Father, we thank you for the sunshine today. We thank you for warmer temperatures and that we can be here to experience the communion of the saints. Please remind us today that we are members of each other, brothers and sisters in Christ. And those last two words are so important because we only have communion with each other because of your grace and the reality that we have union and communion with Christ. And so may we commune with him today. May we be reminded that we have a bond with the Lord Jesus through faith and through your sovereign work of grace that can never be broken. And may you grow assurance in us today because of your work in our lives and in history. As we look at the material this morning, pray that our hearts would be enlarged as we grow in love for you. And may we leave this room and go to worship you with many of these thoughts on our minds. And we pray this in Christ's name, amen. So my father told me one time that he was in the yard. He was busy doing work as he often was. And he heard a sound behind him. And he turned to see what the sound was, and it was a pit bull that was in the yard. And the pit bull was staring at him. He'd been so busy, he hadn't heard until it got very close. And he thought to himself, this dog is in my yard. And then he looked at the dog, and he thought a little bit longer, and he realized that the dog thought, this man is in my yard. And so then my dad got a little nervous, given the kind of dog it was. Now, I mentioned that story to you to say this, that there was a misperception of property rights on the part of the dog. And in life, and in this fallen world, I would say that with fallen humanity, there is a misperception of property rights. Given the unbelief in our hearts as we come into this world apart from the grace of God We believe that this world is ours okay, and we believe that our lives are ours and that dog of course had to have a realignment happen and and sinful humanity has to have a realignment happen. And it is because of the grace and mercy of God that he does realign our minds and he shows us that this world is his world, every inch of it, and our lives do not belong ultimately to us but to him. Now last week we began talking about the Sabbath. And what I wanna stress to you today is the Sabbath is a weekly reminder that this world does not belong to us, it belongs to the Lord. And what we're gonna look at today is, and I hope this comes through, is the Sabbath is a weekly reminder, or should be, that God in His grace is looking not just to reorient our perspective, but to reclaim sinners for himself. The Sabbath is a beautiful thing, what we call the Lord's Day, and so we're going to continue looking at it today. This will be the last lesson on it, but we're looking at it in light of the day as a day of worship. Let me give you this quote. One question that I got after the lesson last week, and it was a great question, and it was this, why is it still not Saturday? Why is the Sabbath still not on Saturday? And I told the person, and they could sense, they said, you're going to make me wait, aren't you? And I said, I am going to make you wait because it's in the material and we'll get to it in the next lesson. But let me give you this quote from an Old Testament scholar. It says, Christ is Lord of the Sabbath. Okay, we saw that last week, Mark 2. Give one example. And after the completion of his work, he also rested on the Sabbath. Christ was in the grave on the seventh day, the Saturday Sabbath. But he rose again on the Sabbath. There's a little wordplay there. And through his resurrection, which is a pledge to the world of the fruit of his redeeming work, he made this day the Lord's day for his church to be observed by it till the captain of its salvation shall return. And having finished the judgment upon all his foes to the very last shall lead it to the rest of that eternal Sabbath. So today, what we're going to look at is kind of the transition from Saturday to Sunday. and then look at the Sabbath in view of eternity and the work of Christ. So I want to start this morning by reading you a line from a hymn. from this, it's the Trinity Psalter Hymnal, but the hymn, you'll know, it's in the Red Trinity Hymnal, which we have here, O Day of Rest and Gladness, which is a hymn about the Sabbath. And let me read you this second line, and maybe you've not noticed these things in this second line before, but as we look at the day changed and the Sabbath preserved, so the shift from Saturday to Sunday, let me read this line to you. On thee, and that is on the first day of the week, on thee at the creation, the light first had its birth, on thee, that is the first day of the week, for our salvation, Christ rose from depths of earth, on thee, that is the first day of the week, our Lord victorious, the spirit sent from heaven, and thus on thee, That is the first day of the week. Most glorious, a triple light was given. A triple light was given. Beautiful words in that hymn. What is the triple light that was given on that first day of the week? Well, on the creation, the light first had its birth. Genesis 1-3. We often don't think about, but in the creation week, Okay, God said, let there be light on what day? On the first day of the creation week, which is what we call Sunday, okay? And then that second light would be the resurrection of Christ. One instance is in Matthew 28 one. Now