Under The Law of Christ Not the Law of Others

Colossians chapter 2, and we'll begin reading at verse 13 and read to the end of the chapter.

It stood opposed to us. He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day.

These are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ. Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you for the prize.

Such a person goes into great detail about what he has seen, and his unspiritual mind puffs him up with idle notions. He has lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

Since you died with Christ to the basic principles of this world, why, as though you still belong to it, do you submit to its rules?

Do not handle. Do not taste. Do not touch. These are all destined to perish with use, because they're based on human commands and teachings.

Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom with their self-imposed worship, their false humility, and their harsh treatment of the body.

But they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence. A few weeks ago, I said that we, as your pastors, consciously try to teach you, or try to teach you consciously, how to understand how the Bible argues and reasons.

Remember, I talked about indicatives and imperatives, truth and duty. And I said that truth and duty are married together in the Bible. And what God has put together, let not man separate.

You don't find one without the other. But there is an order. Truth is first, and duty follows. Truth leads to duty.

All truth has a practical reason and a practical purpose. And we want to help you understand and look at the Scriptures that way, because that's how God teaches us to think.

That's the very shape of the Scriptures. That's how the Bible teaches us to think. That's how the Spirit leads us. The Spirit says, this is true. Therefore, do this.

Or because this is true, you do this. Or that's not true, so you can't do this. And the reason I'm bringing this up is in verse 16, you'll notice that we are now moving into the indicative, or the imperative, into the duty of Colossians chapter 2.

He's not altogether finished with the truth, the indicative, not by any stretch. We have even some in this section. But his attention now is on the question of, so what?

What does this matter? All that I've been telling you about Jesus Christ, what does that lead to? What does that matter? What effects should that have on your life? So, verse 16, he says, Therefore, because this is true, do this.

It's actually, because this is true, do not let these three things happen. Do not do these three things. So, if this is true, this doesn't follow.

Now, we say to our kids, we say, don't act like a baby. I don't know if that's good parenting.

I haven't analyzed it, but I think we all have probably done it from time to time. Don't act like a baby, because you aren't a baby. Right? The big reason for not acting like a baby is because you aren't a baby.

A baby can act like a baby. A 10-year-old shouldn't be acting like a baby. Or we say, you weren't born in a barn. And, kids, what that means, it means a lot of things to a lot of different parents.

But what it means is, you don't act like an animal. You don't act like a cow, or a chicken, or a horse. You're not a barn animal. Animals don't shut the gate when they walk out of the barn, do they?

But you should shut the door behind you. Right? Because you weren't born in a barn. Barn animals can leave the gates open behind them. But you're not one of those, so you need to shut the door, shut the gate behind you.

Paul says, you have fullness of life in Christ. This is true. Just as much as it's true that a 10-year-old is not a baby, and just as much as it's true that your children were not born in a barn, Christian, this is true about you.

You have fullness in Jesus Christ. You've been brought from death to life. You've been taken out from the power of the flesh. You've been given a whole new life directed toward God.

You've been given over to God. And so now you have resurrection life in Jesus Christ. You have full forgiveness. We looked at this a couple weeks ago.

Complete, final, forever forgiveness. He took the IOU that stood against us and he nailed it to the cross. He removed it from the situation. The whole IOU, the whole scheme of being under the law where we must perform to live and every misdeed is written down and every debt must be paid.

We're no longer under law but under grace for this very basic reason that the IOU has been taken and nailed to the cross.

Jesus has paid it all. Now, my question for you and the question that I ask and the thing that I want for myself is, are these vivid realities to your life?

Have those truths been on your mind? Affecting your emotions? Affecting the way you're thinking? Affecting your priorities?

Affecting your relationships with your family? With your coworkers? Et cetera? Have those truths been on your mind?

I'm seeing more and more that these things cannot be the beige background of my life. That I don't notice very often. Instead, they have to be this eye-popping 3D, the eye-popping 3D glories of my life.

They're always sticking themselves out there. They're always interrupting my life. And they're shocking me with their beauty and glory. And then I am changed. See, I can't live a spiritual life without these things living in my mind and in my heart.

