Rest in the Lord

[0:00] turn to reading God's Word. Two readings today. One short reading, first of all, in 1 Samuel. 1 Samuel, chapter 21, it's on page 228. 1 Samuel 21, on page 228.

[0:30] 1 Samuel, chapter 21, on page 228. We can read verses 1 down to verse 6 of the chapter.

[0:43] Let's hear the Word of God. When David came to Nob, Tamalech the priest, and Tamalech came to meet David, trembling, and said to him, Why are you alone, and no one with you? And David said to Amalech, the priest, the king has charged me of a matter, and said to me, Let no one know anything of the matter about which I have sent you, of which I have charged you.

[1:11] I have made an appointment with the young men for such and such a place. Now then, what do you have on hand? Give me five loaves of bread, or whatever is here. And the priest answered David, I have no common bread on hand, but there is holy bread. The young men have kept themselves from women.

[1:34] And David answered the priest, Truly, women have been kept from us, as always when I go on an expedition. The vessels of young men are holy, even when it's an ordinary journey.

[1:46] How much more today will their vessels be holy? So the priest gave him the holy bread, for there was no bread there, but the bread of the presence, which is removed from before the Lord, to be replaced by hot bread on the day it's taken away.

[2:02] Now turning to the New Testament, carrying on our series, Gospel of Mark, and chapter 2. Gospel of Mark, chapter 2.

[2:15] It's on page 786. Page 786, Mark chapter 2. Reading from verse 18.

[2:29] Mark chapter 2, verse 18. Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting, and people came and said to him, that is Jesus, Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?

[2:45] And Jesus said to them, Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day.

[3:00] No one sews a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. If he does, the patch tears away from it, the new from the old, and a worse tear is made.

[3:12] And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is destroyed, and sore the skins. But new wine is for fresh wineskins.

[3:25] One Sabbath he was going through the grain fields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. And the Pharisees were saying to him, Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?

[3:40] And he said to them, Have you never read what David did? Amen. We give praise to God for his holy, and his perfect word.

[4:17] Let's again sing to God's praise, this time from Scottish Psalter in Psalm 37. Scottish Psalter in Psalm 37.

[4:28] It's on page 252 of the Psalm 37.

[4:44] We're going to sing verses 1 down to verse 6. Psalm 37. For evil doers fret thou not thyself unquietly, nor do thou envy bear to those that work in equity.

[4:55] For even likened to the grass soon be cut down shall they, and like the green and tender herb they wither shall away. Psalm 37 verses 1 to 6.

[5:06] To God's praise. For even diruhem to rest High love Lord, thyself unquietly, Nor who the man he cared to know Now who were again when he Were he?

[5:44] For even high down to the coast Soon be cloud of the shore of wind And by your love we not bear the air They will let child of air Till the world I trust upon the Lord And ye have given good And to all the wind there are

[6:46] Shall well have a merry hunger Be like thy step in the world To hear thy will to fall For even high down to the coast If we do not shall be And by your light And by your love we not bear And by your love we not bear And by your love we not bear sun ai e ciao young air

[8:11] Amen. Verse 23 to the end.

[8:45] Just for the sake of a text, of course, we can take that glorious last verse of the chapter. Verse 28. So, the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath.

[8:58] As I said, we've taken quite a slow journey, but a purposely slow journey through the Gospel of Mark. Because Mark moves so quickly. He said this at the start. He jumps from account to account, and he tries to get as much in as possible.

[9:13] You can see that, even literally see it from the short paragraphs you see in the church Bibles anyway. You can see just how short the headings are on each of the sections, each of the paragraphs.

[9:26] Mark is trying to fit as much in as possible. Mark is speaking to a majority Gentile audience, to those who aren't Jews, to those who don't have the Jewish background.

[9:37] Perhaps, the other Gospel writers were writing to. So, Mark is trying to tell them as much about Jesus as he can in quite a limited space, quite a limited time.

