Let us call upon the name of our covenant God together in congregational prayer. Our Father which art in heaven, we come unto thee as thou dost draw us into thy house again in this evening. Thankful unto thee for all that thou hast given unto thy people in Jesus Christ, for thou hast opened the windows of heaven even as thou dost open its windows in the giving of rain, visiting the earth and watering it, greatly enriching it with the river of God which is full of water, preparing corn when thou hast so provided for it, watering the ridges thereof abundantly, settling the furrows thereof, making it soft with showers, blessing the springing thereof, crowning the year with thy goodness, and thy paths dropping fatness, upon the pastures of the wilderness, and causing the little hills to rejoice on every side, so that the pastures are clothed with flocks, the valleys also are covered over with corn, they shout for joy, they also sing. And as abundantly as thou dost open the windows of heaven, and cause the river of God to water the earth, so abundantly hast thou opened the gates of the kingdom of heaven to thy people, so that descending upon us from thy throne is grace upon grace and mercy upon mercy without end. For thy mercy endureth forever, and thy truth endureth to all generations. We thank thee that thou dost come to us by thy Spirit, and water our hearts, and cause the gospel of our salvation to fall thereon, to make it soft with showers, to bless the springing thereof, to water the ridges of our souls abundantly, and to settle the furrows thereof. We thank Thee, Father, for Thy fullness to us who are empty, and for Thy riches to us who are poor. And wilt Thou cause that the poor might say, I am rich, and the weak might say, I am strong, and this in Jehovah God, in Thee our God through Jesus Christ, who doth give to us all things. And we thank Thee for our Savior, who from the end of the earth has cried unto thee with his heart overwhelmed, who was led by thee to the rock that is higher than he, as thou wast a shelter for him and a strong tower from the enemy, so that he could abide in thy tabernacle forever and trust in the cover of thy wings. We thank Thee, Father, that what Thou hast given to our Lord Jesus Christ, Thou dost give to us in Him, so that for His sake Thou dost bring us into Thy courts, and cause us to cross the threshold of heaven, and stand before Thy throne of grace, and dost give to us hope that entereth within the veil, whether our forerunner is entered for us, even Jesus Christ, which hope, who is Jesus Christ, we have as an anchor of the soul, sure and steadfast, that can weather the many waves and the buffeting storms of this life and of our sin and our iniquity. We pray, Father, that thou will give to us in this evening the comfort of that gospel and that hope, that thou will show us that thou dost prolong the King's life and his years as many generations, Show us that thou hast heard Jesus' vows, and hast given unto him the heritage of those that fear thy name, that he might abide before thee forever. O prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him, and cause us to sing praise with him unto thy name forever, who has daily performed all his vows. We pray, Father, that thou wilt open thy servant's mouth in this evening, that he might speak the gospel of our salvation, that blessed gospel of our rest. What a marvelous gift thou dost give to us in this rest. We who do not deserve rest, we who deserve to be harried and hounded, from cradle to grave and to all eternity because of our sins and iniquities. We who deserve of ourselves to be only at war with thee, but thou hast loved us when we were thine enemies and thou hast given thy son, thine only begotten son, to bear all our sin so that thou didst make war with him. and thou didst cause him from cradle to grave to live under thy curse, though he was beloved of thee and blessed of thee, thy beloved son, in whom thou wast well pleased. Nevertheless, upon him thou hast laid the iniquity of us all, so that with his stripes we are healed, and the chastisement of our peace was upon him. We pray, Father, that thou will give to us the comfort and the rest and the peace of that gospel of what our Savior has done. And wilt thou cause us then, Father, knowing that gospel, to have the peace and the comfort of faith That Thou wilt give unto us all the things that belong to life and salvation through Jesus Christ. That Thou wilt lift up our hearts and cause the hands that hang down to be strengthened and the feeble knees to be strengthened. That Thou wilt make straight paths for our feet. We thank Thee for Jesus Christ who is the path. Indeed, who is the way and the truth and the life. and the only way, and our way unto Thee, for no man cometh unto Thee but by him. We pray then, Father, that Thou wilt give to us and strengthen our faith, that Thou wilt cause us to see the unseen things and to hear the unheard things, to know the things which eye hath not seen nor ear heard, neither hath entered into the heart of man to conceive. We beseech Thee, Father, that by faith our eyes might be open to those things that are hidden, and that by Thy Spirit, who worketh secretly in our hearts, that Thou wilt cause us to know the things of heaven, and all of its goodness, and all of Thy mercy, that here in our life below, in the midst of this valley of the shadow of death and this veil of tears, we may nevertheless have the comfort of the valley of Jehoshaphat and the valley of decision. We pray, Father, that Thou wilt also continue to protect Thy church. Will Thou set walls about her, the walls of Thy gospel, the walls of Thy truth. Will Thou protect Thy people also from the hidden snare that is not seen and the secret trap that waits to be sprung. Will Thou remember us, for we are weak and have no wisdom. We are utterly helpless, and except Thou doth visit us, except Thou hadst been our God, we surely had been swallowed up alive. We pray, Father, that Thou wilt continue all our days to take away the net that would otherwise bind us and ensnare us, that Thou wilt make a hole and a rent whereby we might escape. We thank