And so I want to ask, are these things growing in their weight in your life? Are they sticking themselves out more in your life? Are they resting in your heart?

Proverbs says, wisdom reposes in the heart of the discerning. Wisdom rests there in their heart. And I wonder, are these truths resting in your heart?

In the heart of the discerning, they are ready with a wise answer. They're ready to act wisely. Because wisdom rests in their heart. Are you ready?

Are you able to interact in a gospel-shaped, Christ-centered way? Well, the fullness of the deity lives in bodily form, and we have been given fullness in him.

Now, Paul says, therefore. Three do-nots. And we are only going to be able to get to the first one. And you see it there.

See, do not let anyone, therefore, verse 16. Therefore, do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebration, or a Sabbath day.

These are a shadow of the things that were to come. The reality, however, is found in Christ. So what does Paul say? Do not let happen because you have fullness in Jesus Christ.

He says, do not let anyone judge you by these Old Testament rules and ceremonies. Now, some of the teachers were obviously of a Jewish background, and they came to the Colossians saying, yes, you are a Christian, but if you want to be all that you can be, if you want to be the Christian, live the Christian life like it was meant to be lived, then you need to follow these rules along with Christ.

You have Christ, that's good. But if you want to go the next step, you want to go deep, you want to be all that you can be, then you need to keep these rules and Old Testament ceremonies.

And we all, this is why these things are so tempting to us, because we do want to live the Christian life like it was meant to be, don't we?

We all have this, there's this distance and separation, isn't there, between what we know that we should be doing and what we can be doing and what is possible and what we are.

And we want to be going closer and closer, closing that distance. And so someone comes in and says, well, I can help you. And these guys come along and say, well, you have Christ, but what will take you the next mile, what will take you the next step, is really getting into these Old Testament ceremonies and guidelines.

And that's what really serious Christians do. Yes, you can do without them, but if you really want to live the Christian life like it was meant to be lived, then you need these two.

And Paul's answer, like it has been in the book of Colossians, is you simply don't need that. That's just not, that doesn't fit with who you are and what you have already.

Those are the shadow. You have the reality. Those are the shadow. Everything else is empty, pale, and poor compared to knowing you, my Lord.

Paul could look at all the things that he used to do and say it's all garbage and filth and dung compared to knowing Jesus. How do the shadows compare to reality?

Shadows are just shadows. None of us get very excited about shadows. But we live and we die for people. And so you have Christ.

Christian, you have Christ. The embodiment. The reality of everything. And so why cling to the shadows? Why would you think that the shadows are going to be of such help?

They're just pointing forward to Christ. And if they're just pointing forward to Christ, then you don't need them anymore if you have Christ. It's like this.

After a couple gets married, they've been engaged, they get married, the old rules about what's allowed and what's not allowed don't apply anymore.

The rules change. The game changes. The old distance doesn't fit the new reality. And that's what he's getting after here. There's been a fundamental change.

And so we have Christ and there's no sense going back to those old festivals and old dietary laws. And so Paul, what he's saying is that those are unnecessary now.

So don't go back to them. And furthermore, don't let, and this is the main point, don't let yourself be judged according to those things. These rules added to Christ, whether you keep them or not.

Don't let yourself be judged by these other people. Now, does that mean we go around saying, well, don't judge me? Don't judge me. All right, I think you're judging me. Watch out.

Don't judge me. That seems to be what people love to do. People don't know any of the Bible except judge not lest you be judged.

And they spit it out. And is that what Paul is saying? That we need to go around and make sure that no one is judging us. No, that Paul's not saying defend yourself.

Don't let anyone look down on you or think badly of you. The point here is not what other people think. People are going to think what they're going to think.

And your job isn't to go around arguing with everyone about your freedom. Paul is saying, don't bring their judgment into yourself. Don't feel guilty and condemned by them just because you don't do everything they say you need to do or should do to really live the Christian life.

They might put you on trial. But you don't have to go to the court. Because you've already went to court.

