38 of the Heidelberg Catechism, Lord's Day 38, question and answer 103. What doth 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 day, that is on the day of rest, diligently frequent the church of God to hear his word, to use the sacraments publicly to call upon the Lord and contribute to the relief of the poor as becomes a Christian. Secondly, that all the days of my life I cease from my evil works and yield myself to the Lord to work by His Holy Spirit in me and thus begin in this life the eternal Sabbath. Beloved in our Lord Jesus Christ, this particular commandment that we consider the explanation of from the Heidelberg Catechism is a very applicable a word for us to hear this morning on the occasion of baptism. And I deliberately preach it, not simply to maintain going to the catechism as much as possible in 52 weeks, but in the Lord's providence, He often puts baptism on the occasion of very applicable Lord's Days. And this is one of them, and one where you might look at and say it has nothing to do with it whatsoever. But in fact, it does. Very much so. It gives us opportunity to consider that. The connection, of course, is itself brought out in the form for baptism that we read. where, in explaining the two parts of baptism, explains what God the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit witnesses and seals unto us, which is that we are freed from all our sins, as well as accounted righteous before God, is what is brought to us in baptism, and the Holy Spirit then applies that to us. The Holy Spirit applies two things in particular, the washing away of our sins and also the daily renewing of our lives. Then the catechism, or the baptism form in the second part, says there is another part, explains what that's all about. If one asks, how now does it appear and look, how is it when the Holy Spirit applies the washing away of our sins and the daily renewing of our lives, the answer is found. that we cleave to this one God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with all our hearts, minds, soul, and strength, which you will recognize is the summary of the law. And that life now, that life of loving God, especially now, that's the focus in the first table, is laid out in the fourth commandment. Simply look at the commandment itself. It requires that the ministry of the gospel in schools be maintained. Why? Well, without that, you cannot baptize your children. Not only that, but your children, baptized now by the church according to the holy gospel, needs to be instructed. Instructed in the holy gospel and the commandments of God. And so there must be church and schools. Well, where does God require we do that? Fourth commandment. Fourth commandment we read in the Lord's day requires that especially on the Sabbath day, I diligently frequent the church of God to hear his word, to use the sacraments publicly, to call upon the name of the Lord and contribute to the relief of the poor as becomes a Christian. Those are activities that we not only engage in as adults, but we engage in them as Children. One reason we take our children to these activities of worship. This is where they're given that one sacrament of baptism and where they're urged to confess their own faith in the triune God and partake of the other sacrament. This is where they are taught a large place where they are taught, not only by word, but also our example. So we'll keep those things in mind as we consider this morning, keeping the Sabbath, keeping the Sabbath. And we look, first of all, at the requirement. Then we're going to look next at the necessity. Why, really? Why is that the requirement? And then lastly, the possibility of that. The requirement of the Fourth Commandment is, on the one hand, very plain. One could say simple. And if properly understood, one would look at it and say, well, of course, what a commandment that is, we might say, easy to keep, one that almost follows naturally. It's like requiring me to breathe or requiring for my heart to be in my life. And you would say, well, it simply is a part of your life, your life as a Christian. And on the other hand, not so. In other words, even before we proceed to look at the requirement, it's helpful for us to understand that this is one of those commandments, they all really do this, where we can see on the one hand our flesh, the depravity of our flesh, and how it is impossible for our flesh to keep any of the commandments of God, isn't interested in it. Our repentance and conversion involves the mortification of the old. It has to. And on the other hand, we see the truth that was also laid out in the baptism form, how the daily renewing of our lives obviously implies, demands, requires, keeping of the fourth commandment. One looks at this commandment and says, well, of course, how in the world can you love God without worshiping Him and being like Him and acting like Him and giving honor to Him and praise to Him on the Sabbath day? Of course. And that, of course, is the spirit of the new man. That's the Holy Spirit speaking. And this is a commandment that we need to remember in that regard. That when we look at these requirements, it's very helpful for us maybe to pause even right here and jump ahead a little bit and remind ourselves why does the Holy Spirit bring to us this Word of God. Now, we read a passage in Holy Scripture that explains to us this Word of God. This Word of God is quick. This Word of God is quick. It's powerful. It's sharper than any two-edged sword. It divides