[9:51] We find ourselves here at the end of chapter 2. We've seen Jesus describe the Gospel to us. Why is he here? We've seen Jesus call the first disciples.

[10:02] We've seen Jesus cleanse and heal people from physical, spiritual disease. We've seen him deal with people tenderly, lovingly, carefully.

[10:16] We've also seen him deal with the Pharisees quite harshly. We saw last week the question about fasting. And we'll see again the similar thing today with the question on the Sabbath.

[10:29] We see Jesus taking the Pharisees, these so-called religious leaders, taking them to task. Showing just how little they actually know about the God they claim to worship so well.

[10:43] Here we find ourselves in verse 23 down to verse 28. There's a theme, if you remember from last week. The same theme we find in this week's account.

[10:55] He's going through the grain fields. Jesus and his disciples, they're walking. And you see in Mark's Gospel, they're always moving. They're always walking. They're always traveling.

[11:05] Walking beside the sea. Walking to a town. Walking from a town. And here we find Jesus walking. We're walking through a grain field. It's a glorious Sabbath morning, of course, for Saturday at this point.

[11:19] A glorious Saturday morning. And we're walking through a grain field. Heading towards the next location we're heading towards. As you walk through the grain fields, quite mindlessly, quite normally, as you would, you get a bit peckish.

[11:35] You've been walking miles. You've seen miracles take place. You've seen wonders take place. You're hungry. So the disciples start taking bits of grain off and taking the husks off, I guess, and shucking them and eating them.

[11:51] Just nibbling on bits of grain. They're not making a meal for themselves. They're just taking bits of the heads off the top of the grain as you're walking and eating it. It's a wee snack on the way. We're not stopping to cook and prepare food.

[12:03] We're just walking and grabbing bits of food as they go. As we might, perhaps. There's not many trees in Tulsa. There's not many berry trees. I get one from the Graver is. Quite a few berry trees in Graver and South Laugh.

[12:15] So quite a lot of berries grow for us. Who knows why? But you can walk quite easily from my house, well, the family house, to the church. And there's a raspberry-ish tree. It tastes okay anyway.

[12:26] We haven't died yet. There's a raspberry tree and there's a few berry trees. And you walk and you grab it. They're thinking. And you walk through the village and you grab berries off these trees by the roadside. We do it. They do it.

[12:37] Nothing strange is going on. But then we see the theme we saw last week. The Pharisees are watching Jesus. We aren't just being there at the high points of Christ's ministry.

[12:53] We're watching all the time. We're watching Jesus and the disciples every single day, it seems. We're following them. We're watching them. We're waiting for them to trip up in their mind.

[13:04] To slip up. To do something wrong. And we see that here. One Sabbath, he was going through the grain fields. As they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain.

[13:15] And the Pharisees were saying to him, to Jesus, look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath? They're just walking somewhere.

[13:26] Getting to the next destination. And the Pharisees are on the case straight away. And we'll see in a second what is so scheming and what is quite frankly so evil about their even accosting them on the Lord's Day.

[13:42] On the Sabbath, or at this point, on the Sabbath Day. As we begin to look at this section, just in a bit more depth, as always, just two questions. First of all, to those of us today who, as of yet, don't know Jesus.

[13:58] As of yet, you can't say that you love him. You can't say that he is your saviour. When you come to this passage, when we start talking about Sunday, Sabbath, a day of rest given to us from God.

[14:11] My question to you is, what do you think about Sunday? What do you think about the day of rest? What do you think about Sabbath? These terms are interchangeable. We get so stuck up on terms, but terms are interchangeable.

[14:24] Of course, Sabbath for the Jews here is important because it's a Saturday. But that changes, of course, for the New Testament. But what do you think about the day of rest God has given us? What's your views on it?

[14:35] What's your thoughts on it? Both positive, perhaps, both negative. But more importantly, the question I want to ask you as you look and spend some time in God's Word today together.

[14:49] Do you ever rest? Dear friends, do you ever, have you ever felt actual, genuine rest? See, last week we saw fasting.

