Let us turn to the Word of God
and I want to direct you this morning to words that we find
in the epistle of Paul to the Hebrews. In Hebrews chapter 4
and verse 9. Hebrews chapter 4 verse 9. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. or if we read with the alternative,
which is in the margin, it would read there, remaineth therefore
a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God. The subject that I really want
to take up is that of the eternal Sabbath, the final rest that
God's people are to enjoy the fullness of that rest that really
begins in the Day of Grace under the Gospel. Taking then these
words here in Hebrews 4.9 there, Remaineth therefore a rest to
the people of God. Now from the previous chapter,
verse 7 in chapter 3 right through to verse 11 in this fourth chapter. The Apostle speaks of different
types of rest. For example, he speaks of that
creation rest that God entered into after He had finished His
great work at the beginning. Here in verse 4 of chapter 4,
He's making a certain place of the seventh day on this wise,
and God did rest the seventh day from all his works. We have that of course at the
beginning of Genesis chapter 2, after the accounts in the
first chapter of the six days of creation. So, the work was
finished, completed, God looked upon it, declared it to be very
good, and God rested. on that seventh day and sanctified
the day and set that day apart. There was a creation rest. And then also here Paul speaks
of the land of rest when the children of Israel were brought
out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, led by God through
the wilderness, ultimately He would bring them to that promised
land of Cain, the land of rest. And we see how that's spoken
of at the end of chapter 3. Verse 17, Wherefore in all things
it behoved him Now let me get the right chapter, chapter 3
verse 17, But with whom was he grieved forty years? Was it not
with them that had sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness?
And to whom swear he that they should not enter into his rest,
but to them that believe not? So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. There was a whole generation
that died in the wilderness wanderings over those 40 years, they never
entered into the rest, which was the land of Canaan. But the following generation
were brought in under Joshua, as we're told here at verse 8
in chapter 4. If Jesus or Joshua had given
them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another
day? It was then a certain rest that
God's people were to enjoy when they entered into that land of
promise that was to be their dwelling place we know how subsequently
many times they sinned and eventually of course the Lord God visited
judgment and they were removed out of the land of promise, the
land of rest and they languished for some 70 years in Babylon
and then God restored them under the decree of Cyrus the Persian. And then, after the rejection
of Christ, how they were scattered, the Jews were scattered to the
four winds. And of course, what we have in
Israel today is really a secular state. But it was there in the
Old Testament a land of rest, a land of promise. And so as
we have mention of creation rest, we also have the rest that was
Canaan. And then also here in this portion
we read of gospel rest here in verse 3 of chapter 4. We which have believed do enter
into rest. Or the believer ceases from all
his works, ceases from your own works, bad and good, wash your
garments in my blood. We often sing those words of
Joseph Hart. There is a cessation from all
works. Salvation is not of works. Salvation
is of grace. And the believer is one who is
resting in the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
then, besides gospel rest, as it begins under the gospel in
the life of faith, we have the fullness, the fullness of that
gospel rest, which is heaven, heavenly rest. And that's what's
being spoken of here in the text. There remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. And as we come, In particular,
to examine these words for our text, I want to divide the subject
matter into two parts. And first of all, to consider
with you how this rest commences under the gospel. It begins in
this present life, but then it is completed and it is consummated
in heaven. So there are two aspects to the
rest that is being spoken of. First of all, let us consider
how it commences under the gospel. And that is quite evident because
the verb that we have here, remaineth, is actually in the present tense. There remaineth, that is, at
the moment, the present time, there remaineth therefore a rest
to the people of God. And it is that that the Lord
Jesus himself speaks of, remember the Lord's ministry and the gracious
invitations that he speaks there as he proclaims the gospel of
the grace of God, Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy
laden and I will give you rest. Take my yoke up, on you learn
of me and you shall find rest for your souls, peace for your
souls. My yoke is easy, my burden is
light. This is how the Lord speaks,
graciously inviting sinners to come and find their rest in himself. And there is a sense in which
the land of Canaan, the land of promise, the land of rest,
typified this rest of saving faith. Isn't that what the Apostle
is really saying at the end of the previous chapter, where he
speaks of those who were unable to enter into that rest because
they didn't believe? Verse 18, to whom sweary that
they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believe
not. So we see that they could not
enter in because of unbelief. He's speaking of the land, he's
speaking of Israel in the Old Testament, but he's speaking
in terms of faith. There is that that is typical
about that land of Canaan. And, of course, the one who leads
the believing people into that land is Joshua. And what we have here in verse
8 is simply the Greek form of that name. If Jesus Joshua in
the Old Testament. If Joshua had given them rest,
then would he not afterward have spoken of another day? There
is that that is typical with regards to the land of Canaan. And we see that when we think
of that land. And I want us to do that for
a while. Think of the land, the sort of land that it was and
how it's spoken of in the Old Testament. We're told something
with regards to the the contents of the land, the sort of land
that it was. The spies are sent and they must pass through the
land and they are to examine it in all its parts and we read
of them there in the book of Numbers and there were 12 spies
sent out and 10 come back really with an evil report because the
land is is full of walled cities, it's full of giants, great men.