asunder. It kills and it quickens, in other words. Hopefully we can see that this morning by faith. Part of the entering into the rest is by faith understand this about ourselves. When we look at the requirements, when we look at God's commandment, We are to be reminded that, this is the catechism, all our lifetime we may learn more and more to know our sinful nature. That is, even if you have, in a very formal way, said to yourself, well, I keep this commandment. I don't upset myself from the divine worship services. other such things I do on the Sabbath day, that if we're honest, we're going to find out, well, even then, you're going to find that there is great opposition of your flesh. There is sins and sinfulness involved with our Sabbath day keeping. And we need to know that. We need to remember that. Why? And thus become the more earnest in seeking the remission of sins and righteousness of Christ because it serves that purpose. So that knowing that even in this holiest of activities and keeping of God's commandments, I sin, I might bring those sins to my Lord Jesus Christ for forgiveness and there also believe I am righteous in Him. Also, we are reminded in the catechism, and here's a good place to remember it, so that we constantly endeavor and pray to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit that we may be more and more conformable to the image of God. Hold that thought. We're going to get into that in the second point. So when you look at the requirements of the fourth commandment, there is Well, mixed emotions, we might say. On the one hand, we look at the commandment, and it is simple. It's easy. It is actually quite amazing that God, who really demands that we worship Him, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, He owns us. He commands us. He is God and we are men. If God had come along and said, look, every day of the week is to be Sabbath, it would not be too much. If God required that we would be in prayer 24-7, it would not be too much. And yet, God said one day, and with that one day, God will accomplish His purposes. And with that one day, He can point out our sin, too. Just think of it. Forget now the other six days of the week. Let's just look at what God requires for one day. Just one day. One day out of seven. Let's imagine the other six days you can do whatever you want. You can't, but let's just imagine that. And God says, one day. Give me one day. And here's what I want you to do on that one day. It's quite simple, actually. First of all, first and foremost, support, maintain the holy gospel that is the church and the schools. And by maintain, I mean Begin, carry on, run, support with your finances and your presence, your prayers, everything that's necessary to keep the church and the schools going. And again, it's very simple to understand why God would make that a requirement. Getting somewhat into the necessity, but the answer is, well, if you don't do that, then there's no ministry. There's no schools. It implies that we need the ministry of the gospel and the schools. They are means that God uses to bring His Holy Spirit to us, to renew us. That's what they are. They are means that God has given, and God says, as such, then maintain them. Show your love to me by giving of your time and energy to these various causes. And again, the child of God can look at that and say, well, of course, I see that. And in fact, it's why it's listed first. You can say that part of Sabbath keeping is, first of all, diligently to frequent the house of God, but if it's not maintained, then there's no house of God to diligently frequent. And our fathers always understood that out of the Holy Scriptures. The very first thing that was done when one entered into the sanctuary of God in the Old Testament was you plunked your money, into the collection box. That's what you did. That was your thank offerings. Among the many offerings made were offerings not only for atonement, but thanksgiving. We amazingly, when we support the Holy Gospel, the ministry of the Gospel, and the schools, we are showing thereby our gratitude to God. That's an amazing thing, and we recognize that. We don't support those schools and then stand back like Nebuchadnezzar and say, wow, look at these big schools and this church that we built. No, no, we know God is pleased to use all this to accomplish his purposes. But the point is, you wonder why it even has to be brought up. Well, the answer is because there's another part of us that says no. Well, yeah, okay, I see the importance of the ministry of the gospel of the schools, and certainly I'll give to that, but only after me. after I have maintained my own life, after I've maintained my own household, only after I've maintained it now according to my standards, what I believe is appropriate and necessary. Yes, I will support the ministry of the gospel in the schools after I've bought myself this and that, and I have this and that to indulge on myself. And so you see, even while on the one hand, We can, according to the Spirit, recognize what God requires as right and true. not really even obtrusive, oppressive, because does not all that we use to maintain school and the ministry come from God in the first place? Are we not simply giving back to God that which He gives us, and yet our flesh says, no, no, it's mine. It's mine. I worked hard for this money. And so when these causes come past me in the sanctuary. Importantly, notice that we especially support the ministry of the gospel in schools