Let us turn to God's Word and
turning to the last two verses in Isaiah chapter 58. Isaiah
chapter 58 and verses 13 and 14. 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, honorable,
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. Want us to consider then something
of the contents of these two quite remarkable verses that
speak to us of the Sabbath and the sanctity of the Sabbath day. This is a theme then that I want
us to take up for a while this morning and maybe in the coming
weeks as we look at the words that I've just read in this particular
text of scripture. The sanctity of the Sabbath. Now last week we did look at
similar words or certainly words that also speak of the Sabbath
day back in chapter 56 and there at verse 2, Blessed
is the man that doeth this and the sonneth man that layeth hold
on it, that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth
his hand from doing any evil. And so we considered something
of that blessed man's sabbath. In fact, much is said concerning
the day in that chapter, certainly in the first part of chapter
56, In verse 4, Thou saidst to the Lord, Unto the eunuchs that
keep My Sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and
take hold of My covenants, At the end of verse 6 there we read
of everyone that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it and
taketh hold of my covenant. Much is spoken then here in Isaiah
concerning the day, the Sabbath day, that is spoken of of course
in the fourth of the ten commandments. We observed last time that the
day is not simply associated with the Lord of God but there
is some reference surely to the gospel in connection with that
day. when we see the juxtaposition
of those opening two verses in chapter 56 at the end of verse
1 God says my salvation is near to come and my righteousness
to be revealed blessed is the man that doeth this and the son
of man that layeth hold on it that keepeth the Sabbath from
polluting it There's a connection between the Sabbath and salvation,
that great work that the Lord Jesus Christ came to accomplish. We read there in that first verse
of chapter 56 of salvation and of righteousness. And the promise
is given, of course, concerning the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ who has fulfilled all righteousness back in chapter
45. and verse 8, drop down your heavens from above and let the
skies pour down righteousness let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation and let righteousness bring up together
I the Lord have created it and we remarked last time in particular
with regards to those words there in that second verse concerning
the keeping of the Sabbath day. The Son of Man that layeth hold
on it, it says. Blessed is the man that doeth
this and the Son of Man that layeth hold on it, that keepeth
the Sabbath. What is that laying hold? Does it not remind us really
of what faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is? It's a laying hold.
It's laying hold upon Him who is set before us as the true
Sabbath, the faith that lays hold on the Lamb and brings such
salvation as this is more than mere notion or name, the work
of God's Spirit it is. Ought to know what it is to be
those who would indeed lay hold upon the Lord Jesus. It's the Spirit of Jacob is it
not there at Peniel in Genesis 32 when he says to the angel,
I will not let thee go except thou bless me. How there where
he became Israel, a prince with God, having power with the angel,
how there he was able to lay hold on this. And isn't this
really something of that heritage that is being spoken of here
at the end of chapter 58? I will cause you to ride upon
the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage
of Jacob thy father." Ought to be those who know what it is
then to lay hold of the day that we come to worship God in and
all that the day signifies to us of what it is to be in Christ
and to be resting in Him. But I want us this morning as
I said to consider more particularly the sanctity of the Sabbath day. The sanctity of the Sabbath day. I'm sure you're aware of the
meaning of that word to sanctify. Literally it means to set apart
and to separate. So Mount Sinai itself, where
God came, to the children of Israel and spoke to them the
Ten Commandments, how the very mount was sanctified, it was
set apart. This was the instruction that
was given to Moses there in Genesis chapter 19 in verses 12 and 13. He is commanded to set bounds
around the mountain, how the people are not to come near unto
the mount. and there in verse 23 we are
told how Moses says to the Lord the people cannot come up to
Mount Sinai for thou chargest us saying set bounds about the
mount and sanctify it is set apart, it is separated and that
is of course the basic meaning of the word And then the commandments
follow in chapter 20 of Exodus and amongst them we have that
commandment concerning the day. Remember the Sabbath day to keep
it holy. In six days God made heaven and
earth but rested on the seventh day and sanctified it and set
it apart. And we remarked last time how
that even before they came to Mount Sinai, back in Exodus chapter
16, in the matter of the manna, we see how they were, to observe
the day, they were familiar with the day before ever they received
the commandments. They were told how that the provision
would be made from day to day, and they were to gather the manna.
