Please this morning to the prophecy of Isaiah chapter 56. Isaiah 56, beginning at verse 1. Let me read the entire chapter in connection with our catechism lesson this morning. Thus says the Lord, keep justice and do righteousness for soon my salvation will come and my deliverance be revealed. Blessed is the man who does this, and the son of man who holds it fast, who keeps the Sabbath, not profaning it, and keeps his hand from doing any evil. Let not the foreigner who has joined himself to the Lord say, the Lord will surely separate me from his people. And let not the eunuchs say, behold, I am a dry tree. For thus says the Lord, to the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant. I will give in my house and within my walls a monument and a name better than sons and daughters. I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves with the Lord to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord and to be his servants. Everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it. and holds fast my covenants. These I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar. For my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. The Lord God who gathers the outcasts of Israel declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered. All you beasts in the field, come to devour. All you beasts in the forest, His watchmen are blind. They are all without knowledge. They are all silent dogs. They cannot bark, dreaming, lying down, loving to slumber. The dogs have a mighty appetite. They never have enough. But they are shepherds who have no understanding. They have all turned to their own way, each to his own gain, one and all. Come, they say, let me get wine. Let us fill ourselves with strong drink. And tomorrow will be like this day, great beyond measure. Word of God for the people of God. Here ends the reading from Isaiah 56. We turn now to the Word of God summarized for us in Lord's Day 38, which is the exposition of the Fourth Commandment. Fourth Commandment. You'll find this on page 52 in the back of the Psalter hymnal. Page 52. I'd like to read this for you this morning as our confession in terms of the law being an expression of our gratitude to God for his salvation in Jesus Christ. And in light of that, listen carefully to the question and answer. What is God's will for us in the fourth commandment? First, that the gospel ministry and education for it be maintained, and that especially on the festive day of rest, I regularly attend the assembly of God's people to learn what God's word teaches to participate in the sacraments, to pray to God publicly, and to bring Christian offerings for the poor. Second, that every day of my life I rest from my evil ways. Let the Lord work in me through His Spirit, and so begin already in this life the eternal Sabbath. Here ends the reading. of the Catechism, Lord's Day 38. I commend this for your further devotional study and your memorization in the weeks to come. Shall we ask for the Lord's illumination by His Spirit? O Father, we pray that Your Spirit would make real in our hearts and our lives what we sang a few moments ago. That on this festive day, We recognize that the manna from heaven has indeed fallen. Bread from heaven. The preaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ. To holy convocations, the silver trumpet calls. It is a call to worship. And even to warfare against the devil and his host. It is a call to celebration. And we pray that Your Spirit would not only make us understand these things more clearly, but would convict us of the need to stop and to assess our own lives and our own practice if indeed we are living as those who have been redeemed by grace. To ask ourselves if we are living as those who have been purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ. And as those who eagerly anticipate the eternal day of rest, I pray that the word this morning will penetrate the heart and the mind. That we would be attentive, hungry, eager to learn, eager to be changed, to be transformed, willing to submit to the yoke of Jesus Christ. For His burden is easy, and He gives to us rest. So blessed we pray the preaching of the Word this morning. For Jesus' sake. Amen. Again, I draw your attention to the bulletin insert. There is an outline of the sermon this morning. I want to encourage you to use that if you find it helpful in following the flow of the sermon this morning. Please avail yourself of that, what that means. This morning we look together at the fourth commandment. We recognize, don't we brothers and sisters, how easy it is for us to point fingers. How easy it is for us to shake our heads when we think about Israel, We think about the Pharisees and their attitude towards the day of rest. We think of the Sabbath controversies in the Gospels, in Jesus' earthly ministry, and we shake our finger and say, how could these Pharisees be so mean-spirited, critical of Jesus? How could they condemn Jesus for healing, for blessing, for promoting the joy of Sabbath rest? And we condemn their legalism. We think of the example in the