Father, you are so good to us, unfailingly, and your mercies are once again new this morning. We've experienced already an infinite number of them. Father, we pray for your blessing now on this, our final session of the day. We ask, oh God, that what we think and say and do and discuss during this time would be edifying to one another and pleasing to you. And we pray, Father, that your spirit would be among and working within us. that as we discuss and think deeply about the word that he has given to us, we pray, Heavenly Father, that you would conform us more to the character of Jesus Christ, our blessed Savior. And we pray these things gladly in his name. Amen. I want to mention to you, as I begin, if you go to presbytery meetings or synod meetings, oftentimes an elder will raise his hand and ask for a point of personal privilege. In other words, he wants to do something or say something that's not on the official agenda, but is important. for the rest of the elders to know about. And so I'm going to claim a point of personal privilege here and tell you about the really pleasant flashbacks I'm having as I stand up here, because members of my beloved Providence family are here. And it's wonderful to be able to look out, as I did for seven years, that church in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, and to see these wonderful, dear people looking back at me. And even George is paying attention. This is really wonderful. Speaking of George, he's obviously a very good sport and I love my conversations with him over the years and his question just before our break. I want to elaborate on just for a minute because something else occurred to me as we're thinking about agnosticism and again both the disingenuousness and the deep sadness of it. Agnosticism wants to say that we can't have certainty especially when it comes to religious truth. We can't have certainty but Here's the reality within agnosticism. Agnosticism is not the denial of certainty. It's the displacement of certainty. Agnosticism is not the denial of certainty or even the possibility of having it. It's the displacement of certainty. Because in the context in which we were thinking that the spiritual or religious agnostic is one who is very certain about how God should be. He is or she is very certain about what God should do and should be like. And because the Bible at least in their minds and hearts does not present a God that meets their standards. They then reject the idea that this God is noble or that he's good. operating very much within the realm of certainty. Again, we can't live life outside of that realm. It just doesn't work that way. And no one lives that way. So agnosticism is not the denial of certainty. It's the displacement of it. It takes it away from God's Word and its objective truth and it places it here. The point of certainty, the absolute, becomes the self. And if we know ourselves and we know what we're capable of in our sin, that's a scary placement. Now that, I think, is also a good point George asked the question about engaging those who are caught up with this and in this kind of the unquestioned ethos of their lives. Help them see that. Question their points of certainty. You know, what do you believe about God? And what do you insist on that God must be? Which has prompted you to reject God as Scripture presents him. And again, as I mentioned before, look for those points of pain. Look for those points of hurt. And I think that that's a good avenue. try to identify lovingly the points of certainty that they've established and seek to engage those with a gentle heart and look for those points of pain and Lord willing avenues of conversation will open up. So just some thoughts on that. Transitioning now to Session three childlike instead of childish again We're we're still looking at at the distance between us and a more vibrant visceral Christian experience And so we just addressed that topic last night. We just introduced it at the very end. I mentioned this idea of law-keeping and and even strenuous efforts to keep the law of God as the path of vibrant Christianity. And I mentioned at the very end of that session last night all the objections which immediately come up and we'll talk about some of those as we go. And then we just got done with the session dealing with agnosticism in the distance and the disconnect that we willfully put in front of ourselves and God and thus cutting ourselves off from blessing. So now we want to look at this in terms of what the Bible presents us with as to that path as to that path of by God's grace seeking to keep his law and what's amazing is as we begin to dive deeply into our hearts and see perhaps objections that arise. We see a divide and a separation taking place between what ought to be a childlike faith. And I want to speak kindly here, but what often is a childishness in the way that we think about such such issues. One of the lessons my parents taught me growing up, for which I'm profoundly grateful, is this is going to sound strange at first, but children are people and children are very intelligent people. The first part, hopefully, is obvious to everyone is why it may sound strange to repeat it. The children are very intelligent people, and I really hope I'm not stepping on anyone's proverbial toes here, much less actual toes, but you're safe enough from that. But one of my personal pet peeves, this is not thus says the Lord, this is personal pet peeve, that I see is when, even well into toddler years, adults speak to children in a language that's just not language. It's just badger badger. There's no words. And is it any wonder that they look at us with googly eyes like, what are you talking about, lady or sir? These are intelligent human beings. I understand we get overcome with affection and we lose our linguistic aptitude in those moments of pleasant paralysis. But you want to speak to them with words and encourage them to use and to form words and Sometimes I think we expect far too little of our children, and I don't mean that as a segue into advocating a harshness or a strictness at all, but to be wonderfully as parents in awe of these image bearers growing up in Christian households and to encourage them to flourish in the natural and supernatural endowments from the Holy Spirit, which don't wait until a certain stage of adolescence to begin to develop. The Spirit places his work within us according