on the Sabbath day when we give of our collections. It all fits, doesn't it? But notice how we resist that, even that, in our giving, in our support, just with money, money God has given us. Our flesh has to be battled, has to be fought off, has to be put down. The sins of that have to be noticed, recognized. The requirement is next. Having supported the ministry of the Gospels in the schools, I now diligently frequent them. I diligently frequent the church of God. There is worth noting something. I diligently frequent the church of God. that is the house of God, the place where God dwells, and dwells in a rather unique way, you see. It's worth noting that we, of course, believe God is omnipresent, and so God dwells everywhere, doesn't he? Is there anywhere that a person can flee from God? If he ascends up to heaven, God's obviously there, but the psalmist says, even if I make my bed in hell, God is there. God is everywhere, present. And so no, that doesn't mean now I can go everywhere on the Sabbath day and commune with God. That's the argument that's often given, right? We're no longer going to have a second service on Sunday so that you all can commune with God through your family, and while through the nice beach and water and sunshine, and of course the boat and the skis and surfboards and everything else. Yes. No, that's not what the commandment means at all. It's keep the Sabbath and keep it holy. That is, keep it in a whole other way than you would the other six days. Yes, we can commune with God out in nature on vacation, but the Sabbath day is different. Here, we're going to commune with God in a unique way. And according to his unique presence, which is the presence of his grace, We're going to come to the place where God dwells because that's the place where His people are. Ask yourself, why does God dwell in this place, or how is it that God dwells in this place? Is it because this is such a fine building? No, God can dwell in a tent. He did for much of the Old Testament in a tent. The idea is that God dwelt there because he made his home with his people, in his people. That's his covenant life. He dwells in their hearts. He dwells in them collectively, not just individually, which is why God, on the basis of the collective Israel, could gather in one place in the heart and center of the whole assembly. In other words, Again, getting somewhat into the necessity. The commandment is a reflection of the reality of the covenant and the reality of the covenant that God saves us not as individuals. We are saved individually. I am saved and you are saved. God lives in me and God lives in you as his children. But he saves us always as a body, as a church, as a temple, as a tabernacle, as a Jerusalem, as a Zion. And so Sabbath recognizes that very importantly. Whereas the other days of the week we head out of this place and we all go our separate ways and go according to our individual duties and life and live that life somewhat individualistically, the Sabbath day is where we remember the communion of the saints and the communion of the saints because of the communion of the spirit, which is the spirit of God. So the church of God, that is the place where God lives and dwells because he's in the hearts of his people, but also where God dwells because his word is there. It's a place where God actually speaks, where God speaks to his people, where he is the object of the preaching, where he is the object of our love and affection. And so you can see that the fourth commandment even has to do with the reality of, well, what church is that? and we all know the marks of a true church, and they relate really very much to this commandment. But now, we go on, we don't just simply go to his church and twiddle our thumbs, or just sit down and say, no, I've heeded God's commandment, but we go to hear his word, to use the sacraments publicly, to call upon the name of God and contribute to the relief of the poor. And again, here our flesh interferes. It sins. It does not like this whatsoever. The flesh also doesn't like the whole business about going to where God is found either, by the way. If you ask yourself why there are many, many churches, the answer is there's many, many people who really don't want to go where God is, where His house is. They like the idea of going to a place where there's all kinds of people who call themselves Christians, and where they can sort of claim they go to church, but The fact is they don't really want to hear the Word of God. They're not interested in the Gospel. They're not interested in hearing the Law of God. They're not interested in obeying the Law of God, not so much. They want to go to a church that receives them as they are, where they can do what they want, etc., etc. What's going on there? These people either have not faith or are being overwhelmed by their own sin. And then the call of Hebrews 4 is very much applicable. But let's suppose that we've come here. by faith, believing that this is a true church, God is here, God is present, and we come now to hear his word. We truly believe that. We believe that we come here not as a social organization or to somehow influence God, to have God look at us and say, my, what good people they are. I think I'll forgive their sins or declare their righteous. No, that's, nope. We believe we come here to hear his word. to use the sacraments and publicly to call upon his name, that's prayer, and to give to the relief of the poor. Notice, by the way, those are all the main