them in that land. The people could enjoy God's gift of the land to them. It was a land flowing with milk and honey, a place of peace and prosperity, especially under Solomon. and the people could live and work happily in the land of rest. That teaches us something more about the Sabbath. Then there's our Sabbath. Our Sabbath was changed to the first day of the week. And the reason why it was changed to the first day of the week is because on that day, the first day of the week, God accomplished, through Jesus Christ, the great work of salvation. Jesus suffered and died, and God sealed the work of Jesus, atoning death, by raising him from the dead And therefore, as we have a Sabbath day, we are resting in the finished work of Jesus Christ and enjoying the blessings of salvation. We only have those blessings in principle, in seed form, but we are enjoying the rest, that is, enjoying the finished work of Jesus' salvation. What then is the eternal Sabbath? The Heidelberg Catechism makes mention of that. The eternal Sabbath. Well that's heaven. And what will we do in heaven? We will enjoy the blessings that Christ earned for us in the cross. But you see, that's what I just said our Sabbath today is, enjoying the blessings that Christ earned for us in the cross. And now, eternally, that will be the Sabbath, enjoying the blessings that Christ earned for us in the cross. Now in principle, but then in a much greater degree. So there's a very direct connection between our Sabbath and the eternal Sabbath, so much so that you could say this Sabbath that we have is just preparing us for the eternal. And this Sabbath is a foretaste of the eternal Sabbath. And you could say this is just the beginning of the eternal Sabbath. And that's the three points of the sermon. Let's look then at the kingdom law, the fourth commandment, which teaches us, remember the Sabbath day. Remember the Sabbath day. And we'll notice, first of all, preparation. Secondly, foretaste. And thirdly, beginning. Our Sabbath is preparation for the eternal Sabbath. The main way, the main means rather, that God uses to prepare us for the eternal Sabbath is preaching. Preaching. The Catechism starts right off with that. What does God require in the fourth commandment? That the ministry of the gospel be maintained. And that I come to church to hear the preaching. Why is preaching the main way that God prepares us? Well, first of all, because the preaching teaches us about the blessings of salvation that we will enjoy in the eternal Sabbath. We need to be taught about the eternal Sabbath. We are on the earth worthy We can study all kinds of things about the earth. We can learn about continents and oceans. We can learn about trees. We can learn about animals. We can study stars and planets. And we can study the creatures of the deep ocean. But we know little about heaven. If you were told that you are going to be transported by the U.S. government to a place called Kazakhstan. Would you prepare for that? Or would you just wait for the day when the government dropped you off in Kazakhstan and said, well, here I am? Would you not Would it not be far better if you would study something about Kazakhstan, that you would study the geography and the laws and the government and who's the ruler there and what's the food like there and what are the customs there? And maybe I should learn a few words of the place where I'm going to live. And the more you learned, the better prepared you would be for living there. And the more you learned, perhaps the more excited you would be about it, because, oh, they have this there, and they have that, and that's beautiful, and we can do that when we go to this strange new land. People of God, you're going to heaven. Do you know anything about it? Heaven is not this earth. Heaven is the place of angels. Heaven is the place where the saints are who have died and gone before. Heaven is the place of the church triumphant. There is no need of the sun there, or of the moon, because the glory of God lightens heaven. There's no sin there. There's no sorrow there. There's no death. There's no growing old. There's not even a getting tired in heaven. There are not separate continents there. There are not different nations that live all by themselves in isolation. It's the kingdom of Jesus Christ, but that's the kingdom of God, of course, it's his kingdom, and the ruler of his kingdom is not someone that the people elect, but the ruler is the king appointed by God himself, his own son, and God has invested him with all power and authority, and every good that ever comes to anyone in that whole kingdom has to go through the king. Every blessing comes from him. Are you preparing yourself for the place where you are going? Preaching prepares us by teaching us about God and His kingdom. Teaching us about the King. to whom God has given all power and all authority, teaching us about His wisdom, His majesty, but also His love and His grace and His mercy. We will get to meet Him face to face, this King of that kingdom, and we will possess the blessings of eternal life, the blessings we now have but in principle, in seed form, if you will, but then grown beautifully and developed and bestowed upon us. Preaching prepares us for that. Preaching should get us excited about where we're going and it strengthens our faith and our hope that we're going there. That's what preaching does. So God prepares us by instructing us in preaching about the place we are going. But the second way that preaching is preparation, preaching