Thee, Father, that Thou art our God, For Thou hast made the heavens, and Thou art the Lord of hosts, who is our God and who abideth with us forever. We pray that Thou will also continue to gather Thy people from the four corners of the earth. We pray Thy blessing upon our sister Lewa in Singapore and other of Thy saints there. Will Thou remember her, give to her and all of Thy people comfort and peace, In our loneliness and in our isolation, as those remnants that are cast out, wilt thou give to us the comfort of thy love? And wilt thou give unto us the hope of our salvation in Jesus Christ? And wilt thou show us that when thou dost come and gather thy church, thou dost gather one of a city and two of a family, and that thou dost cause thy little church, who is nothing and utterly helpless, to be founded upon the rock and the foundation which cannot be moved, the cornerstone which the builders have rejected, but which thou hast made the headstone of the corner, which is marvelous in our eyes, for this thou hast done. We pray, Father, then that thou will give us that comfort that founded upon the rock, though we be never so little and never so despised, that the gates of hell themselves cannot prevail against thy church. We pray, Father, that Thou wilt also continue to bless the school that Thou hast given unto us. We thank Thee for Pavilion Christian. We thank Thee for this institution, which is another opening of the windows of heaven and the gift to the helpless of what they could not build. For except thou dost build the house, we labor in vain, and except thou dost watch the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. And so we beseech thee, Father, that thou wilt continue to preserve and bless Pavilion Christian. Will thou grant unto us in that school the riches of thy blessing, that our children may be reared In the fear of thy name, we thank thee for thy covenant, how precious it is, thy covenant in which thou dost give us all things, life and salvation, in which thou dost give us membership in thy church, thy covenant in which thou dost give us a school for the rearing of our children, and indeed all things, wilt thou continue to bless and keep Pavilion Christian School. We pray thy blessing also upon those who are broken and those who are bowed down. Will thou remember those who are sick and restore to health according to thy will. Remember those who are injured. Will thou grant them recovery according to thy will. Will thou remember also Mrs. Sterritt in this week as she submits to surgery. Will thou guide the hands of the doctors and cause the surgery to be a success. Though we pray, Father, that thy will may be done that her recovery may be speedy. We thank Thee that in all of these things, which are a reminder to us of how frail we are, and that our days swiftly pass as grass, as our bodies in this way and in that way fall sick and become broken, that Thou art our God and our guide, that Thy word endureth forever and is established in the heavens, so that we need fear nothing. We pray thy blessing also upon the council as it meets this week. Will thou give unto the council wisdom for the decisions that lie before them? Will thou guide the council by thy word and by thy counsel? Will thou cause that thy spirit may operate that the men might see the truth and might decide according to it with righteous judgment for the glory of thy name and for the good of thy people. In all of these things, Father, we are utterly weak. We are nothing. We are empty. But thou art full. Thou art strong. Thou art the harbor, the refuge, the pavilion, the rock, the strength of thy people. We thank Thee that Thou hast declared it, so that we know it, that Thou dost abide with Thy church, that Thou dost not leave her nor forsake her. We pray then, Father, that Thou wilt continue to comfort us with this knowledge and give to us safety from all our sin and all our foes, through Jesus Christ our Lord. We beseech Thee also that Thou wilt forgive the sins that we have committed, wash them away in our Savior's blood. We thank Thee for Him. We thank Thee for His finished work. What a refuge that is to us who are sinners and indeed who are ungodly. We thank Thee that His righteousness is counted as ours. and that through him and all that he has done, we have rest and peace. We pray, Father, that thou will ever give us that rest through Jesus Christ and keep us from ever seeking that rest in ourselves or any of our doings. Give us rest in Christ and rest in his gospel. Give us also the life that belongs to Thy people, as Thou hast ordained the good works in which we are to walk, so that all these fruits also are the gift of Thee, and that for the glory of Thy name, that men might see our good works and glorify Thee, our Father, which art in heaven. Father, thou art good. Thy mercies are everlasting. Thy truth endureth to all generations. We thank thee for thy victory. Will thou give us its hope and its peace in this Sabbath day? Hear our prayer for Jesus' sake. Amen. We worship the Lord in the giving of our offerings. The first offering is for the building fund and the second is for the school fund. you We return one more time to Psalm 68, this time singing the last four stanzas, verses 32 through 35. And here we come to the stirring conclusion of an entire psalm that is stirring, the great victorious march of Jehovah God, who is the God of His people. We call now all kingdoms of the earth. Our Lord calls all kingdoms of the earth to sing praises to this king, for he is Lord that ruleth all unto him praises sing. Our Lord and we with him extol God is him that rides on heaven of heavens, which he of old did found. Call with Christ all to ascribe unto God's strength. And then conclude in verse 35 with that prayer of our Lord, that God is the one who from his dreadful temple is Israel's own God, who gives his people strength and power. Oh, let God blessed be. And because that is the word of our Lord, that is sure and firm. He does indeed give his people strength and power. and causes his own name to be blessed. We'll sing verses 32 through 35, the last four stanzas of Psalm 68. O holy