And your advocate already stood for you. And all of your sins have already been forgiven. You've been justified in Jesus Christ.

And so nothing you can do with these ceremonies and these rules will add anything to your life. They won't add anything to your forgiveness. You have it all in Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ is everything that you need to really live the Christian life like it was meant to be lived. We are always looking somewhere else.

We are always thinking about other things. And we always have these other programs. And God's program is what Jesus Christ has done. What he is doing. Who he is. And so you have everything you need in Christ to live the Christian life like it was meant to be lived.

And so the way forward is not to add something to Christ. The way forward is to go deeper into Christ. To appropriate more and more of what he's done for me. To put myself at the cross.

To see myself there. To see my sin upon him. To see my Savior dying for me. It's to think more and more about who he is. Who he is. What he's doing.

The offices of Jesus Christ. And so Paul is going to say pretty soon. Set your hearts on things above. Above. And what kind of.

And what is the above. What is he thinking about especially. Where Christ is. What's so special about the things above. Paul says it's where Christ is.

So set your things up there. And then he says. Christ is your life. He's your life. He's fullness of life.

Your life is in him. So Christ has come. The shadow is gone. Christ is here. And so now we don't serve in the old way. Of the written code. But in the new way.

Of the spirit. Now. All this. I want to be very careful. Does it. I don't want anyone to think. Well then there's nothing for us to do. Like there's no laws.

There's no duty. That's. Of course not. But whatever law comes to us. None of it exists apart from Jesus Christ for us.

So when we have been joined to Jesus Christ. The law becomes the law of Christ. And Christ is the Lord of the law.

And so the law is moved into his dominion. And. And so. We obey the law. But we always do it attached to him. We always live with the law. We relate to the law.

As it is attached. To him. Or as we're attached to him. And so. Now. Whatever law there is. And here he has in mind. Certain ceremonial laws.

But we can broaden it out. To say any law. We're not obeying. Or keeping these laws. To get full forgiveness. To get full life. We're obeying because.

We have full forgiveness. And full life. And so Paul says. Don't let anyone judge you. Don't bring their condemnation. Into you.

Don't let them. Rob you. Of your freedom. And rob you of your joy. Galatians 5. One. It's for freedom that Christ has set you free.

Stand firm then. And do not let yourself be burdened again. By a yoke of slavery. And so we need to keep our eyes open. Your freedom in Christ. Paul says.

Is to be jealously guarded. Paul in Galatians. Talks about men who crept in. To spy on the freedom. That we have in Christ. And not just to find out about it.

But to take us slaves again. To make us slaves all over again. And so don't let anyone. Or anything. Come in and steal. Steal your freedom.

No teacher. No pastor. And this is why it's so easy. Because it always comes in with a smiling face. With an earnest look.

With an earnest plea. With such plausible arguments. Oh you need this. You don't have enough. You need to be doing this. And this. And this. If you're really going to have it.

And what Paul would say. Is if you add anything to Christ. You might as well put shackles on your hands. And crawl back into your cell.

Because whatever you add to Jesus Christ. Has now become your new slave master. Become your new master. So Paul says. Don't let anyone judge you.

You have fullness in Christ. Don't lose it. Enjoy it. That's Paul's main point. He wants to protect the Colossians.

And their freedom. And the joy that they have experienced in Jesus Christ. Now. The remainder of our time. I want to zero in on what Paul says.

Is about the Sabbath. And. Because it is such a controversial point. In Christianity. And. I don't want anyone to misunderstand.

What Paul is saying here. Especially about. The Sabbath day. And so. That's what we're going to spend the rest of our time. And I hope. That it is more.

And I think that it is more than just polemical. More than defensive. And argumentative. I hope that even as you start to see. What. Paul means by. The Sabbath has been fulfilled in Christ.

That that will stir up love. And appreciation for what you already have in Christ. What Christ has done for you. And this is why. We are free.

This is how we experience it. And so. The big question. The big question is. Is Paul saying here.