elements of worship. All of those should always be a part of a worship service on the Sabbath day, all of them. Well, then again, how does that go with us? Do we always hear His Word? No. No. There are plenty of times where I hear the Word of God and I say, well, that's not true. Or ouch. We get angry. We get mad. God can't be speaking to me that way. We get our hackles up. Or we just simply dismiss it for whatever reason that we give. or the collection plate comes by. We've acknowledged that we need to contribute to the ministry and the poor, but we hope everybody else does it, too. We hope everybody else is doing it more than we do, and we get rather stingy with... And notice, by the way, that it does not say, and contribute to the ministry and the support of the schools in the collections. Now that's done. And it's sort of understood, but it's to give to the poor. And not just the poor in your own church, but the poor generally. As an expression of the very grace and mercy of God shown to us. There on the Sabbath day in the house of God, what better place, God says, to show that you believe you are saved by my grace and my mercy alone than by taking what I gave you and putting it in the plate for those who do not have what you have. The poor. And of course, our reaction is, well, do they deserve it? Is it going to go to some of these bums out there who don't deserve my money? They're drunks, drug users. Doesn't say anything about that, does it? Leave that to others to determine. And maybe have you forgotten, ask yourself in the house of God, that that's what you were. That you were born in trespasses and sins. That if it weren't for the Spirit of God working in you, that's all you would be. or you come to my house to testify that you are good and righteous in yourself, that you seek your well-being and salvation inside yourself rather than outside of yourself, as the baptism form puts it. You see how even that is, well, impossible for the flesh. The flesh don't want to give one dime to the poor. Call upon the name of the Lord. That's a good description of prayer. Here we together call on God, recognize our need for Him, our love for Him, the thanksgiving that we owe to God for all of His goodness and grace, and there too, there too. What is prayer? Well, prayer is a time to grab some candy out of my pocket and jam it in my mouth so I've got something to munch on. And often the time when my thoughts most wander, or even this is the time for me to be critical of that aspect of worship. But to think about what we should be praying for and not praying for, and this and that and everything else, and how I hope somebody else is praying because they sure have a lot of sins in their life. Really. So, look at prayer, which should be as natural for a child of God, spiritually speaking now, because it's fellowship with God. And we're God's fellows. And yet, what happens? The flesh is against us. The flesh is not only shutting our eyes, but shutting our mind, causing our mind to go here, there, and everywhere else during prayer. And it's all sin. It's all wickedness. It's all that which is wrong. all that which we must pray to be delivered from, why the child of God longs for the eternal rest of heaven. That's what these requirements should set forth for us. How wicked and sinful I really am. That's our problem, is it not? We think we're pretty good, decent folk, especially us, right? We still have two church worship services and most of them are full. I look at those other people over there. Ah yes, pride goeth before the fall. Let's look at our own hearts in a Sabbath day. And we haven't begun to talk about what God requires once I leave this place and you leave this place. Oh, but now that time's mine. Not the whole day. Just a couple hours of the day. The rest is mine. Yes. I need a nap. I need a good meal. I need some me-time. Maybe check my fantasy football players, see how they're doing today. Or worse yet, turn on the television set. What is that? The spirit doing that? Is that the sanctified spirit? Nope. That's your flesh. Your sinful, corrupt, gross, God-hating, selfish flesh. which is why the second main requirement is that I cease from my evil works. Sabbath-keeping isn't simply a matter of recognizing our depravity and our sinfulness, but ceasing, stopping, changing. That's what God requires. God doesn't accept us just saying, well, I can't. Sorry about that. I'll try better. No. No. So we're going to get into necessity here in a little bit. God says, no, stop it. Stop it. Quit living according to your flesh. Live by faith. Live by your spirit. Live by that faith which says, I've forgiven my sins, and I have the Spirit daily renewing my life. Live that way. And notice, yield myself to the Lord. We might shiver a little bit at that. Yield? What yield? Requires my yielding? Not if you understand what it's talking about. And yes, yield yourself to the Lord. That's no different what the apostle says in Hebrews 3 and 4. Don't harden your hearts. Hear his voice and hear it today. Hear what he says. You understand how wicked it is to drag all our evil works into the worship service, to drag all our evil works here, to come here knowing full well in our hearts we're sinning against God and not really caring at all. Worse yet, appealing, well, God forgives my sins anyway, so what difference does it make? Let's look more at the necessity. Now, you understand right at the outset as to the necessity of why. Why is this a requirement? Why is God a