We're going to consider the Lord's Day as the day of worship. For that purpose, I'll ask you to stand together as we read Genesis, and I'm actually going to read chapter one and go into the first three verses of chapter two. Beloved brethren, these are the words of your Lord and your God and Redeemer. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. And the earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, Let there be light. And there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day and the darkness he called night. So the evening and the morning were the first day. Then God said, let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters and let it divide the waters from the waters. Thus, God made the firmament and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament. And it was so. And God called the firmament heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day. Then God said, let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place and let the dry land appear. And so it was. And God called the dry land earth and the gathering together of the waters he called seas. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself on the earth. And it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the third day. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day and the night. And let them be for signs and seasons for days and years. And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth. And it was so. Then God made two great lights, the lesser, the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth. and to rule over the day and over the night and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. So the evening and the morning were the fourth day. Then God said, let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens. So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves with which the waters abounded, according to their kind. and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters and the seas, and let the birds multiply on the earth. So the evening and the morning were the fifth day. Then God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind, cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind. And it was so. And God made the beasts of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. Then God said, Let us make man in our image according to our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth. So God created man in His own image. In the image of God, He created him. Male and female, He created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth. And God said, I have given you every herb that yields seed, which is on the face of the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed, to you it shall be for food. Also to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth in which there is life. I have given every green herb for food." And it was so. Then God saw everything that he had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day. Thus, the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. And on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work, which God had created and made. Brothers and sisters, the grass withers and the flower fades. But truly, the word of our Lord endures forever. Let us pray. Blessed and almighty God. No man can know the things of God except by the spirit of God and the natural man does not receive the things of God for their foolishness to him, nor can he know them for they are spiritually discerned. And so in light of this testimony of your word, We plead with you for the blessing of your spirit. We beg you, O blessed God, that you would glorify yourself in our eyes this morning. And we plead with you for your own namesake, that you would open your word to our instruction and apply it to our hearts this very day. And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen. You may be seated. On the providence of our Lord, a few days ago, I had the privilege of listening to various sermons from Sinclair Ferguson that I had got off the Internet. And in these particular lectures, the topic which he was considering was the topic of antinomianism. And as many of you probably know, the word antinomianism means anti-law or against law. And what he's referring to is this mode of living where the Christian says something to the effect of saved by grace. So blessed condition can sin all I want and still have remission as the old saying goes that basically the law is no longer applicable to the Christian. Now as we in the reformed community think about the law of God generally that's not our position. At least I hope it's not in our midst here. But we think about the law of God and we have a very high regard for the law, as we've just seen earlier in our worship. It's the law of God that shows us our sin. It's the law of God that shows you and I are desperate need for the salvation that only comes through Christ. And then it's that same law of God that shows us how to express our love to the Lord, our God, in gratitude for the grace of Christ. But as Dr. Ferguson began his lecture, he noted that among reformed communities today, there is a very subtle form of antinomianism that comes into play, and it comes in this manner. We no longer observe the Ten Commandments. We no longer have a decalogue, but as he says, now we have a novemologue, which means nine commandments. And his point is that even as reformed people, so often we neglect the commandments to remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy. Now, as I was hearing that, I began to realize that Dr. Ferguson had been looking at my introduction for