kingdoms of the earth, sing praises to this King, ♪ For He is Lord and ruler of all ♪ ♪ Unto Him praises sing ♪ ♪ To Him that finds the depths of hells ♪ ♪ Where gene of old men found ♪ ♪ For He sends out His voice from heaven above ♪ His strength is in the clouds outside. This is people's strength and hope. We turn in God's Word this evening to Exodus 20, first of all. Exodus 20, where we will read the fourth commandment. Then Deuteronomy 5, where we will read the fourth commandment again. The commandment, although essentially the same as far as its instruction regarding the Sabbath day, includes a little different ground in Deuteronomy 5 than Exodus 20, and that is deliberate, obviously, by the Spirit in order to teach us how we enter into the Sabbath rest of God himself, which is through Jesus Christ and the deliverance that he gives. And then we will finish by reading from Matthew 11 and 12. Those three passages beginning with Exodus 20. Exodus 20 verses 8 through 11. 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, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, thy manservant nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Now Deuteronomy 5 verses 12 through 15. Deuteronomy 5 verses 12 through 15. Keep the Sabbath day to sanctify it as the Lord thy God hath commanded thee. 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, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates, that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. And then finally, we turn to Matthew 11. We'll begin at verse 28, Matthew 11, verse 28, and we'll read through chapter 12, verse eight. Matthew 11, beginning at verse 28. Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. At that time Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the corn, and his disciples were unhungered, and began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did when he was unhungered, and they that were with him? How he entered into the house of God and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? Or have ye not read in the law how that on the Sabbath days the priests in the temple profaned the Sabbath and are blameless? But I say unto you that in this place is one greater than the temple. But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath day. This is the word of God, holy and inspired. May he bless it to our hearts this evening. On the basis of those passages and many others, we have the instruction of the Heidelberg Catechism in Lord's Day 38. Lord's Day 38. Question 103. What does God require in the fourth commandment? 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 congregation in our Lord Jesus Christ, is there anything as weary as this life? Is there anything as tiresome as this sojourn? The people of God here below grow so weary weary with our sin and all our guilt, weary with our corruption and that fount of evil that exists within us, weary of oppression, weary of sorrows. God's people upon this earth grow so, so weary. And we cannot escape it. There's no escaping the trouble. There's no escaping the oppression. There's no escaping our old man of sin. God's people are so helpless. And as they consider all of this sojourn, find themselves to be more and more helpless. We are not growing better at obeying God's commandments. We are not growing better at helping ourselves. The people of God in this sojourn grow so weary. And our weariness at heart weariness of ourselves. It's weariness of man. Man is nothing but a tiring, wearying tyrant. That's all he is. That's all you are. That's all I am. And you and I are helpless to escape that wearying tyrant that is man. God comes to his weary people. and he gives to them rest. That's what Sabbath means. Sabbath means rest. God comes to those who are helpless and gives to them help. God comes to those who are exposed to all kinds of dangers and gives to them refuge. God comes to the sinners and gives to them righteousness and salvation and peace, so that God's people, who in this life have nothing but weariness of themselves, have from God refreshment, recovery, salvation, blessing, joy, ease, strength. God gives to his weary, weary people this rest, and he gives this rest through Jesus Christ, who is our Sabbath. Jesus Christ is the rest of the people of God and no other. Your goodness, my goodness, that's not our rest. What we have done, what we're going to do, that's not our rest. How can that be our rest? The rest that God gives to us who are weary with man and all of the tyranny and oppression and sin and folly of man, God gives to his people rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the rest that we consider this evening in the fourth commandment. The fourth commandment is the law of God that speaks about the Sabbath day. God has appointed a certain day as the Sabbath day, and he has appointed that day for his people to keep, but he has not appointed that day for us to keep so that by keeping that day we may have rest. but rather God has given us rest in the Lord Jesus Christ. He has given us the Sabbath, who is Jesus Christ, and has made the Sabbath day to us rest for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, God has shown that Jesus is our Sabbath by changing the day of the week upon which the church rests. In the Old Testament, that was the seventh day. but raising Jesus Christ from the dead on the first day of the week, and making that day the Lord's day, God has bestowed upon his weary people rest. And so, beloved Church of Jesus Christ, you who are weary, you who are besieged, you who are sinful, you who are guilty, you who are unholy and ungodly, beloved people of the Lord Jesus Christ, behold your Savior, behold your Sabbath, Jesus Christ, and have rest. We consider then this Lord's Day this evening under the theme Fourth Commandment. In the first place, consider Sabbath. In the second place, consider the Sabbath day. And in the third place, consider the eternal Sabbath. Fourth Commandment, Sabbath, the Sabbath day, and the eternal Sabbath. God gives to his people rest. He gives to his people a sabbath. The word sabbath means rest as the catechism indicates when it calls the