Please remain standing as for the preaching of God's holy word we will turn to a sermon text which is John chapter 4 and only one verse 24 John chapter 4 verse 24 and this is God's holy inerrant and infallible word God is spirit And those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Let me read it again. God is spirit. And those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. Congregation, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God stands forever. Amen. Please be seated. Communication of the Lord Jesus Christ, our text in John chapter 4, is part of a larger context, of course, but the verse itself is a statement that the Lord Jesus made when he was speaking to the so-called Samaritan woman at Jacob's well. Now, we will look more into the whole narrative as we will make our way through the gospel of John in a new series beginning next week. But we want to focus this morning on the core here of Christ's statement about worship. And this is a very important statement about worship where He says that God is Spirit. and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth. And he explains to the Samaritan woman that worship is not about location. He's talking about his own incarnation and the things that will change. The temple will not only be of no consequence for worship, it will be destroyed. And He brings the core requirements, the two major requirements for true worship to us through speaking with the Samaritan woman. And there are no disputes among the first requirement that we ought to worship in spirit, that our worship must be sincere and heartfelt with a heart that loves God. But when it comes to the second requirement, the truth of worship, that we have to worship according to God's precepts in alignment with His Word, there are some, shall we say, minor disagreements among even very sincere Christians, some of which we shall consider this morning as the last bookend on our series on worship. The first one, the most obvious one in our worship service, let me square away with just a few sentences. Why is this minister wearing a gown? Well, not because it is too cold in here, that's for sure, but There is no verse that says that a New Testament minister ought to wear something special. There's also no verse that says he shall wear a suit. So this question is completely a question of circumstances. It is a question of wisdom. Now, there are two positions on this issue, two major positions. The one is with gown, the other one is without gown, but is suit. But both are clear on one thing, and they agree on one thing, that ministering to the people of God, standing before God in worship is a very solemn thing. You should be dressed properly. Now, the reason why I wear a gown, and I have not always worn a gown, it depends on the area where we are and what is being identified with a gown. You want to make it as easy as possible for the people of God to worship. But I'm wearing a gown because it points out the office rather than the messenger. And this, again, is a question of taste. But this is also the reason why judges in this country, at least for a large part, and in the United Kingdom, for example, and also where I come from, wear gowns to remind those dealing with the court that they're not dealing with the private person here, but with an office. That is not about the guy who is in the gown. He's bound by justice. by God's justice, but it is about the office. And you have two choices. Do you want to wear the clothes of a CEO, a businessman, or of a clergy? None is wrong. But I decided to wear a gown because it points out the office rather than the men, and I think it's least destructive once you get, or it does not, it's not a distraction once you get used to it, of course. But that was the easy one. The easy one to explain, the easy one to deal with, also because there is no right or wrong in this question. It is a so-called question of circumstance, not of precept of God. There are far more disputed questions, and the first one I do not enjoy to address but have to, if I'm sincere and honest, is the issue when it comes to worship on what is called exclusive Samudi versus Samudi combined with Hemnudi. So there are two positions among Presbyterians and even Dutch Reformed. The one position is that we are only allowed to sing Psalms, and only the 150 Psalms, and all of them without exception. And then there's the other position that would say that yes, we have to sing the Psalms, but we should also sing other hymnody, or we may also sing other hymnody. All the other positions, the countless other positions that discard the Psalms or the singing of the Word of God, I do not even mention here because they are not held among serious Reformed people. So there has been, at least among Presbyterians, a flaring up of this question as of late and a push toward exclusive psalmody. But not only that, there is also, mostly by the same people, a push towards other, if I may say, restrictive positions, like the requirement of head coverings for women in worship, or the absence, or the required absence of instruments for worship. And these are kept, and this flaring up is pushed by just about the same group of people. Now, on a psychological level, this could be an understandable counter-reaction against an increasing liberalism in the church. And as true as this might be, it's not an argument. Just because it's psychologically understandable doesn't make the argument wrong. But it is understandable and it is commendable if especially young ministers, young zealous ministers want to go back ad fontes. They want to go back to the roots. They want to go back to the word. And we do not want to stifle that or discourage that. Now, dealing with this question of exclusive psalmody, we have to really answer