to his time, of course, but I think so often we treat children as if, well, yeah, later, later, later, later. And we end up arbitrarily ruling our children out from some wonderful interaction in the Lord. So all of that to point out just the beauty and the intelligence of our children. Talk about the word epistemology last session. Epistemology is the study of knowledge and how we know what we know about children. so often express a question that is epistemologically brilliant. And every one of us who has any experience with a child or as a child, and that makes every one of us, you know this question. It's why? Why? Why, why, why, why, why? Now, yes, that can be raised in an attitude of petulance, certainly. But in and of itself, it is a brilliant philosophical question because it reduces whatever you're trying to say to the child down to its core. And so with every why question, we Christian parents have an opportunity to bring our children before the Lord because he is the fountain of all knowledge. He is the source of all knowledge and reality. He's the creator. And so all the why questions find their answer in him. It's also a good opportunity to teach our children the legitimacy of the answer because I said so. It's an appeal to authority and certainly in our Christian lives. There it is because the Lord said so. That is the most magnificent expression of Christian maturity. First point in your handout when we say to the Lord not my will but yours be done. And Lord, I don't understand all the details, and you've chosen not to reveal them to me. But because you said it, here I go. And of course, we think of the author and the perfecter of our faith, the Lord Jesus Christ in the garden before his crucifixion. Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me. But nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done." I think it's safe to say that that might be the most magnificent statement of love and loyalty ever spoken. Considering who said it and what was going on. And in the heart of Jesus, love and loyalty were never divided. The loyalty is a function of love. He loves the Father. And so, of course, he's going to do the father's will. Though it cost him his life, Jesus could say much more fully than Job, though he slay me, yet will I hope in him. And one of the roadblocks, sadly, we began discussing last night that a lot of well-intentioned Christian teachers and leaders are putting in front of us on that path to pursuing holiness. They're cutting us off and those roadblocks are serving to sever the relationship between love and loyalty. How often have you heard it this way? Well, I go to church because I want to go to church out of gratitude to the Lord. It's not because I have to. It's because I want to, because I love the Lord. Now, just like the statement that we dealt with last night, that that sounds so right, doesn't it? It sounds so spiritual. It sounds so. Well, of course, the Christian life is to be lived fundamentally out of love and gratitude. The greatest commandment is to love God with everything that we are. And so, as Matthew Henry notes, God commands that everything from his people be performed on the principle of love. And so, yes and amen. Love is at the root of all of it. But did you notice the false dichotomy in the statement, the false separation? I go to church not because I have to. There's the separation. But because I want to. Why can't it be? And why shouldn't it be? Both. I love the Lord. And so even when I don't want to, I'm going. Now this was not meant to induce some kind of artificial guilt. You know there are times where in the Lord's providence we can't make it and yet is the heart there. There's no divide between love and loyalty. We don't have those divides in other relationships in life. In our marriages, in our friendships, or at least we shouldn't, between love and loyalty. What a horrible thing that a husband would say to his wife, I am faithful to you, not because I have to be, but because I want to be. How scary is that? it introduces into that marriage what doesn't belong. And it's that autonomy on my terms. As long as I feel grateful, I will be faithful to you. It's subtle, but it's substantial. So we want to deal with The means by which God isolates, identifies and by the Spirit's grace gets rid of more and more autonomy, which we sometimes without even knowing it mix into our faith and into our statements of love for him. So, autonomies, antithesis. Okay, autonomies, antithesis. And we're gonna be kind of playing with the whole idea of childlike, childish, all throughout, so I'll keep making references, mostly in analogies, to keep going with this. Okay, autonomies, antithesis. As our children grow and as we learn to rightly expect more from them, there are what we call house rules. Again, I realize some children grow up in terrible homes where the house rules are restrictive and suffocate their lives and it's awful. I met my wife in the context of the Christian ministry at Cedarville College and I publicly repented for going to Cedarville several times. You know, I'm at Geneva now and it was a phase in life I had to get through. I love Cedarville. It was a good experience. I met my wife there. And we would go week by week to evangelize incarcerated youth in inner city Dayton. And when you begin to speak of God as father, the walls go up. Because for so many of them, dad was someone who showed up once a month to collect a check to beat mom and to take off again. And so we need to define and redefine our terms. And so when we talk about rules, immediately we feel cold. We talk about house rules. There's a you're my son and you will do this because you're under my house under my roof. Again, the appeal to authority is legitimate, especially if this is a loving house. But let's think about the house of God. Are there not house rules within the house of God? Among brothers and sisters in Christ. And given the fact that these rules are from our father. should our hearts not delight in them, as did the heart of Jesus. So as we grow and as we mature as the children of God, we ought to see a greater conformity to house rules and a certain measure of independence, not autonomy, but a certain measure of saying, I see how this applies now. And now there is more of a relationship between what I want to do and what I am doing. That's the progress of growth. Autonomy's antithesis is the law of God. Self-law's