sabbath the day of rest and by that word rest The Catechism opens up to the child of God what this Sabbath really is and even who our Sabbath really is. For there is only one in whom God's people can rest, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. The Sabbath that God gives to his people is rest from all their weariness. The children of God in this world toil, they have misery, They have bondage. They become exhausted. They are distressed. They have fear. God's people have sin, which rises up against them, so that our life in the midst of this world offers no rest whatsoever, no rest from any of the things of the world, no rest coming from ourselves. Only the only thing that this world and that man can offer is more toil and more turmoil and more distress. Consider yourself and let me consider myself on this Sabbath day. This is the day of rest. How much unbelief has your heart and mind been filled with on this day? How much rejoicing in self and in man has our heart been guilty of this day? How much have we not looked to ourselves this day? How much have we failed to worship God in his house on the day of rest this day, so that our thoughts and our minds are all over the place with regard to the worship of Jehovah, and we do not think upon him. The child of God has from himself only turmoil, only distress, only sin, and only iniquity. The child of God from himself has no rest. But Jehovah God comes to his people and gives to his weary people his own rest, so that in place of their turmoil, they have peace. In place of their ungodliness, they have the godliness of Jesus Christ. In place of their guilt, they have the righteousness of Christ. In place of their oppression, they have the refuge of Jehovah God. Rest, the Sabbath rest for God's people, is that God comes to his weary people and gives them rest. That's why this day is called the Sabbath day, because in this day God gives his people rest. That rest that God gives to his people is also delight in the Lord. It is rest in the Lord. This was God's own rest. at the beginning when he had created the world. Six days he labored, on the first day making light, on the second day the firmament, and all the rest of the days of creation laboring, and on the seventh day God rested. God's rest was his entering into his own works, holding those works before his own view, and rejoicing in his works. Jehovah God made the world, and rejoiced in what he had done, the labor of his own hands. That's why God rested at the end of his creation, as a testimony to his people that what God had done was good, for he saw all that he had made, and behold, it was very good. As a testimony to his people that rest is not found in themselves, but rest is found in what he has done, what he has completed, and what he has accomplished. God entered into rest on the seventh day. And God entered into that rest as is stated in Exodus 20 and the fourth commandment of God's law. As we read that this morning and then again this evening. In six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. Rest for God's people, then, is that rest in the completed work of Jehovah God. Rest for God's people is not rest in our works. It is not rejoicing in what we have done, but that rest for God's people is found entirely and exclusively in what Jehovah God has done. And he brings us into that rest here in his house, causes us to see the finished work of his hands. What does he show us here but the fullness and the riches of Jesus Christ who has accomplished our salvation. God gives his people rest in him. That's what rest is. That's what Sabbath rest is. It is rest for those who are weary, and it is rest in the finished work of Jehovah God. God gives that rest to his people in Jesus Christ. As our Lord taught in Matthew 11, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek. and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." God gives rest to his people from their sins through the righteousness of Christ. Rest from their oppression through the refuge that is Christ. Rest from their trouble and their fear through the Savior, the Head, and the Mediator who is Christ. God gives his people rest through Jesus Christ. He is our Sabbath. that our rest is in Christ is taught strikingly in what God appends to the fourth commandment in Deuteronomy 5. Remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought thee out fence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore, the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. God calls the people's attention away from the law, keep the Sabbath day, and calls their attention to what he has done by his power in Jesus Christ. Rest is entering into the works of God. How is it that God's people enter into the works of God? How is it that we rejoice in what he has accomplished? Why, it's through Jesus Christ. Christ was the one who led the people out of the land of Egypt. Christ was the blood of atonement and the blood of the Passover that was spread on their doorposts. Christ was their Red Sea by which they were baptized unto Moses, who is Christ. Christ is their deliverance. Christ is their salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ upon the cross spoke of his finishing of all of the work of our salvation when he said, it is finished. There is no more salvation to work, no more salvation to accomplish, no more work to do unto that salvation. That salvation is utterly accomplished through the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. God's people have rest from all their sin and all their suffering then through the Lord Jesus Christ. And Christ has done that. in the marvelous way of himself obeying the law of God, including himself bearing the curse of the law of God against our sins. Christ has given to his weary people rest, and it's marvelous rest. Consider what that rest is for you. Rest in your own conscience. And let me consider that rest in my own conscience. If your conscience stands under the law, and your conscience hears that law thunder to you, obey me, love me, love thy neighbor. When you hear that law thunder, all of the commandments of God, and you hear that law