what is exclusive psalmody. We have to answer this question. It is the conviction that in corporate worship we should sing, we must sing, all psalms and only them. All 150 of them without exception. And they say singing anything else, in their view, is sinning against God. That's according to their conscience. Now, as I said, Presbyterianism is split on this issue. The Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America, for example, states, The Book of Psalms, consisting of inspired psalms, hymns, and songs. They mean only the psalm when they say inspired psalms, hymns, and songs. They refer to Colossians 3. I will mention that later. It's the divinely authorized manual of praise. The use of other songs in worship is not authorized in the Scriptures. That's what the RPCNA says. The Orthodox Presbyterian Church The Presbyterian Church in America, the Associated Reform Presbyterian Church, and Vanguard Presbyterian Church, on the other hand, reject such an exclusive view. As far as I know, they allow it, but they reject it as a requirement. Now, why is this issue so important? Because it is divisive. Why is it so important that I still bring it up, such a divisive issue? Well, first of all, we talked plentifully about the importance of worship. Now, if worship is that important, it is definitely as important that we do it right and we do understand why we do what we do. And secondly, it's also an issue of very grave importance because if the proponents of exclusive Samadhi are correct, the majority of us Presbyterian and Reformed are committing grave sin in worship. That must be true. Both positions cannot be correct. But if the exclusive Samudhi position is correct, we commit grave sin. One such exclusive Samudhi proponent has written, the man who would mix together in one book the inspired songs of God with the uninspired songs of sinful man is, whether he knows it or not, guilty of sacrilege. That is a strong accusation, I have to say. Now let me explain how the exclusive Samudi argument goes. It says, since the regulative principle of worship forbids us to add anything to worship other than what God has expressly commanded, The adding of any other psalms than the 150 psalms is a violation of this principle because only the 150 psalms are God-breathed. They are inspired. That is the core of the argument. Of course, I know of men who have preached, I don't know, 28 sermons on that one issue, and I'm not going to do that. I'm just going to present it to you the best of my understanding. So they say only the 150 Psalms are inspired, and therefore we can only sing them. But we would then ask, of course, and this is a question that must not be ignored, what about all the other inspired songs in Scripture? The Song of Moses in Deuteronomy chapter 32, for example. It's called the Song of Moses. Habakkuk's Hymn of Faith in Habakkuk chapter 3. Mary's Magnificat in Luke chapter 1. The worship songs, they are worship songs in heaven revealed in Revelation chapter 4 and 5. Are we not allowed to sing those? But we apparently ought to sing Psalm 137, where it talks about the sorrows of the exiles in Babylon. By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. But we are not allowed to sing the song from Revelation chapter 15, verse 3. The song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. Great and marvelous are your works, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, O King of the saints. Inspired texts designated as worship songs. Now proponents of exclusive psalmody always assume that the Psalms were the only book of worship for the Old Testament church. Now they were a book of worship, alright, in the Old Testament. They were used in the Old Testament to sing to God. But the assumption that the book of Psalms was the only worship book in the Old Testament church has never been proven. It's just being assumed and so often things apparently become true by repetition. Accordingly, Iain Murray, in his publication, The Psalter, the only hymnal, asks, where is the proof in Scripture that God appointed the 150 Psalms of David for the public worship of the Old Testament church? Where is the proof? It's definitely not in Scripture. Now, both proponents and opponents against exclusive psalmody point to Colossians 3, verse 16, where it says, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. Now, opponents say, Even if this text refers to public worship, it clearly says not only psalms, it says psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. to which the proponents answer them, that these were three expressions for the Psalms in the Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of the Old Testament. They say, all these three terms denote either the Psalms as a whole, every one term is the whole Psalms, and then there is another opinion that says, well, these are three groups of Psalms, but Colossians refers to the Psalms only. So you would have to believe that this text speaks about public worship. And you would have to believe that these terms, psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, always uses or refers to the Psalms of David. Now this is the argument. Furthermore, the proponents of exclusive psalmody set down two requirements for worship that it has to be inspired and prescribed. Now, overall, it sounds very true, but I want to know where the inspired comes from. If everything we say in worship has to be inspired, what about the tunes of the Psalms? Do we have to use the 1650 Scottish Psalter tunes? Or do we use the tunes that the heritage and free reform churches use? What about the sermon? Is the sermon, do we claim that every word of the sermon is inspired, although the preacher is a sinner? What about our prayers? Do we only pray the Psalms as well? If everything