is more than merely information. Preaching is, in fact, the power of God unto salvation. And salvation is salvation from sin unto everlasting life. Preaching is the power of God unto salvation in everyone that believes. Preaching is a power that prepares us spiritually for heaven. Heaven is God's dwelling place. Are you ready? Are you ready to stand before God? Are you ready to stand there before the throne of the Almighty God and the throne of the Lamb? Are you ready for that? Preaching strengthens our faith and the hope of the life of heaven. It is a means of grace, preaching is, because it strengthens our faith, and everything we receive comes to us by that bond of faith. Faith is our connection to the King already there upon the throne, it's our connection to Him. And every blessing is already flowing to us, even though it's in principle, it's already flowing to us from Jesus Christ. That sustains our spiritual life. It strengthens our spiritual life. And again, that's the life of heaven, spiritual life. You can see then why the first thing that the catechism brings up is this. The fourth commandment demands that we maintain the preaching of the gospel. What does that mean? What's included in that maintaining the gospel? Well, the ministry of the gospel must be maintained by supporting it financially. The people of God give generously to be sure that preachers are supported. Paul stressed this to the Corinthians. He says they that preach the gospel should live of the gospel. They shouldn't have a necessity for another job. They should live of the gospel. The people to whom he preaches should support him in that way. So when we give in the general fund We are, yes, paying for the electricity and the heat. We're paying for the maintenance of the building and the janitor. But the main point of the general fund is the preaching. The support of the gospel ministry is the main part of the general fund. And that's so that the minister can devote himself to the work of preaching. That's found in the call letter to the minister. Every minister that gets a call from a congregation receives a letter that says this, to encourage you in the discharge of your duties, and to free you from all worldly cares and evocations while you are dispensing spiritual blessings to us, we, the elders and deacons of the Sud PRC, do promise and oblige yourselves to pay you." And then they say what they will pay. So financial support. But if there will be the gospel maintained, there must be preachers. And that's part of the reason why the catechism immediately goes on to the schools. The schools, because if no one in the congregation or the churches gets an education, There will be no ministers. They need an education to be a minister. So everything from kindergarten on up is a way of us saying we're looking for ministers to come out of our schools. and that all the way up to the seminary, and that too is part of what is in the general fund that we give week after week, the support of the seminary, that they may have people to train ministers for the pulpit. But if there will be ministers, if the gospel will be maintained, there must be young men who seek the ministry of the Word. If not, if there are no young men, there will soon be no ministers and the people of God will no longer hear the gospel. Young men, pray seriously before God and ask Him whether you are called by God himself to the ministry. Pray. Someone who is called to the ministry will love the church and will love God. And if you find either of those lacking in your life, that's something we all need to pray for, a greater love for God and a love for his church. love for his truth. Some of whom God calls must enjoy studying. We can pray for that too, to grow in our love for the word and our desire to study the word. That's a good prayer for all of us. And if a young man has that, then he ought to seek counsel from parents, From office bearers in the church, from professors in the seminary, do you see that I might have qualifications for the ministry? Seek counsel. Talk to others to know whether they see qualifications for the ministry. But all of us need to be praying for more ministers. for men who are strongly devoted to the church and to the truth of Jesus Christ. Even as Satan tries to make the church loathsome in the eyes of the world and of the church, Satan wants us to witness division, ugly division, to hear loud condemnation of the church of Jesus Christ. Satan wants to discourage us by departures from the churches of members and ministers, to be discouraged by many vacancies. But the believer loves the church. She's the bride of Jesus Christ, the temple of God, the sheepfold of Christ, the church that is one, that is holy, that is Catholic, the essential class, I hope, is recognizing what we've been studying about the church when I say these things. The first requirement of the Sabbath is maintaining the gospel ministry. From all of this, it should be obvious how vital it is for us to be here in church on the Lord's Day, every opportunity we can. that the Catechism points out, that I diligently frequent the house of God. That's where the Word of God comes to us as His people, teaching us about God, teaching us about His kingdom and life in heaven, and strengthening that life, that life that does long for heaven, wants to be there in the presence of God, God has given us a Sabbath day when we can go to church to learn where we're going, preparing us for the eternal Sabbath. But the second requirement, which is