in all of its fierceness, and all of its condemnation for the slightest disobedience, then if you are standing under that law, there can be nothing but trouble for your conscience. Because that means that in order for me to escape this thunder of the law of God, then I had better be obeying the law. And there is no rest for the conscience under that law. But what has the Lord Jesus Christ done? He stood under that law, being made of a woman, made under the law, with that law thundering to him all of its commands, love me, love thy neighbor, with that law thundering all of its fierceness upon him, and the Lord Jesus Christ kept it. He even became obedient unto death, even obedient unto the death of the cross, so that he bore the whole curse of that law against the sins of his people. And he didn't do that because he had ever committed any sin. Jesus' conscience could be clear before the law. But so really did God lay our sins upon the Lord Jesus Christ that he confessed throughout the Psalms. I'm the foolish one. I'm the sinner. My iniquities rise up against me. They go over my head. The Lord Jesus Christ stood under that law in the place of his people. And he obeyed all the requirements of that law in the place of his people as our substitute, as our head, as our mediator. So that the Lord Jesus Christ, being made under the law, went through that law into heaven and into glory. And now where is Jesus Christ? Well, he's above that law. He's in heaven with God, sitting there at God's right hand. God raised him from the dead. He having completed our salvation and brought him into heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ now looks down upon that law. And that's your position. That's where you are and I am. We're in him. We belong to him. We're the members of his body so that we see as he sees, we hear as he hears. We behold what He beholds. The Lord Jesus Christ, looking down upon that law, sees that law as absolutely lovely, absolutely beautiful. It's the loveliest thing to Him, because that law reflects all of the holiness of Jehovah God. That's where you are. That's how you look at the law. You're not under it. looking up with a fearful heart to say, how in the world am I going to get through that law unto Jehovah God to sit with Him? You're already seated with Him in heavenly places in the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking down then at that law, your conscience is perfectly clear. This is the answer to a bruised conscience. This is the answer to the conscience that is stricken and smitten with its sin. Look through the eyes of Christ. Look what He has done. Behold all of the goodness of Jehovah God to you in Christ. You're not under that law. You stand above that law, sit above that law with the Lord Jesus Christ in heaven, not as the masters of the law, but as those who have been redeemed from the curse of that law. And now looking down at that law, it's the most beautiful thing. It's lovely, absolutely glorious, for it reflects the goodness and the might and the majesty and the holiness of our God. The Lord Jesus Christ is our rest, the rest for our conscience. He is our peace. He is what gives us liberation and freedom from that evil conscience. He's the answer of a good conscience unto God. Our conscience being good in Him and in Him alone and through His obedience and His obedience alone. And that's what the gospel teaches God's people. That gospel proclaims, here's what Christ did. It's finished. It's all finished. And our earthly minds never understand that. Our flesh will never take hold of that. We never will have it as part of our DNA on this earth, so to speak. We will never have it as our reflex and our instinct on this earth, so to speak, that it is finished. The reaction of our flesh is always, no, no, it's not finished. There's something I have to do yet. There's something I have to do. How can it be there's nothing I have to do? Our flesh says, where's my glory going to come if there's nothing that I have to do? If Christ has done all of it. The flesh always reacts against this idea that it is finished. The flesh always wants to add works. so that our conscience can be clear. But the conscience of the child of God is free and clear through the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone." It truly is finished. There's not a single thing that God's people must do to have the fullness of the Lord Jesus Christ as theirs. Repent, they don't have to do that to have Christ. Obey, they don't have to do that to have Christ. There is simply nothing for God's people to do to get themselves from being under the law to being over the law. There's nothing they have to do to get themselves out from under the curse of the law. Christ did it. It is finished. That's why he's rest for us. He's the only rest for us. Where else would you find that kind of rest? Even in your best works and my best works, there is all manner of filth. They're filthy rags. We polluting them entirely by our sin and iniquity. But Christ's works are pure. They're all pure. Every one of them is. Not one of them is stained. It is finished. It is finished indeed. The whole righteousness and salvation of God's people, so that the Lord Jesus Christ is our rest. To put it in terms of Matthew 11, as we have seen before, Jesus Christ gives us a yoke. And it's not the yoke of the law. It's not the yoke of some kind of obedience that we must render unto God. The yoke of the people of God is heavy. The yoke of the people of God who are troubled by their sin is a heavy yoke. They labor under it. They're weary under it. If anyone tries to obtain his own salvation, there's nothing but misery under that yoke. But the yoke of the Lord Jesus Christ is an entirely different yoke. It's a yoke that has written within and without, it is finished. It is finished. It is finished. So that every time the conscience of man, your conscience, tries to go back to its works, to find its assurance and its forgiveness, then there is that yoke of Christ, which is just the gospel, that says to you again and again and again, it is finished. It's all done. There's nothing more to do for your