But they have to acknowledge that the land is a good land.
It's a land flowing with milk and with honey. Look at the language
that we have back in the book of Numbers, Numbers 13. Verse 23, we're told, the spies
came under the brook of Eshcol and cut down from thence a branch
with one cluster of grapes and they bear it between two upon
a staff, and they brought of the pomegranates and of the figs. What a cluster of grapes this
was! Such lush fruit that it required
two men to bear it and to carry it. And so we read later, in
verse 26, they went and came to Moses and to Aaron and to
all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness
of Paran, to Kadesh, and brought back word unto them and to all
the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him and said, We
came unto the land whither thou sentest us, and surely it floweth
with milk and honey, and this is the fruit of it. They bring
all this lush fruit, and they show what sort of a land it is. And then later in chapter 14, Here are Joshua and Caleb, the
two spies who are faithful and believing that the children can
go in and possess the land, whilst the others are full of unbelief,
afraid of the people, the Canaanites dwelling in that land. But see
how these two speak. There in Numbers 14, 7, they
spake unto all the company of the children of Israel, saying,
The land which we pass through to search is an exceeding good
land. If the Lord enlighten us then,
He will bring us into this land and give it us a land which floweth
with milk and with honey. Now, all of this is representative
of the Gospel. and all that fullness that is
in the gospel of the grace of God. And Isaiah, who is clearly
the evangelical prophet and has so much to say with regards to
the gospel, he takes up that figure when he speaks of the
gospel. Isaiah 25 6, in this mountain,
shall the Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast. of fat
things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow,
of wines on the lees, well refined. Oh, what is he speaking of this
mountain? It's Manzion. It's the spiritual
Manzion. It's the gospel day. It's that
that God favours his people with in that day in which we are so
favoured to live in. all the fullness of the Gospel,
all that He found in the Lord Jesus Christ, the wonder of His
person, the great work that He accomplished. We often sing those
words of the hymn, the fullness resides in Jesus our head and
ever abides to answer our need. The Father's good pleasure is
laid up in store, the wondrous full treasure to give to the
poor. That's the Gospel. And the land,
the land of promise, the land of rest, when we think of the
content of it, it is typical of what God has provided in his
great mercy for sinners. In the gospel where sin abounds,
grace does so much more abound. Where does it abound? It abounds
in Christ, in his person, and in his work. But then again,
thinking of that land, And what was the experience of the people
when they did enter in that faithful company who went in with Joshua?
Why? They found it to be a land of
conflict. It was the promised land. It
was a land in which they would rest and dwell, but it was also
a place of conflict. Now, I'm aware that the land
of Canaan is often thought of as a type of heaven. But that's not strictly
true, is it? It clearly is a figure that sometimes
is taken up by the hymn writers. There's that lovely hymn, for
example, of Isaac Watts, The Land of Pure Delight, 1022. He's
speaking of heaven. And there at the end of the hymn,
could we make our doubts remove, these gloomy doubts that rise,
and see the Canaan that we love with unbeclouded eyes? Could
we but climb where Moses stood and view the landscape o'er?