also still preparation, is maintaining the Christian school. We've said that an education is necessary for ministries, but an education is important for the entire congregation as far as preparation for the kingdom of heaven is concerned. This does not mean that everyone has to seek to have a higher degree. that we all ought to pursue things like being a doctor or an engineer or a college professor. But education, obviously, gives us the ability to read, the ability to study, the ability to use our minds in the service of God. Is that important? What's the summary of the law that I read Sunday after Sunday and tonight? Love God with all your heart, and then what? Your mind. Love God with your mind. Develop your mind so that you can use that mind to serve God. That's what education does. It equips the young believers' minds. It gives them knowledge that they can use so that they can serve God. That's the goal of education, developing their minds so that they can be fitted to kingdom service, serving God. Christian education gives knowledge of God in all subjects. That's why it's such a blessing to have Christian school teachers who devote their lives to this. They grow continually, not merely in the ability to teach, that's great, to teach math and science and English better and better as they go through the years, but especially to be able to take the Word of God and say, this is at the core of history that I'm teaching. This is This is how we are to understand mathematics. This is why we study English, and to bring it all in the light of the Word of God. That's what Christian education is. Christ is at the center. Otherwise it isn't Christian. Schools are preparing our children for kingdom service. Not service that goes out and does good works for this world, but kingdom service, serving Jesus Christ in his kingdom. Christian schools must be maintained. Solid support not half-hearted support of Christian schools, promoting them, praying for them, being involved in them, encouraging our youth to be teachers in those schools, supporting and encouraging teachers in their high calling. Because, you understand, that while it's true our schools are preparing them by giving them a knowledge to be able to live in this world in the service of Jesus Christ, ultimately the teacher should understand and does that these children on their way to heaven That's ultimately where the goal is of all my instruction that their minds are focused on God and that somehow, somehow the instruction they are receiving from me is preparation for the kingdom that is eternal. Solid support. Financial support. It is fitting that week after week, the Sunday morning service has an offering for Christian schools. Support of our schools should be top priority in our lives. No Protestant Reform member should take a vacation if the tuition is not paid. Far more important than vacations. A very practical point of view. Think of how our schools touch on our Sabbath days right here and now, giving our children the ability to read, giving them some sense of what's good literature to read, so that our children on the Sabbath day can read the Bible, they can read the Beacon Lights, grow up to read the Standard Bearer, read good profitable literature, so much preparation for the eternal Sabbath. So that, first of all, our Sabbath, Maintaining the gospel ministry, coming to hear the gospel ministry, maintaining Christian schools is part of God's preparation of us for the eternal. Secondly, our Sabbath is a foretaste of the eternal Sabbath. In what ways is that true, that our Sabbath is a foretaste? First of all, because it is a day of rest. And that means putting aside everything we possibly can of the earthly in order to investigate, enjoy, the things that are heavenly and spiritual. We rest from everything that is earthly, the ordinary activities of life. That means not only the job that dad has, that he doesn't go to work that day, but it also means the ordinary things of school, the ordinary things of homework and play. We put that aside. We put aside fixing anything in the house that might need repairs. We put aside cleaning and baking. But surely we put aside the entertainment of the world. The television set is not what occupies their time on a Sunday. The Internet, immersing ourselves in surfing the Internet and all kinds of ways of communicating socially, that's not what's taking up our time on the Lord's Day. Anything earthly that diverts our attention from the heavenly, we want to put aside. That's part of the rest of the Sabbath day. We put aside the toil the toil of this life. Work in this life involves toil, whether it's study in school, in high school or college, that we set aside, and that also if it's construction work or office work, we rest from our toil. This life is toil. But when we look ahead to heaven, that's not toil. That work will be joyful. That work will never be something we'll say, I'm sick of this. I don't feel like doing this anymore. We'll never have that feeling in heaven. It will be a perfect joy to be able to work in heaven. So when we set aside our earthly labors and the toil of this work, we are in fact in a certain sense experiencing the foretaste of the eternal Sabbath. It's also a rest rest from everything earthly, a rest from the toil of this work life. It's rest because it is a ceasing from sin. Ceasing from sin. Psalm 38.3 says, I have no rest in my bones because of my sin. ceasing from sin is part of the rest of eternal life. That's why this day is called holy. Holy