salvation. Christ has accomplished it all. That's the rest that Jehovah God gives us through the Lord Jesus Christ. That means that Jesus Christ brings to us the fullness of God Himself, the relief that is in God Himself. There's nothing here to relieve you. Nothing. Not in yourself, not outside of yourself, here on earth. There's nothing to relieve us here. Our relief, our fullness is all in Jehovah God. For those who have no money, there's wine and bread and milk and water to buy without price to be had of Jehovah God through Jesus Christ alone. The Lord Jesus Christ being our Sabbath fills us and makes us glad and causes us to delight in the finished work of Jehovah God through Jesus Christ. This rest then, that is Jesus Christ for the people of God, is a gift of God's grace to us. This rest is not something that God's people obtain by what they do. It is entirely a gracious gift given to those who never deserve it, who never will deserve it, A gift given entirely in grace, entirely in mercy. A gift of Jehovah God. And that stands over against the idea of the Pharisees in Matthew 12 about what their rest was. The Pharisees in Matthew 12 thought that their Sabbath rest consisted of their law-keeping. of their good obedience, of their noble and even their heroic obedience to Jehovah God. That comes out when Jesus went through the corn on the Sabbath day and his disciples who were unhungered began to pluck the ears of corn and to eat. That violated some extra biblical law of the Pharisees that they had added to God's law, to God's fourth commandment about eating. When the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the Sabbath day. And there the Pharisees reveal their doctrine of rest. Their doctrine of rest is that rest comes by work. Rest comes somehow by work. The Pharisees' view was a very religious view. They appeal to the law. It is not lawful for the disciples to do this on the Sabbath day. And the Pharisees by speaking about what was lawful to do or not lawful to do is not merely saying, here's a list of things that we may do and not do. That was part of their problem too. But when they were saying they do that which is not lawful, they were saying they do that which will not bring them rest. And by implication, what we do does bring us rest. It brings us peace. What we have done in not eating the corn from the fields like the disciples, in what we have done, we have our rest. And that's you, that's me, that's our flesh. What the Pharisees thought about Sabbath rest is what you think and what I think by nature about Sabbath rest. My rest will come if I'm only good enough. My peace will be if I have obeyed enough. I will have more assurance if I can only do more. That was the Pharisees' doctrine of the Sabbath. It was their doctrine of rest. Jesus' doctrine of rest is far different after he pokes holes and obliterates the Pharisees' idea of what constitutes rest. He teaches his doctrine of rest at the end of the passage. The Son of Man is Lord. even of the Sabbath day. He's the Lord of the Sabbath. And what does it mean to be the Lord of the Sabbath? It means that He distributes the Sabbath, that He gives the Sabbath. It's in His hand to do with as He pleases. And the Lord Jesus Christ, as the Lord of the Sabbath, is the one who gives His people rest. The whole controversy in Matthew 12 was not about what you may and may not do on the Sabbath, even though that's the terms that the Pharisees cast it in. But the whole controversy was, what is the Sabbath? What's the essence of the Sabbath? How do you get to Sabbath? The Pharisees got that Sabbath by their work, by their goodness, by how much they had done and how hard they had done it, and by how heroic even they were in doing it. Those poor Pharisees who were probably hungry too and would have liked to take a handful of corn but didn't because they were obtaining rest by their work. Over against all of that stands a glorious, refreshing doctrine of the gospel. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath. And Jesus is the one who gives you that Sabbath rest. You can find that same idea in Hebrews 4. which we did not read tonight, Hebrews 4 speaks of that rest which God's people have, and they have through the Lord Jesus Christ, a rest that remaineth for the people of God, even after Joshua, who in Hebrews 4 is called Jesus, but even after Joshua brought them into the promised land, there remaineth a rest to the people of God." What is that rest? That rest, as Hebrews 4 shows, is by faith, not by unbelief, but by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. We obtain that rest by faith and by faith alone. And therefore, the child of God has this rest from the Lord of the Sabbath without a single work. without a single work. There's not a single work that the child of God has to his name in this rest. Oh, there is work that the child of God has to his name, but it is not his, not a single one. The work that he has to his name is Jesus' work, Jesus' finished work. Just as God rested in his finished work the seventh day after he had made the worlds, so the Lord Jesus Christ gives rest to his people by his own finished work. And that work brings rest. Now you don't have to look at yourself Now you don't have to look at how hard it is and all the weariness, all the trouble, all the oppression. I don't have to look at any of that and can see the Lord Jesus Christ. He gives rest and he gives rest fully, entirely by his finished work. That faith, then, is God's gift to see something that you cannot see with the eyes of the flesh, to see something that will never make sense to your flesh, to see something that will never be your instinct or mine upon this earth. You see away from yourself, and you see what the Lord Jesus Christ has done, and that Lord Jesus Christ gives rest. He is our Sabbath. He's the Lord of our Sabbath. God in his mercy has given to his church then a Sabbath day, a Sabbath day, a day of rest in which this gospel of Jesus' salvation is proclaimed to us. And it is about that Sabbath day that the fourth commandment speaks. Remember, the Sabbath day to keep it holy in the New Testament, the