But when He came to the sixth day. They would
gather twice as much as was required, and it would be preserved on
to the Sabbath day. Previously, if they were to gather
too much, it would begin to rot and to stink, because they would
have a supply from day to day, they were to have daily bread.
But when it came to that sixth day, they could store it, and
it would not corrupt. in any way it would be there
for them on the Sabbath day because they were not to go out on that
day that God had set apart there in chapter 16 of Exodus at verse
22 and the following verses. We see there now that God himself
has set apart this particular day. And how has God set it apart? He has set it apart in a threefold
sense. He has set it apart first of
all in creation, He has set it apart in His holy law, and He
has also set a day apart in the gospel, in the day of grace,
the day in which we are living. and now God speaks of it as His
Holy Day there in the giving of the commandments in Exodus
chapter 20 verse 11 the Lord blessed the Sabbath day it says
and hallowed it again in in Deuteronomy where we read where we have that
repetition of the commandments when they're on the borders of
the promised land after the 40 years of wilderness wanderings
in Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verse 12 keep the Sabbath day
to sanctify it to sanctify it and how is it spoken of here
in the text before us this morning here in verse 13 God calls it
my holy day turn away thy foot from the Sabbath from doing thy
pleasure on my holy day and then he goes on to refer to it again
as the holy of the Lord call the Sabbath a delight the Holy
of the Lords, honourable, here is a day that is to be observed
according to the commandment of God. It's not to be trodden
underfoot, it's not to be desecrated, God has sanctified it and as
I say, He has set it apart in this threefold sense. He has
set it apart in terms of creation, first of all, And we have it
there at the very beginning, after the account of the great
work of God in the six days, which is spoken of in the first
chapter of scripture in Genesis chapter 1. And then in the second
chapter, thus the heavens and the earth were finished. and
all the hosts of them. And on the seventh day God ended
His work which He had made, and He rested on the seventh day
from all His work which He had made, and God blessed the seventh
day and sanctified it, because within it He had rested from
all His work which God created and made. And so, as we said,
when it comes to the actual giving of the commandments, the fourth
commandment has simply told to remember it. Remember the Sabbath
day. It was something they were clearly
already familiar with. It's a creation ordinance, is
it not? And as I said, there in Exodus
chapter 16, before they came to Mount Sinai, in the matter
of the giving of the manna, they'd been told to observe the Sabbath
day. Now there are several creation
ordinances. there are those things that are
so basic to human society that are established right at the
beginning of the Scriptures. We see, for example, that marriage
itself is a creation ordinance after God creates the man and
there's no help that's made for him. He takes of Adam's rib and
he forms a woman and he brings the woman to the man and we have
the institution of marriage. At the end of Genesis chapter
2 the Lord God says, Therefore shall a man leave his father
and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife, and they too shall
be one flesh. It's a creation ordinance. It
wasn't something that simply belonged to the children of Israel
who were God's ancient covenant people. It was what God had established
for all of humankind and so when Paul writes in the New Testament
in Hebrews chapter 13 he says marriage is honorable in all
in all societies amongst all peoples marriage is honorable
in all and the bed undefiled but whoremongers and adulterers
God will judge How marriage is so basic and how solemn it is
that we see the very fabric of society, of course, being constantly
undermined and broken up in our day. When you think of the wicked
legislation that is enacted in the houses of Parliament, so-called
same-sex marriage, which is but perversion, Our leaders do what
is right in their own eyes and they follow their foolish ways
and they only cause that there should be confusion in society
and ultimately one fears as to where it will all lead. There
will be a complete breakdown of society it would seem except
God should intervene in mercy. He has solemnly declared that
what a man soweth, that shall he reap. And that's true also,
is it not, of societies or the folly of our leadership. Marriage,
I say, is one of these creation ordinances. So also is work. Man is not created to be an idle
creature, to be doing nothing. God, of course, is revealing
himself. here in Holy Scripture. That's what the Bible is. It's
a special revelation of God. We could never know God except
He is pleased in His sovereignty to make Himself known. And how
does God reveal Himself in Scripture? The first thing we discover is
that God is a Creator. God is active in the beginning. God created the heaven and the
earth and of course that work that God has created is part
of the revelation of himself as the heavens declare his glory
and the firmament showeth his handiwork now that men are without
any excuse because there is that general revelation that they
can witness all about them in the works that he has made God
is a worker the creation work is finished you know more he's
working in creation but he is still that one who is active
in his sovereign providence he governs he governs the affairs
of men and of nations he's doing according to his will he's accomplishing
his own eternal purpose and when God creates the man he makes
the man in his own image after his own likeness And clearly
we see that even in that state of innocence man is not to be
an idle creature. The Lord God took the man and
put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it, it
says. He had work to do in the garden.