Old Testament. We could read, for example, in Amos chapter 8, where the Lord speaks very harshly to the business leaders, the community of Israel, who on a Sunday morning, or shall I say a Sabbath morning, were looking at their watches, so to speak, saying, let's get it over with. There's work to be done. Let's move on. Why? Because the Sabbath was costing them money. It was ruining productivity. And the Lord said, woe to you. And we are very easy to condemn them as well. It's very easy for us to say, it's wrong of them. But let me ask you this morning. Let me challenge you this morning. To think of the fourth commandment. in terms of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let me ask you to answer in your own heart this morning. And only you can answer that. I can't answer it for you. I can't probe your heart. I can't look into your heart. But let me ask you, do you honor the fourth commandment? Do you keep the fourth commandment in a way that celebrates grace? That celebrates grace. It seems to me that we often fall on one side or the other. On the one hand, by our own example, by our own practice, we can make the Sabbath, the Lord's Day, burdensome, drudgery. We can make it downright miserable so that when we talk of an eternal day of rest, we may not say it openly, but we're thinking, oh, if that's how it's going to be, I don't want that. Then on the other hand, on the one hand, on the other hand, there's the attitude that says, well, we're done with those things. We don't want the legalism of the Pharisees. We don't want the legalism imposed by so many people today. We're free. And in so doing, we simply do our own thing on the Lord's day. Let me ask you this morning. When it comes to the Fourth Commandment, when it comes to honoring God and His intention for you on the Fourth Commandment, are you conformed by the culture in which you live? In other words, are you squeezed into its mold when it comes to how you use, how you fill the stake? Maybe you're not even aware of it, the extent to which the culture has shaped your thinking and your behavior. What do you do today? What will you do when you get home? How do you spend the day between now and the evening worship? Do you consciously structure that day, this day of rest and gladness, in a way that conforms with the gospel? Or is it conformed, maybe not intentionally, Maybe it's gradual, maybe it's unintentional, but maybe it's formed and shaped by culture. The culture which, like a parasite, feeds off the rest that God promises, but then turns it on its head and says, this is simply a day for yourself. It's a day for your recreation. It's a day for you to use your time as you see fit. with no reference to God, no reference to worship, no reference to beginning the day and ending the day in his house. Has the gospel shaped the way you honor the Lord in the fourth commandment? I don't want this to be burdensome. I don't want this to be a legalistic sermon. It goes contra. It goes against the grain of the gospel. Jesus came to give us rest. Jesus came to give us the joy of rest. This ought to be a day of festivity. The Catechism speaks that way as well. Especially on the festive day of rest. Let me ask you. Is today for you a festive day? Or is it a burdensome day? Is it a miserable day? Or is it a day only for yourself? Four things I want to draw your attention to this morning. First of all, the festivity of rest. Secondly, the festivity of worship. Thirdly, the festivity of mercy. And finally, the festivity of fellowship. And again, if you have the sermon notes in your bulletin, you can follow those, I think, very clearly. and easily. First of all, the festivity of rest. Remember what the Decalogue says in the Exodus account, chapter 20, you shall keep the Sabbath day holy. Why? For in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the Sabbath day. What kind of rest was God's rest? It was not the rest of exhaustion, because Isaiah 40, among many other passages, teaches us that God doesn't grow weary. He doesn't grow tired. So it wasn't boys and girls as though God were simply tired and needed to take a break from all the work of creating. It's not the rest of inactivity. Jesus says of his father in John chapter 5, even now, my father continues to work. It's not as though Jesus winds up the clock, sets it on the mantle, and says, now I'm going to walk away from it. No, God is still actively involved in this universe. No, it was the rest of achievement, of completion, the rest of satisfaction. When God rested, he enjoyed his creation. He enjoyed the fellowship. of Adam and Eve. He enjoyed the completion of his work. When we celebrate and we honor the Fourth Commandment, we are recognizing that God has completed the work, not only of creation, but of redemption as well. And we're called to imitate that, not just with physical rest, but the rest of delighting in God, fellowship with God. That's why we meet on the Lord's Day for worship. I'll say more about that in just a few moments. There's also physical rest. It's a reminder that we live in the rhythm