after the Sabbath, that is after the seventh day Sabbath, toward the dawn of the first day of the week, There it is, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to see the tomb. And so Christ rose on Sunday, on the first day of the week. And then that third light given is that the Holy Spirit was actually poured out on a Sunday, on the first day of the week, Acts chapter 2 and verse 1. In this verse, which it says here, when the day of Pentecost arrived, they were all in one place. They were gathered. That's important to note. It doesn't explicitly mention first day of the week, but Pentecost was on the first day of the week. It was on a Sunday. So the triple light, the light was given on the first day. Christ rose on the first day. The Spirit was poured out on the first day of the week. Now what I want to show you, and I want you to turn with me to Leviticus 23, is that in the Old Testament, there were already these hints. As God laid out the redemptive calendar, we might say, for His people, there were already hints in the Old Testament that the Sabbath was going to shift from the seventh day to what many would call the eighth day, the next day, which would be Sunday, what we call the first day of the week. So, Leviticus chapter 23, and even though I don't have it mentioned on the slide, I want you to look at verse three. God is laying out what we might call the liturgical calendar of the Old Testament church, right? All of these God-ordained. But he begins by mentioning the Sabbath. The Sabbath sets the stage for all the others to follow, and in many ways, they kind of come out of it. Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh is a Sabbath of solemn rest." And then note this language, a holy convocation. We said last week that indicates that the Sabbath was a day of worship, that you gather together. It is a rest, but a solemn rest unto the Lord. You shall do no work, so you can have more time for worship. It is a Sabbath to the Lord in all your dwelling places. You go down to verse 7. In your Bible it may have a heading that says the Passover, okay? The Passover is mentioned there, but also mentioned there in that section in Leviticus 23 is what we call the Feast of Unleavened Bread. And in that feast, okay, which we see here in this section, I want you to look at verse 7. It says, on the first day, you shall have a holy convocation. So there's that language again, right? Gathering to worship on the first day. You shall not do any ordinary work. It was a kind of Sabbath. But you shall present a food offering to the Lord for seven days. On the seventh day is a holy convocation. Once again, worship language, you shall not do any work. So there's the first mention of you've got this Sabbath language being tied, not just to the seventh day, but also to the first day, right? Now you go and you look at verse 11 of chapter 23, and we'll see where we're going here, and hopefully in just a moment. Verse 11 is when we look at the feast of the first fruits. And what I want you to notice here is this shift to a first day. God is preparing his people, we might say. This is the first fruits. I just want to highlight verse 11. And he, okay, shall wave the sheaf before the Lord so that you may be accepted on the day after the Sabbath. The priest shall wave it on the first day of the week. There's a mention of it right there. in this festival, that it's, in a sense, beginning on this first day of the week, the day after the Sabbath. Now, hold your place there, and I want you to turn over to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15. And verse 20. Now, we just read about the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and there being a holy convocation, a gathering on the first day of the week, and then the Feast of Firstfruits, okay? There's gonna be a gathering on the first day of the week. We go to 1 Corinthians 15, and this speaks of the resurrection of Christ, and we said was raised on the first day of the week. In verse 20, I want you to notice the language that Paul uses, says, but in fact, because he's dealing with People saying maybe Christ didn't rise from the dead, but in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. The firstfruits, notice that language, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. And what's interesting to note is when Christ walked out of the tomb, it would have been at the beginning of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, okay, on the first day of the week. that Paul here sees Christ as the fulfillment of that festival of first fruits, which was a harvest, okay, that was being brought in. And Paul says that Christ is the first fruits of a harvest that is to come, and that harvest that is to come is the general resurrection of believers, that Christ is the first one to be raised. And just as first fruits began on the first day of the week, Christ was raised on that first day of the week. I'll go back to Leviticus 23 just to show you about Pentecost, which is called the Feast of Weeks. And the word Pentecost comes from basically the number 50. right, because that was tied into this feast of weeks. There would be seven weeks, so 49 days. And then that next day, that day after that last Sabbath, which would be a Sunday, a first day of the week, was the day of Pentecost, okay? You look at verse 16, and it says, you shall count 50 days to the day after