In this sermon, Brother Denny emphasizes the importance of being drawn to God and being infected by His love. He quotes Isaiah 58, where God promises blessings to those who show compassion to the hungry and afflicted. Brother Denny encourages the audience to not just claim their freedom as Christians, but to actively share and spread the message of God's love. He concludes by reminding them of the greatness of God and His promises, including the return of Jesus Christ. The sermon is available for free on the Charity Ministries website and can be shared with others.

Hello, this is Brother Denny. Welcome to Charity Ministries. Our desire is that your life would be blessed and changed by this message. This message is not copyrighted and is not to be bought or sold. You are welcome to make copies for your friends and neighbors. If you would like additional messages, please go to our website for a complete listing at www.charityministries.org. If you would like a catalog of other sermons, please call 1-800-227-7902 or write to Charity Ministries, 400 West Main Street, Suite 1, EFRA PA 17522. These messages are offered to all without charge by the freewill offerings of God's people. A special thank you to all who support this ministry. What a mighty God we serve. The heavens declare His glory. Him sending His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, declares His love. Him sending the Holy Ghost declares His enabling power to the people of God. Him coming again declares His promise that He will not leave us orphans, forsaken, but that He is coming again. Hallelujah. How great Thou art. O Lord, my God, how great Thou art. Is He your God this morning? Or is He a God? Or is He your God? Welcome you this morning in Jesus' name. God bless all of you for coming. God bless the visitors here with us today. Trust that you have come to worship the Lord Jesus Christ with us and to receive instruction from the Word of God to us today. I feel the Lord leading a bit differently here this morning. This morning, if I may, I'll share the message first. I have some testimonies to hear for sharing what God has done in salvation and a desire to commit to the body here. So let's just trust the Lord as He leads us this morning through this service. I also would share that I feel led to share a message this morning that is a bit more of a teaching and desire for the brothers and sisters to enter in and perhaps some sharing afterward after the message if we have opportunity to do so. I wrestled a bit with this. This is a message that I had on my heart for many months. And I had prepared to share it different times and every time that I was going to share it for some reason or other, it didn't happen. And I know one time I was prepared to share it and the service went in such a way that morning that we never had the main message that day so I didn't get to share it. So I sought the Lord about that and felt led that it's time. So by God's grace, we shall trust Him. Let's bow our heads in prayer. Father, we worship and adore You, the one and only true God, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Father, we pray in Jesus' name that You would sanctify and bless this worship service, Lord, with the reverential fear of God upon our hearts, Lord. Father, we ask that You would have mercy upon us, Lord, and instruct us, Father. Father, feed us, Lord, that which is right, Lord, that which is convenient for us. Lord, I confess, God, that I am unable, Lord, and I look to You, Father, for bread, for utterance, Lord, that I may speak, Lord, from You, Father, lest it just be some words and we go away, Father, and haven't met with You, Lord. So, Father, please have mercy upon me. Grant unto me utterance, Lord. Please touch my lips, Father, and my heart that I may speak even as Jesus would have me to speak today, Lord. Father, bless the hearing of the Word and the fulfilling of it, Lord. We trust You for these things. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Over to your Bibles to Revelation, chapter 1. Revelation, chapter 1, and verse 9. I, John, who also am your brother and companion in tribulation and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, and what thou seest, write in a book and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia, unto Ephesus, unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea. And I turned to see the voice that spake with me and being turned I saw seven golden candlesticks and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot and gird about the paps with a golden girdle and his head and his hairs were white like wool and white as snow and his eyes were as a flame of fire and his feet like unto fine brass as if they burned in a furnace and his voice as the sound of many waters and he had in his right hand seven stars and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength and when I saw him I fell at his feet as dead and he laid his right hand upon me saying unto me, Fear not. I am the first and the last. I am he that liveth and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death. Write the things which thou hast seen and the things which are and the things which shall be hereafter. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my hand in my right hand and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. It doesn't hardly seem right to stop reading there but I already read further than I was intending. You know the word of God is just so beautiful. It is just so encapturing. It is just so enlightening. It is just so inspiring to the heart. But I'd like to bring a message today entitled The Lord's Day. John was found on the Lord's Day in the Spirit on the Lord's Day. He was there worshipping the Lord and he was in the Spirit. And as he was in the Spirit and in the presence of the Lord, the Lord Jesus appeared unto him. Let it be a beautiful thing for us that on the Lord's Day we are found in the Spirit gazing heavenward. The world shut out. The chariots of life shut out entering into our closets, being in the Spirit, worshipping the Lord, beholding Him, seeking Him, our heart panting after Him. And there He reveals Himself. Do you know Him? Is He your Lord and Master? Is He your Savior? Have you seen Him? Have you seen the awesomeness of Jesus Christ? The brightness of His express glory emanating out of Him? His holiness, His fearfulness, His purity. Have you seen Him? You know, we live in a world that is anti-Christ. We live in a world that is departing from spiritual, holy walking with God. And the world is desiring to stamp its image upon us and to mold us into their image and into their ways. But, oh John, He was found on the Lord's Day in the Spirit. I believe we can say safely that He was worshipping God in spirit and in truth. And because He worshipped God in spirit and in truth, He was banished from a society that didn't want God in their lives. They didn't want this holy man bringing conviction upon them. So they banished Him away from them. But they couldn't banish Him away from the presence of His Savior. Hallelujah! The Lord's Day. I'd just like to give a little introduction concerning some of the laws, some of the governing laws of our own nation. How many ever heard of the blue laws? Quite a few hands. As this nation was founded, there were those who respected the Word of God, God's principles, God's laws. And there was blue laws enacted which were put in place to somewhat regulate the society into observing the Lord's Day. Now we need a lot more than blue laws to make us have an experience or grant us the opportunity to have an experience like John had. But I only bring this out to show us and to look at a bit of the history and to put an urgency upon our heart lest we be influenced and let aside in the error of the wicked. The blue laws were first enacted in the Virginia colony in the early 1600s and required church attendance. As we look at the history of the blue laws, you have their origin in Puritan theology and doctrine. New York had a banning of liquor sales concerning the blue laws up until I believe it was the year 2003. And I'll read a little bit more about that later. But the blue laws read in part, let all judges and all city people and all tradesmen rest upon the Lord's Day. Blue laws in Virginia required church attendance. The Supreme Court upheld the blue laws up until as late as 1961 and in Virginia there was a Supreme Court, an issue of the blue law that came to the Supreme Court with McGowan versus Maryland, 1961 ruling that though the laws originated for religious reasons, the state has a right to set aside a day of rest for the well-being of its citizens. A 1695 colonial New York blue law read, therefore let it be enacted that there shall be no traveling, no labor and working, shooting, fishing, sporting, playing, horse racing or hunting. The punishment for any of these offenses or violations was a fine of six shillings or three hours in the stocks. That was in 1695. Other colonies had even stiffer blue laws. If someone broke Virginia's Sunday blue law, which I had referred to earlier, three times, now listen to this, they faced the death penalty. If they broke the Sunday blue law of Virginia, three times they faced the death penalty. In 1789, President George Washington was on his way from Connecticut to attend a church in New York when he was charged with a blue law violation for unnecessarily riding on Sunday. He got on his horse and rode, and I believe, it doesn't say he got on his horse and rode, he might have been on a stagecoach or a carriage. But in 1789, the President was charged with a violation of blue law. But as society kept progressing and moving along, the interference on the social life of citizens began to be resented more and more because it interferes with our life. In 1907, New York City Democrats unsuccessfully introduced two bills into Albany to change the law prohibiting baseball on Sundays. They tried to bring this in to change the law that prohibited baseball on Sundays, but it was not successful. That was 1907. However, ten years later, in 1917, the New York Giants and the Cincinnati Reds played their first Sunday Major League baseball game on the polo grounds in New York, and the managers of both teams were arrested for violating the blue laws. But of course, they kept persisting because of the interference and the restrictions that this put on their lives, and so two years later, they became illegal. They legalized it to have the ball game on Sunday. Now, this one here was a bit of a surprise to me. May 26, 2003. Now we're fast-forwarding. When the Harlem, New York liquor store opened one particular day this week, it was a moment New Yorkers had wondered for more than three centuries. That is because the day it opened was Sunday. New York liquor stores have never before been allowed to be open on Sunday. The long-standing ban on Sunday liquor sale was lifted as part of the state's legislature's budget. The lawmakers reasoned that allowing liquor stores to be open on Sunday meant more alcohol sales and more taxes and fees for the state's coffers. A steady erosion has been in place, has been working a long time already as far as the blue laws are concerned. The lifting of the blue laws in their own way seems to de-emphasize religion as well as close family, community, and neighborhood ties, says David Labande, an economics and policy professor at Auburn University in Alabama. Critics decry its attack on the Sabbath and leisure itself. Both sides agree it's a further indication that