Oh yes, when we read of man's rebellion against God and man's
falling to sin, There is a curse that comes upon the creation
and it's in the sweat of his brow now that he will eat bread.
The task of work won't be as pleasant as it was initially
because of man's foolishness, man's sin. But man is meant to
work. It's a creation ordinance. And so what does Paul say in
New Testament Scripture? If a man would not work, neither
shall he eat. There are these ordinances that
we see right at the beginning in creation, and as with marriage,
as with work, so also with the Sabbath day. The Sabbath is that
that God clearly appoints at the beginning, as we read there
in that opening part of the second chapter of Genesis. how on the
seventh day God had rested from all the work that he had made
and it was God who then sanctified the day, set the day apart as
a day to be observed by all his creatures. In that sense it doesn't
just belong to those who are professors of the name of God,
it belongs to all men as God's creatures. He has sanctified
it in creation. And then in the second place
we see this, how God has sanctified a Sabbath in the law. It's the fourth commandment. And we have it, of course, initially
in Exodus chapter 20, the giving of the commandments. There, quite
a measure of detail in verses 8, through to 11 and then all
of that is repeated in the chapter that we read and the law is mentioned
there in Deuteronomy chapter 5 and verses 12 to 15 and we see the day confirmed
as it is set apart in the law and how the children of Israel
were to very carefully observe that day in every sense And there
were various capital offences if they should be those who were
the transgressors of the Sabbath day. In Exodus chapter 35 for
example, even the kindling of a fire on the Sabbath day is
forbidden. In Exodus 35 we are told, Our
Moses gathered all the congregation of the children of Israel together
and said unto them, These are the words which the Lord hath
commanded you that ye should do them. Six days shall work
be done, but on the seventh day there shall be to you an holy
day, the Sabbath of rest to the Lord. Whosoever doeth work therein
shall be put to death. ye shall kindle no fire throughout
your habitations upon the Sabbath day." Even the lighting of a
fire was a capital offense. Those who did any work were to
be put to death. Now, that rigorous law that we
have in the Old Testament no more applies We have to be careful,
we have to observe that there is a distinction clearly made
there in the Old Testament. Those civil laws, and that's
what we have there in chapter 35 of Exodus, those civil laws
were all mediated through Moses when he was in the mount for
40 days and 40 nights. Remember what we read in our
reading in that fifth chapter of the book of Deuteronomy and
there at verse 24 here is Moses some 40 years after
they received the commandments and there they're once more on
the borders of the land of promise and he's repeated what God had
spoken when they were at Mount Sinai. And he reminds them here
at verse 24, He said, Behold, the Lord our God hath showed
us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out
of the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God
doth talk with man, and He liveth. Now therefore, why should we
die? For this great fire will consume
us if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any more then shall
we die. For who is there of all flesh
that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of
the midst of the fire as we have and lived? Go thou near. You see what they said to Moses?