the sermon today, but the one thing that I had added was this, we not only are in a crisis with respect to the fourth commandment, the Sabbath day, but we are also in a crisis with respect to the second commandment, which regards the true worship of God. And some of you will remember, as we began this worship series, we began to look at the fact that the heart of the second commandment is that we are to worship God solely and only in the ways that he has revealed in his holy word. And as the church begins to cast aside the biblical principles of God's worship, it is no surprise that eventually they assault the very day of God's worship as well. Because it is the worship of God that is at stake. And by the way, I will add this by way of introduction. When you read through the Old Testament and especially the books of the prophets and all of the sins that Israel was charged with that led to their exile that led to the punishment of God upon them. There are two that stand out above all others and you know what they are. The second and the fourth. Now, brethren, it is in that context that we consider this fourth commandment, this day of worship that God has given to us. We're going to be looking at the first three verses of Genesis chapter two, and essentially what we're trying to see is what was the original purpose of this Sabbath day. This day of worship that God has given to his people and what we're going to see is one simple. Final point. That's the purpose of the Sabbath day is worship and communion with God himself. And we're going to see from verse two, the origins of the day, and then we're going to see from verse three, the sanctification of the day. Now, first in verses one and two, we see the origins of this day. Thus, the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished, and on the seventh day, God ended his work, which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had done. Now, as you well know, this this is a very familiar portion of scripture. This is the portion of scripture which, as we have just read, we see the creation of God. We see God speaking simply by the word of his power and a world comes into being in the space of six days. We see on each day of the creation God's divine power manifesting itself and forming the world in which you and I live. And then when we come to verses one through three of chapter two, we see God coming to the completion of this specific work. And as God finishes the heavens and the earth, it says that God rested on the seventh day. Now, the scriptures, of course, tell us that the almighty neither faints nor grows weary. God has no need of rest. God has no physical fatigue like you and I have, and the need for sleep every night to be refreshed. So what does it mean when this particular verse, when it says that God rested on the seventh day? Well, in Exodus chapter 31, and you don't have to turn there, but the Lord says that when he rested on the seventh day, he was refreshed. Now, that term refreshed in the Old Testament can simply mean took delight in, took pleasure. In other words, stood back and God, after he had finished making the heavens and the earth, said exactly as he did in verse thirty one of chapter one. He sat back. He saw everything that he had made and he saw that it was very good. He took delight. He took pleasure in his work and he was refreshed. Now, as we look at this, you may begin to think to yourself, well, so what? What's the big deal? We're told in the first two verses here that God himself rested on the seventh day and God himself was refreshed and he took delight in the work that he had done. But it says nothing about a command to you and to me. It says nothing about a command for us to keep the seventh day holy. So what is the relevance of God's example here? What is the relevance of this passage? And indeed, there are many who will come to this passage and say something to the effect that here we see God's rest on the seventh day. But what we do not see is the institution of the fourth commandment. We do not see the Sabbath being instituted here. That came later. That came at Mount Sinai through Moses. But here we simply see God resting. And later on, thousands of years later, the Sabbath was instituted. And then we are told that because the Sabbath was instituted later, that when the Lord Jesus Christ came, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our true and eternal rest, did away with this commandment. and abolished it by his death. Well, brethren, is that how we're to read these things, is that what we're to do with this passage, that it has no relevance for us today as Christians in the 21st century? Well, obviously, by the fact that I'm preaching on it, I'm going to say no. But as we look at this passage, what we're going to see is that God's example means everything. God did not simply rest on the seventh day for the sake of resting on the seventh day. But in this text, just as in the six days of creation themselves, God is setting us a pattern for our own week and for how we are to live in this world. Now, Briefly, to look at the words of the Fourth Commandment in Exodus 20, I want to point out some things from these words. And of course, these words will be familiar to most of you, but beginning in verse eight, the Lord says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord, your God. In it, you shall do no work, you nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. In other words, everybody in your house and around you in your city, nobody is to work. Now, notice what verse 11 says for or because