opposite is God's law. And what is the law of God? And more specifically, I'm dealing with what we call the moral law of God. Think of the Ten Commandments and the commandments which flow from them. Lots of theological debates, and we can talk about those in the Q&A. I plan to leave no time for Q&A. But let's just think of the ten. What is the law of God except the character of God in the imperative form? What does God say prior to the Ten Commandments? This is who I am. I am the Lord, your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. And the implied, therefore, is there because of who I am and what I have done. This is who you are to be. You shall have no other gods before me. And so on. Now, in our day, again, by very well-intentioned pastors and theologians, there is an increasing emphasis on what we call the indicative, the statement of who God is and who we are. And we talked about that last night, who we are, and that's good. But we forget the fact that the indicative exists for the sake of the imperative, or at least the imperative, the commands flow out of the indicative. Progress comes from our position We were saved by grace Paul says Ephesians 2 8 and 9 in order to do good works Ephesians 2 10 and Pastors and theologians again with the desire to protect their flock are Always pointing certain ones are continually pointing their their flock to the indicative and that's great. That's yes, and that's amen but they're very gun-shy and about moving on to the imperatives. To the commands that God gives us. As his children. Now, why? Partly because their people and maybe these pastors themselves have been so badly burned by legalism. by growing up or at least experiencing an environment in which God's law was presented as a means of salvation. Follow these rules and you will be acceptable to God. Follow these rules and you will be saved. Even if it's not articulated that way, sometimes the whole atmosphere of a church or of a family can feel that way. You've got to do this. You've got to do that. And then you will be acceptable. Or the addition of commands that God never spoke under the guise of, thus says the Lord. You know you're holy if you look like this or if you have this standard or if you don't do this or don't do that way beyond God's word and into our personal preferences. So if you come out of that kind of environment, it's spiritually crippling and it is scary to hear a preacher begin to preach the commands of God and you begin to think in your heart, oh, no, here we go again. I thought this place was about grace. And so pastors have backed off and they've become and I mean this in a respectful way because I'll tell you in a minute why. They've become helicopter pastors. The phrase has become popular helicopter parents and any of you who have observed my behavior at Providence or around here or at local parks know that I am a helicopter parent. I. around my kids, and I just, and this is a well-intentioned thing, but it's ultimately not a good thing for their growth and maturity, where I have to be with them at every little turn. And I often kind of smother them, and I give into my fear and my paranoia, and I'm always, where are they, what are they doing? Now, a large measure of that, I hope, is love and parental discretion, and the recognition that we live in a deeply evil society, and that children are its most, Precious, in a sense, or most targeted people as victims so often is the case. But I also recognize that there's a level in which I can unintentionally smother and discourage and prevent the kind of growing experiences that children need to have. We can put this more broadly in terms of helicopter parents in our day. We try to keep them safe from every bump and every bruise. But sometimes they need to take the spill on the bike and the training wheels need to come off. Now we're there when the crash happens to love and to hold them. There's something very endearing about seeing a five-year-old speeding along with training wheels. There's something sad and slightly disturbing about seeing a 25-year-old doing it. And so these pastors, with the best of intentions, they swoop around their congregation and they end up suffocating their spiritual growth by keeping them away from the commands. Or when there's disobedience that needs to be dealt with, they shy away from accountability and saying, look, you're a child of God, you can't act this way. Don't tell me that, Pastor, you're forcing rules into my life. And that's what I fled from. This is what I mean by helicopter pastoring and sometimes it's from pastors who themselves feel so burnt out and so weary from the criticism of their peers that anything that sounds confrontational feels like an attack. Even if it's from a kind hearted brother who simply comes alongside and says you know have you thought about what you said there from the pulpit or or in that book. I don't have to. And I'm quoting someone here, because Jesus succeeded for me, it's okay for me to fail. So in essence, back off. So again, it sounds so right. Yes, Jesus succeeded for us. Of course, he did all of our identity, all of our, our worth, our righteousness, our wisdom, our peace, it is all Jesus Christ. But God did not simply save us from something. He saved us to something. He saved us to a life lived in increasing conformity to his beautiful house rules about which David writes the longest single section of scripture. So the reaction ought not to be defensive and back off with those commands and those criticisms. It ought to be if it comes to especially from the authorities that God has set up in the church. What the psalmist says in Psalm 141, as the psalmist is under intense pressure from enemies surrounding him, and he realizes it's so easy to lash out and to return evil for evil. And so the psalmist says, set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth. Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart inclined to any evil to busy myself with wicked deeds in the company with men who work iniquity and let me not eat of their delicacies. Let a righteous man strike me. It is a kindness. Let him rebuke me. It is oil for my head. Let my head not refuse it. This is not the psalmist becoming a doormat. just opening himself up for abuse and harsh criticism. He goes on to write, yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds. Lord, don't let them get away with it. But don't let me get away with it. And so, Lord, send in your mercy someone who knows you to come alongside me if they see a false way within me working its way out. And don't let me refuse it, Lord, because I want to refuse it. I want to return evil for evil. I want to avoid that accountability. Don't let me, Lord. And so as you read, at least some of what's becoming so popular in our day and pop Christianity by popular pastors, it's deeply sad. It's as if you're reading their own psychological catharsis after having been dealt with so harshly by their peers. And coming out with great wounds, they come to pastor flocks and they tell them, look, you don't need to listen to that stuff. Forget the rules, it's all about a relationship. Again, another false dichotomy. Another false separation. And what happens is that these pastors end up stunting the growth of the sheep. How do we grow? How do we grow in the spirit given progress over sin in our lives without the Word of God, the Word of the Spirit coming to us through the preaching and the coming alongside of our brothers and sisters in Christ? We are willfully condemning ourselves to stagnation and immaturity. Childishness. when we avoid the accountability of God's house rules. These pastors are not letting their sheep feel the strength given to them by the Good Shepherd to repent and to grow in the grace and knowledge of Jesus Christ. To actually more and more live unto righteousness. This is not to say that as we grow in our keeping of God's commands, again, we're not talking about perfectionism, but that's such a straw man that is thrown up as an objection. We're not advocating perfectionism here, this idea that we can attain some level of sinlessness in this life. The irony about perfectionism is that it has such low standards of sin. It has to redefine sin in order for us to meet the standards. No, sin is awful. Sin is literally hellish. Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression thereof the law of God. We need to take sin very seriously. And as we said last night, we need to complement that by taking grace very seriously. And the fact that God's grace actually advances us in holiness as we deny ourselves in obedience to him. There is progress to be made. We are to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, because it is God who is at work in us. How is He at work in us? By His grace, by the Spirit of God, by being filled with the Spirit of God, which comes as we hear and as we apply ourselves to the Word of God. And is the Law of God not part of the Word of God? So Paul writes in Romans 7, As he laments that struggle that yet remains within him as a Christian, alive from the dead in Christ. The things I want to do, I don't do the things I don't want to do. That's what I do. He says, who shall deliver me from this body of death, the wretched man that I am, but thanks be to God. One of the most unhelpful chapter breaks. The chapter divisions were not original, but we should get chapter eight, verse one immediately after chapter seven. But thanks be to God. There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ. The law no longer condemns us. We are under grace. We are free from the condemnation of the law. But why are we free? In order to serve. What does grace look like lived out? Law. Isn't it a beautiful thing? To find our hearts lusting less and less. To find our mouths lying less and less. To see deceit within the heart be countered and killed before it rises to defile others. It's all of God's grace. We no longer need to fear the condemnation of the law. We're in-house, and that'll never change. But we get to grow. And we get to be like our Heavenly Father. So in your outline, like father and like son. Or sons. And by implication, daughters. As you can tell, I'm going a little bit out of order. What does God's grace look like lived out? It looks like law. And so Paul writes in Romans 7, for I delight in the law of God in my inner being. The unbeliever doesn't say that. Autonomy says not God's law, my law. I delight in the law of God in my inner being. That's not the language of legalism. This is the guy who's about to thunder ahead by saying there's no condemnation for those who are in Christ. Same guy, same apostle, same spirit, inspiring his words. So the language of delighting in the law of God is not the language of legalism. It's the language of Psalm 1. The law of the Lord is the blessed man's delight. And on that law, he meditates day and night. And what is his life like? It's that vibrant, visceral life we've been focusing on this whole weekend. It's like a firmly planted tree, right by its life source. It's productive, it's vibrant, it brings forth its fruit in its season. There's a vitality there. Because the Blessed One is deeply rooted in the Word of God. And ultimately, of course, that blessed one is the Lord Jesus. And what does Jesus have on his heart and within his heart? Psalm 40. That holy law of yours is deep within my heart. And so shouldn't we, who, as every Christian would say, want to be like Jesus, Shouldn't we want to share in our hearts what's in his heart? And what the Holy Spirit has already written in there. As part of our being part of the new covenant. And even fuller realization of what the Old Testament saints experienced in their day. Do we have then great expectations in your outline with regard to our sanctification? Or have we settled for mediocre? For the gap between us and God. And have we become comfortable with that gap? I'm noticing what I've skipped, so hopefully these points are still all making sense. Do we have those great expectations? It's so easy to accept the status quo, is it not? It's so easy to have such mild expectations and to excuse that and to sanctify that. Again, we are alive with the life of the resurrected Savior, indwelled and empowered by the Holy Spirit. Our expectations ought not to be presumptuous and arrogant, but they ought to be great, given what God has promised and who he has provided for us. So where again is the disconnect? Again, certainly we must beware any theology which misapplies the law by treating it as a means of salvation. Again, the pastoral concern which we began thinking about is very understandable. But we know this as parents, those of you who are parents, sometimes our legitimate concern morphs into illegitimate actions. And it's a tangled mess before we know it. We must be where any theology which