requirement? The Word of God does come and simply says, because it's still valid. God never changes His will or His mind. Once a command, always a command. Just like once a promise, always a promise. God didn't come along after Christ came and say, now it's OK. You don't have to keep the Sabbath day anymore. That's an Old Testament ceremony. Just like the other commandments, it's still abide, it's still here. And one could easily just point at that and say, well, listen, because it's God. Who do you think you are? Why do I have to listen to this? Why do I have to do this? Answer is because God says so. You want to tell God no? Some say that. You could tell God no. When God says, keep the Sabbath day, you could say no. And you could just say no because, well, I don't have to do anything to be saved. Grace is saving mercy. I get to say no. No, you don't. You don't get to say that. What you're saying is Sabbath-breaking then isn't sin. It's not a sin that I have to confess before God. It's not a sin that Jesus forgives in His cross. We point out numerous, numerous passages to demonstrate that point. That's been done here before. So we're going to move on to other things with this regard and those that are found right in the Lord's Day itself. Let's look, first of all, over the fact that it has to do with who God is. Who God is. Now, both the baptism form and the Lord's Day point this out. that has to do with being conformed to the image of God, becoming like unto God. That was both in the prayer and the form that we read. Do you understand now why both, both of the recitations of the law of God, when it comes to the fourth commandment, directly turn to God? That is remarkable. That is remarkable that in the law of God, which is very much similar in both of its recitations, everybody can see it. There's such a change there, such a difference there in that commandment. And both of them point at God and the works of God and what's going on. The answer is that the commandment to serve God and worship God on the Sabbath day, just one day a week, is grounded in who God himself is at all times. that even when it came to creation, when it comes to providence, God is a God who worked and then rested. And we're to remember that on the Sabbath day. It takes the Sabbath day and directs it away from ourselves. Even when we are rightly focused on ourselves from the point of view that I am a sinner, I have this flesh, this depravity, And I also want to thank and praise God for the forgiveness of sins and His renewal of me that's going on day after day. It's about God. When God renews us, who does God renew us into? What form? What image? The devil? Sinful, depraved man? Even man as originally created Adam? The answer is no. the image of God as it's found in Jesus Christ. And so when it comes to the Sabbath day, it goes back to God. And then especially the one about being redeemed. Did you catch that? Twice. There's no excuse for us to look at the law of God outside of Christ, because the law of God always begins the same way. I am the Lord that redeemed you from the bondage of Egypt. Now, because of that, for that reason, keep the Sabbath day. And in the fourth commandment, that's repeated. Right there when you get to the fourth commandment, it's like God says, I think they forgot that already. I'm going to reemphasize it. If there's one thing, in other words, more than any other that demonstrates we believe in God as our Redeemer and Savior, it's the keeping of the fourth commandment, which makes our sin against it particularly heinous, doesn't it? And what a shame then how often we make this day all about us, right? What can I do or not do? See how wicked we are? We take even the worship of God and we turn it into us. We do. Be surprising how often criticism of the preaching or criticism of the church and the people of the church is always about ourselves. We often are smart enough to disguise it as everybody else. There's others, that's problems. Others got some issues, but not me. But it's usually me. Well, we forgot why it's all commanded and why it's all here. It's about God. Number two, it's about you. The commandment is grounded in who you are, and not who you are, obviously, in yourself, but who you are as a child of God. Notice the emphasis of the catechism. When it comes to the requirements, especially the worship, it adds the words, as becometh a Christian. As becometh a Christian. In other words, this is what Christians do. It's like Dogs barking and ducks quacking. Christians go to church on Sunday to hear the Word of God, to contribute to the relief of the poor, to call upon His name. It's what they do. It's like breathing for them. It's like their heart beating for them, which is why when we absent ourselves from the worship of God, it's so terrible. We're either not Christians or we're very, very, very, very, very sick Christians. Notice this is what we do. This is how we live. And notice it's an aspect of our life that we live by faith. Ask yourself sometimes why it is that it's so hard for us to come to a worship service and why the worship services are often not attended. Why is that? Why does that go on? Well, you can shout, you know, generally, oh, it's my flesh, and it's opposed to this and that. Very simple explanation, which is such individuals, and we ourselves can easily fall into that, don't want to be in the presence of God. We don't dare. Our conscience perhaps is bothering us. There's a lot of other reasons that people give, plenty of them, but