That there's no need now. To obey the fourth commandment. That the fourth commandment. To keep the Sabbath day holy. Is no longer binding.

In. Any. Way. That's the. The real dilemma. That we have. As we look at verse 16 and 17.

And. The reason I want to. And I think this is important. And I want to. Kind of go in this direction. Is because this is a very practical. Question. We're meeting together here.

And I've seen your faces here before. This is a regular part of your life. Why is that? And. This day. Is a day that.

You live every week. And so. How. What am I supposed to think about the Sabbath? What am I supposed to think about Sunday? About the Lord's day? How am I supposed to understand it?

Is it. Those are the questions that I want to try to help. Answer. And so. As we look at this. This question of. Do I need to continue to obey the fourth commandment?

Is the fourth commandment still binding? And looking at it from this passage. I. First. I want to posit. A few facts. I want to put out a few facts there. And you need to pay attention to these.

Or the rest isn't going to make any sense. Let me. First. Let me post. Posit a few facts. One. I think Paul is clearly talking about. A weekly Sabbath day here. You'll notice.

That he talks about. Religious festivals. New moon celebrations. And a Sabbath day. And so. Paul goes from three times a year. To once a month.

To once a week. And that way of referring. To the Jewish religious calendar. It is. Right out of the Old Testament. First Chronicles 23.

Second Chronicles 2. Second Chronicles 31. Ezekiel 45. Hosea 2. Several passages and numbers. All use. This formula. This formula.

Of Sabbath. New moon. And. Feast. Or festivals. Or they do it the other way around. They do feast. New moons. Sabbath. But either way.

It's always. More often. To less often. Or less often. To more often. And so. It makes it. Pretty clear. To my mind. That we're actually.

We're really talking about. A weekly. Sabbath. Not an occasional. Annual Sabbath. There are those. In the Old Testament. But I don't think. That's what Paul has in mind. Now.

The reason I say that. Is some. People. Who have wanted to defend. The fourth commandment. Say that Paul is talking about. Some sort of annual Sabbath. Or occasional Sabbath.

But I just don't think. That. Stands up. Exegetically. It doesn't make sense. Of the Old Testament. Background. The Old Testament. Background. Points. To what Paul is saying here. As a weekly Sabbath.

That's the first fact. Second. By the weekly Sabbath. Paul clearly has in mind here. The Old Covenant. Observation of it. Not the principle. In general. Not the principle.

That we owe God. Worship. On a particular day. He's thinking of. The Sabbath day. In its Old Covenant. Context. On. The seventh. Day. On the last day.

Of the week. And that's clear. From the context. Everything he's talking about. Eating. Drinking. Etc. So he's clearly talking about. The Sabbath.

And it's Old Testament. Old Testament. Context. Third. And we don't. We won't look at all the verses. But the rest of the New Testament. Makes it clear. That there is still.

One day. In seven. That God is to be worshipped on. Amen. That God calls us to rest on. And it's now. In the New Testament.

It's the first day. It's the first day. So. Do you see the question. The conundrum. Paul here is clearly saying. That the seventh day.

Is no longer. A Sabbath. The Christian. A Sabbath. The seventh day Sabbath. Is no longer. A day. That the Christian. Needs to observe. To remember. But on the other hand.

In the other epistles. Of the New Testament. And the rest of the New Testament. He clearly talks about. He expects people. To meet on the first day. To be worshipping on the first day.

To be giving on the first day. To be living together. On the first day. And so clearly. The first day is special. It's the only day. Called the Lord's day. And so. Our whole life. Is meant to be lived.

For God. Our whole life. Is meant to be lived. For the Lord. But. It's only this one day. The first day of the week. That is called the Lord's day. And so. Only the first day of the week.

Is referred to. As in a special way. So what's the difference? Why one. And not the other?

Does it really even matter? What's the point? Why am I free from one. And obligated to another? Why is this a big deal? Now obviously.

As we begin to answer. The simplest answer. Is that Christ. Rose on the first day. Day. And. So we say. That the apostles. Moved it from the last day.