misapplies law by treating it as a means of coming to know or being acceptable to the Lord. But we must also be aware of any theology which minimizes its vital role in the life of the believer and which prompts encourages or is at least consistent with resentment at the idea that we as Christians are meant to keep the moral law. So we get into an autonomy's antagonism. The autonomy's antagonism. Have you ever resented having to do something you really enjoy, simply because you were told to do it. Maybe it's reading, maybe it's driving, I mean, whatever it is, you really love doing it, and this is some of the essential ethos and pathos of being a student. Yeah, I love to do this, but now the prof's making me do it. So there's this level of resentment that arises sometimes It's certainly not many Geneva students, but it can happen We can love something until someone tells us to do it then I don't want to do that anymore This is the antagonism that arises from autonomy Here's a case in point You remember that list that I read to you last evening, which included that description of the vital Christian life and the Lord saying, I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. I mean, who wouldn't want that as a description of their Christian life? My life is so vibrant. My life is so joyous in Christ. It's so viscerally authentic, both in the depth of its sorrow and the heights of its happiness. It's like I'm riding on the heights of the earth. In conjunction with what command does that promise come? It's the command to keep the Sabbath. Now, again, the debates come up because sadly, in our day, there are some who believe that not keeping the Sabbath is an expression of their Christian liberty. And we can talk about those debates in the Q&A time that I'm not going to allow. So don't worry about that. The debates come up. But let's use the Sabbath as a case in point. The Sabbath shines a blazing spotlight on autonomy as it tries to hide within our hearts. The Sabbath is an autonomy slayer. And all throughout God's word it is a litmus test for the spiritual health of God's people. Again let's put aside the debates for a minute because they are complex and there's a relationship between the old and the new and there's lots and lots of theological issues that come up. And I don't mean this as a disingenuous avoidance of the issues and we really can talk about it and Lord willing will. But let's put that aside for a moment and let's just think about this is what I mean by fruit inspection. Isn't it odd, at least odd, or at least worthy of question, that my claimed freedom in Christ frees me up to spend less time with him on the day that he rose from the dead? Isn't there something weird about that? Now, yes, all of life should be seen in relationship to the Lord. Whatever we do, we are to do to the glory of God. And yet Jesus rose from the dead on a particular day. And it's not in every context that we get to hear the word of God preached, surrounded by our eternal family. But don't we find so often, and again, please, let's not make this them versus us. This is in our own hearts, too. Don't we find that sometimes there's a resentment there? The pastor has not stopped preaching yet. I mean, doesn't he have a watch or a cell phone? You mean I have to go to worship in the evening, too? Now, the Sabbath calls are bluff. Because every Christian, I think, would say, I wish I had more time to spend in the Lord's Word. Boy, you know, I just don't spend enough time in prayer. You know, my life is so crazy busy that I just I don't get the fellowship with Christians that I just want and my heart craves. But then the Lord says to us, I've given you an entire day for that. You say, well, who are you to demand that I spend an extra half hour? Or that I come out of my house in the evening? Or can I realize I'm saying this in Pittsburgh? Or that I missed the game? I mean, after all, all of life is to be joyful and worshipful in the Lord, so I can enjoy God by watching the big game. Okay. But as it comes at the expense of what? And would it not be a higher joy to meet in a special, inimitable way with the true and living God? On the day that has been set aside for his purpose to do something which in almost any other context except church on the Lord's day, we would say we want to do. There's something going on there. It's that same disingenuous dynamic of saying, hey, I love doing this. OK, do this tomorrow. No. It's that subtle presence of autonomy. So the fruit inspector. Again, looking beyond a bit from the theological debates, we can come to the surface and let's look at that in which they result, in which our positions result. And please understand, I'm not speaking dismissively of people who really have a hard time getting to church, whether they're ill, they're shut in, anything like that. And so I'm not making a certain exercise the ultimate goal here. I remember, you know, as a pastor, there were times where a dear lady from a surrounding neighborhood would show up literally dragging her children in there. And and they were disruptive and it was difficult, but it was so good to have them there. Because it took such effort for her. It was wonderful to be able to know that they're here. And so there are difficulties. And as God's people, we need to be compassionate when those difficulties arise. But let's talk about the times when those roadblocks are not providentially in front of us, when they are roadblocks of our own making. What are the practical effects of our understanding of Christian liberty? Again, using the Sabbath day as a diagnostic tool. What are the practical effects of our understanding of Christian liberty? More time with the Lord or less? Yes, all of life is to the glory of God, but isn't there something special about hearing from his word? It's great to be out in creation. I have a biology teacher in high school who I dearly love. She's a wonderful teacher. And she said this with absolute sincerity. She meant it. She would walk in the woods and she would just stop and give God a standing ovation. Because this is spectacular, Lord. And well-deserved standing ovation. But to actually hear from His Word, to have Him speak to us, there's something special about that. So does our understanding of Christian liberty result in more direct time with the Lord or less? Does it result in a greater watchfulness over our hearts or a lesser vigilance that just can't