in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." See, what Moses is saying here in this particular passage, or rather Moses under the inspiration of God himself, tells the people, you were to keep the Sabbath. You were not to work on this particular day. You were to set it apart and sanctify it as holy. And why? Because God himself worked for six days in the creation of the world and he rested on the seventh. Therefore, you were to follow God's example. God's example itself set the course of history for you and I. God's example itself tells us how to use time. We work for six days. We rest for one. Now, incidentally, Notice that the argument that's being supplied for us in the Fourth Commandment itself is presupposing some very basic ideas. On the one hand, the Fourth Commandment itself is presupposing that God created the heavens and the earth in six 24 hour days. Now, think about that, brethren, as often as we hear that the word day has such a broad meaning in scripture. And even in Genesis chapter two, the word day can mean an era or an age or a long period of time. Well, that's certainly true that the word itself can have a broad meaning. But when we consider the Sabbath commandment, it is six days of creation, six 24 hour days that are being presupposed because The example sets the pattern for ourselves. Now, think about it. If the first day of creation was billions and millions of years and the second and the third and fourth and on through the sixth and so on, and then God turns around and says, now here, this is the pattern for your week. What would that do to our week? Well, I can work for six million years before I reach Tuesday. I can work for billions of years before I come to my first Sabbath and it becomes absolutely nonsensical. Now, it's clear, brethren, that God intended us to understand these six days as simply six days. And whatever science does with that and causes us to question these things, we must remember that our ultimate authority in all matters is the word of God and let God be true. But every man be a liar. Brethren, the point is that this sets a pattern for our workweek. God sets apart one day in seven after his own example. Now, this means that man was to work six days and on the seventh following the sixth, he was to rest and notice it doesn't say God bless Saturday and made it holy, but simply God bless the seventh day. Now, we happen to see in the rest of the Old Testament that from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ, it was indeed the last day of the week, that day that we call Saturday, that tended to be the Christian Sabbath. But a change has occurred. We saw this when we looked at the offering from First Corinthians, chapter 16, that the church was no longer keeping Saturday as the Sabbath day of God. But the church, under the guidance of the inspired apostles, gathered together on the first day of the week, gathered together on the day of the Lord's resurrection. And so now in the New Testament, no longer is it simply a celebration of the original creation that as we come together on the first day of the week or as John calls it, the Lord's Day, we celebrate the Lord's resurrection in a certain sense for you and for me today. Every Lord's Day is Easter. Every Lord's Day, we gather together to celebrate the risen Lord Jesus Christ. We gather together not only to remember that God created this world we live in in the space of six days, but God redeemed you and he redeemed me and he redeemed all of his elect people by the blood and righteousness of Christ. He was delivered for our offenses and he was raised for our justification. And brethren, do you realize that that when you come together on this Lord's Day, you come for a celebration. You come together to celebrate the very resurrection of your God and Savior, Jesus Christ. But consequently, if any of you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ, if any of you do not know the power of his resurrection applied to your lives and the forgiveness of your sins, every Lord's Day, every Sabbath day condemns you and stands as a witness against you. Every Lord's Day proclaims loudly that Christ and Christ alone is the only way of restoring fellowship with God. And where do you stand today? I ask you, children, I ask you, visitors, I ask all of you to search your hearts. Where do you stand in relation to God's messiah, to the Lord Jesus Christ? He offers his free pardon to you even today. Now, brethren, as God originated the Sabbath day with the very creation, I want you to consider some other things in connection with this. God also instituted a few other things at this time. For example, he commanded Adam, in the state of innocence before his fall into sin, to work in the garden. Labor was a good thing in and of itself. And we do well to remember that when we become weary of our labors in this world, that though it be tainted by sin, our labor in itself is dignified and to be service to our God and to our King. But in addition to that, we see that God made man male and female, one man, one woman. Now, consider what he does here. He doesn't give a command. He doesn't say that marriage must be one man and one woman. He doesn't say you shall not put away your wife. But what God has joined together, let not man separate. None of those things are commanded. But remember, in Matthew 19, the inference that the Lord Jesus himself draws from the God's original purpose at creation, the Jews come and they say, Can a man divorce his wife for any reason at all? Didn't Moses say that under certain circumstances, a man can write her a certificate of divorce? What do you