Under the inspiration. Of the Holy Spirit. They moved the Sabbath. From the last day. To the first day. In celebration. Of Christ's resurrection. But. I think.

That is true. That's absolutely true. True. But there was something. There was more going on. Than just that. The Holy Spirit.

Was not just saying. You see. Jesus rose on this day. So remember it. So celebrate this day. There's more to it. Than that. It's more than a simple. Remembrance. Of the resurrection.

And so to get our hands around it. We have to go all the way back. To the very first Sabbath. Now you remember.

God worked. Six days. And. He rested. Six days of work. And at the end. He rested. And in that way.

He set a pattern. For men. He showed men. What was. Man. What was expected of him. Man will work. And then man. Will. Rest.

And the order of that. Is important. To notice. Work. Then. Rest. Work. Then. Rest.

And. And so he put. Adam in the garden. And he said. If you obey me. Then you will live. And if Adam.

Continued to obey. Eventually. He would. Inherit. Eternal life. Not only for himself. But for. All of his posterity. And so. The whole human race.

Would enter in. To rest. Well. We know what happened. Adam broke God's law. And he was driven out. Of the garden.

And. His work now. Became very difficult. And he sweated. But he had no rest. Rest. And so now. Can anyone.

Enter the heavenly rest. Through their work. No. The wages of sin. Is death. All we get paid. For our work. Is death. That is what.

The works. That we are doing. Are works. That lead to death. There's no rest. For the wicked. No rest. In this life. No rest. In the next. And so.

Let's fast forward. Thousands. Thousands of years later. To. And. And so now. We're. Standing. On the outside.

Looking at Mount Sinai. And here. God is giving. His old covenant. People. The old covenant. And he's doing this. In order to make. Man's. Falling condition.

Crystal clear. He's showing. How helpless. And helpless. Man is. And he's also. Preparing. The way. For the savior. To come.

And so. God gives. Israel. The old covenant. And in the old covenant. God took his. Son. Israel. And he put him. In his place. And then he gave them.

The fourth commandment. Remember the sabbath day. By keeping it. Holy. And he told them. Why they should. Keep it holy. Do you remember. What he said. Remember the sabbath day.

By keeping it. Holy. And then at the end. He says. For in six days. The Lord made the heavens. And the earth. And so on. Do you see. What's going on here. That old covenant.

Is tied. To the first creation. It's based on that first creation. It mirrored it. It rose out of the first creation. And so the old covenant. Sabbath was saying to Israel.

If you work. Then you can rest. It had more to say than that. But it was working on the hearts of men. To say. This is.

This is what I demand of you. Can you fulfill it? And it was pointing forward. To that future rest. When all the work was done. But Israel didn't obey.

So like Adam. They were driven out of their place. And so they didn't enter their rest. Hebrews says. Because of their disobedience. So the old covenant.

Sabbath. Was this day saying. There is a rest possible. But in our sin. We can never enter in. Our sin disbarred us.

We can never get it. It was only ever. Only really. A shadow. Pointing forward. To what Jesus Christ. Would do for us. And give to us. So.

There is. Some key ideas. One. The old covenant. Sabbath. Was connected. To that first creation. And it operated. Under a principle.

That said. After your work. You can rest. And it pointed forward. To the days. When men. What men would have. In Christ. Well.

And so. It went on. For years. And years. And years. But then something. Fabulous. And wonderful. Happened. Christ. Was born. Into Adam's fallen race. And it was like a bomb.

On the playground. And it blew a hole. Into our world. And so here he was. Not just like old Adam. Like all of us. But a new Adam.

And a new Israel. If you want to understand. The wilderness temptations. You have to see. That Jesus. Is reenacting. What. How Israel failed. He's the new Israel.

And he came. And he obeyed. He lived the life. That Adam didn't live. That none of us lived. And he lived the life. That Israel had never lived. And he lived the life. That we never lived. And after his death.

And after his resurrection. He entered. His rest. But he did more than that. In his resurrection. It was the first fruits. Of a new creation.