wait to get out of church and into the stuff that we really want to do with the rest of the day? Does our understanding of Christian liberty Results in a willingness to be confronted in love. Or a defensiveness at any disagreement. Back off with those rules. Is our freedom in Christ really meant to make us feel better about spending less time in direct communion with him? And who is happier that Christians spend by large Who is happier that by and large Christians spend so relatively little time in public and private worship on the Lord's Day? Who's happier about that? The Lord of the church or the enemy of the church? What a perfect scenario for Christian failure and a lack of Christian vibrance. to see time with the Lord on the Lord's Day as consisting of perhaps 120 minutes. And if you ask for a minute more, you're a legalist. What a perfect recipe for Christian collapse. Does it all not come down to this? We want God to sanctify us, but we don't like his chosen means at times. We don't have a childlike trust that he will do what he says he will do. And yes, it can be difficult and it can be awkward. And sometimes the room is really warm and sometimes there's noise and there's all this huge list of complaints that we could pile up. But are the complaints worthy of eclipsing our attention from what's happening in that room as the living God meets with us among and within his people? So we don't have a childlike trust that he will do what he said he would, but more of a childish. I don't want to. And we hear that from our children as well, but I don't want to. And again, the Sabbath calls our bluff. Forget for a moment, although we should never do this, that it's an abiding command. We love to talk about what we love. We love to talk about them stillers Okay And I get it. I'm from Massachusetts. I love sports teams that are hated around here Okay, there's a time and a place and that's okay But the reality is on the Lord's Day if we wanted to talk more about him we would I If we wanted to spend more time in public and private worship, we would. It comes down to the affections of the heart. But remember, love and loyalty are not divided. I'm going to do something which is almost unconscionable to me. I've got a quote approvingly of a country song. And I'm sorry, I actually don't have the lyrics, but I can at least give the general gist. It's sung by George Strait, and it's about a dad and his boy going fishing, and it makes me cry every time I hear it. And I don't even, I haven't been fishing in like 30 years, so it's not about the fishing. But this dad and his son are fishing, and it's just them. It's a dad, it's a boy, and as George Strait mentions in the song, a cooler of Cokes. It's so simple. You know, it's not an amusement park. It's not a video game. It's just a dad and his boy. The simplest of circumstances. Sorry, I'm tearing up. And at one point, the boy just turns to the dad and he says, I'm the luckiest kid on earth. The surroundings of Sabbath day worship aren't much. It's a building, it's pews. But isn't there something within the heart of the children of God that can say, well, we don't want to talk about luck, but that can say, I'm just glad to be with my father. He's given us a whole day for that. And it's sad that we in our day have to be reminded sometimes that it's a command. But isn't that in itself indicative of the goodness of God? Because he knows there's times we're not going to want to be there. He knows there's times where the big game is going to have a bigger appeal. But love and loyalty are not divided. He calls us to come and spend time with him. Autonomy is annihilation. Embrace the awkwardness. Again, circumstantially, it's difficult. When my wife and I, and we did not grow up reformed, when we first started thinking about some of these issues and you get home on a Lord's Day afternoon, it's like, ah, what do I do here? Because sadly, so often the Lord's Day is presented as don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't, don't. And it's no wonder why that's kind of discouraging. Instead of, you're free to do this now. You're free to rest physically. You're free to read the Word of God. You know, you're free to talk about the Lord. You're free to pray with each other. God has freed you up from this, or for this rather, excuse me. And so yeah, it's awkward at first, and we don't know what to do with ourselves, and family worship can be awkward, especially if your family can't sing. And we sit around and we mumble and we Embrace the awkwardness and trust that God is going to work through the means. He's promised To work through what she's promised to work It can be an acquired taste But isn't it a taste worth acquiring? When my wife and I came into the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the early 2000s, they had these psalm things, and there were kids five, six, seven years old. And the leader would say, OK, how about a favorite? And some five-year-old kid would raise his hand and say, 119X. And my wife and I are looking at ourselves mystified. What are they talking about? And so we're looking through our Bibles to find 119X. Oh, wait a minute. It's a psalter. And it was weird, but it was wonderfully weird. And when you think about what's happening there, There's a child who knows the word of God well enough to have a favorite song selection from it. That's cool. And again, wouldn't that be what every Christian says he or she wants? But the Lord gives us a means by which to pursue it, and autonomy says, OK, I want that goal, but not those means. Self-denial says I'm going after that goal by those means because it's my father's will. Here's the full command from Isaiah 58. If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, in other words, from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable. Notice doesn't say if you feel like it's a delight. Then go for it. Call the Sabbath day a delight. We're not agnostics. We don't have this disconnect between us and absolutes and the absolute truth. The word of God comes to us and says the Sabbath is a delight. Whether you're delighting in it or not, it is a delight. And so as God's children, we say, OK, I don't feel it, Lord, but it is a delight. And I'm going to honor it. And it's my affections that need to change. If you honor it, not going your own ways or seeking your own pleasure or talking idly, then you shall take delight in the