say, Jesus? And what does he do? He goes back to Genesis and he says it was not so in the beginning. God made them male and female and the two become one flesh. That's all that it says in Genesis. But Jesus takes it a step farther and says, therefore, What God has joined together, let man not separate. Why do I belabor that point? Because the same is true with the Sabbath. The Lord expects you and he expects me to read this narrative and to realize that the Sabbath is woven into the very creation of the world itself. that the Sabbath day is just as permanent as the institution of marriage, that the Sabbath day is just as important as the world's creation or just as permanent as everything else in the creation of God. And notice it was the Pharisees that failed to draw this inference of marriage. You could hear them saying, well, Jesus, it doesn't say in Genesis chapters one and two that the two shall become one flesh. Therefore, don't separate them and don't divorce. They were the ones that were saying, I want an explicit command. The example of creation is not good enough. And brethren, beware that you do not take the same position of the Pharisees with respect to rejecting this vital commandment of God. As long as the creation stands, one day and seven will be set apart to God's worship. So we see that the very origins of the Sabbath day in Genesis chapter to make it a permanent and binding obligation and all on all people in all ages. But this leads us into verse three and leads us to ask the question, how is the day to be sanctified or what do these things mean? And notice what verse three tells us. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it. Because in it, he rested from all his work, which God had created and made. Now, the text tells us that the Lord did two things, that he blessed the day and he sanctified the day. I'm going to argue in a moment that I think this is really one thing. The Lord blessed the day by sanctifying the day. Now, first, what does it mean that God blessed the seventh day? Well, oftentimes, and especially in modern Bible translations, this word blessed in the Hebrew as well as in the Greek is often translated as happy. So, for example, as we look at the Sermon on the Mount, we see the Beatitudes. Happy are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Now, happy are those who are persecuted. Happy are those who are merciful and so on and so forth. Well, be that as it may, I'm going to suggest that that is not a proper idea. You can be very unhappy, but still be blessed. There's a difference between happiness and blessedness as a Christian is persecuted for righteousness sake and for the sake of the name of the Lord Jesus, he may be very unhappy at the moment, but Jesus says you are blessed. For great is your reward in heaven. The same thing is true when you and I hunger and thirst after righteousness, when we look at ourselves and we see the sin and the body of corruption that remains in us and we're aggrieved and we long that we should be more conformed to God's image and likeness than we are. We may be unhappy about those things, nevertheless, because we hunger, because we thirst, we are blessed, says Jesus. And so it is with the Sabbath day. God blessed the Sabbath day, God blessed the seventh day and he sanctified it. That this is a day, objectively speaking, whether men take advantage of it or they do not, whether men love the day or whether they hate the day. The truth of the matter is that God blessed the day and the day is meant to be a time of blessedness. Now, why is this a time of blessedness? Well, I think the Lord tells us by saying that he sanctified it. Now, what does this word sanctified mean? Your first response may be to say that sanctified in the Old Testament, as well as the new, simply means to be set apart, and that's very correct. But set apart for what purpose? What does it mean to be set apart? What does it mean to be distinguished from the other days? Well, consider I won't bother going through all of the different references, because I have to cite almost the entirety of the Old Testament. But as I go through these examples, you should recognize immediately the way in which God uses this term. Think about the Levites, as you read through the Old Testament, this group of men of one of the tribes of Israel who was sanctified or set apart to minister to the people in respect to God's public worship. Either they were set apart to serve as priests, as the Old Testament mediators between God and man, looking forward to that great mediator, the only true mediator between God and man, the Lord Jesus Christ. And the rest were teachers. They were set apart to be in the sanctuary, to be about the service as teachers to the people of God. We also see in the last chapter of Numbers that certain vows and certain animals and people and other things could be set apart or sanctified by a vow for service in the temple. We also see that certain articles and cups and vessels and gold and silver were set apart or sanctified. for the service of God's temple and God's worship. And ultimately, we see in Exodus 19 that the people themselves, the entire nation of Israel, was set apart or sanctified. And what were they to do as a sanctified people? They were to be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Now, see, even in this day and age when there were only certain men who could officially serve as priests in the temple, God is telling the people of Israel, even then, that in a certain sense, every single one of you is a priest. And why is that? Because every single one of you has access to