Sunday is becoming just an ordinary day. Now, there's a lot more, I believe, behind this than meets the eye at first. That is, the God of this world wants to encroach upon the people with a purpose and a design to make the Lord's day just an ordinary day. So that even the Christians will begin to relax and the Lord's day becomes just an ordinary day. Because we're free! I have liberty! I don't need to be under any bondage. One day is just like another. Come on! I'm free. I'm not under law. And so, we go our way and we do not find ourselves like John in the Spirit, seeking God, pressing into the kingdom of God on the Lord's day and having full revelations of who God is and who Jesus Christ is. Because we make it just an ordinary day. Right observance of the Lord's day is a ceasing from our labor, from our work, and it is a worship of God. A consecrated, sanctified, set apart day of worship and meditation and prayers and fellowship and breaking of bread and visiting and exhorting and encouraging one another. A day of personal evangelism. I'd like for us to go through the Old Testament and look at principles that God laid out very clearly for His people in the Old Testament concerning the keeping of the Sabbath. And before we go there, I just want to remind us this morning, Jesus Christ said, I came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but I came to fulfill. So what God laid out in the Old Testament concerning a day of rest and a day of worship, there are principles that are taught that if we just go and flippantly say, well, that was old covenant Sabbath keeping, it doesn't apply to us today, we're going to suffer for it. Because there are principles that God has laid out in His Word that apply to us today. Now, I understand we're not under law of the mosaic law, of the ceremonial law. We're not. But, Jesus Christ came to fulfill the law. And so we, who are Christians, should be walking above the law. Amen? It should be fulfilled to a higher plane. So the spiritual applications now need to be made in our hearts with a practical outworking in our everyday lives. Let us go to Genesis chapter 2. And let's just walk through the Bible. Do you love the Bible? The Word of God? When Jesus said, not one shot or one tittle shall pass from the law to all be fulfilled. That includes the Old Testament, doesn't it? That includes all of the Holy Scriptures. Genesis chapter 2, verse 1. Thus the heavens and the earth were finished and all the host 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 in that He had rested from all His work which God had created and made. Our God, in His wisdom, instituted a day of rest. Right from the beginning, right from the foundation of the world, God laid out a very clear principle and He rested from His work and He blessed and sanctified the seventh day. That means He sanctified it, He consecrated that day, He appointed that day. Let's turn over to Exodus 20 and we'll do a fast walk through the Scriptures here. A lot of Scriptures we could look at this morning. Exodus 20. And there the Lord gave the Ten Commandments and God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt and out of the house of bondage. And then He begins to give His law. And in verse 8 He says, Remember the seventh day to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt not do any work thou nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor the stranger that is within thy gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that in them is, and rested on the seventh day. Wherefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. So there we see it again. The Lord is bringing it to His people, saying, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Keep it set apart. Keep it sanctified. Now if we turn back to Exodus 16, we see an account of the Israelites there, starting in verse 22. And this was concerning the keeping of the Sabbath rest as they were traveling through the wilderness, and as the Lord gave them manna. And it says there in verse 22, And it came to pass that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man, and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the Lord hath said. Tomorrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lord. Bake that which ye will bake today, and feed that ye will see. And that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And they laid it up till the morning as Moses bade. And it did not stink, neither was there any worms therein. And Moses said, Eat. That today, for that today is a Sabbath unto the Lord. And today ye shall not find it in the field. Six days shall ye gather it, but on the seventh day, which is the Sabbath, in it there shall be none. I think we'll stop reading there, but there we just see the example again of God giving them a very clear directive that they were not to go out and to gather on the day of rest, on the Sabbath day. And they were to prepare beforehand they were to see, that which they were to see, and they were to bake that which they were to bake. And to prepare, so that on the Sabbath day, they wouldn't have as much labor or as much work. And I know we're looking here at the Old Testament Sabbath, but you know, is there a principle set we can learn from in there? You know, as I grew up in my home, I appreciate a lot of the things that I was taught. My parents made it a very clear practice to do as much work on Friday and on Saturday, so that they could prepare for the Lord's day to have a day of rest, to have a day of worship. Oftentimes meals were prepared ahead of time, cars were filled with gas, so we don't have to go out Sunday morning or stop on the way to church to get gas. And there's no law that we can't do those things if we need to. But you are setting aside the day as much