the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall present a grain offering of new grain to the Lord. And you think about in Acts 2, okay, what we mentioned up here in that fourth bullet point, that third light given, highlighting this first day of the week, that the Spirit being poured out on Pentecost was a fulfillment in many ways of this Feast of Weeks, that the harvest that would be brought in would be the harvest of the gospel. as the apostles would go out in the power of the Spirit to preach the gospel, and souls would be brought in. Or you think about Christ's words, the harvest is ripe, but labors need to be sent out. And the Spirit had come and laborers would be sent out. Now, why am I taking you to Leviticus 23 and trying to show the connection to the work of Christ in his resurrection and the pouring out of the Spirit? It's to show you that God was already in the Old Testament giving his people the hint that the day of holy convocation, the day of worship, the day of gathering would shift from the last day of the week to the first day of the week, when the Messiah had come, when he had done his work, and when the Spirit had been poured out, right? And so when we come to the New Testament, we notice that this is what the Christians are doing. You go to Acts chapter 20, for example, right? Acts chapter 20 and verse seven. Acts chapter 20 and verse 7. And this is, Luke would have been the one writing the book of Acts, so he's the one recounting what we see here, but he says, on the, what? On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, Paul preached, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight." There we have an example of the Christians gathering, but they're gathering when? On the first day of the week. You look at 1 Corinthians chapter 16, flip over there. And verse two, 1 Corinthians chapter 16 and verse two. Paul here is talking to the church at Corinth. He says there's a collection to be taken up. I'm going to be coming to you, and then I'll get the collection. It'll go with me. What does he say there? On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up as he may prosper. so that there will be no collecting when I come." Paul's saying, go ahead and get it set aside so that when I come, we won't have to do it then, okay? But note the timing, on the first day of every week. That had already been established as the day of gathering, the day of worship. Now you turn to John's Gospel and we see that when Christ rose from the dead, He not only rose on that first day of the week in fulfillment of what we see in the Old Testament, some of which we've already looked at, but Christ begins to set the new pattern. He begins to cement it, right? So John chapter 20, okay, we begin in verse 1. I want you just to notice these references. And as you see these, note that the Apostle John, of course, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is driving this point home, right? So, first verse of chapter 20. Now, on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early while it was still dark and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then you go down to verse 19 of chapter 20. So Jesus appears on the first day of the week. On the evening of that day, and then John stresses again, the first day of the week, the doors being locked, where the disciples were for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, peace be with you. Now, I want you to note, not only that Jesus is intentionally appearing on the first day of the week, rising from the dead, then appearing again, he's appearing to the disciples as they are gathered, and he says, peace be with you. Peace be with you. And then, I want you to skip down this last bullet point, go to verse 26. And it says again, so the assumption is that they did not see Jesus in between these appearances, okay? Verse 26, eight days later, now that's not how we would count, but the way the Jews would count it is that was the eighth day, the next first day of the week is how that is being indicated there. So on the next Sunday, His disciples were inside again and Thomas was among them. Although the doors were locked, what happens? As the disciples are gathered on that first day of the week, Jesus came and appeared to them again, stood among them and said, once again, peace be with you. Jesus here is setting a pattern. He is showing them that there is going to be a shift from this last day, seventh day Sabbath, to the first day of the week. Now, I said there in verse 26 that it mentions eight days later, and the way the Jews reckon time, that's the way they would state it. Go back to Leviticus 23. We're almost done with Leviticus. You did your daily devotions in Leviticus today, didn't you? Leviticus 23, verses 35 to 36, okay? And part of seeing some of these things gives us even a new love for the Old Testament and even a book like Leviticus that many of us shy away from. This is the Feast of Booths. This is the last of the festivals in the liturgical calendar of the Old Testament, but there in Leviticus 23, 35 and 36. It says, on the first day shall be a holy convocation, you shall not do any work. So that's Sabbath language there. For seven days you shall present food offerings to the Lord, and then you see this reference, on the eighth day, and that's once again, that's the first day of the week, that's the way they would reckon the time, okay, you shall hold a