of God's created time. Think about that. Why the importance of a day of rest, physically? God was telling his people, I've made you for more than just work. You're not just a machine. And you don't live your lives solely for the purpose of work and work and work without end. I've made you for myself. I've made you for myself. I'm more than my employments. I'm more than a mere machine. And furthermore, I live under the providential care of my Father in Heaven. So that when we honor the Lord in the fourth commandment by not doing the regular work of the other six days, we're saying to the Lord, Lord, I trust. I'm content with your provision for my life. And the way in which you honor that fourth commandment, the way you enjoy the festivity of rest, the way of saying, Lord, you've been so abundantly good to me. Every good and perfect gift comes from your hand. And I don't need to live my life always worrying where the next dollar is going to come from, if my cupboards will be full, if I'll have enough to keep going. Because you have promised to give me all that is necessary for body and for soul. It's a wonderful testimony. It's a powerful witness to the world. that we can live as we read this morning in the response of reading of the law. I have learned whatever the circumstances to be content. I know what it's like to have abundance as Paul. I know what it's like to go without. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. So there's God's rest. There's physical rest. But there's more than that. There's spiritual rest. by the Lord telling us, commanding us to set aside the labor of the weak. The Lord also has pointed to something beyond the physical. There's a spiritual dimension of this as well. What we come to celebrate today, and we ought to be celebrating, we ought to be singing joyfully about this, is that God gives us rest in the most profound and spiritual sense. Salvation is not through your own efforts, not by your own achievement. The glory of the gospel is that it is freely given. Come unto me, all you who are weary and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. The way in which we fill the day, the way you use the Lord's day, the way you honor the fourth commandment is a way of expressing to God your gratitude for the gift of salvation. I'm not here to earn my salvation. I don't present myself to God thinking, well, if I commend myself to him, he'll accept me. No, I'm accepted on the basis of Jesus Christ. I'm accepted by grace. Scripture speaks of salvation in terms of rest for the weary and the burdened. If you listen carefully to the passage from Isaiah, There was concern by the foreigner and by the eunuch. Two people, two groups of people who were excluded from the intimacy of temple worship. And God said, no, don't worry. Don't worry. You will not be excluded. You will enjoy the same rest. You will enjoy the same salvation as those who enter into the inner sanctum of the temple. So it's a festivity of rest. How are you doing? How is that rest? Is your rest an intentional type of rest? Where you enjoy the fellowship of worship with God. That you enjoy the creation He's given to us. That you can relax your weary bones, as it were. and say, I'm made for more than just work. It's not this endless stream of work, of employment. God has given me rest, and for that I thank Him. God's my provider, my Heavenly Father. And if earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more my Heavenly Father? For those of you who are burdened by your own sin, the Lord says, I give you rest. Are you celebrating that today? Or has that been pushed to the margin, to the fringes? Do you simply give a passing awareness of it, but not celebrating rest? The festivity of rest. Secondly, the festivity of worship. Notice what the Catechism says. What's God's will for us? I mean, how do we understand the fourth commandment as it applies to us today? What's the application? First, that the gospel ministry and education for it be maintained. But on this festive day of rest, I regularly attend. It's why we begin the day and we end the day in the house of the Lord. It's not just some tradition that we're pressing upon you. We believe that this whole day is dedicated primarily to worship. It's the central calling of our lives. Think about that. By giving us this rest from our work, God is saying, I've made you for more than just work. Yes, you're to be busy. You're to multiply, be fruitful, have dominion over the earth. Of course, yes, we recognize that. But you're also made for worship. Think of Jesus as an example on the day of rest. What does he do? Does he simply lounge around? No, he goes to the synagogue. He preaches, he teaches, he heals. Ought we not to be following and imitating Jesus' own example? Again, here's where we have to consider very carefully and think about our own practice in light of what shapes and what forms our practices. Are we shaped by the gospel? Are we shaped by the ministry of Jesus Christ? Are we shaped by the love and devotion that he had for worship in the presence of his father? Or