Not Jordan's stream nor death's cold flood should fright us from
the shore. He's clearly thinking in terms
of the land of Canaan. and using it as a figure, a picture
of heaven. It's interesting, of course,
we know that Isaac Watts was a Sotonian, he was born in Southampton
as a young man, he was there, and it is said, and I believe
it's true, that when he wrote this particular hymn, he was
thinking of the view across Southampton water towards the New Forest.
That's where he was looking. The land, as it were, that was
afar off. over the water. Well that's by the by but it's
a lovely hymn but the the figure is wrong because Canaan is not
really a type of heaven. It is more especially a type
of that rest that the believer knows today in the day of grace
under the gospel. Joshua there in his book chapter
17 verse 12 says the Canaanite would dwell in that land though
it was a place of conflict it was little by little that they
were able to to overcome the inhabitants of that land there
was a great deal of warfare and so it is of course in the believers
experience when the child of God comes to faith in the Lord
Jesus and is trusting in the Lord Jesus, isn't there a fight
of faith? Isn't that the exhortation of
the Apostle? Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal
life. Again the hymn writer says of
the believer when his pardon is signed and his peace is procured,
from that moment His conflict begins. And there is a conflict,
and the believer feels it. Oh, if we are the people of God,
we'll know something of conflict with this present world that
lies all about us. The whole world lies in wickedness. Now, John exhorts believers,
love not the world, he says, neither the things that are in
the world. If any man loved the world, the love of the Father
is not in him. all that is in the world, the
lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of
life is not of the Father but is of the world and the world
passes away and the lust thereof but he that doeth the will of
God abideth forever for the believer is to be concerned not with the
ways and the fashions of the world but to be concerned with
the will of God and the commandments of God and the precepts of the
gospel And he lives a life, therefore, that is very different to the
life of those who are sunk in the ways of this world. And it's
not an easy life. In the world, the Lord Jesus
says, ye shall know tribulation. There's tribulation, there's
trouble, there's trial, there's difficulty living that godly
life amongst those who are in the very hands of the wicked
ones. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And so the believer must continually
persevere, or we must, through much tribulation, enter into
the kingdom of heaven. In that sense, the believer is
looking and waiting for that rest that remaineth in all the
fullness of it, in all the richness of it. Heaven
itself is what he longs for. there's conflict there in the
world when we're those who have the grace of God in our souls
but then also the believer knows conflict with that arch enemy
even Satan himself doesn't Paul tell us we wrestle not against
flesh and blood but against principalities against powers against the rulers
of the darkness of this world against spiritual wickedness
in high places Oh, what a foe is Satan, and so subtle a foe. He has all his stratagems, he
has all his devices. You know, he's a mighty angel. And we have to resist him. Oh,
we have to resist that awful foe. Be sober, be vigilant, says
Peter. Your adversary, the devil, walketh
about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Whom resist? steadfast in the facts or don't
be surprised if satan will come and seek to tempt you and draw
you aside how he hates man and he hates the believer because
the believer is that one in whom the image of God has been restored
he is renewed after the image of him that created him and how
the devil hates God so he hates those who have God's image upon
them he will seek he will seek to destroy believers and he'll
come with his temptations and when the believer falls and we
do fall or we we're prone to every sin are we not alas we
feel it we cannot use the language of the Lord Jesus only he could
say the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in thee
there's so much in us in our fallen nature and when we do
fall what does the devil do he turns accuser and he'll accuse
us day and night before God he'll shut our mouths we'll be so ashamed
and it's not easy then to find a way of repentance and a godly
sorrow over our sins we feel such hypocrites how clever this
foe is. All the believer then, in the
life of faith, knows something of conflict. Conflict with the
world, conflict with Satan himself, and then he has conflict in his
own heart. Conflict with his own nature.
The flesh lusting against the spirit. and the spirit against
the flesh, and he feels that these are contrary one to the
other, and Paul cries out that he cannot do what he would do.