[15:01] We saw the end. And here is, again, as we always do, if nothing else, this is the pinnacle we're getting to. This is the point we're getting to. Last week we saw about fasting, questions about fasting.

[15:12] But it wasn't about fasting, was it? In the end, it wasn't about fasting. In the end, it was who do you listen to? God or man? Today's question is a question from the Pharisees about the Sabbath.

[15:24] It's not about the Sabbath at all. Not really. It's really the question is, where do you find your rest? In yourself, in the world, in man-made laws?

[15:34] Or do you find it in Jesus and Him alone? And today, actually, the question to the Christians here, it's the same question to believers. Brothers and sisters, where do you find your rest?

[15:47] Where do I find my rest? Do we catch ourselves sometimes looking for rest in the world? Looking for rest in ourselves? As the world begins to get more complicated, perhaps, at times.

[15:59] As our own situations began to get a bit more harder to deal with. As life just happens. Where do you find, where do we find our rest?

[16:11] Three very broad points. First of all, seeing the accusation. The accusation. We can then see briefly the Old Testament account. And then finally, the affirmation from Jesus.

[16:25] So accusation, the Old Testament account. And finally, the affirmation from Jesus. First of all, the accusation. Again, as we saw last week, they're getting braver.

[16:39] The first week we saw the Pharisees accusing Jesus. They do it via the disciples. But now they do it directly to Jesus himself. They're getting bolder and braver week after week.

[16:53] Verse 24. And the Pharisees were saying to him. And note the wording there. Again, there's no wasted words in Scripture. They were saying to him. There's an ongoing sense to that. The grammar gives us a hint to that.

[17:04] There's an ongoing sense that they've been pestering him. They've been walking and eating and walking and eating. And they've been saying to him and saying to him and saying to him.

[17:15] Again and again. What are they doing? What are they doing? Jesus, what are they doing? They're breaking the Sabbath. You're breaking the Sabbath. What are you doing? Luke, why are they doing what's not lawful on the Sabbath?

[17:28] You are breaking the Sabbath laws. Jesus, you Rabbi. You call yourself. Or you're called, at least at this point. You're called the one sent from God. You're called the Messiah.

[17:38] These men say you've been sent from God. And yet again, you're breaking even the most basic of our laws. Last week, you didn't fast right.

[17:49] This week, you can't even keep the simple Sabbath laws. They've been sent down to us from God himself. You're breaking the Sabbath. You're doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath.

[18:01] Of course, we know the Old Testament speaks much about keeping the Sabbath. We know that. There's a whole study there for us. There are several studies there for us.

[18:13] But of course, we know the pinnacle law, the highest law, is to what? To keep the Sabbath day holy. To keep it holy. To rest, to keep it holy.

[18:24] We know that is from the Lord himself. But the question and the problem here is, what law are the Pharisees accusing Jesus of breaking?

[18:38] You're doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath. In other words, you're breaking the Sabbath laws. It's not the law of God that's been broken here yet again. We saw that last week with the fasting.

[18:48] It wasn't God's law that we're breaking by not fasting. It was the law of the Pharisees. Like fasting, God gave one law for fasting.

[19:01] As we said last week, one single day was given for fasting. And there's optional fasting days. Of course there is. But one day, the people of Israel had to keep. The Jews had to keep. And the Pharisees added and added and added.

[19:15] The same we see here. There were several laws, of course, about the Sabbath. But the Pharisees added and added and added. And by this point, by the first, second century, we know for certain there were 39 categories of law attached to the Sabbath from the Pharisees.

[19:34] Now note the word, categories. 39 categories of law. And each category of law then had subsets attached to it. And attached to it. And attached to it.

[19:44] And we don't know for certain. We can't say for certain the number. But there was law upon law. Precept upon precept. Rule upon rule. Added on to the word of God.

[19:55] The Pharisees were keeping to. Trying to keep to at least. And here we see, this is really what's being broken here. Not the law of God. But it's the law, of course, of the Pharisees.