first day of the week, which is the day of the Lord, who is the Lord of the Sabbath. Whereas in the Old Testament, it was the seventh day, the last day of the week. What does God require in the fourth commandment regarding this day? And then follows the catechism's explanation of the keeping of the Sabbath day. The catechism's perspective about this day of rest is not that you get rest by obeying the commandment about rest. It is not that you will obtain assurance of rest and peace by keeping the Sabbath day. That's not why to keep the Sabbath day. In fact, in the law itself, God made that clear. In Deuteronomy 5, God did not say You should keep the Sabbath day in order to be delivered from the land of Egypt or in order to be delivered from your sin and death. But he said keep the Sabbath day because you were delivered. You're already delivered. You're already given rest in the land of Canaan. Your rest is not because you keep but your keeping is because you have rest, even though the words there sound very similar, they're night and day difference. One is heaven and one is hell. One is the truth, one is the lie. God has given you rest in Jesus Christ, therefore keep the Sabbath day. Keeping the Sabbath day is, first of all, diligently frequenting the Church of God. According to Lord's Day 38, that I, especially on the Sabbath, that is on the day of rust, diligently frequent the Church of God. There, the catechism indicates that there is still a day of rust. There is still a Sabbath. The Sabbath has not been abrogated. The Sabbath has not been done away with. The Sabbath is a different day. That Old Testament form of the Sabbath day has changed by God raising Jesus from the dead. But the commandment is the same. Keep the Sabbath day. There still is a day of rest, contrary to those whose voices become louder and louder that there is no day for the Church of Jesus Christ to keep, and that the Church may do as she pleases on the first day, for the first day is like the second day and the third day and all the rest of the days. Over against that, the Reformed faith is God has given us a day. Because He's given us rest in Christ, He tells us keep this Sabbath day and diligently frequent the Church of God. Heidelberg Catechism also lists the elements of the worship service that belong to frequenting the Church of God. Hear his word, use the sacraments publicly to call upon the Lord, and contribute to the relief of the poor. Those are the catechisms listing of the elements of worship. Hearing his word, includes the preaching of the gospel, it includes the reading of the gospel, it includes the confessing of the gospel, as we do in the Apostles' Creed, there we find hearing the Word of God. Using the sacraments, the two sacraments that Christ has ordained, baptism and the Lord's Supper, So that on the Sabbath day is the time in the worship of the church is the time to use those sacraments publicly to call upon the Lord. And there are two kinds of public calling upon the Lord. There is, first of all, prayer, and second of all, there is song. And the Lord has specified in His Word, as Lord's Day 35 teaches us, what those two public callings upon the name of the Lord are, that we worship Him in no other way than he has commanded in his word. This article became controversial when the Reformed Protestant churches cast us out. Appeal was made to Lord's Day 38 that exclusive psalmody was not confessional and could not be confessional because that element is not listed in Lord's Day 38. What the Reformed Protestant churches forgot, what they deliberately forgot, is that neither does that article list singing at all. If you're looking for the word psalm, you will not find the word sing any more than you will find the word psalm. But that article does list publicly calling upon the name of the Lord, How do the scriptures teach that that public calling is done? In prayer, the house of prayer, and in the singing of the Psalms. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. Colossians 3 verse 16, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord with Psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, which are the Psalms of scripture. and then contributing to the relief of the poor, giving to those who are in need through the ministry of the deacons as becomes a Christian. Here we have the elements of the worship of the Church of Jesus Christ as she diligently frequents the house of God. What belongs to this This Sabbath keeping is especially the proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ. That's why the catechism begins the way it does. First, that the ministry of the gospel and the schools be maintained. The ministry of the gospel is the preaching of the good news of salvation in Jesus Christ. And it is that preaching by the servants that God appoints to his church. So that diligently frequenting the church of God means also maintaining the ministry that there may be sermons and there may be the preaching of the gospel. Schools is sometimes taught to mean seminaries. That would go logically with maintaining the ministry. But that word schools that the catechism uses is very precise. It's a word that the catechism uses elsewhere in the title of the Heidelberg Catechism to mean the Christian day school. They had seminaries when the catechism was written. They were called universities or academies. They also had day schools and they were called schools. That's the word that the catechism uses here that the schools be maintained. The schools teach the children to see the whole creation as the handiwork of Jehovah God so that they learn in the school the finished works of Jehovah God. And the schools teach the children all those things that they need to know in order someday for some of the boys in those schools to become ministers. Their ministry, their training for the ministry begins already when they're boys in their school days. And it teaches the whole Church of the Lord Jesus Christ to read and to write and to do other things so that the people of God can understand sermons, for example. The schools are to be maintained. But what is the catechism doing in