you can boil them all down to this, unbelief. It's the real issue that the apostle was concerned about in Hebrews. Why didn't the children of Israel enter into the land of Canaan? Answer, unbelief. And what didn't they believe? The answer, the promise of God. God promised them, this is your land, this is the land I give you, this is your inheritance. And the people didn't believe, and they didn't believe by saying, well, but look at all those giants. Look at all those walled cities. In other words, God couldn't possibly bring us here. And they fell. They didn't enter in exactly because of unbelief. Why don't people come to church? Answer, unbelief. My sins are too great. Or I don't really care to get rid of my sins. I'd like to hang on to my sins. But we know who is here. We know whose host this is. And it's all fundamentally unbelief. It doesn't matter what outward expression it takes. Maybe it's because somebody also has a job on Sunday. Or they'll be holding the drugs and alcohol that they can't even leave for a couple of hours. Give me all kinds of reasons. Outwardly, inwardly, the issue is unbelief. Well, that by definition is not being a Christian. A Christian is a believer. And the believer comes, and he comes no matter what, because it's there especially that he remembers, gives praise to God and thanks that all of his sins are forgiven. And it's amazing too, this is the God, this is the place where God also reminds us, and those whose sins he forgives, he also renews, so they don't live that way. So that's the other necessity. It's simply what it is to be a Christian. You can't be a Christian. You can't have a Christian who doesn't keep the Sabbath day. It can't happen. How in the world can you fellowship with God? How in the world can you worship God? How in the world can you give thanks to God without doing that on the Sabbath day, fourth commandment? It's impossible. Notice also the necessity has to do with what it is. I've got to be brief, but it's brought out. This is the beginning of the eternal Sabbath. You see, the position of Scripture and the Reformed faith is we don't wait until we die to enter into heaven as such. We're already entering it. We're already living that life. The life of heaven, the everlasting life, is given me now, and there's going to be reflection of that. And the place that that's best reflected, most reflected, is on the Sabbath. There, there is where it's evident, where it shows that I'm not just a child of Adam, depraved flesh, but there is in me the life of the Spirit. And that's an everlasting life. And it's a life of rest. It's a life that rests from evil works. It's a life that lives unto Jesus Christ. Notice how that's phrased that way. Again, it's why I and you should be able to see that there's many, many people who may talk about going to heaven and living an everlasting life, but in fact it terrifies them because they want nothing to do with going to church. If you can't live in the presence of God now, how are you going to do that everlastingly? This is the beginning of the Sabbath, the eternal Sabbath, the real Sabbath, the one after which this day is just a pattern, actually. And explains, too, why the commandment, when applied rightly, makes demands not only on one day of the week, but all of our week. As the Catechism points out, that I cease from all my works, all the days of my life. Why? Because that's That's the perfection of that day in glory. Now what's the possibility, again, Like last week, I'll add the word certainty. The possibility is not a chance, it's a certainty, and the answer is faith. Well, there's a lot of answers, of course. One of them is Jesus taught He was Lord of the Sabbath. Lord of the Sabbath means not simply that I have the right to make demands and requirements on this day. Jesus doesn't mean simply never look at that Sabbath just from Sinai, but look at the Sabbath day from me, look at it in me, see it through me, which is the only way really to see it. Only then is it beneficial and good for us. But when Jesus says, I'm Lord of the Sabbath, what he means is, and I will make you Sabbath keepers. That's my work. That's the work of the Spirit. And when does that begin for us? How does that work? Well, obviously, it gives us a new life, but notice the emphasis in the passage we read upon faith. He gives us the gift of faith. Why did they fall in the wilderness? The apostle says, well, they heard the gospel. That's not the problem. They heard the Word of God. They knew what God said. They knew what God promised, but it wasn't mingled with faith. God didn't give them faith, so they didn't believe Now isn't that something to be thankful for? That God, in His sovereign determination, grace and mercy, gave you faith, so that when God says what He says, and gives us promises like He promises, which basically is this, I've redeemed you sinners, I've delivered you from the bondage of Egypt, and you have a home, an eternal home. It's yours that we believe that. Amen. Let us pray. Father, which art in heaven, O Lord our God, we thank Thee for Thy Word, the Word of the Holy Gospel, the Word of our Lord Jesus Christ, that instructs us how we are to live unto Him and out of Him. Forgive, Father, our sins, our Sabbath-breaking so that we do not fear Thee, that we come before Thee with the fear and trembling of honor and worship and glory and respect. And give us also thanksgiving for the church, for one another, and for the truth of Thy Word. This we pray in Jesus' name, amen.