[20:07] The Pharisees had laws about walking on the Sabbath. You couldn't walk to the Sabbath unless you're walking for a certain set of reasons. Enjoying creation wasn't allowed by the Pharisees.

[20:20] You couldn't go for a walk to enjoy God's creation on the Lord's day. That was not permitted. Is that in God's word? No. But they added on to it. There's two subsets of laws.

[20:33] Two categories that dealt with eating on the Sabbath. What you could eat. What you couldn't eat. Apart from God's law. How you could prepare things. What you couldn't prepare. What you could do beforehand. What you couldn't do beforehand. The laws went on and on to minute detail.

[20:48] There's even a whole subset. But if you had to shuck some grain. If you had to take some grain apart on the Sabbath. You had to do a special way. They made allowances.

[20:59] But even the allowances weren't practical. Weren't doable. And here we see the disciples and Jesus breaking even these laws. They're walking. They're eating. And they're not doing the grain properly.

[21:12] Everything is a mess. According to the Pharisees. Here we see the accusation to Jesus. You're messing everything up. You're breaking all the Sabbath laws.

[21:27] I said last week. The Pharisees equated themselves with God. By breaking their laws.

[21:37] You're breaking God's law. By blaspheming them. By going against them. You're blaspheming and going against God himself. And they're so bold in this.

[21:48] They're so set in this. The same Pharisees who saw Jesus cleanse the leper. Who saw Jesus heal a paralyzed man. Who saw this man then walk out the house.

[21:59] The same Pharisees who saw the miracles. Who have heard the gospel again and again. They can't understand. Or they won't understand.

[22:10] They aren't willing to understand. Who it is they're talking to. The man who they know can do miracles. They still tell him he is breaking their laws. They've made themselves of course equal with God.

[22:26] And the greatest irony here is. How do they know what he's doing? How are they speaking to him?

[22:40] From walking alongside him. Through the grain field. They're breaking their own laws. At this moment. By even speaking to Jesus. The Pharisees are breaking their own laws.

[22:52] To accuse Jesus of breaking the law. Such is the hypocrisy. Of man made. A belief system. Such is the hypocrisy. Of looking to your own self-righteousness.

[23:03] It all crumbles apart. In the end it makes no sense. If you have your faith. And your hope. Based on anything else other than Jesus. It all breaks down. All the logic falls into bits.

[23:15] They're breaking their own laws. To accuse Jesus of breaking the law. They're following him through a grain field. They shouldn't be allowed to walk through. By their own law. On this day. At this time. And yet they're doing it.

[23:26] To accuse Jesus of doing it. Makes no sense. But man made. Self-righteousness. Never makes any sense. As I said before.

[23:38] A few weeks ago now. Concerning and discussing legalism. The truth is. If we can't defend from scripture. What it is. Is being accused of.

[23:49] If we can't say from scripture. That I believe this. And here's where scripture tells it to me. Or if we can't say that. It's clear from scripture. It's clear from certain parts of scripture. And we discussed that at length.

[24:00] A few weeks ago. If it's not scripture based. Or found exclusively written. And clearly in scripture. In the right context. With the right historical context. The right narrative context.

[24:12] But we can't say it. We can't teach it. We shouldn't be believing it. It's ever in scripture. Clearly. Or we can deduce it from scripture. As our confession. Tells us to do.

[24:23] So the accusation is. You're breaking the law of God. In reality. All we were breaking. Was the Pharisees. Own man-made laws. They had made themselves.

[24:34] Equal to God. They had heaped on. Burdens to the people. Burden after burden. Rule after rule. Precept after precept. Those who are called.

[24:45] To lead the people. As leaders. Had destroyed. And burdened down. The people. With man-made rules. That God had never instituted. The danger of our own self-righteousness.

[24:58] If we try and please God. By doing things our own way. If we try and impress God. By our lifestyles. Impress God. By our own holiness. And our own minds.