Oh, the old nature within, it's so felt in the life of faith. Oh yes, the believer is one born
again. The Lord Jesus makes that so
plain, that great third chapter of John on the doctrine of regeneration,
the new birth, he must be born again. Why so? Well, that which is born of the
flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And this is where the conflict
arises, you see, the believer has a new nature. Now there is
that seed, the divine nature is now in his soul. But what
does Paul say there in Romans 7? I find in the Lord that when
I would do good, evil is present with me. Oh that's the new nature,
he would do good, he would do that that's right, he would live
in accordance with the holy precepts of God's gospel. But evil is
there. I know that in me that is in
my face there dwelleth no good thing and he needs deliverance
who will deliver me from the body of this dirty Christ and
the only way of deliverance is in the Lord Jesus Christ or there
is this conflict and it is a fearful conflict that the believer is
experiencing but then thinking of the land Thinking of the land,
the content of the land, it's a land that is rich, it's full
of good fruits, or there's all that provision that God has made
for his people in the Gospel, though they're in guys in this
terrible conflict. And in the midst of all these
things, what do they know? They know something of communion
with God. And wasn't that the great portion
of the children of Israel when they came into the land? Now
remember, when God entered into covenant with them, He brings
them out of Egypt, He takes them into the wilderness of Horeb,
and He gives them the Ten Commandments. He's entering into covenant with
them. And then Moses receives all the instruction concerning
the way in which they are to worship this God, who is now
their God, and they are His people. And of course the great thing
in that worship is the tabernacle. And we have all that detail concerning
the making of the tabernacle and all the furnishings of the
tabernacle. And the very central aspect of tabernacle worship
is to be the Holy of Holies. Now what is housed there? Well,
there are the Ten Commandments. written on tables of stone and
they are to be placed in the Ark. And it's the Ark of the
Covenant. The Ark of the Covenant that
God has made with them in terms of these Ten Commandments. And
you can read there in Exodus 25 about how they were to make
the Ark and to place the the tables of stone, the testimony
there in that ark, and upon the ark they would have the mercy
seat. The mercy seat with the cherubim one on each end of the
mercy seat. And what does God say? There
I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above
the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon
the ark. There is God's promise. This
is the place of meeting. or they're going to no communion
with God. And so as they journey, they
have to take the tabernacle and all its contents with them throughout
their wanderings and then they come into the land of promise
and they set up the tabernacle at Shiloh. Now they're in the
land and they have a place. They don't have to dismantle
the tabernacle anymore, they set it up in Shiloh, they're
in the land of promise. and here is the place where they
can rest in their communion with the gods of the covenant and
then eventually David moves that tabernacle from Shiloh and sets
it up at Jerusalem and Jerusalem becomes the great place of the
meeting with God, of communion with God and eventually the Tabernacle
is replaced by the Temple of the Lord in the days of King
Solomon. And this is where God dwells.
God is there in the midst of his people. And now we find the
Psalmist rejoicing in these things. Look at the language that we
have in the 132nd Psalm. amongst the songs of degrees,
or the songs of ascents, these songs that they sang as they
would go up to Jerusalem, or initially to Shiloh, they're
going up to worship God in the place where God is, His special
presence, His gracious presence. What do we read in that song
of degrees, Psalm 132, and verse 13, The Lord hath chosen Zion.
He hath desired it for His habitation. This is My rest forever. Here will I dwell, for I have
desired it." This is where they worship in God, you see. It's
God's resting place. And it's their resting place. Now, as I said, what we have
in the land of Canaan is all typical and it has its fulfillment
in the New Testament, it has its fulfillment in the Gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Where does God dwell now? Does
He not come and dwell by His Spirit in the hearts of His people?