are we shaped by the culture in which we live? Which says, if you can squeeze in time for worship, great. So long as it does not interfere with your other pursuits, other things that are considered more worthy of your attention. Isn't it a shame how many churches today shape the practice and the time schedule of their worship to accommodate people's other pursuits. It's a reflection, I believe, of how much our culture has influenced our way of looking at the Fourth Commandment. How long will it be before we simply abolish the evening service? Attendance is noticeably poorer at night. Is it because others are worshipping elsewhere? Probably not in most cases. We simply don't want to extend the efforts. We don't see the purpose or the minds of this. I've already done my share. We fill the day with worship. The whole day is consecrated to the Lord. Think of it also, and this is a radical idea of worship is holy warfare. When Jesus goes to the tabernacle, when Jesus goes into the synagogue, there are instances where demon-possessed people are convulsing. And the demons scream out, stay away from us, Jesus! Because they recognize that when Jesus appears in the ministry of the Word, there's warfare going on. This day ought to be a day of festive warfare as well, that we're doing battle against Satan, against sin, against all that stands in opposition to Jesus Christ and his kingdom. You think of how many Psalms speak in that language of warfare, of opposing God's enemies. And whereas in the Old Testament, there was that practice of annihilating them on the battlefield, in the New Testament, in the New Covenant, There is a depiction much different. The depiction is of God's people overcoming God's adversaries through the gospel. Through the transformation of people's lives. So that when we go to worship, we're going to warfare. We're going to do battle. It's not to be taken lightly or casually. It's not to be taken with a certain indifference about our attitude. But there's an intentionality. There's a purposefulness about worship, that when I go into the house of the Lord, I'm going to be equipped for battle. The festivity of worship also includes the anticipation of an eternal Sabbath. I'm not going to spend a great deal of time this morning explaining the transition from the Old Testament Sabbath to the New Testament and the New Covenant. Simply say that already from the apostolic era, from the time of the apostles, they were aware that there was a transition because of Jesus Christ, that the forms and the shapes and the practices that gave direction to the Old Testament Sabbaths were now transformed in Jesus Christ. And what was central was the observance of the Lord's Day as the day of resurrection. The day of resurrection power and glory that Jesus Christ has raised and is now reigning at the Father's right hand. Today, where we reflect upon the fact that Jesus Christ is subduing all of his enemies in a world that's filled with so much chaos, so much instability, where there's warfare going on. Talks in Congress this past week about poor groups of Al-Qaeda, sponsored terrorism, in our own country, seeking to overthrow or at least cause instability. And those things, if you think about them long enough, you think about earthquakes and tsunamis and all of this destruction, You say, where's the hope? Where's the encouragement? It seems to be getting worse and worse and worse. And over against that, we honor the fourth commandment by looking to Jesus Christ, who is progressively subduing all of his enemies, the last enemy being death itself. And Hebrews 4 says that what we do on this day of rest and gladness, this festivity, It's just a taste, a small taste, of what awaits God's people. You see, to enter into the land of promise in the Old Testament was a way of entering into the rest that God promises people. And that rest was symbolic of salvation, of shalom, of peace, the subduing of God's enemies, the perfect joy of His people. That's what we're doing in worship. It's a lot to do in worship, isn't it? It's an awful lot to do. It's an awful lot to think about. But what a glorious thing. Isn't it something worth celebrating? How can we be ho-humble? How can we be apathetic? How can we be so non-intentional in our practices of worship, knowing as we do that Jesus Christ has been raised and now reigns upon the throne? It's festivity. It's not drudgery. The festivity of rest, the festivity, secondly, of worship, and thirdly, the festivity of mercy. And here I draw your attention to Isaiah 56. What are we talking about here? If you have your Bibles open, I hope you do. You ought to have your Bibles open and look carefully at what the prophet's talking about. He's talking about people who are deeply concerned about their own welfare. the foreigner, the eunuch. There was a simple tendency in Isaiah's day for the powerful, for the wealthy, the business owners to exploit the poor and the dependent. How would they exploit them? You could exploit them in any number of ways. Unfair work practices, low wages, but also the idea of