[25:09] We will come a cropper. Like the disciples. Like the Pharisees. We will sound. Perhaps holy. Look perhaps holy. But it all means nothing. In the end. So we try and live. Holy lives.

[25:20] And good lives. Without Jesus. The problem is. Jesus is then left. Outside it. Completely. The Pharisees. Perhaps. Meant well.

[25:30] In a sense. If they were being faithful. In a sense. But being faithful to themselves. And not to the Lord. And by doing that. They accused Jesus. Again and again. Week after week.

[25:41] Week. So how does Jesus answer. The question. From the Pharisees. To accuse him. Of breaking the Sabbath laws. Verse 25.

[25:52] He received the Old Testament account. And he. Jesus. And Jesus said to them. Have you never read. What David did. So on. Yet again. Jesus answers.

[26:03] Their question. With a question. We saw this last week. That three quarters. If not more. Of the times. We see Jesus. Being faced with a question. In scripture. He answers it with.

[26:13] A question. They ask Jesus. To defend. What he's doing. Not really. They really accuse Jesus. It's a question. They ask. But they're not actually asking. They're accusing.

[26:25] But Jesus answers. Their accusing question. Their genuine. Question. And the question. That Jesus asks. These Pharisees. It brings them to an area.

[26:35] They know well. It brings them to the Old Testament. The Old Testament account. These Pharisees. They knew the Old Testament. They could recite it. With their eyes closed. Quite literally. They could recite it.

[26:45] Chapter by chapter. Verse by verse. They could recite. Not just that. They could recite. Their own laws. They could recite. Their own law books. Some of them. These were men.

[26:57] Who knew. The scriptures well. So Jesus brings them. Back to scripture. He brings them. To the section. We read. In 1st Samuel.

[27:09] 1st Samuel 21. Where David. In a time. Of great need. And if you have time. Go home. And read these chapters. Chapters. Well. Around chapter 21. You see just.

[27:19] The reality. Of King David. But King David. In a time of need. Just to be concise. A time of great need. He arrives. We read. To the temple.

[27:30] And he finds. No food. Of course. No food there. All there is. Is the show bread. The bread of the presence. This was holy bread. Bread. Bread not made. To be touched by man. This is bread.

[27:40] Which had importance. In the service of God. And that's a sermon. For another day. But just to summarize. That's bread. That should not be touched. Not be eaten. At least not by David.

[27:51] At least not by common man. At that point. Is there. To praise God. But we see. In that chapter. We read. First Samuel 21. These verses. The priest. Quite easily.

[28:02] And quite quickly. Gives the bread. To David. David says. He has needed the bread. He is starving. He has been sent. By the Lord. To do this. Well by the king. But. And he gets the bread. This holy special bread.

[28:14] Which shouldn't be touched. By man. The priest gives it. To David. Because David has real need. He is starving. His men are starving. Again.

[28:26] Time is going. But. You see. But here we see. There's a wee bit of a discussion here. Going on behind the scenes. But it's quite quickly. Resolved for us. We see that the priest named here.

[28:39] Is different to the priest we read. In the account. Verse 26. In the time of Abiefer. Well. The Bible we saw.

[28:49] In 1 Samuel chapter 21. It said. Elimelech. How come Jesus says Abiefer. And Samuel writes Elimelech. Well. It's actually literally. In the text here.

[29:00] For us. Solved. It says. For us here. In the time. In. The time. Of Abiefer. Abiefer.

[29:13] And Elimelech. Of course. Were. There at the same time. Abiefer's father. Is. Elimelech. So there's no confusion there. And. Our.

[29:25] Some of our atheist friends. This is quite a common passage. Our atheist friends will point to. To show that scripture is full of. Inconsistencies. Well it's not. You just read. A bit more. In the chapter. And God's word. Gives you.

[29:35] All you have to know. But that's a discussion. For a different day. But. Just be assured. That. All the small consistencies. In scripture. That people point to. All the problems. People point to. Very often. The great problems.