Go down there and hear all that the Lord our God shall say and
speak thou unto us all that the Lord our God shall speak unto
thee and we will hear it and do it. They desire that Moses
should be their mediator and he is simply recounting things
that we have recorded previously back in Exodus 20, where the
commandments are of course first given. There in Exodus 20 at
verse 19, they said to Moses, Speak thou with us and we will
hear, but let not God speak with us, lest we die. And Moses said
unto the people, Fear not, for God is come to prove you, and
that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. And the
people stood afar off, And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness
where God was. Moses is the one who is their
mediator and he receives all that detailed instruction that
we have recorded in the following chapters there in Exodus. All those civil laws concerning
what were capital offenses and so forth in Israel. And we're
told in chapter 24 how of Exodus how Moses wrote all the words
of the Lord Moses wrote all the words that the Lord was giving
him and he wrote them in a book and it's referred to in Exodus
24 verse 7 he took the book of the covenant and read it in the
audience of the people that's the book that he had written
himself, of all that he was receiving when he was there in the mount
acting as the mediator on behalf of the children of Israel. All
those laws and that that we read concerning the matter of the
kindling of a fire and others associated with the commandments
saying what were capital offenses, all were written by Moses, all
were received by Moses. But here is the difference. The
Ten Commandments were given directly by God Himself. They were not
mediated to the people through Moses. In Exodus 20 verse 1,
God spoke all these words. God spoke the commandments. And
again, in the passage that we read, Deuteronomy 5 and verse
4, the Lord talked with you, face to face, in the mouths. Not through Moses. Those were
those laws that were given subsequently, with all the detail, with regards
how they were to observe the commandments. but the actual
commandments themselves were spoken by God. And whereas what
was received by Moses when he was in the mount for those 40
days and 40 nights, all that Moses wrote in the book of the
covenant, that's quite different to what we read with regards
to the commandments. In Exodus 31 we have tables of
stone written with the finger of God. That's the Ten Commandments. And again in the portion that
we read, Deuteronomy 5.22, Moses said concerning God, He wrote
them into tables of stone and delivered them unto me. Here
there is a difference then, here there is a distinction between what Moses received when
he was in the mount concerning the way in which these things
were to be applied in Israel and the words that God actually
spoke to all of the people from Mount Sinai and those Ten Commandments all have
the same authority. They're all in the same category. We can't distinguish one from
another. They stand as a set of ten commandments. And so, what we have in the fourth
commandment concerning the keeping of the Sabbath has the same authority
as what we have in the sixth commandment, they shall not kill.
or what we have in the 7th, they shan't not commit adultery. Or
the 8th, they shan't not steal. You can't say, well, we are to
recognize the authority of one but we can disregard the authority
of another. No, they're a set. There are
10 in total and they stand together. The 10 commandments. And when
the Lord Jesus Christ comes we see how he is careful to uphold
that Lord of God, to uphold those Ten Commandments. Remember the
teaching of Christ there in his preaching in the Sermon on the
Mount? In Matthew chapter 5 he says at verse 17, Think not that
I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come
to destroy but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till
heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle, shall in no wise
pass from the Lord till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore
shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach
men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven.
But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven." Christ He's quite plain. He has not come to destroy these
things. He has come to fulfill these things. And now we see
the Lord Jesus Christ as that one who really expounds the true
significance of that Lord of God. Again, in his preaching
there, in that fifth chapter of Matthew, he brings out the
solemn truth, does he not, of the sixth commandment, thou shalt
not kill. In Matthew chapter 5 and verses
21 and 22 he makes it plain that unjustified hatred of the brother,
that's murder. If you are hateful, if you seek
to assassinate the character of a man unjustly, that's equivalent
to murdering the man. Or the Lord shows, you see, that
that Lord doesn't just deal with the actions of a man, but the
very attitude of a man's heart is governed by the Lord of God.