as lies within us to do so, to make all the preparations so that on the Lord's day, we are not having to enter in to these normal, everyday things of life. Stopping to fill the car with gas, going in to pay, you know, all those things, so that they become a distraction. They draw our minds in that direction. Oh, that's right, I need to fill the car with gas, I forgot. Don't let me forget, I need to fill the car with gas on the way to church this morning. How much better if you would have filled the car with gas yesterday, and now on the way to church your meditations can be upon the Lord, and upon getting to church in time, with your heart in tune to worship the Lord, with other fellow believers. Oh, that's right, the gas. Almost forgot, fill the car with gas. You know, make preparations ahead of time. Sunday dinners, instead of making a big feast on Sunday, where there is a lot of labor and preparation. Some of this is not the best in my background. Sometimes mothers stay home from church, so they could have a feast spread. And all the family comes home from church, because we've got company coming. And so they miss the worship service, and are overcharged with preparing the meals. Oh, do as much work ahead of time. Is that legalism? Is that a law? You know, you don't have to do these things, but could it be a great blessing for you? Could it be a blessing to your wife if you prepared things ahead? And it's just sitting there slowly heating up in the crock pot, and we come home and we have a nice lunch. And your wife gets to worship the Lord in the morning worship service, instead of all those pots and pans. I wonder if the meat's going to be ready. I wonder if it's burning. Maybe I should run home from church and check it. We'll bring it along and we'll fix it in the basement. May we be that practical? You know? So the people rested on the seventh day. In Exodus 23, in verse 12, since we're right there in Exodus, anyhow, let's look at that one. In Exodus 23, in verse 12, six days, shalt thou do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest, that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid and the stranger may be refreshed. Oh, hallelujah! That there may be a day of refreshing. You know, we have to do with work. Six days, shalt thou work. He that doesn't work, neither shall he eat. It's right. It's sound doctrine to work. Paul said, my hands have labored and have worked to my own necessities. But all, when it came the Lord's day, they were found gathered together with other believers on the Lord's day. The first day of the week, gathered in assemblies, seeking the Lord, gathered in house fellowships, seeking the Lord. Exodus 31. I want to page through here rather quickly. Exodus 31, verse 12, And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbath ye shall keep, for it is the sign between me and you throughout all your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that does sanctify you. Ye shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death. For whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done. But in the seventh, is the Sabbath rest holy to the Lord. Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed. Oh, again, he refers right back to the beginning of the example of God. And he gave unto Moses, and he made an end of communing with him upon Mount Sinai two tables of the testimony, tablets of stone written with the finger of God. You know, there's a lot in there. Our little ones sitting at our feet are learning of us. How important is the Lord's day to you? How holy is the Lord's day to us? How sanctified and set apart is the Lord's day? You know, not only for our little ones, not only for us, but the world around us. As they look on upon the Christians, what do they think of us? Oh, no, we wouldn't work on Sunday. Oh, yeah, we'd work in a hospital or nursing home. And that's right. Jesus said, you're to show mercy. You're to help the poor. You're to minister to those that are in need. Pull the ox out of the pit. Heal the withered hand on the Sabbath day. Amen. But no, we wouldn't work on the Lord's day. But we don't think twice about making others work on the Lord's day to serve us. Now, I know there's times there are necessities. There's times you are traveling and you have a distance to go and you can stop for some gas and you can do that which is necessary. And the law doesn't stand there to put you to death. But I like to say there's a spiritual application to this. The man that works on the Lord's day shall be put to death. Is there a spiritual application to this for us today? The man who neglects the seeking of the faith of God and the sanctifying of the Lord's day and being found in the spirit on the Lord's day and just turns it into a menial, normal, ordinary day. Catch up on some work that needs to be done. Mow the yard. Do whatever. Just bring it down and make it common, God's holy day. Just bring it down. Every day is holy unto the Lord. Have you ever seen a man with that attitude? Who has power with God and with men? Who's full of the Holy Ghost? Who has encounters with God like John did? He doesn't have time to be in the spirit. He has allowed other things to crowd in and choke out his communion and fellowship with God. Verily, verily, my Sabbath shall ye keep for it is a sign between me and you throughout all your generations. You know, it does something in our children when they see us keeping the Lord's day. When it's a day above all others to keep the Lord's day and to keep it holy. It instills something in those little ones. But if we make it menial and ordinary, that also says something. Legalism. Ah, we're free. You know, there's something about honoring the Lord, setting aside the Lord's day for devotion, meditations, prayers, fellowship, coming