[29:46] People have. With scripture. Not being right. It's almost always solved. By reading. Just a bit more. Of scripture. Itself. Whatever way. David goes. He asks for bread. He gets the bread.

[29:57] He eats the bread. This holy special bread. And Jesus. Makes clear to these Pharisees. You know the story. Have you never read of it? You know the story. David was in need. He entered the house of God.

[30:07] Verse 26. And he ate the bread of the presence. Why? Why did the priest give David the bread. This holy. Untouchable bread. That's been sanctified.

[30:19] For temple use only. Because real need. Surpasses ceremonial need. Real need. Surpassed. Ceremonial need.

[30:30] And God. Gives no displeasure. So. Shows no displeasure. To David eating the bread. There's no problem there. Why? Because it's bread. Yes. It was used for holy purposes.

[30:41] But it's bread. And real need. Surpasses. Overrides. Ceremonial need. At that point. The Pharisees. Were so black and white. In their ways.

[30:51] They had to be. Because their rules. Were man made. The Pharisees. Had no compassion for people. Had no care for people. They ruled the people. With an iron fist. They had to.

[31:04] They had to. Otherwise it didn't work. They ruled. And they reigned. They made their laws. They kept their laws. Solidly. There was no grace. There was no kindness. Unlike the Lord God.

[31:18] Yes. God set that bread. To be in the temples. As the bread of presence. The show bread. Bread that couldn't be touched. That was sanctified. But God is kind. And David and his men.

[31:29] In time of need. Were starving. So they ate the bread. And they kept them going. God is good. God is gracious. God is kind. We see that don't we?

[31:40] When we. See man made laws. Man made laws. That sound so good. But always so harsh. But always so. So ununderstanding. Of what we are as humans.

[31:51] When God speaks to us. God is clear. And God knows us. And God sees us. And God is eternal. And is holy in all his ways. And by no means is God a pushover.

[32:02] But God cares for his people. And God knows we will fail and falter. God knows our needs. And he meets our needs. Jesus uses their own learning against them.

[32:17] As he brings them back to this example of God. Being kind and gentle. And willing to give this bread to David and his men.

[32:27] He uses their own learning against them. To show them they don't know anything. Not really. Not really. Dear friends. Take all things back to scripture.

[32:38] When you are faced with questions. About how we do things. Or what we do. Take it back to scripture. Again and again. Like our saviour does.

[32:48] Again and again. If we can't find it in scripture. If we can't defend it from scripture. From certain passages. Or from context. Or from wider scripture. If we can't find it.

[33:00] If we can't defend it. Then we shouldn't be doing it. Simple as that. Simple as that. God. He faces the accusation. By bringing them the Old Testament account.

[33:12] And then briefly. We have the affirmation. He reminds them. He shows them the goodness. The kindness of God. He shows them that they actually know nothing about God. Not truly.

[33:25] He leaves them in the last two verses. He said to them. To Pharisees. The Sabbath was made for man. Not man for the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord.

[33:35] Even of the Sabbath. They had burdened the people beyond belief. Rule after rule. Precept upon precept.

[33:48] With man made rules. That had no scriptural basis. They turned the people steadily. Away from the true ways of God. And Jesus then brings it back.

[34:01] To the very purpose. The Sabbath rest was given to man. Why did God create a day of rest? To give rest to his people.

[34:13] The Sabbath was made for man. Says Jesus. Not man. For the Sabbath. God gave his people a gift. Gave creation a gift. In giving us Sabbath.

[34:24] It's a creation ordinance. It's been there from the very very start. Of our creation. It's part of the fabric. Of creation itself. There's plenty of examples.

[34:35] No time share. Plenty of examples. In the world around us. Of what happens. When we begin to do things. And to not take time. To rest. That one day a week. Things begin to break down.

[34:46] Pretty quickly. At times literally. Creation needs rest. On the Sabbath. That there's physical rest. Physical benefit. In taking rest. On the Sabbath.