Paul says to the Corinthians, you are the temple of the Living
God as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them and
I will be their God and they shall be my people." The Lord
Jesus when he comes to the end of his ministry and he makes
that great prayer in the 17th chapter of John, what does the
Lord say? I in them and thou in me that they may be made perfect
in one. always Christ is in the Father
the eternal Son of the eternal Father so Christ is in the hearts
of all his people and all his people they are the adopted sons
of God I in them and thou in me this is the blessing under
the gospel is it not that we we can have communion with God
again John says there in the opening chapter of his first
general epistle Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His
Son Jesus Christ our Lord. What is fellowship? It's communion. Now I know we sometimes refer
to the Lord's Supper as a service of communion. It is that. There
we commune with Christ, remembering Him, feeding upon Him in a sense,
by faith. What a blessing it is that the
people of God have that holy ordinance to observe the believers
in this present life are to live a life in which they commune
with God when we come together like this is it not that we might
have fellowship with him that we might know his presence and
feel his presence hasn't the Lord Jesus promised where two
or three are gathered together in my name there am I in the
midst the importance then of corporate worship but also in
our own lives as individuals do we know that communion with
God or do we want that the Lord should really come and dwell
in us and we might be temples of the Holy Ghost you see this
rest it does begin now in the day of grace it's a present experience,
it's resting It's resting in all that God is, all that God
is as he has revealed himself in the Lord Jesus Christ. But
then, turning to the second point, we have its completion ultimately
in glory. It is completed in heaven. There's that little statement,
I think it's normally attributed to Thomas Boston, that's God's
minister, from the 18th century who says grace is glory in the
buds and glory is grace in the full flower here we have the
bud the bud as it were of eternal glory, heaven itself in heaven
we have grace the grace in all the fullness of it and Heaven,
of course, is that place where God is. God's tabernacle is there. The place of communion. His presence
is there in the midst. We read that lovely 21st chapter
in the book of the Revelation. And look at the language that
we have there in the opening verses. John says, I saw a new
heaven. And a new earth for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no
more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. and He will dwell with them,
and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with
them, and be their God." Oh, it says quite clearly the
tabernacle of God is with men. Or the temple, verse 22. John
says, I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and
the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the
sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of
God did enlighten it. And the Lamb is the light thereof."
That is heaven, you see. What makes heaven is God. And
the presence of God, that God is there in the midst. It would
not be heaven if God was not there. Oh, God created man in his image,
God created man after his likeness. Man was made to know God, to
enjoy God. As Augustine said long ago, thou
hast made us for thyself. Our souls are restless till they
rest in thee, and that's the glory of heaven, and that is
the awful torment of hell. Because those in hell have cut
off you, sir, from all communion with God. And there's no unbelief
there. All the devils believe. And that's
the place of the demons. They tremble. How awful to be
cut off from God forever and ever and ever. But here is heaven,
the tabernacle of God. Is with men, it says. Now, when we go back to the Old
Testament and the types that we have there, remember In the
Old Testament, it was only the Levites who were to serve there
in the tabernacle. Numbers chapter 1 and verse 50,
Thou shalt appoint the Levites over the tabernacle. They shall
minister unto it. It was the charge of the Levites.
They had they were the ones who had all the care of the tabernacle
and of course it was of the tribe of Levi that the priest of Aaron
came and it was only the priest who could minister in those holy
things and it was only the high priest who could enter into the
holy of holies once a year on the great day of atonement but
now what do we read in Revelation 22 and verse 3, the tabernacle of
God is with men, with men. And then he goes on in verse
24 to speak of the nations of them which are saved. Oh there in heaven you see God
is with His people, He is with all of His people and with His
people forever and ever. No more will they have any sense
of desertion or there are times are there not in this world where
our sins separate between us and our God our iniquities hide
his face from us there are times when the child of God does walk
in darkness and has no light or think of the language that
we have there at the end of of Isaiah chapter 50 who is among you that feareth
the Lord and obeyeth the voice of his servants that walketh
in darkness and hath no light let him trust in the name of
the Lord and stay himself upon his God that's the the life of
faith, that's the good fight of faith, that's the struggling
of faith in the midst of every adversity but there in heaven
all God is with his people constantly. Heaven is that holy, happy place
where sin no more defiles, where God unveils his blissful face
and looks and loves and smiles. We sang it just now in the hymn. The hymn of Harper, then the