has to be inspired, and I'm not destroying the EP position by this, the exclusive psalm of the position, but if you say everything in worship has to be inspired, then these things have to be inspired as well. Furthermore, I once again say that this is a very truncated view of inspiration, because I think we have in depth talked about the fact that not only the letters and words in Scripture are inspired, but also the thoughts, concepts, and doctrines. So as long as a hymn sings or describes true concepts of scripture faithfully, it sings about inspired things. Often the proponents of exclusive psalmody claim, I think more than is good, that church history is on their side. But I'm going to tell you that's not true. That's just not true. A friend of mine, Dr. Peter Naylor of Cardiff, United Kingdom, writes in his article, What Should We Sing? He writes, those who hold to exclusive Samadhi believe that they stand in the purest reformed tradition. This is doubtful. The Free Church of Scotland, for example, did not adopt exclusive psalmody until 1910. And in recent General Assemblies, questions have been asked about the practice. He continues, Geneva Psalter 1543. contained 43 Psalms, the Nunc Dimittis, the Ave Maria, musical versions of the Ten Commandments, Apostle's Creed, and Lord's Prayer, and Two Graces. He further writes, Calvin probably proposed to him, I greet thee, whom I sure redeemer art. He further writes, Thomas Menton, a leading Presbyterian at the Westminster Assembly, wrote, we do not forbid other songs. If grave and pious, after good advice, they may be received into the church. Tertullian, in his apology, showeth that in the primitive times they used this liberty, end of quote. My dear friends, this is clearly a difficult question, one that I have been troubled with for many years. I went back and forth on it, didn't have congregations go back and forth with me. But here is where I stand today at this moment on this question. I have a lot of sympathy for the position of exclusive Samadhi, but I'm not convinced that it is indeed the exclusive biblical position. And we talked about the tunes already. If we sing only psalms, what about the inspiration of tunes? And the most conservative of the exclusive psalmody people turned to the 1650 Scottish Psalter, where the tunes inspired them. Did we have a second act of grace in 1650? These questions have to be considered. I'm not taking them lightly. I do believe that we ought and must sing the Psalms, which we see from the Colossians passage the way I read it. I also say better only Psalms than no Psalms. I think we have a requirement to sing the Psalms. And in our worship, just like in the worship of the URCNA, from where I'm coming, there is a requirement and there will be the practice of a predominance of the Psalms in worship. This is how it's going to be here. Robert Lethem writes, And he's not an exclusive Samudae man, but he writes that the Psalms should be the backbone of worship singing. I have held to this practice and I intend to hold to this practice in the future and to teach the interns and future ministers this same practice. But as far as exclusive Samudae is concerned, and I say this from a position often at least still partly agnostic, I cannot and I will not bind yours and my own conscience by a position that I'm not entirely convinced of. Just won't happen. And if you hold to the exclusive psalm of the position, you can blame me before God because by God's providence you have been brought into this church and you worship here. God knows the heart. Blame it on me. It is a decision I had to make. And I have made it, and I promise you, if I come to a clearer position, I will immediately let you know. But this is where I am today. The same holds true for the question of women's head covering in worship. Personally, I consider this question far more difficult even than the question of exclusive psalmody. I don't think we can brush it off very easily. It is a very difficult text that we're dealing with. For example, in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 7, where it says, For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, That's why when men pray or men come to worship, they remove their hats. You know, when I was still a college professor in Christian universities, even the most liberal of them knew when I said, let's pray, automatically they would remove their hats. But it says in 1 Corinthians 11, verse 74, a man indeed ought not to cover his head, since he is the image and glory of God, but a woman is the glory of man. For a man is not from woman, but a woman from man. Nor was man created for the woman, but woman for man. For this reason the woman ought to have a symbol of authority on her head because of the angels." Now you explain to me what that means, because I have no clue. I have no clue. I do not understand this text. And why in the world can we ministers not every once in a while say, I don't know? And because I don't know, I will again not bind your conscience or my own. I think you can argue for either position very well. Everybody may be content and free in their own conscience. I have wavered in this position back and forth, and gladly I had good teachers and mentors who told me, whenever you waver on something, don't always take the congregations with you. But where I am now is that this actually talks about the actual submission of a woman to her husband. It will help you nothing if you cover your head but you're rebellious. It will help you nothing. So my current understanding is, but it's not without problems and not without questions, my current understanding is that this text talks about the actual submission, not about the sign for it. But again, I don't know. I have no clue what it means because