not granting them rest. A shrewd businessman says, I can get more profit, I can have greater productivity, if I work you seven days a week. The Lord says, no, no you don't. You give to your servant, you give to the poor, the needy, the foreigner, the eunuch, The one who would say, where's my future? You give to them rest as well. There was also a practice in the ancient Israel culture and their history to give rest to the land. The land also enjoyed a Sabbath rest. Why? So that it would not be exploited as well. God has given these things as gifts. And gifts can be exploited in a way that becomes dangerous for those who use them. Showing mercy to those who are in need. If we're going to make this day a day of festive activity, it includes not only rest, not only worship, but extending mercy. To whom? To the poor? To the needy? to those who are in need of our compassion and kindness. Think of Jesus as an example. What does he do on the Sabbath? What causes all this controversy? He heals people on the Sabbath. And the Pharisees are indignant. How could Jesus do this? What are you doing associating with these people? What are you doing? The law forbids you to do this work. And Jesus says, don't you understand? I mean, really, don't you understand what the whole purpose was? The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. You enslaved God's people by turning the fourth commandment into something oppressive and harsh. All your rules, all your regulations, precept upon precept. Don't you see this is a day to celebrate the healing power of the gospel? Jesus shows compassion. And let me challenge you today. Let me challenge you. to think about how you can extend kindness and compassion, how you can extend grace to the poor and to the needy. You take offerings, but there are also other ways of showing kindness to the poor, to those who are defenseless. Are we doing those things? Are we really reaching out to people who need to hear that message of grace in Jesus Christ? I mean, is that how we're filling the Lord's day? Or do we fall into patterns of behavior that become so humdrum, that become so self-focused, that we lose sight of the very gospel that we want to celebrate? Think about, pray about opportunities to extend the mercy of the kingdom of God. I was reading this past week in one of the expositions of the fourth commandment where the writer said, any Christian church that does not use the Lord's day in some way to assist the poor and the needy does not understand the meaning of the fourth commandment. I think there's a great deal of truth to that. If you have no consideration of those who are less fortunate than yourself, those who are in need, if all this is a day for yourself and your own indulgence, you've missed the point. The festivity of mercy, as well as the festivity of rest and of worship, but finally, the festivity of fellowship. And here I want to encourage you In light of our catechism, in light of the reading from Isaiah, of the promise that this day of resting gladness should be a day of festivity. Think of Jesus on ministry. What was he accused of? Whereas John was accused of being a madman. He was ascetic, very strict about his diet, very strange in his appearance, the things he wore. Jesus was accused of being a glutton. He feasted. We feast as well. So we sang this morning about the bread from heaven. Think about the imagery boys and girls. Just like Israel in the Old Testament had their bread in the desert. coming from heaven. They could pick up the bread. They survived the desert climate. They survived that pilgrimage to the promised land because the Lord sent bread from heaven called manna. So too, what are we doing today? We're feasting upon the Word. We ought to have a hunger for the Word. If we don't have a hunger for the Word, we ought to be praying for a hunger of the Word. Pray that we would be fed by the Word. Pray that we would be receptive and teachable. to the Word. We feast upon the Word of God in preaching. We feast at the Lord's table. Feasting, you see, is a sign of the Kingdom of Heaven. That's why Jesus feasted. It wasn't just that he was in the face of these Pharisees with all their practices, with all their precepts. Jesus was saying, look, the Kingdom of Heaven is here. And when the Kingdom arrives, when the Kingdom is proclaimed, when the Kingdom is lived out, there's feasting, there's celebration. Let me ask you, If you were to describe the way you keep this day, the way you honor this day, the way you honor God in the fourth commandment, would it be described in terms of feasting and all of its applications? And I don't just mean in terms of feasting upon food, but feasting upon the goodness of God, feasting upon his word. That's why we're so concerned when people habitually neglect the preaching of God's Word because they're neglecting the feasts that God's provided for you. In light of that, in light of the festivity of fellowship, let me challenge you to fill this day with, among other things, the ministry of hospitality. Make your homes a place for ministry. Perhaps