Lord. And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. Those of you in the room who are pastors, don't you love sitting under the preaching of the word? I mean, I know how you feel. wait to get up behind that pulpit. And it's a sobering and heavy responsibility, but it's a fire shut up in your bones. But isn't it such a blessing to sit beneath the preaching of the word? And yes, as we are preaching, we are sitting beneath that preach word every bit as much as the people in front of us. Man, there's just something about being fed in that particular way that is just delightful. And when we get that opportunity, it's like, yeah. I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. So again, notice that order. Affirm the reality for what it is, not necessarily what you perceive it to be. And our affections will follow our affirmations. Coffee and other worthy pursuits. Let me ask, let me be bold here, let me ask for a show of hands, how many of you like coffee? How many of you love coffee? How many of you have had people question your sanity as to how much you love coffee? It's a bit dangerous, my hand's note is still up. I'm not just illustrating what it's like to raise a hand, this is, my hand is up. Okay, what's that? Yeah, that's right. Did any of you begin by loving coffee? Okay, you're the purest. I'm sorry, I can't imitate that. I hated it at first. And I got through high school and college without it. It wasn't until I started teaching high school. And for some reason, this seemed right to me. I saw a colleague of mine who was an econ teacher slumped over the coffee machine at 730 in the morning. And somehow I thought, that's a good thing. And so I grabbed it, I started, and I never looked back. And at first, I needed the cream, and I still like that stuff. And I'm not even ashamed to have whipped cream and sprinkles on top. I'm secure enough in my masculinity for all that stuff. But now I've gotten to the point where I'll just take it straight as it is. And I love it. It was awkward at first. Embrace the awkwardness. The Lord's commands may feel awkward at first. But again, is this not a taste worth acquiring? What a blessing that all of God's people on the day that he is appointed for it would of their hearts, and even when it's not of their hearts, gather and worship and listen and talk and sing. And even in their homes, do the same. And yes, to get that physical rest, that's a major part of the day. What a delight that would be. What an impact that would make as the people of God. And if the fruit is that good, Well, then maybe there's a theological root behind it. And maybe the ostensibly theological arguments against keeping the Sabbath. Are not as well rooted in scripture as we might think. I say that with profound respect for Christians who have disagreed in deep terms, and again, we will talk about it in the Q&A if you like, but but there is something very elemental and basic about it that I think we often overlook. Annihilating autonomy and embracing freedom. Freedom's friendship. John Chapter 14, verses 15 through 21. Remember, Jesus is talking to his disciples. These are our believers. And yes, there's Judas there. He's talking about the realities of life lived in fellowship with him. John 14. If me, if you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the father and he will give you another helper to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans, I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me, because I live, you also will live. In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, And I will love him and manifest myself to him. This is not the Lord saying, hey, keep all these commandments and God will start loving you. No, this is in-house. What Jesus is speaking of is a special blessing, not a second blessing to use that loaded theological term, but a special blessing by which the Lord reveals himself to us more and more. wonderfully as we deny ourselves. And again, wouldn't every Christian agree with that? The more we pay attention to the Lord and acknowledge him, doesn't it make sense that we would experience that much more of his work within our lives? The path ahead is the spirit given grace fueled pursuit of righteousness. We're already righteous in Christ, and now we get to live out the effects of what he's done. And open, day by day, more of the gifts which he's already purchased for us. What does righteousness look like except as defined by the law of God? That's the way through the woods. That's the way through this life. God has saved us, and equipped us, and graced us, so as to pursue it. And on the day our pursuit is done, our faith will become sight. We will see our Savior and rejoice that our hearts are now perfected. That we will be with Him forever. Let's pray. Father, thank you for your word. Thank you for your holy law fulfilled by our Savior and your son. And for the Spirit inscribing that law upon the hearts of those whom he has made alive in Christ. Father, forgive us where we have intentions that seem so biblical and yet are mixed with autonomy, where we use principles from your word as a means of avoiding your word. And thank you, O God, for your fatherly heart toward us, for your patience with us, for the Savior's promise to never leave nor forsake us, for the Spirit's comforting us and interceding for us when we just do not know how to pray as we ought. Please, oh God, give us more and more the assurance of our being in house. More and more desire and spirit given aptitude at keeping your law. So that more and more of the radiant righteousness of our savior would shine out from the people whom he has redeemed. So that people would see and glorify you, our father in heaven. And so that those looking on would be won by the Spirit through the Word, that the Church would be built up, and that you would advance us by your Spirit to that day where our faith becomes sight. Grant us, O God, increasing faithfulness and obedience until that day. We ask in the name of Christ. Amen. All right. If it is okay with you and conference keepers, I do want to take a few minutes for Q&A, and we'll conclude our conference by singing. And so if we need to manipulate the time, that's completely fine, and I'm happy to stay around and talk informally, but do you have any questions formally? And I will look for a signal for anybody who says enough is enough, so please do that. Yes, Mark. There seems to be so