because it's separated from Monday through Saturday, but holy also because we're striving in this day to keep sin down, to put sin out of our lives. Resting is not inactivity, but it's rather using the Sabbath day for good. Jesus healed the sick on the Sabbath day. Likewise, we can use the day for that which is good for others. Visiting the lonely, visiting those who are shut-ins and in the hospital and contributing to the relief of the poor is part of that. It's giving, it's doing good. We're thankful we have deacons who love the church and who are eager to help people who need help and eager that we can give, thankful we can give also to that cause and assist personally when possible. This is a foretaste of heaven, resting from everything earthly, resting from the toil of this world, taking away, removing sin as much as possible from our life, and doing good, and showing love to fellow saints. And the eternal Sabbath, that's what life will be. Showing love. In the eternal Sabbath you will not have a little group of friends and that's all you have. You will never be excluded from any group in heaven because the whole wide expanse of heaven and earth will have an innumerable company of friends. who would love to assist you, each one unique, each one having a gift that they are able to give in a certain way. And you will have a certain ability that you will be able to give and assist others in the kingdom, whatever that will be like. The kingdom of heaven will not be independent citizens all doing their own thing. not like America. This, the kingdom of heaven, the joy will be fellowship. The joy will be giving of self to others in the service of the King. We have a foretaste of that in this life. But as to foretaste, it's especially on the Sabbath day that We have a delight in God. A delight in God, and that especially in the worship service. We come to church. We come to church whenever possible because we're seeking God. Worship is fellowship. We come into his house. That's where God dwells in a special way. We bow before him. We repent of our sins. We confess our sins before Him. We express gratitude to God for all that He has done for us. We humble ourselves, acknowledging that we are nothing, we are insignificant and worse than that. We're sinners before a holy God. He's great. He's glorious. He's worthy of all praise. And when we come to church, we delve into that. We delve into the greatness of God and we marvel at it. The greatness of God in His creating work, the greatness of God in His providence, the greatness of God in His salvation. We look at the great work of the church, this mighty work of God. And we marvel at the wisdom and the beauty of God reflected in the church. We see the salvation of Jesus Christ and how it is applied to the church. Regeneration, calling, faith, justification, and all the other blessings that are given to the church. And we marvel at God's greatness and His grace. Through it all, we come to know God better. And that, said Jesus, that is eternal life. This is eternal life, John 17, three, that they might know thee. And Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. This is eternal life. This is what heaven is all about. Knowing God. Enjoying God. That's the eternal Sabbath. So we come to his house and worship and fellowship. We fellowship by bringing our prayers to Him and singing His praises. We confess His name when we confess our faith, and we hear our King speaking to us the Word of God, telling us about God and about the blessings of salvation. In the kingdom of heaven, We will enjoy the eternal Sabbath, discovering more and more about this God. So you understand, God has given us a Sabbath day when we can learn more about Him so that there will be a foretaste of what the joy of heaven will be, learning about God, marveling at his glory and his goodness to us. So consider your Sabbath now for a moment and evaluate. If your Sabbath is a day when you can catch up on sleep. Or as a college student or high school student, I'm busy Friday, I'm busy Saturday, but Sunday I can catch up on my homework. Or if we are immersing ourselves in the world of the internet, or God forbid, NFL football, citizen of the kingdom, you're wasting the day. You're wasting the day. Heaven is not that. Heaven is not homework. Heaven is not the internet. Heaven is not football. Heaven is the great joy of knowing God, growing in that knowledge, seeing God face to face in Jesus Christ. Rejoice in God today. Use the day As God said in Isaiah 58, call the Sabbath a delight. Cease from your own works. Cease from your own thoughts. Call the Sabbath a delight. Let this Sabbath day and every day of the Sabbath be a foretaste of the eternal. It's preparation. It's a foretaste. And it's a beginning. It's a beginning. And that's especially the last part of this question, this answer. Secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works and yield myself to the Lord to work by His Holy Spirit in me, and thus begin, begin in this life the eternal Sabbath. All the days of my life yield myself to the Lord. What does that mean? To yield myself to the Lord. Understand that by nature we are enemies of the Lord. We have been purchased by Jesus Christ out of sin, and he gives us commandments, but our nature is rebellious, devoted to sin, and delighting in every violation of the commandments. Christ has set up his throne in our hearts. He rules us by his grace and his spirit and word. And yet, each one of us can be dominated by our old man of sin. Romans 6 warns us about that. Romans chapter 6 verse 12 says, Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof. Don't let your old man rule you. Don't let sin rule you. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. Don't do that. But yield yourselves unto God. It's the same language as the Heidelberg Catechism. Yield to the Lord. And obviously what Romans is teaching us is fight sin. Fight sin. Do not allow it to have dominion over you. You have a new life of Jesus Christ, and yielding to Him means that you're living according to that life, not the life of your nature, not what we normally would follow naturally. If we find when we get up and we get going that there really isn't any struggle, then we're probably simply following the old nature down the paths of sin. There has to be a struggle here because naturally we'll follow sin. There must be something I'm saying no to. No, not that. Not that music. Not that way of life. This way. There has to be a redirection. That's yielding to the Lord. and then living out of the work of the Spirit in us. We aren't left on our own. Jesus does not give us commands and say, now get going. You have to do this. He gives us His Spirit, and His Spirit is working. That's what the Catechism says. Yield yourself to the Lord, and then live according to the work of the Spirit in you. And if you want to see the difference, look at Galatians chapter 5, and it says this is what you're going to find in your nature. And it gives a whole long list. I won't read it all, but it starts with adultery and fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, envies, revelings, and all of those who live in that will not enter the kingdom of heaven. That's contrary to the kingdom through the eternal Sabbath. But the fruit of the Spirit is things like love and joy and peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness. Against such there is no law. So the fourth commandment says, it demands of us, don't walk according to your own nature. Live yielding yourself to Jesus Christ. The Spirit works in us. and we must live out of that. He works sorrow for sin, and we must live out of that and repent of our sins. He works obedience and good works in us, and we live out of that by His power. That's the only hope we have, that the Spirit is in us and we're living out of His work. But how is that now related to our Sabbath? Well, first of all, in worship, the power to fight sin, the power to live unto God, is very much related to the worship service, because it's the preaching of the gospel that equips us. It's the preaching that is the means of grace that the Spirit uses to direct us away from sin unto righteousness, gives us strength to fight. When we use the means God gives us and we take the time on the Lord's Day to study the Word of God, we are being equipped to yield to the Lord and to live out of the work of the Spirit. And Sunday is our motivation for that. Again, Think about this, if your mind is crammed full with work, and sports, and recreation, and vacations, and homes, and cars, and all the things that you have to deal with Monday through Saturday, if that's what's filling your brain, and then Sunday comes, but it's a day for sleeping, Or it's a day for enduring an hour and a half of worship in the morning and an hour and a half of worshiping at night. If that's what Sunday is like for you, heaven is not going to be on your mind Monday through Saturday. It won't be important. Won't be something you're looking forward to. You will not yield yourself to the Lord. You will not be beginning the eternal Sabbath. You'll be just like the world. But if the Sabbath is your delight, because this is a day you get to learn more about God. This is a day you get to fellowship with him in a special way. delight in hearing what God, what Jesus has done for us. Yes, you're still going to have to go out and live in the Babylon of this world. You're still going to have to work for a time here. But God says, there is coming a day. I'll take you out of that. I'll take you out of the Babylon of this world. I will bring you unto myself, and you will enjoy the eternal Sabbath. Now you just get a foretaste, now you just get a brief respite one day out of seven, but then an eternity of life and fellowship and joy in God. So you see, we're beginning that. As we live unto Jesus Christ, we're beginning our eternal Sabbath. What a blessing that God has given to us our Sabbath day. Amen. Let us pray. Father in heaven, we give thee thanks. Thy wisdom is matchless. Thou hast given thy people a place that they must live for a time in the midst of this wicked world And yet, to encourage and strengthen and to motivate, Thou hast given us the Sabbath. Lord, forgive us when we misuse it, forgive us when we fail to use it as we ought, and use even this tonight to direct us to see how important it is to have this preparation for the eternal, and that it is indeed, if used well, a foretaste of the eternal. Lord, equip us to live day by day unto the King Jesus. We pray this in his name alone. Amen. We sing of that rest in Psalter number 56. The Lord is my shepherd, of course, Psalm 23. My shepherd is the Lord who knows my need, and I am blessed by quiet streams and pastures green. He leads and makes me rest. The three stanzas, number 56. you. ♪ Jesus Christ is born in Bethlehem ♪ O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming? And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh. Oh you you The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen. so