holy convocation, a gathering, a worship gathering, and present a food offering to the Lord. It is a solemn assembly. You shall not do any ordinary work." So there at the end of the calendar, and that continues on into chapter 23 further, you see God stressing almost this shift to come, foreshadowing a shift from the seventh day to the first day. But there's still this Sabbath language, resting, gathering, worshiping. Now turn to John 7, and then we'll be done with the Leviticus John dance. John 7, 37 to 39. And this is Jesus appearing at the Feast of Booths, what we just read about in Leviticus 23. And Jesus in 37 to 39 stands up on the day of this feast, the great day of this feast, which would have been the last day of the feast, which would have been on a Sunday, which would have been on the first day of the week, stood up And part of what would happen in this Feast of Booths is it reminded the people as they wandered in the wilderness and lived in tents, hence booths, that God provided for them. He provided water for them, okay, and they would have a ceremony involving water to look back at that time. And Jesus, on that day of the feast, which would have been a Sunday, I keep stressing that, on the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive For as yet the Spirit had not been given because Jesus was not yet glorified. In that passage, we see this great combination of these things where you have in this last feast in the liturgical calendar on the first day of the week, The Messiah who had been prophesied is standing there and speaking about his own work, and speaking about the work of the Spirit, and then John making these comments about Christ had not yet been glorified, which would happen at his resurrection on the first day of the week, and then into his ascension and session. And then he says the Holy Spirit had not been given, and the Holy Spirit would be given when? On the first day of the week. So we see this shifting going on in redemptive history where God is moving the day of gathering and worship to Sunday. Now, turn to Revelation, and I want to show you how John Okay, refers to this day. We've just read passages from John's gospel, Revelation 1.10. This is where we get the terminology of the Lord's day. John 1.10, Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos says, I was in the spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet." Now, what day is he talking about there? Now, it's easy for us to say, well, that's gotta be today, that's Sunday, that's the Lord's day. Interesting to note about the way this is written, and hang with me here, because there's a point to be taken away from the way John words it. In 2 Peter, Peter talks about a day and he mentions the Lord. And that is rendered, if you look in 2 Peter, as the day of the Lord. But John doesn't speak about this day that way. In fact, the Greek that he uses, the word is kyriake, and that appears only two times in the New Testament. And there's a point here, so hold with me, okay? It's here, it's here. And the other instance is in 1 Corinthians 11.20. And you can turn there if you want, but the reference there is to the Lord's Supper, the Lord's Supper. Now that use of the Greek there indicates something belonging exclusively to the Lord, that it is His. And we know that with the supper, that's why that word is used, that Paul uses it in 1 Corinthians 11, that this is not anyone's meal, it's something common that the Lord has brought over to a holy use. And John is using that very same grammar to speak of this day. What day could that be? We know what day that is, okay? It's the Sabbath. That's the only day in scripture that is spoken of that way. We looked at Isaiah 58 last week, where the Lord speaks about my day. He speaks about his day. And John is saying that I was in the spirit on the day that belongs to the Lord, his day. And after we've looked at these other things, we see that John, he's speaking about this day, but it's about the first day of the week. that this day that is to be kept holy unto the Lord has shifted from Saturday to Sunday, from the last day of the week to the first day of the week. John Murray has this great quote underscoring the Lord's day and the Lord's supper. He says, the two pivotal events in this accomplishment, that means the accomplishment of redemption, are the death and resurrection of Christ. And the two memorial ordinances of the New Testament institution are, underscoring that language, the Lord's Supper and the Lord's Day, the one memorializing Jesus' death and the other his resurrection. And then this wonderful quote from Gerhardus Voss – I want you to note this language I put those words in bold to stress those points, obviously. Inasmuch as the old covenant was still looking forward to the performance of the Messianic work, so in the Old Testament, the Messiah was still to come, naturally, the days of labor to it come first, and the day of rest falls ahead at the end of the week. But we, under the new covenant, look back upon the finished work of Christ. Christ has come. We therefore first celebrate the rest in principle at the beginning of the week procured by Christ, although the Sabbath also still remains a sign looking forward to the final Big word, means end times, eschatological rest. It's a beautiful language that in the Old Covenant, in the Old Testament, okay, the Sabbath lay ahead, the Messiah was