It was the beginning. Of a new creation. And so he didn't die. And rise again. Into this creation. Lazarus did that. And there was no amazing change. A lot of people.

Not a lot. But some people. Rose again. But they always rose. Into this creation. And it didn't change anything. But when Jesus Christ rose. Arose. He began the new creation.

With his great work. Behind him. And so what happens to us. When we are joined to Jesus Christ. We begin to participate. In that new creation. In that new world.

So. You can read 2 Corinthians 4 and 5. For God who said. Let light shine out of darkness. Made his light. Shine in our hearts. Genesis 1. 3.

Let there be light. Happened. All over again. Into our hearts. It was the beginning. Of a new creation. And it starts. With Jesus Christ. And it overflows. Into us.

As we see the glory of God. In the face of Jesus Christ. And so. Paul can say. Therefore. If anyone is in Christ. He is a new creation. The old is gone. The new.

Has come. And so. What the. Old covenant Sabbath. Pointed to. This life. Out in there. In the future. This new life. This eternal rest. Based on obedience.

God. Freely gives us. In Jesus Christ. So. Grace gives. What the law. Demanded. And so. Now. We can't go back.

To the old covenant Sabbath. Paul is saying. And say. I have to work six days. So I can rest on the seventh. Because everything has changed. The picture has changed. The reality has changed. And so.

We. What happens. We enter our rest. At the end of our work. At the beginning of our work. On the first day. We say.

This is our Sabbath day. In our Lord's day. And this is the rest. That I have. Because I am in Christ. The rest that the Sabbath picture.

The old covenant Sabbath picture. We gain. In Jesus Christ. So every Lord's day. Every new covenant Sabbath. We are saying. I. Have.

Life. In. Christ. I didn't have to work for my rest. Christ did it all. For me. And so. Does that mean. Again. That we don't have to work anymore.

No. We rest on the first day. In order. To go. Work. We rest. To work. We obey. We love. We serve. Out of all that we already. Have.

In Jesus Christ. And so. Out of his fullness. Of grace. We give grace. We love. We help. We give. We share. And that's what Paul. Is talking about.

In Romans 7. We've been released from the law. From that old way. So that we can serve. In the new way. Of the spirit. Not the old way. Of. Of the written code. So the way of the spirit.

Is to tell us. This is what you have. In Jesus Christ. Here's your rest. Enjoy it. Experience it. And now. Out of your rest. Go and work.

So out of your joy. Out of your hope. Out of your love. For what. Out of your love.

To Christ. Because of what Christ. Has done for you. Go and work. So the question is. Is the. Is the new covenant. Sabbath. Just as binding. Just as necessary.

Just as. Binding as the old covenant. Sabbath. And my answer would be. If anything. It's more binding. If remembering. God's first creation.

Was necessary. Wouldn't remembering. And celebrating. His greater. New creation. Be necessary. And if creation. From nothing.

Met. We should keep this day. Holy. Wouldn't eternal life. From the dead. Say. This is something. To remember.

To celebrate. To enjoy. And like all of God's laws. This law. Is for our good. It's for our good. The Sabbath.

Was made for man. Not man. For the Sabbath. And today. Is this blessed reminder. Today. Just because. It's the first day. Of the week. And here we are. Rejoicing in what Jesus.

Has done. Is this blessed reminder. That Jesus. Won through. So this duty. This day. Is our duty. But it's more than that. It's our delight.

So. The very fact. That we're meeting. On this day. And not on. Saturday. Says that grace. Has come. Grace has come.

And that little baby. That was lying. In the manger. Grew up. And did something. That no one. Could have imagined. Except for God. He brought life. To light.

When all there was. Was darkness. When all there was. Was death. All there was. Was well. I hope. I'm doing enough. I hope. I'm doing enough.

To make it. I hope God sees. That I'm trying. As hard as I can. I don't know. How many Jehovah. Witnesses. Have stood on my doorstep. And told me. I'm trying.

As hard as I can. And I just think. How deluded. And how sad. Jesus didn't live. And die. So that we would have to. To. So that.