[34:58] That there's mental benefit. In taking rest. On the Sabbath. That there's spiritual benefit. In taking rest. On the Sabbath. Sunday. The Sabbath. The Lord's Day. It's a good thing for us. One day a week.

[35:09] Off from the world. As it were. Boxed off. Keep Sunday. Keep the Lord's Day. Keep the Sabbath day. Holy. Holy. Literally. Separate. Keep it boxed off.

[35:20] A day. That is different. From our days. A day. God. We see here. Has given. To his people. Made for man. A gift from God.

[35:31] To us. We can rest our bodies. Rest our minds. Rest our souls. At times.

[35:41] We know. We've got it so wrong. Haven't we? We still get it wrong. We still have the same temptation. That Pharisees had. We take what God gave us. As a good gift. We make it a burden. We turn it around.

[35:53] We all know the stories. Of days gone by. And at times. To our own shame. The burdens. That folks around us. Faced on this day of rest.

[36:04] This good day God gave us. We made it a burden for people. We added rules. And things onto it. The Pharisees themselves. Would have been proud of. Like the Pharisees.

[36:17] We added rules about. Perhaps walking on the Sabbath. We added rules about. Eating on the Sabbath. We added rules. That we could not find in scripture. We added them. And we kept to them.

[36:30] That's one thing. Having personal views. And we all have personal views. And I said to the boys and the girls. There's. Myself and the elders. Myself and yourselves. We could sit down. And find a hundred things. A thousand things.

[36:40] I'm sure we decided on. Small things. Various issues. And that's good. That's healthy. We covered this before. It's good for the church. To be different in these things. We have our personal views on things.

[36:51] What we cannot do. Is impose then. These views on others. The Sabbath was made. As a gift to us. It's also important. Why we must gather together. On the Sabbath. It's why we're so encouraged.

[37:02] To see good numbers coming out. And if you can. In the evenings. And I promise. I'm not saying this to guilt you. If you can. If you're able to come out. In the evenings.

[37:12] And the mornings. On the Lord's Day. And I know people's. Stories are different. I'm not saying. I know your story. I'm not trying to guilt you. I'm just saying. Just as a brother. To brothers and sisters. Perhaps.

[37:23] If you can. Find. Even sometimes. Come out both ends. Not for my sake. But for your own sake. You will find. Great spiritual benefit. In worshiping the Lord. At the start. At the end of your day.

[37:35] God has given you. This day of rest. Each one of us. A day of rest. From our minds. For our bodies. For our souls. A day of fellowship together. A day of great fellowship together.

[37:47] We can come together. And spend time with brothers and sisters. In the word. Praising God's name. Singing God's name. From his word. Reading about God. From his word. Spending some time. Digging into God's word together.

[37:58] Hopefully growing. In our understanding. In our love. And appreciation. Sunday is a day of rest. For God's people. Made for us. Given to us. Today for us to rest.

[38:09] In Jesus. So the son of man is Lord. Even off the Sabbath. What does Sunday point towards?

[38:21] When God first made the day of rest. What does that point towards? The eternal Sabbath rest of God's people. Hebrews 3.

[38:32] Hebrews 4. The eternal Sabbath rest of God's people. That rest that tells us that one day. One day a saviour would come. Who would bring real peace for his people.

[38:46] And because he has come. Because Jesus has come. We can be assured. And assured just now. But for his people. Who relies ahead of us. An eternal rest. A real Sabbath rest.

[38:58] Not just one day a week. Weeks are gone. Time is gone. A future. An eternity. With our saviour. With true rest. The burdens of this world.

[39:10] Not just gone for a day. The worries of this world. Not just gone for a few hours. But no more sin. No more pain. No more tears. No more anguish.

[39:21] No more anxiety. No more depression. No more darkness. No more as it were sea. All things are made new. New heavens and new earth. And there is rest.