the throne of God. Every single one of you has the ability to offer your praises and your sacrifices to God and to directly commune with your God in worship. And the apostle Peter, carries this idea to apply it to you and to I in the New Testament. Peter says that we also have become a royal priesthood, royal priesthood, a holy nation, or as the Lord Jesus himself says in the book of Revelation, that we have become a kingdom of priests. And what do we do as a kingdom of priests, we offer up our spiritual sacrifices. We have been called out of darkness that we may proclaim the praises of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light. Now, put all of this together and what does it mean to be sanctified or to be set apart? Especially in the Old Testament, this word means to be set apart for the purposes of worship. That is essentially. what the meaning of the word comes down to. The Levites were set apart for the services of worship, for teaching the people how to worship. The vows and the offerings were set apart to assist in the public worship of the temple and the tabernacle. The people themselves were set apart as a kingdom of priests to worship. We as New Testament Christians are set apart to worship and to offer up our spiritual praises and sacrifices. And God says when he rested on the seventh day, he blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it. He set it apart for the purposes of worship. And we don't know how long Adam and Eve were in the garden. It could very well be that they fell into sin and corrupted themselves on the first Sabbath that ever was, on this first day that God had set apart. We simply don't know. But if they had remained in the garden, what would their work or what would their week have looked like based upon the commands of God given to them? Well, he told them to labor, to till the ground, to take care of the animals, to name them, to be busy with this work that I have given you. And then on the seventh day, you will rest from this particular work. Well, think about this, this Garden of Eden, this place that we read of in Genesis one and two is the clearest picture that we have of man living in perfection and absolute paradise before God. And there are greater glories to be revealed in heaven. But here is man without sin. Here is man living as he was designed to live in communion with God. And how would his week go? Well, he would go about his daily business. He would go about his work and he would do that with all of his might to the glory of God. And then what else would he have during his time? He had communion with God. He walked with God in the garden in the cool of the day. He had that direct fellowship with God, that direct presence with God. So what happens when the seventh day rolls about? What happens when this Sabbath day comes? What is left for Adam and Eve to do in this paradise? Well, as their work is removed, as their labor is set aside, they have nothing left for the pure, unmixed, unadulterated worship of God. And brethren, I submit to you today that that is the pattern set before us for Sabbath keeping. This day. Above all other things, whatever else it may be, is primarily and predominantly a day of worship. A day for you and I to come and to commune with the living and true God in a special way. A day in which we come together in the sanctuary as God's people to lift up our praises and have Christ in our midst. This is a day of worship. It was at the original creation and it is now. And if Adam and Eve had cause to worship God for creation, how much more do you have cause to worship God on the Sabbath today who have been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ? Brethren, this should be a day of joy, of worship and of exaltation before the Lord, our God. The Lord blessed the Sabbath day and he sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work, which God had created and made. As we consider the various questions About what is lawful and what is not lawful on the Sabbath, this should be our guiding and our governing concern in all things. The primary purpose of the day is the worship of the true and living God communion with your God and with your king. There's a tendency for many to look at the Sabbath day and simply say, God says, rest from your labors. The primary principle of the Sabbath becomes a matter of rest and not of worship. And what do we do with that? Well, we begin to relativize the Sabbath. We begin to approach the subject in a manner like this. We say what is restful for one person is not necessarily restful for another person. One person may rest by working in the garden. Another person may rest by watching television or by playing sports or by any other things that come into their minds. Another person may even go so far as to say this. Their home is one of the most stressful places they could ever go. So for them, rest is going to the office. And if we simply define the day in terms of rest, it becomes relative. What is rest for you is rest for you, and what's rest for me is rest for me. Does not that sound scary? In this present day, we live in a day of relativism and brothers and sisters in Christ. I am not saying for a moment that every single one of us in this room will agree entirely on how we are to keep the law of God at every point. We will not until glory. Yet, at the same time, we must never treat the law of God as though it is relative. We must never relegate it to the relativistic principles of society in which we live. Beware, Christians, that you don't begin to think like the world around you. Your rule of faith in life is the word of God. You may disagree with me and with one another on what that word of God says, but you must live according to it. You must live according to your conscience as it is revealed in God's word. And we go throughout life endeavoring to conform ourselves more and more to this book. and to be ruled and guided by the law of God, not by the dictates of our own hearts. But to focus on this day as a day of worship solves most of these problems already. It is not simply a relativistic sense of rest, but it is a sense of having one day to be sanctified, having one day to be set apart for worship. Now, brethren, I would apply these things to you in these ways. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you grateful? For what Christ has done for your souls as Christians is the gospel, the most glorious thing that you have ever heard and ever can hear. Does the love of Christ himself constrain you to walk in his ways? Then, brethren, think of this. Only through Christ can you worship And what better and more gracious command can Christ give you than to say, here is one day in seven. Here is one day where I give you nothing to do but worship me. To commune with me, to walk in fellowship with me, to enjoy the benefits of your salvation. Brethren, if our hearts were more enraptured with the love of Christ, the Sabbath would be the most joyful duty we could ever imagine. To have one day. To worship with God, we live in such a day where even on the loosest interpretation of Sabbath keeping, even on the basic principle that the only thing required in this commandment is simply don't go to your regular job. We still fail miserably. What happens? The employer comes along and says, I'd like you to work this Sunday, this Lord's Day. And what do we say? Well, I don't do it very often. Not really a big deal. It's only a few hours. And after all, all we do is go to church and spend the time there anyway. And it's not really that big of a deal and much different than what we normally do. Brethren, I'll remind you that this commandment made the same list as murder and adultery. Do we apply this to the other commands? I'll murder just this once, just this one time. I'll commit this murder and it will be fine. And I'm sure God and society and everybody else will sweep it under the rug. And therefore, I'll just go on about my business. So what about adultery? Just this one time? Not really a big deal. Not really a problem. Well, brethren, though we no longer live in ancient Israel, you must remember this. The same penalty was applied to Sabbath breaking, as was murder and adultery. He murdered You were to be put to death. You committed adultery. You were to be put to death. If you worked on the Sabbath, that was it for you. Now, anything that shows us how seriously God takes this commandment. And truly, Dr. Ferguson is right. That we have all but erased this commandment from among the other nine. Brethren, think about the seriousness of this. And do you realize that during the Great Awakenings, during those times of great revival, if you go and read the sermons of the Whitfields and the Westleys and all those others, one of the primary sins that they brought forth in evangelistic sermons for the conversion of sinners was Sabbath breaking. If Whitfield came and preached in our congregation today, would we respond by saying amen? Or would we say, well, after all, we disagree about that sort of thing today. That command is no longer relevant to us today. We have come a long way. We see the remnants, even in our society, of where this day was honored across all denominations. And that day is changing and we must be aware that we do not change with the culture around us, but we must restore this day. And I'll close simply by reminding you this. At the beginning of the world. In the garden before sin, before any concept of redemption was introduced to Adam before the fall, he needed a day of worship. And brethren, in the fourth chapter of Hebrews and in the book of Revelation, that last day, that day when you and I enter into glory and see Christ as he is for the first time and worship him. That day is likened to a Sabbath. At the beginning of the world, man was given a Sabbath to worship and for all of eternity, you will keep a Sabbath rest. So as we strive to enjoy the Sabbath, During this life, which God blessed and sanctified, let us do so as we do with all other aspects of worship, looking to heaven and looking to glory. This day is to be a day of joy. And I'll remind you this, that those Puritans who often are credited with having a Drudgery view of the Sabbath and a legalistic view of things called this day the market day of the soul, the best day of the week. And may it be so for us, let us pray. Blessed and almighty God. We thank you for revealing to us your worship and your word. We thank you, O Lord, that you have not left us in blindness and ignorance to our own devices, but you have given us the scriptures. And O Lord God, we confess that we all are in many things and that we have much blindness that remains on each one of our hearts. Grant us humility, grant us gentleness and patience with one another and great love for you as we seek to conform ourselves by the power of your spirit to your revealed will and scripture. And grant, O Lord, that the Lord's day would truly be a time of celebration and joy for us here on earth. We pray and we plead with you that you would uphold the purity of your worship. And we plead with you, O Lord, that this day of worship would be for us the most joyful and the best day in the week. And we ask it in Christ's name. Amen.