And again He brings out the full vigor of the 7th commandment,
Thou shalt not commit adultery. Our wantonness, a wanton thought,
a wanton look, is adultery in the heart. This is how the Lord
expounds the commandments. He brings out their real significance. He shows their spirituality. And Paul himself is brought to
acknowledge that in Romans chapter 7. He says the Lord is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold on the sin. This man who was the Pharisee,
who was sore, brought up at the feet of Gamaliel, who imagined,
as he says in Philippians chapter 2, that touching the righteousness
which is of the law, he was blameless. That's how he thought. As a Pharisee
he thought only in terms of that Jewish understanding, that Pharisaical
understanding of the commandments that they only had to do with
the man's actions. and as a Pharisee he was no thief
or murderer or adulterer he kept the law, he was blindless before
the law but he didn't understand the law until the Lord himself
took him in hand and showed him what he was I am carnal, he said,
salt unto sin all whatsoever things the law said, it said
to them who are under the law that every mouth may be stopped
and all the world become guilty before God. How that man's mouth
was stopped, he was convinced of his sinnership. That's the
ministry of the law, is it not? Or the law is good if a man use
it lawfully. And that's that lawful use. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. Or there is no flesh justified in his sight by the law. No salvation
in the law. By the law is the knowledge of
sin. It's the Lord Jesus who shows
these things. He doesn't come then to destroy
the law, but he comes to teach what is the true spiritual significance
of that Lord of God. And that law stands. It stands
to this day, does it not? even that law concerning the
Sabbath stands. We're not to confuse the words
that God spoke from Mount Sinai directly to the children of Israel.
We're not to confuse that with those various laws that were
given through Moses as their mediator concerning the actual
application of that law to their civic life. as I said there is
a distinction to be made and so there is still a day to be
kept in that sense and that's what we're told is it not we
refer to this last time in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 9 there remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God and the margin indicates
what the original literally says, there remaineth therefore a keeping
of a Sabbath to the people of God. There is a keeping of a
Sabbath that remains. And that day is the day that we observe under
the Gospel. It stands also, you see, under
the Gospel. God, in a sense, we might say,
we must say, has also sanctified a day under the Gospel. And it's the Lord's Day. We see
it quite clearly, of course, when we come to the New Testament.
It was upon the first day of the week that the Lord Jesus
Christ himself arose from the dead, and he had accomplished
a great work. Was all God's work of creation
finished? That's what it says there at
the beginning of Genesis chapter 2. In six days God had finished
the work. Well, when the Lord Jesus Christ
comes into the world He comes to accomplish a far greater work
than that of creation. He comes to fulfill all righteousness. He has accomplished salvation.
when he prays to his father in John chapter 17 he says I have
finished the work that thou gavest me to do and there upon the cross
as he yields up the ghost he utters those triumphant words
it is finished the whole work is finished salvation has been
accomplished and then he rises again on the first day of the
week and we see the believers there in the New Testament observing
that first day of the week when they come together it's on the
day of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus is it not? and Christ
appears to them and Thomas is not present and then some 8 days
later it was the following first day of the week they were gathered
together again, and that time Thomas was with them. And once
more the Lord appears and speaks to Thomas. They quickly adopt
this habit of meeting together on the first day of the week. And when we come to the end of
the New Testament in the book of Revelation, we see John in
the Spirit on the Lord's Day, on the Lordly Day, literally.
that day that the Lord Himself had sanctified and set apart
even under the New Testament you see there is a day to be
kept there remaineth the keeping of a Sabbath to the Lord's day
and how it is to be kept and how significant are these words here at the end of Isaiah chapter
58 in this book that is so full of gospel even though it be found
in the Old Testament Isaiah the great evangelical prophet 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
honorable and shalt honor him not doing thine own ways nor
finding thine own pleasure nor speaking thine own word Then
shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee
to ride upon the high place of the earth, and feed thee with
the heritage of Jacob thy father. For the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it. For it is a day, the day that
is set apart. God himself has sanctified a
day, the Sabbath day. We see it in creation, We see
it in the law and we see it also with regard to salvation. The meaning of the word Sabbath that we have here in verse 13
it is simply the Hebrew word for rest and what our believers to do. They are to rest. Where are they
to rest? They are to rest in the finished
work of the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a cessation from all
work. There must be a cessation from
sinful works, there must be repentance, there must be a turning away
from sin are turning to the Savior, but there must also be a cessation
from any idea of our righteousnesses, commending us to God. As there
is to be a turning from sinful work, as there is to be repentance,
so there must also be faith, a turning from anything of self,
and looking only unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Seize from your
own works bad and good, and wash your garments in my blood." We
often sing those words in the hymn. It's a cessation from work. And it's interesting in that
recounting of the commandments that we have in Deuteronomy chapter
5, because when it comes to the Sabbath day, Moses makes it plain
to the children of Israel that in keeping the Sabbath day, they're
not only to remember God's works of creation, they're not only
to think in terms of a creation ordinance, but it is a day to
be observed in reference to their deliverance out of Babylon. What do we read there in verse
15 of that chapter that we were reading? Remember that thou wast
a servant in the land of Egypt and that the Lord thy God brought
thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm. Therefore the Lord thy God commanded
thee to keep the Sabbath done." Now mark those last words, that
final clause of the verse. Therefore It's because of what
the Lord God had just done for them in bringing them out of
Egypt, delivering them from the house of bondage. Therefore the
Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the Sabbath day. The Sabbath
is also a remembrance of deliverance to the children of Israel. And
it was not only that that was to cause them to remember Egypt
and they were brought out of Egypt but here of course in Isaiah
remember that the Prophet is ministering some 100 years before
the Babylonian captivity they would be taken into exile again
and they would languish some 70 years in captivity in Babylon and the Sabbath is a reminder
also of deliverance from that bondage. Here in verse 14, I will cause thee, he says, to
ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with
the heritage of Jacob thy father. They're going to go into exile.