still to come. And now that the Messiah has come, there is a shift to the first day of the week. So we enter our week mindful of the work of Christ on our behalf. But what we'll see is, because Christ has not returned, there is still a richer rest laying out before us, what we might call an eternal Sabbath rest. We'll look at that in just a moment. Turn over to Isaiah 58, and I want to just briefly mention something about just delighting in this day that we said last week is a gift. It's a gift. We recorded that lesson, if you wanna go back and listen to that, it's up on the website. But the Sabbath is given to us as a gift, and that has not changed, even though the day has moved. But Isaiah 58, wonderful passage about the Sabbath, and this speaks to the nature of the Sabbath. So this still applies, even though the day has changed, because it's still the Sabbath. beginning in verse 13, if you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, we said last week, that means if you stop trampling it, okay, from doing your own pleasure, just treating it like any other day, on my holy day, the Lord's day. And call the Sabbath a delight. Now note that language, and call the Sabbath a delight. And the holy day of the Lord honorable. If you honor it not going your own ways or seeking your own pleasure or talking idly, then what will happen? What does it say? Then you shall take delight in the Lord. And this language seems odd to us, these last three lines, but this is language of blessing. And I will make you ride on the heights of the earth. It's like, what does that mean? That's good, that's blessing language. I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob, your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken. You remember in Genesis, it said the Lord did two things for that day. He sanctified it, he set it apart, but he blessed it. He put a blessing in it. And that still applies today. And this is being brought out in this passage in Isaiah, that you and I ought not to look at this day as a burden, but we ought to view it as a delight. that God has given us this day as a gift to gather with other believers, to worship Him, to spend the day talking about Him, discussing these things, okay, worshiping the Lord. It is a delight. It was given for man. Now, let me say this, and I want to read a little section from the Westminster Confession of Faith, because you may think, Well, I mean, I wake up a lot of Sundays and I'm not really delighting to go anywhere. I'd rather just stay where I am. Now, I recognize that. We all struggle in that area. But let me mention this to you. This is from the Westminster Confession of Faith, chapter 16. It's a chapter on good works. And this language has been very helpful to me in my Christian life. I hope that it's helpful to you. This is what this says about good works, such as delighting in the day. It says this, yet they, that is, believers, are not hereupon to grow negligent as if they were not bound to perform any duty unless upon a special motion of the spirit. In other words, it's easy for us to say, to present really a false dichotomy between duty and delight, and to say, you know what? I don't really wanna go, so I'm not gonna go. And I don't need to go unless I delight in going. Now, we don't go about any other area of our lives that way, okay? We don't approach physical food that way when we're sick. I don't have an appetite, so you know what? Not gonna eat. No, you need to eat. And what's being said here is this, We are still bound, we owe to God, to come and gather on this day, even if we don't feel a moving in our spirit or our bosom, even if we don't feel a delight in the day, we are still bound to come. And then it says this, but they ought to be diligent in stirring up the grace of God that is in them. How do you stir up that grace of God? You get out of bed, you get dressed, you get in the car, and you come to 6860 Craft Road, and you gather with God's people. Because here's the thing, the Lord has put a blessing in this day. Because it is on this day when you and I receive the means of grace that we can never receive privately. You can't take the Lord's Supper privately, and yet you get to take it today if you know the Lord Jesus Christ. You can listen to podcast after podcast, but there is a different sense in which God blesses the preaching of his word live when people are gathered. You can't hear other believers sing praises to God when you're just listening to those songs in your car driving down the road. Now, when you come, and pray that God will help you see this day as a delight and repent, and we all have to do this, of our not delighting, you will find that as we honor the day, what will happen is what God says here when he says, then you shall take delight in the Lord. You see, very often, fellow believers, our hearts are slow and they drag behind. And we have to get our feet going and our hearts will catch up. But God has given us means to say, take up these means, even if you're not delighting, because I have said I will work in these means, and I will grow you to where more and more you will begin to delight in this day, and you will begin to delight in me. Now let me say this, and this is important as well, Sabbath observance is going to look different from house to house, right? We all have to watch the tendency in our own hearts to focus too much on the speck that is