other hymn of Isaac Watts. on heaven, he says, sin my worst
enemy before shall vex mine eyes and ears no more, my inward foes
shall all be slain, nor Satan break my peace again." It's peace
there, it's rest there, uninterrupted. Zechariah 14.21, there shall
be no more the Canaanites in the house of the Lord forever. No more the Canaanites or the
Canaanite would dwell in that land, says Joshua. When we think of Canaan as a
type of the present life of faith and the strugglings. Ah, but
when he comes to heaven, no more the Canaanite in the house of
the Lord. Oh, what did we read? Revelation
21-27, there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth,
neither whatsoever worketh abomination, nor maketh a lie, but they which
are written in the Lamb's book of life." These are the ones who are favored
to enter that blessed place. Blessed are the dead which die
in the law, that they might rest from their neighbors, and their
works do follow them. We read previously in Revelation
14. But look at the language that
we have, again in chapter 21, in verse 4, God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death,
neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain
for the former things, are passed away. It is all the fullness
of grace that is known and enjoyed in that blessed place. The text then speaks of the rest,
the rest that remaineth. And it's a present rest, it's
a present tense, it begins now. But here we only have the beginnings
of it. And there in heaven, what does
the believer come into the possession of? All the fullness. All the
fullness of that blessed rest. But as we draw to a conclusion
this morning, I just want to go back to what I mentioned right
at the beginning, and that's the alternative reading that
we have in the margin. There remaineth therefore a keeping
of a Sabbath to the people of God. It's interesting. I refer to the whole context
here. Beginning in chapter 3 verse 7 right the way through to verse
11 in chapter 4 the Apostle has a great deal to say about rest. And you'll see how the word rest
occurs time and time again. Chapter 3 verse 11 going in verse 18 and then coming
into the fourth chapter we have it in the first verse, the third
verse, verse 5, verse 10, and verse 11. But the interesting thing is
that what we have here in verse 9 is really a different word
to what we have in all those other verses. You see, there
are two words that can be translated by the word rest. But there's
a uniqueness about the word that we have here, and it is literally
the word, the Greek word, sabbatismos, and it comes from the Hebrew
word sabbath. Sabbath is a Hebrew word, which
has come over into the Greek language and then come over into
our English language. we have the word Sabbath and
this is the word that is used here and it's not used in any
of those other verses and so the great Puritan Dr.
Rowan when he comes to expound the epistle and comes to this
particular verse he deliberately expounds it in terms of a reference
to what he calls the Christian Sabbath there is a day to be
kept there remaineth, in the present tense, there remaineth
a keeping of a Sabbath. And Owen refers to it as the
Christian Sabbath in distinction to the Judaic Sabbath that we
have in the Old Testament. Now, of course, in the Old Testament
what did the Jews keep? They kept the seventh day. They
remembered God's work of creation in accordance with the commandment,
They remembered not only God having created all things in
six days and rest in the seventh day, but also when we come to
Deuteronomy 5 and we have the repetition of the commandments,
they had to remember it there, also in association with the
way in which God had delivered them from the house of bondage.
But they kept the seventh day, and there were a whole series
of rules and regulations, all those things that we can read
in the book of Leviticus. Now that's the Judaic Sabbath
day. And Owen isn't saying that we're
to keep it just as the Jews kept it, but there is a day to keep.
There is a day to keep. a day of rest to keep, a cessation
from work. And the day itself is an anticipation
of heaven. That's the beauty of the day,
it's looking forward. There's that centracy in which
when the Jews were keeping their Sabbath, they were looking forward
to the coming of Messiah. What are we looking forward to?
Well, we look back to all that the Christ has done, we look
forward to heaven. That holy happy place where congregations
ne'er break up and Sabbaths have no end, says the hymn writer. Or do we come then to this day
in that spirit We feel it is, as it were, a little foretaste
of heaven itself. That's why we love the day, we
look forward to the day, we delight in the day. And we seek to give
ourselves then to God and to the Word of God. If I remember right, is it back
in Isaiah? 58, the end of Isaiah 58, that
we read these words, If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath,
from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath
a delight, the holy of the Lord honourable, and shalt honour
him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure,
nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself
in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places
of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father
for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it. O the Lord grant that
we might be favoured then to know the blessings of the Christian
Sabbath. There remaineth therefore a keeping
of a Sabbath, a rest to the people of God. Amen. Let us conclude our worship this
morning as we sing hymn 1061, the tune is Irish 160. Lord, I believe, a rest remains
to all thy people known, a rest where pure enjoyment reigns,
and thou art loved alone. 1061.