So that you would have to. Keep living that way. Of saying. I don't know. If I did enough. He said. I'm here. I'm life. I am the light.

And whoever believes in me. Will not perish. But have. Eternal. Everlasting. Light. And so today is a day. To keep holy.

And we keep it holy. Because. By keeping it holy. By resting on this day. We are saying to the world. That Jesus. Saves. He does what we couldn't do.

He saves us. And so. Keep this day holy. Guard it. To keep something. Is to guard it. To protect it. To put a fence around it.

And so men. Let me talk to you. Because as heads of the house. I believe that. The primary responsibility. Falls upon your shoulders. Men. Don't let anything.

Into your family. That dulls their senses. To Jesus Christ. On this day. And. For my family. I'm not saying. This is a rule. For you to follow.

Or to live and die by. And I won't condemn you. And I won't even look down on you. If you do something differently. But for us. It means. You know what. We don't watch TV today. We don't play video games today.

Not because there's something. So wrong about that. But because. It dulls our senses. To Jesus Christ. It doesn't make him. It doesn't help. To make him feel special.

And his work feel great. In our hearts. So men. Think about what will help. What will help my family spiritually. What will dull their senses. What will help their faith.

What will help them on to Jesus Christ. And so you don't just drop. Arbitrary rules. Like. No more TV. After. Explain to them. Explain to them.

This is why we're doing this. Because. Christ. Did this for us. And so we guard this day. We keep it holy. We rest. We enjoy it. So we say. Do this for him. We do it because he has loved us.

So. How can we help. How can we grow. In our knowledge of him. How can we help. That relationship. Again. You pick. And you figure it out. What is right for your families.

I'm not making blanket rules. I'm just saying. We have to think about these things. And we have to ask ourselves. Does this help my family spiritually. Or does this not help me. Does this help us to keep the Sabbath day.

And to remember that Jesus Christ. Lived and died for me. Or does this just make Jesus. Not as important. Men. Make sure that things are getting done. Ahead of time.

So Saturday morning. Our Sunday morning. Is not chaos. You're the man of the house. And so you should lead the way. And it shouldn't all fall on to your wife.

And at our house. We have Saturday night lists. Are your rooms cleaned. Are your Sunday clothes. Picked out and approved. We don't want any nasty surprises.

On Sunday morning. Because I don't know about you. But nasty surprises and chaos. It doesn't lead to a peaceful spirit.

That's ready to sing. It doesn't lead to a peaceful spirit. That's ready to rejoice in Jesus. It leads to arguing. It leads to arguing. And chaos.

And all that leads to arguing. And James says cursing man and blessing God are two things that don't go together. High schoolers.

I know it's easy to stay out really late on Saturday night. Maybe you don't. I did. And if I could go back in time and ask my teenage self. I would say.

Is that really helping you on to God? Is that really worth it? Was that that important? Does this really help you to rejoice in what Jesus has done?

Or does it just make you dull and sleepy? While our time has run out. Let me end with the words of the Lord. If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath.

And from doing as you please on my holy day. If you call the Sabbath a delight. And the Lord's holy day honorable. And if you honor it by not going your own way.

And not doing as you please. Or speaking idle words. Then you will find your joy in the Lord. And I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land. And to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.

The mouth of the Lord has spoken. Let's pray. Heavenly Father we do thank you for this gift of the Sabbath.

The Lord's day. Thank you for what it means for us. That our work for our salvation is over. And Jesus Christ said it is finished.

And so tomorrow we face a day of work. A day of service for you. Help us to meet it head on. Help us to reach out and serve you with all of our hearts.

And obey you with all of our hearts. Not because out of this fear of not knowing if we're saved. Or not knowing if what's in front of us.

But because you have done this for us in Jesus Christ. What the law demanded. Jesus gave to us. Help us to rest in him.

And out of that fullness to go on. Enjoying him and obeying him. And serving him with all of our hearts. Will you teach us more and more. Of how to keep this day holy.

Pray this in Jesus name. Amen.