[39:33] Eternal rest. And our eternal saviour. Who is the Lord. Even of the Sabbath. It all belongs to him. Until that day comes. Brothers and sisters.

[39:44] Find our rest in him. We find our peace in him. One who brings peace. And gives rest. And gives rest. To the souls of his people. Don't find it in the world. Don't find it in yourselves.

[39:56] And brothers and sisters. We have to be reminded of that. And dear friends. Those who as of yet. Don't know Jesus. Sunday is a good thing. It's good to gather together on Sunday.

[40:07] But not because it's the done thing. Not because we're here just to look good. We're here to hear about the Lord. To be reminded about who he is. This is his day.

[40:18] The day he rose again from the grave. This is what we call the first day of the new week. This is the day we are reminded that he reigns. He rules. He lives forever. To keep his people.

[40:29] To love his people. To guard his people. And this very day. This very moment. You can find rest in him. True rest for your souls. The one who is the Lord of the Sabbath.

[40:41] The Lord of peace. The Lord of rest itself. Come and rest in him. Who promises. He will give you rest. Your mind. Your body.

[40:53] And rest for your soul. Let's bow our heads in a word of prayer. Lord we thank you Lord. For the gift of your word. And the gift of the good news we find in it.

[41:04] Thank you for the reminder. Of even these simple truths we often forget. That in Jesus we have rest. In Jesus we have peace. For the grace of the Lord. Lord we ask you to forgive us. For the times that perhaps. Even we as a people. Have added.

[41:15] Like the Pharisees of old. Have added. Man made regulations and laws. Onto your word. Where you did not. Lord help us to reclaim the day of rest. As truly a day of peace. A day of rest.

[41:26] A day of great joy. Where we spend time with you. Spend time with your people. Knowing this is a day you have given us. To rest from the worries and anxieties. And the burdens of this world.

[41:36] And to find and to remind ourselves this new week. But we go into this week with Jesus as our saviour. Walking ahead of us. Holding on to us. Promising to be with us.

[41:47] The Lord of the Sabbath. The Lord who gives rest to his people. Who look forward to one day joining with him. In the eternal rest of our souls. Until that day comes.

[41:58] Help us to serve you well. Lord I ask once more you forgive. Anything that was said. Not Lord according to your word. Anything that was said that was wrong. Give you praise. The word is not based Lord.

[42:10] On the jar of clay stands here Lord. But the power is based on your living word. Your living word. Which never returns to you void. Never returns to you without. Having achieved what it is.

[42:21] You've planned for it to achieve. Lord help us this day to rest well. For the rest of this day. To have rest in our bodies. And our minds. And rest in our souls. As we rest on the finished work of our Saviour.

[42:32] As all these things in and through and for. His precious name's sake. Amen. Let's conclude by singing to God's praise. From Sing Psalms.

[42:46] Sing Psalms in Psalm 62. Sing Psalms in Psalm 62. It's on page 79. Of the Blue Psalm books.

[42:59] Sing Psalms in Psalm 62. On page 79. We can sing verses 1. Down to verse 6. Of the Psalm.

[43:11] My soul finds rest. In God alone. From him comes my salvation. Sure. My safety. Fortress. Sheltering rock. In him alone. I am secure.

[43:22] Psalm 62. Verses 1 to 6. To God's praise. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. God's kids. Amen. Amen. Okay. I dreamt in God alone.

[43:38] From Him comes my salvation shield. My safety for His strength be brought.

[43:56] In Him alone I am secure. Along with you as art a man.

[44:14] Do you all stick to him low? Still stay in all His top-dead.

[44:32] I'm bringing out the light His overflow. With love and His hope from His high place.

[44:52] They take delight and spare the light.

[45:03] With bonds come apart in worlds be blessed. That in their hearts, God shall despise.

[45:22] I bless my soul and calm down on. There, there, my hope has ever shown.

[45:42] My safety for His sheltering cross. In His love I am secure.

[46:03] In the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God the Father, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, both of you now and forevermore. Amen.