many today writing you so heavily to grace. Who's writing the opposite? Who's writing with a balance of grace and love? A lot of them are dead. Yeah. Sure. Yeah. Mark's question is, there are a lot of people writing today skewed toward grace. Who's writing the opposite? Let me, and I know this is your intent, but for the sake of the microphone, and if this is being recorded especially, let me humbly maybe play with your wording a little bit, because you can't possibly skew too much toward grace. It's the issue of whether we're understanding grace as it applies. Boy, may the Lord grant that we would preach nothing but grace But of course there's a vital relationship between grace and and the living out of the law So and I know that's your intent, but I wanted to clarify for anybody hearing So writers of Helping us out with that David Murray from Puritan Theological Seminary is is really helpful and both in terms of his blog, head, heart, and hands, as well as some of the works that he does and conferences at which he speaks. And you can access some of those through Sermon Audio or Gentle Reformation blog. So he's a guy that immediately comes to mind. And he's also, by no coincidence, someone who is deeply steeped in the Puritans. Now, the Puritans are strong medicine. And as with any group of people in church history, including ourselves, there are excesses to avoid. There are dangers and we've got to be careful to evaluate everything they write by scripture. And you've got to have the right medicine for the right ailment. So you mentioned Thomas Watson. If you have a Christian who is struggling and having come out of a legalistic background and just has all the battle scars to show it do not point that Christian to Thomas Watson's heaven taken by storm. You know Jesus says he will not. quench a smoking flax, but heaven taken by storm. It's not this way, but it will feel this way to the one torn up by legalism. It will feel like God is dropping an ocean on top of their smoking flax. But if you have a Christian who is apathetic and who needs a holy fire lit underneath him, or hurt than having taken by storm is helpful. Thomas Watson's precious remedies against Satan's devices is wonderful in terms of its obviously grace affirming wisdom and yet not in such a way that allows the slide toward a licentiousness or or an ignoring of God's laws. So I can think of some of those sources, but I'm happy to defer to others who may have ideas as well. Anybody writing now or in ages past, immediately come to your mind on a healthy relationship and dynamic of law, grace, all that kind of stuff. Those are at least some starters. It's always good for us in general to get back into church history, especially if for nothing else, to clean up some slander. We don't want to praise the Puritans in and of themselves or Calvin or any of those guys who are theological forebearers, but there are certainly some stereotypes which can be debunked for the sake of historical honesty. And Dr. Rick Gamble in one of his classes made this challenge. I'm thinking of something different, I'm sorry. I will plagiarize him and use it in a different context. If you read a book that was compiled by a publishing company called Soledad Glorious, it's the letters of Christopher Love to his wife when he knew that he was about to be executed for political treason. He was a minister of the gospel and the letters that they write back and forth while he's in prison. If I'm getting that name wrong, please someone correct me. I don't know how you can read that without weeping. These are not the cold legalistic killjoys that people make them out to be. Are there excesses and errors? Yes. But so it is with any of our favorite pop Christian authors. There was just a studied simplicity about the Puritans in their living for Christ and they knew it could cost them their lives. Jesus is risen, Jesus is Lord. So why don't we live and write like it? People make fun of the Puritans for their endlessly annotated outlines. But again, I refer you to the example of sports in our culture. I mean, how many of us can go on and on and on about the stats of our favorite athletes without blinking? Can we cite the batting average of a long dead ball player? There's no problem going on and on and on about sports at least in our own hearts. Sometimes it gets obnoxious to others Why because it's it's something we love it. It's a pastime in which we invest ourselves. And so naturally we love to talk about it Why shouldn't it be that way with the Lord? And why shouldn't the Puritans have sought every single application possible to the gospel of Jesus Christ? Again, errors and excesses notwithstanding, but the same applies to us. Let me just ask real quick, if there's anyone who hasn't asked a question yet today, just to give you the priority of the floor. OK, then let's make this sure. And maybe this will be our last for sake of time. Then again, I'm happy to stay afterward. Go ahead. Okay, the Christian in complete armor. OK. So the Christian in complete armor is an exposition of Ephesians chapter 6. And while we're on that just a little side note that I hope is helpful. You know it's interesting you you hear sermons on the armor of God and sometimes you end up learning a whole lot more about Roman weaponry than you do what Paul was really getting at by way of analogy. Denny Pruto at RPTS pointed this out in class one day and it just revolutionized my thinking. Jesus is the one who wears the armor. Because Paul is drawing from Isaiah, where it speaks of the servant of the Lord, girding himself up for war. And that makes perfect sense with Paul's language, excuse me, elsewhere and almost everywhere in his writings. Put on Christ, put on Christ, make practical appropriation of Jesus, take advantage of the blessings that are yours in the Lord. He's the one who fights. This isn't legalism. He's the one who fights, he's the one who does it, and we avail ourselves of his victory and see the practical results. Okay, let's end our formal time. I do want to be respectful of your time and we're 15 minutes over when I think it's said we would end, but I would like to ask you to sing. So if you would, if you're able to stay, please stand and let's sing Psalm 1B. Psalm 1b, and then again, I'm happy to stay around and talk. Thank you all for being here this weekend. I invite you to worship here tomorrow night at 630. So let's stand and sing Psalm 1b.