you've become so accustomed to practices where it's expected of you that you're going to go to mom or dad's or grandma and grandpa's house every Lord's Day. I want to challenge you to maybe tinker with that a little bit. Not that it's wrong to meet with family, by no means. But I want you to think about giving time, sometime, maybe one Lord's Day a month, to open your home up to people who are new members of our congregation, to visitors, to people you might not otherwise have in your home, and welcome them. Embrace them as brothers and sisters in the Lord Jesus Christ. It doesn't mean it has to be extravagant. By no means. It can be very simple, very modest, but get out of the habit of simply following the same humdrum practice where the focus is not upon the festivity of the Gospel of Grace. And in light of that, I would just simply say, especially to our children and young people, turn off the television. Will you? Turn off the television. Stay away from the computer. Put away the phone. You can text message the other two days of the week, okay? Be intentional. in your festivity. Do things as a family together. Do things with other families in our congregation. Go to visit those in our nursing homes, members of our congregation who are there. Go to visit those who have been in the hospital. Reach out to them. Challenge yourself. Stretch yourself. And you will receive a great blessing, I assure you. How do you use this day? So I can't stand up here and simply derate people for neglecting the means of grace. I could do that, I suppose, but I don't find it very edifying. I simply want to challenge you to think of how you fill the day. If it's simply the mindset that you've checked off now, this requirement to worship in the morning and then neglect it at night and spend the rest of the day as you see fit, ask yourself, is that really how the Lord intends for you? to make this a festive day of rest. Kent Hughes, who's written on the Ten Commandments in a book called Disciplines of Grace, talks about three things in particular. I'll mention them briefly, about how we can make the most of the Lord's Day. He talks about preparation, first of all, and he uses the illustration from Edith Schaeffer, wife of Francis Schaeffer. When they lived in Switzerland, it was the practice in the countryside of the churches to ring the church bell on Saturday afternoon. Why? To remind the people that tomorrow was the Lord's Day. And preparation began already the day before, the night before. So that means parents, when you've got children, teenagers, young people out, get them back at a reasonable time so that they can keep their eyes open on a Sunday morning, that they can prepare themselves mentally for worship. It means we start thinking about the preaching of the word, focusing upon how we can prepare our hearts for worship. Again, this intentionality I think is so important. He speaks not only of preparation, but also participation. that when we come to worship, we do so preparing ourselves to receive the word. If we find ourselves habitually coming at the last moments, habitually coming after the service has already begun, we haven't really prepared ourselves, have we, to receive the word. If we've already put obstacles in our mind that we're not going to listen to this, that we're going to shut it out, we're going to be deaf to the preacher or to the preaching, We cannot receive a blessing from the Lord, can we? He talks about preservation. In other words, consecrating this day, doing so deliberately, doing so expecting the Lord's blessing. What shapes your practice, brothers and sisters, dear friends? Is it the gospel? Is it the grace of God that shapes the way you're going to use this day? Paul says, don't be conformed to this world. Being conformed to the world, understand, takes place in many different ways. When it comes to the Lord's day, we can be conformed by the world's expectations and by the world's practices, by the world's mindset. Paul says, no, don't do that. be transformed by the renewing of your minds. Let this be a festive day, will you? Festive in your rest, festive in your worship, festive in your acts of mercy, and festive in your fellowship. These things I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer. The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, I will gather yet others to him besides those already gathered, and they shall worship me in the joy and the blessedness of that festivity. Let's pray. O Father, we pray that You would indeed transform our hearts and minds. That we would truly seek after the blessing that You've already promised us in Your Word. That we would have a hunger for the Word, a hunger and a delight in worship. That we would seek to reach out to those who are in need, to those who are recipients and should be recipients of mercy. and that we would enjoy the fellowship, not only of worship, but the fellowship between believers and in our own families as well. Make this, Father, for us truly a taste of what awaits all of your people. Hear us then for Jesus' sake. Amen.