all of this? The catechism is showing that the heart of diligently keeping the Word of God is the preaching of the Gospel. The heart of it all is the declaration of the finished work of God in Jesus Christ. And the catechism teaches this keeping of the Sabbath day, again, not that we might come into rest, but because it has already been given. God gave you rest. God gives you the unspeakable privilege of coming into his house to hear him. He gives you the unspeakable privilege of singing his songs with him. God, through Jesus Christ, gives you this rest of his finished work. And now, having that rest of his finished work, keep the Sabbath day. The catechism refers to the eternal Sabbath. And the catechism refers to that eternal Sabbath in the most striking terms. When you read through the secondly in the Heidelberg catechism, you will notice something about the child of God there. The child of God in that secondly is utterly passive. He's not doing anything. There's no works to him that he's doing, that he's producing. What you find in that, secondly, is passivity. 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 there are men who will come to that part of the catechism who will teach you to pick out all of the activity of man that they might find there. Cease, it says, that's an activity. Yield, it says, that's an activity. Talks about your work all your days, that's an activity. But that's because the nature of man is simply to read the whole Bible and the whole confession to find myself. I'm always the hero of the Bible. I am. Not Christ, not God. I'm always the message of the confessions. Not Christ, not God. That's my nature. And men pray on that nature to teach us to find in all of these things, our work and our doing and what we contribute. What's the meaning of the catechism here in this secondly? Not this, you have a whole bunch of work to do if you want to get into that eternal Sabbath. But rather this, you already have the beginning of that eternal Sabbath through the Lord Jesus Christ. You have his rest. You've already entered into it through him. You sit with him in heavenly places. You have that eternal Sabbath already now. And God is going to give you that eternal Sabbath rest forever and ever in heaven and in glory. Therefore, now, stop trying to earn it. Stop trying to work for it. Stop trying to obtain it by what you do. A lesson that our flesh will never learn. A lesson that's only known by faith. Who's the Lord of the Sabbath? You? Me? And our ceasing and our yielding and our working? Not at all. The Lord is the Lord of the Sabbath. All the things here are the things that he gives. The child of God simply receives from the Lord everything. everything by His Spirit, everything by His Word, everything through the Lord Jesus Christ. Don't be led astray by the opponent's attempt to turn grace into work and to turn what God gives into what you do, but rather see the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of the Sabbath, in whom we have rest. What a gospel for the weary people of God in this life, who as they sojourn here below, are simply utterly helpless to get themselves rest, refuge, peace, forgiveness, and all of the blessings of salvation. What a gospel that Jesus Christ is our rest. He is the Lord of the Sabbath. And now in gratitude, remember the Sabbath day. Amen. Our Father, which art in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy Word to us this evening. Bless it to our hearts. We thank Thee for our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is our rest and who hath given us entrance into the heavens, that we might be with Thee and that we ungodly might be justified, that we who are unholy and unconsecrated to Thee might be consecrated to Thee in Christ. that we who are empty and weary might have refreshment and peace. Will Thou give unto us that peace indeed, lay that yoke of the Lord Jesus Christ upon our necks, that we might know now and forever it is finished, it is truly finished. Will Thou send us forth and into this week with gratitude with wonder at thy salvation, and give to us faith that we might see our Savior and rest in Him, in whose name we pray, amen. Psalm 46. Another well-known one to the congregation, a favorite. This is the Word of God to us through Jesus Christ, who is the psalmist. And in this psalm, our Savior as our head leads us in worship, bringing us to sing together with him, God is our refuge and our strength. A reminder that when this psalm is finished, we will sing as our doxology. Psalm 72 verses 18 and 19, which is the first of the doxologies listed in the back after which we will have the blessing. We'll sing now all the verses, all the verses of Psalm 46. Amidst our refuge, ever strengthened, streams of present day. Therefore, although ye are weary, ye will not be afraid. Though hills amidst the seas be pressed, though waters o'ering bay, The holy place wherein the Lord was high and is above God in wonder suffered a crown, a plinth shall her remove. The Lord to her end now her do, and that might her improve. He then raised to waters, sing the kingdom to the world. The Lord God of nature, his voice the earth giveth out for fear. The Lord of hosts upon our side, the thousand ye remain. The God of Jacob's high refuge is safely to maintain. Oh, when we hold one another's worship hand, Come see what desolations beyond the earth have brought. Until the ends of all the earth pour sin to peace returns. The Holy Grail sustains us in fire, love, cheer, and praise. Be still and know that I am God among the heathen. I will be exalted. I will be exalted. I Our God, who is the Lord of hosts, is still upon our side. The God of Jacob, our refuge forever will be. Blessed be the Lord, our God, the God of Israel. For He alone doth find rest, mercy, glory, and excel. For He alone doth find rest, mercy, glory, and excel. Blessed be His glorious name to all eternity. The whole earth let His glory fill. Amen. So let it be. The whole earth let His glory fill. Amen. So let it be. The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make his face shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. Amen.