of the angels. I mean, I can speculate, and so can you, but I will not institute a practice or a law in the congregation based on my speculation. One thing I can promise you, either way you are convinced on either one of these issues, you will not be allowed to be divisive in this congregation. Both positions, I think, are being held by wonderful Christians, by Christians who are very credible in their convictions, in their exegesis, in their preaching, in their conduct. And both positions are very much welcome at Westminster. And we together, if God gives it, will find the truth, or not. Or not? We don't know. But let me tell you one thing, and I have said this often in different venues, because I think it's very important. The Lord Jesus Christ, when He went to different venues, may this be synagogues, or gatherings, or even in the letters to the churches, which God writes to real churches in the time of the writing of Revelation, God Always, always, always goes for the heart. I cannot imagine the Lord Jesus Christ upon His return, walking into this building and saying, Not even half of this congregation has head coverings. And why in the world are you singing hymns about me? Why are you singing other texts of the Bible rather than the Psalter? Now, of course, this is not an argument about the position itself, but you must not miss the bigger picture here. You can do worship 100% right, which we won't ever, and still your heart cannot be in it. So my recommendation is we all together work on our hearts rather than we work on the outward appearance, which I promise you I will continue to read on. I'm just saying I will and cannot, I'm not allowed to bind your conscience on something that I don't understand. Maybe the future will bring wisdom for us. I hope we maneuvered through these topics in a rather peaceful and faithful way. And now we're coming to a really important question. We're not done yet. And that's the actual question I wanted to get to, a question that is much clearer, but not less disputed. Why do we have two worship services? And do we have to have two worship services? That is the question now before us. Well, let me address the elephant in the room right away. There is no Bible verse that says, thou shalt worship the Lord your God twice on the Lord's day. There simply isn't. We've got to be very honest about this. And yet, the Bible is very, very clear about the fact that the whole Lord's day is for the Lord. I mean, it's actually quite a simple principle. So when you are not in worship twice on the Lord's day and the whole day is for the Lord, what would you do in the evening? Are you reading your Bibles? Are you having evening worship, family worship? I mean, that would be perfectly acceptable. But that is the first principle you have to understand, that the whole Lord's Day is for the Lord, as its name says. Accordingly, our Westminster Confession says in Article 21, which is called of religious worship and the Sabbath day, It says this Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord. When men, after a due preparation of their hearts and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe and wholly rest, all the day from their own works, words and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship and in the duties of necessity and mercy. That's what the Lord's Day is for. Worship, thoughts about God, and then duties of necessity. Mom still prepares food. Policemen still work. Doctors still have to be available. Those are works of necessity, but also works of mercy. Feeding the poor is especially good on the Lord's Day. Caring for the lonely, taking home the lonely with us. on the Lord's Day is a wonderful work of mercy. Visiting the shot-ins is a work of mercy. But what we see here, what the authors of the Westminster Standards have done, I think very biblically, is the strong connection between the Lord's Day and worship. The Lord's Day and worship are inseparably connected as the Lord's Day being the major day for formal public worship. We are free to worship on other days. We can worship. Calvin had worship services every day in Geneva. But the Lord's Day is a special day for corporate worship. A while ago, I mentioned that if contemporary Christians could abolish one commandment, it would be the fourth. I'm pretty sure. And it is the commandment, of course, about sanctifying the Sabbath day. They absolutely dislike, and I've seen it as a pastor over many, many years in many, many churches. They dislike the fact that the Lord's day is indeed the Lord's day. They would so much more like to go fishing and hunting and camping and do other things or watch football on the Lord's day. I once was contacted by a church in Florida that was considering issuing a call and we had a Zoom call with each other. And the moment they asked me, because they had listened to sermons of mine, and they asked me, do you really believe that you shouldn't watch football on the Lord's Day? I said, yes, absolutely. I've never had an interview that was over so quickly and never heard of them again. You see, we have our idols, and we have made up our own explanations for our idols. The Lord's Day is for worship. See, if you want a big church, you don't say things like that. If you want a true church, you do. We want a true church, and therefore we say things like that. Listen in contrast to the Confessions proof text for the section that I just quoted. It is a very little-known text, and I've used it often in classes meetings and Presbyterian meetings. By God's providence, I was often an examiner for new ministers. And when I was in the Presbyterian Church in America, they have the godless practice of allowing exceptions to the Westminster Standards. And most ministers, I'm sad to say, bring the exception of the Lord's Day as recreation where I can do whatever I want. And then I would ask them, do you know Isaiah 58 verse 13? And to a man, they never knew it. Here's what it says. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. There are three elements concerning the Sabbath in this text. Two commands and one wonderful promise, which makes the text, as everything else, covenantal. God is addressing His covenant people. If you do, then I will give you the connection of obedience and blessing. The first requirement, the first command is outward obedience. It's very clearly fully applicable. It says, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day. And then it says, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure. That's a requirement. That's the outward compliance, but it counts nothing without a proper heart's attitude, because it adds then, and call the Sabbath a delight. The holy day of the Lord honorable. That's the inward requirement. That's the requirement of you delighting in the Lord. They're not only outwardly complying like children when they've been told to do something that they don't want to do and they stomp their feet and they say, okay, I'll do it, but I'll do it under protest. Many Christians are like that. I comply, but note my protest. That's outward compliance. It counts nothing. Their heart's not in it. So you have the outward compliance requirement, you have their heart requirement, and then there's a promise. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord. There's a promise. And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. So if you obey in a heartfelt way, there is no other obedience. If you're in a heartfelt way, obey sincerely, I will bless you. If you do it by faith, over time, I will make it a delight for you. And then it says, the mouth of the Lord has spoken. Well, who wants to dispute the Lord? I hope nobody here. The mouth of the Lord has spoken. They stand. If you approach the whole topic of Sabbath or worship attendance in a way you first have to tell me where this is a requirement in the scriptures, you have failed on all three. Nor do you do what you call to do, even less do you do it with a full heart and you will not receive the blessings of the Lord to ever call the Sabbath a delight. You see, somebody who lives according to this text should rather be asking, can we have a midweek service too? Can we meet three times on the Lord's Day? I want to be in the house of the Lord, with the people of the Lord, worshiping my Lord. Jim McCarthy, in his article, The Forgotten Gift of Evening Worship, writes, A second service not only means a second chance to sing and fellowship with other believers, it means a second sermon. If man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God, and if faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ, and if the Spirit of God maketh the reading, but especially the preaching of the word on an effectual means of convincing and converting sinners, and of building them up in holiness and comfort through faith unto salvation, then our single greatest need is the transforming power of Spirit-anointed preaching." End of quote. That's what you get in the worship service. God speaks to you as you worship Him. My dear friends, this is what it means to call the Sabbath a delight. Now, the saddest thing that I know is seeing ministers abandoning the Second Service on the Lord's Day out of convenience or even laziness. I was in Northwest Iowa sometimes filling pulpits for Christian Reformed churches, and of course only very, very conservative ones, I mean by their own standards. And many, of course, of them were vacant. And they said, we can't find a minister because nobody wants to come to a church that has two services. Can you believe that? ministers who are supposed to be examples in their love for God, in their desire to worship, being examples in their conduct before the Lord, said, no, two worship services is too much hassle for me. Pay me $120,000, but I only do one worship service. That's what's going on in so-called reformed churches in this land. No, give us a third one. If we could, I would offer a midweek service. Maybe one day we can. A prayer service, which we will have. We just have to figure out the logistics. Has anyone ever seen a church that doesn't pray thrive, ever? You do not receive because you do not ask. Does he say that or not? We need to pray. And yet, where are all the prayer meetings in this honorable town? Where are the people bowing their knees, crying out to the Lord? Bless us, bless us, for we are a needy people, O living God. But you might ask now, and I don't let you go with this mindset. You will ask maybe in your heart right now, oh boy, I do want this mindset, but I don't have it. For me, the Lord's Day is difficult, and I understand, especially when you have small children. They will not understand. fully what the Lord's Day is. Well, there is a way to utilize this mindset, and I often use Romans chapter 12, verse 1 and 2. But let me read for you verse 1. And this was after 11 chapters of gospel truth, right? The grace of God in Jesus Christ, explained in 11 of the most deep chapters on the love of God in the gospel. And he says, I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. Here you have your answer. 