Many times he prophesies of the forthcoming exile because of
their sins, because of their idolatry. that they're going
to be delivered, they're going to ride upon the high places
of the earth, they're going to be fed with the heritage of Jacob. And that heritage of Jacob is
mentioned back in Deuteronomy, in the song of Moses in Deuteronomy
chapter 32. And here at verse 13, these are
words really descriptive of Jacob. Verse 13, He made him ride on
the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase
of the fields, and He made him to suck honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock, butter of chyme, the milk of
sheep, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of bastion
and goats, with the fat of kidneys of wheat, and they distribute
the pure blood of the grape. This was the richness of the
land of Canaan that they were coming into the inheritance of."
Oh, it's the high places of the earth. And you see, here is the
promise. is going to cause them again
to ride upon those high places of the earth to feed them with
the heritage of their father Jacob. There's going to be deliverance. So there will be that exile for
70 years. It won't be forever. There will come the day that
the Lord had appointed. I know the thought that I think
towards you. He says thoughts of peace and
not of evil to give you an expected end. Deliverances, the Sabbath
day, speaks of deliverances, be it deliverance from Egypt,
be it deliverance from Babylon. And both of these deliverances,
of course, are typical, they are types. They are types of
that great deliverance that was accomplished by the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so there is a day for us
to observe in remembrance of how God has accomplished a great
salvation and a glorious deliverance for his people and surely if
we are the Lord's people we are to delight in this day that the
Lord himself has given to us. We which have believed do enter
into rest. How do we keep the day? How do
we keep the day? We keep the day when we are rightly
considering the Lord Jesus Christ we'll sing just now that hymn
of hearts this and this only is the way to rightly keep the
Sabbath day which God has wholly made or keep us at come short
of this the substance of the Sabbath myth and grasp an empty
shade we don't just observe the day in some legal way We don't
come to the day with that negative attitude of mind. There are things
that we won't do and we don't do because we have no desire
to do those things. We want to give the day to the
Lord. We want to do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
We want to give our time over to a consideration of the Lord
and the ways of the Lord. This is what the text is speaking of, is it not?
we turn away from doing our own things those things that are
legitimate for us to do on other days of the week we don't do
on this day 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 or we want the very subject matter of our conversation
to centre upon him and all that he has done for us, then shalt
thou delight thyself in the Lord. And I will cause thee, he says,
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. For this is God's promise, you see, that he gives
to those who would be diligent in their proper regards and observance
of the Sabbath day, the Lord's day. Well, God willing, as I
said at the outset, we'll consider something more of the wondrous
truths that are set before us in these verses. The Lord be
pleased to bless to us His Word today. May let us sing that hymn
that I referred to, it's number 358, and the tune is King's College
716. The hymn 358, God thus commanded
Jacob's seed, when from Egyptian bondage freed, he led them by
the way. Remember, with a mighty hand I brought thee forth from
Pharaoh's land, then keep my Sabbath day. 358.