in someone else's eye and ignore the plank that is in our own eye. In other words, when somebody gets convicted about observing the Sabbath, it's easy to notice how other people are not. And that's why Jesus highlighted that very thing in Matthew 7, not exclusively about the Sabbath, but about all the commands. He says, you direct your attention here. The problem is not with my word. The problem is not even with my law. The problem is here, and I will help you. I will help you. But don't focus first there, focus first here. It's gonna look different in different homes, all right? But we also have to remember that this is not like it's the only commandment that doesn't prohibit anything. One time at a Presbytery meeting, there was a man who got up, and he was being examined on the floor, and they asked him about his views on the Sabbath, and he gave all the correct answers, and then he said, And I wanna stress that I believe the fourth commandment still prohibits things. That was very refreshing to hear. We often don't hear that, okay? Not that guys don't believe it, but that he said it, okay? He said it. All the commandments require things, they all forbid things. We don't need to treat the fourth commandment as though it's immune from both of those. Why don't you turn to Amos chapter eight, and if, I know Amos is one of those, we're like, oh man, Amos. Amos chapter eight, I get it, these little ones at the end of the Old Testament, they can be tough to find. This passage, this is a picture of God's people seeing the day as a burden, and God puts it into words here. Amos chapter eight, verses four through six. Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end. And let me stop right there for just a second. It is interesting to note that in the Ten Commandments, the fourth commandment is the last of what we call the first table, and then you get into the second table about loving your neighbor. But that fourth commandment is kind of like a bridge. Because in setting the day aside, we love the Lord our God, but there's also a part in setting the day aside when we love our neighbors. by not causing them unnecessarily to work, and so on and so forth. God is highlighting this here in Amos 8, but notice what he says, verse 5, that this is what the people were saying. When will the new moon be over? So that's one of the ceremonial days. Why? That we may sell grain. And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great. They weren't just wanting to work, they were wanting to cheat and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat. At the core of what was going on there was they said, I can't wait for this day to be I can't wait for this day to be over so I can get back to doing what I want to do, okay, what I want to do. Now, let me mention this, okay, some objections to kind of what we've said, because there are some Christians who will say, There is no Sabbath today, okay? There is no Sabbath at all now, and this day's like any other day. There are Christians who hold that view. One passage they will go to is Romans chapter 14. So why don't you turn there? I thought we should at least look at a couple of these objections, Romans chapter 14. This will be brief. I won't do it full justice because of the time we have. Romans 14, verses 5 through 9, and let me say this before I read this passage. You have to understand that in this transition time, as the Gentiles are being brought into the church, okay? as Christ has come and He's ascended and the Holy Spirit's been poured out, as the day is being shifted, as there are now new sacraments, baptism to replace circumcision and the Lord's Supper to replace Passover in a sense. As all those things are going on, you still have Jews who have converted to Christianity but who are still saying, you know what, I want to gather on the Lord's Day, but I also want to do something on the Day of Atonement. and I wanna recognize these other ceremonial days. And so Paul is dealing with a pastoral problem here in Romans 14 about what about those Jews who wanna do both? And early on, what does Paul say? He says this, one person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind. Meaning, Gentile Christian, if you don't want to celebrate the Day of Atonement, that's fine, okay? But your Jewish brother in Christ who's just converted and this is new, that may be okay for him, okay? Be careful here because that is your brother. He says, the one who observes the day, observes it in honor of the Lord, the one who eats, eats in honor of the Lord. So he's also dealing with the dietary laws and so on. Since he gives thanks to God, while the one who abstains, abstains in honor of the Lord and gives thanks to God. For none of us lives to himself, none of us dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord's. For to this end, Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord both of the dead and of the living." So he's saying, mind your brother's conscience on these matters, okay? Go over to Colossians, because this will shed a little more light on Paul's view. Colossians 2, 16 and 17. What happened over time is some began to say, now, you know, the Gentiles, we know that some said you need to get circumcised. But they also began to say, hey, look, you got your nice Christian life, but if you want your best life now, you can worship on these other days, these ceremonial days, okay? That's how real