11 chapters of gospel love. And now He tells them to be obedient, joyfully, in a heartfelt way, obedient. And He says, I beseech you, therefore, in light of the mercies that you just heard, in light of God's love in Jesus Christ, in light of this wonderful gospel, where God has expressed His love without you ever asking for it, in light of the love of Christ, in light of the grace of God. Now, have your eyes on these 11 chapters. May they be in your heart, the gospel love of God, may they drive you. The mistake we make is... We do not look enough at the gospel. We do not live in the gospel. We do not have our eyes fixed upon Jesus Christ. And more and more, and I know what I'm talking about. I'm no different than you. And more and more, we see the Christian life as a hassle. And when trouble comes, we tend to say, I'm just trying to serve the Lord and he makes it even harder. That's the mindset you'll end up with. Now, what is the way out of this? in light of the mercies, give yourself once again. That's why we have covenant renewal services every Lord's Day. Look back on the gospel, look back at God's love, how He sent His own Son. Look at the love, how He willingly, the Son gave Himself. Look at the Holy Spirit and plead for Him to reapply this wonderful grace of God, this understanding of God's love to your heart. Then you will call all obedience a delight. If you only see Christianity as a hassle, You have to go back to the gospel, read the gospels, search out Jesus Christ, search out the love of God for rotten sinners, understand who you really are and that love will drive you all right. And then obey, trusting that the Lord will give you that promise that He gave you in Isaiah 58, that you will actually call the Sabbath a delight. Obey and trust, trust and obey. There is no other way to be happy in Jesus than to trust and obey. That was not a psalm and it was nevertheless true. You do not have to understand everything, you have to trust Him. And yet there are biblical hints, by the way, toward the second service. Again, not clear didactical commands, but hints. And one of them I slipped in, as they call it, to worship this morning, in case you got that. It is good to give thanks to the Lord and to sing praises to your name, O Most High, to declare your loving kindness in the morning and your faithfulness every night. You see, there is a rhythm of morning and evening in the Scriptures. Why should it suddenly not be the case when it comes to worship? Also keep in mind when the minister reads and gives you the call to worship and you're not here, God gives it and you say no. Now I do understand that there are valid reasons to stay at home and I do assure you from what I understand that in this church people will not be disciplined for not attending the second service because it is not a clear command of the Lord. But I'm telling you, it says something about your soul. And don't feel attacked now. It is sometimes good to be caught in sin. You know, it is good to repent, to get this weight off and be open to the Lord and say, look, I know I've been completely wrong about the Lord's Day. I've been in situations like that. And I was already a minister where I had to realize I was so many years wrong on something. You know, make today the first day. I'm not saying keep a calendar that, boy, if you ever miss an evening service, you're done. No, that's not the way we talk. We do not apply the Scriptures like lawyers. We apply them like pastors, like the great pastor, the Lord Jesus Christ, who looks at the heart, not at the calendar. Work on your heart rather than the outward performance, and then nourish a desire in your heart that you want to come. Wouldn't that be a far better way than to just come because pastor says it? I promise I'm not going to write it in the calendar whether you're here or not. I will continue to pray for your hearts. I will continue to address your hearts. And then I want to praise God when I see that you will change your behavior because of your hearts. That's the way to obey. That's how you call the Sabbath a delight. We are sometimes too rigid. Too often we use the Word of God like lawyers and too little like pastors. Just look on Facebook. Every day I'm thinking I'm going to get off. I'm going to get off. Still working on it. But now I have this church Facebook site also to maintain. Maybe I'll find somebody else to do it. But this is the word of God being used like lawyers. Very rude lawyers, by the way, often. We reform do not make a very good impression in public as we kind of butcher each other over really minor issues. But enough of that. If you are not drawn to the house of the Lord, if you find it hard and understand this is a school, it's not really a church building, we don't have an AC, it's difficult. I understand all that. Look at me, I'm standing here with the gown working. But it's still the house of the Lord. And I stand here because I love God and I love His people. Not every Lord's Day I come as joyfully to the house of the Lord as to the other. But my argument is always that. Lord, You have saved me. How can I not praise and worship and give myself to You in return? That's where we want to get at. Go back to the basics. Go to the Gospels. Kindle that love for God in Jesus Christ. Live in the Word. Live in prayer and learn the fact that your chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. That is the only thing that in the long run will make you happy. Oh, may God help us to get to that point that we truly are in His grip. Amen and Amen. Let us pray. Our Heavenly Father, that was a long sermon. Lots of it we have packed into it. And we ask you, living God, through your Holy Spirit, that you will work on our hearts, that our outward compliance will be carried and driven by gospel love, and that gospel love and obedience never be separated in our lives. That we do not obey because we want to be saved through obedience, but that we obey because we have been saved by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone. And that this wonderful gospel drives us to keep your commandments. Oh Lord, help us, keep us for the glory of your name and for the well-being of your people. In Jesus' name we ask and all of God's people say, Amen.