Christians do it. Now, Paul, though, is a little more explicit when it gets down to that situation. He says, therefore, and you can read today that therefore comes from, up in chapter two, but, let no one pass judgment on you. It says, don't let them tell you these things. In what? In questions of food and drink, having to do with the dietary laws, or with regard, and I want you to note these words, to a festival, or a new moon, or a Sabbath. Now, if you go in the Old Testament, and we're not going to look at a specific reference, but there are multiple references where when God is referring to the ceremonial days, he will refer to them using those words, festival, new moon, and Sabbaths. And in the Greek, it's actually plural there. He's not talking about He's talking about the ceremonial Sabbaths. He's saying, don't let anybody pass judgment on you regarding the dietary laws and the ceremonial days. What does he say about those? These are a shadow of the things to come. They foreshadowed Christ to come. but the substance belongs to Christ." As the ceremonial law pointed to Christ, He has come. You're under no obligation to the ceremonial law now. Don't let anyone pass judgment on you. Paul there is not talking about the weekly Lord's Day or the Christian Sabbath, right? He's talking about ceremonial days, the ceremonial law. Some will even go so far as to say, well, you know, the rest that's being talked about is just rest from my sin, and so I'm in Christ and I don't need a day. I don't need the Lord's Day. I don't need the Christian Sabbath. William Plummer has a great response to that. Presbyterian minister, 1800s, says this, to such it is sufficient to reply that every day of life ought to be a day of abstinence from sin, and when it shall be shown that we are at liberty to indulge in sin six days out of seven, and then avoid it for one day only, it will be time enough to make a more serious and extended answer. So come back when you've got something better. Okay. Let me end with this, okay. I think this will probably get us to a point we're in. This doesn't sound like initially a beautiful thing about the Sabbath. One of the beautiful things about the Sabbath is it exposes our worldliness. You say, that doesn't sound great at all. Well, we all have worldliness in our hearts. What I mean is we love this world. too much, God is teaching us to love the world to come, his kingdom, all right, the new heavens and new earth of which Christ was the first fruits. Ryan McGraw didn't put his name there. He says this, if a man spent one-seventh of his life in a foreign culture, eventually aspects of that culture would become indistinguishable from his own customs, clothing, speech, and thoughts. He could not return to his own country without weaving something foreign into all he said and did. pretty obvious observation, we ought to regard the Sabbath in the same manner, meaning this. that you and I are pilgrims and strangers on earth, but we forget that very easily, and God has to remind us of it. And the Sabbath is a reminder of our homeland, that when we gather, we're reminded that we here are family. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, that Christ is our head, that he is our king, that we belong to his kingdom. And as throughout the Christian life, you are experienced as Sabbath after Sabbath, those 52 holy days a year, through the course of a long life, What is God doing? He's growing you. He's shaping you. He's changing you to make you less and less like this world and more and more like the world to come. But we take this with us as we go into our callings, as we go into our stations in life. And hopefully, Lord willing, our co-workers and neighbors and friends will notice something. That's a different custom. I'm not used to that. Where did you learn that? Well, let me tell you where I learned that. I learned that from my king. His name is Jesus. I'd love to tell you about him. The Sabbath exposes our worldliness in that, and Jeremiah Burroughs, Puritan, a long time ago, said, try keeping the Sabbath holy. That means a whole day, as a day of worship unto the Lord. And what you will find is blessing in it, but you will also find a certain degree of discomfort, that there will be a sense in which Amos 8 will come out of your heart, and you will say, when is this going to be over? I'm longing for Monday, okay? And what does that show us? That shows us that we're still all under construction, we're still all under renovation, that the Lord is still working on us, and he has much work to do, but he works on us in a huge way on this day. It is a blessing, it is a wonderful thing, and it is the day of Christ's resurrection. So let me close this. Father, we thank you for the resurrection of Christ. We thank you for the Holy Spirit being poured out. We thank you for this Lord's Day, this Christian Sabbath that you call us to set aside, a day you have blessed to grow your people up to be more like the Lord Jesus. our king and the head of the church. And so help us to look to him today. Help us to not be so quick to look to others and pass judgment upon them, but help us first look to ourselves, to call out to you, to help us delight in your day more so that we will delight in you, because that ultimately is the goal, that love for you would grow, and you grow it on this day, your day. So please work in us, we pray, in Christ's name, amen.