to the house of the Lord, the preaching, the singing. Ah! There's something about that that our children see and know there's a God. They know that, he says, that your generations may know that I, the Lord, your God, does sanctify you. You know, he says, it is holy unto you and everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death. You know, let a people just begin to neglect God. You say, oh well, I can do it Monday or Tuesday. Of course, you should be meeting with God on Monday and Tuesday. Absolutely. But let's just bring this thing down and just make it menial and not sanctify it, not set it apart. Just work. Just be casual. Just play. Just relax. I believe that soul is going to die. He has that attitude. He's not going to die at once. We're not going to bring him up here and stone him or anything like that. No, that's not going to happen. But you know, a person who neglects the throne room of God, being in the Spirit with God, being able to set aside hours instead of 15 minutes on Monday or Tuesday, but to set aside a whole day and give it to God. You know, the person who just puts all that aside, they're not going to have experiences like John did. So we just bring this thing down and I believe a death begins to creep in. A death of spiritual thirst and hunger for God. A death of the reverential fear of God not because we just make him ordinary, menial, bring him down to our level. A death of a burden for souls. A death of holy visions and aspirations and desires. And just a consuming of the heart with the things of everyday life. No refreshment. Oh, he says, this shall be a perpetual covenant throughout your generations even as God, after he finished his work, he rested and was refreshed. Oh, what a refreshment it brings to the soul who is hungering and thirsting after God. We can lay aside our duties of work and we can clear our minds of all of those things that need to be done and come in and focus for a whole day on the Lord. The tanks filled with gas, the potatoes repealed on Saturday, we did as much as we could and now today it is as set apart and as sanctified to the Lord as we can possibly make it. Oh, may I lift up that standard among us. Exodus 34 and verse 21. You know, God just keeps reminding them, six days shalt thou work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest. In earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. The world looks on and says, you people are pretty strange. Hang on! Rather than get out there and bail it. You know, God is saying, listen, fellowship with me is more important than the earing of the corn and of the bailing of the hay, if I may put it into our day. Don't let anything get in the way of your communion and consecrated devotional time with God. Neglect not the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, because it's time to put hay in. And all kinds of human reasoning can come up, you know. Well, we're to be good stewards. If the hay gets rained on, my, there goes $10,000. Wouldn't you trade an experience like John had on the Isle of Patmos for a little bit of rained on hay? $10,000. So, how do we apply it to us today? See, the whole key here is heart issues. It's not so much the hay or the lawn mower or the fishing. It's heart issue. God wants to draw you aside, my brother, from your walk and communion with God. I mean, the devil does. I'm sorry. The devil wants to draw you aside from your walk and communion with God in all of these things. That's what he's after. And so, in our land, more and more and continually, more and more, we see things that should cause us to be sober, to be vigilant, and to be ever more steadfast. How many years ago was it in Lancaster County, in this Christian plain community, that there were no stores open on the Lord's Day, on Sunday? A few measly gas stations here and there, but there was no Walmart 24 hours, 7 days a week. There was no giant food 24 hours, 7 days a week. There was no sheets 24 hours, 7 days a week. And this community that we live in is fast being sucked in to just make the Lord's Day another ordinary day and rob us of what should have been a sweet communion with God. Because in the middle of our day, when we would start to have just sweet communion with God, we interject a trip to the store. Or we interject something other than shutting ourselves out with God. Is it affecting us? Is it affecting us here at Charity? Do we need to hear a message like that here? I think we do. We need to stir up our hearts and our minds. And this is a very practical message, I know. And it touches us where we live. But the Word of God is supposed to do that, you know. It's not just some abstract theology up here that is some ideal thing and doesn't affect the way we live. Those Christians are strange people. They come back to the job Monday morning all excited. I met with God yesterday! And the other workers, they come to work, Oh, it's Monday. Can't wait till Friday. But the Christian comes back to work saying, I met with God yesterday! And with believers of like mind and faith and we exhorted one another in Christ. Ah, we're on our way to heaven. A city whose foundations it has. There are good, solid foundations. And the builder and maker is God Himself. And Jesus Christ is preparing it and adorning it. Oh, glory! But you see, if we just make the Lord's Day an ordinary day, we're going to miss out on those things unless we go back to work Monday morning. Mmm, it's Monday. A whole other work week ahead of us. What for testimony is that? Lord, help us. Let's turn over to Leviticus 23. Leviticus 23, verse 1. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel and say unto them concerning the feasts of the Lord, which ye shall proclaim to be holy convocations. Even these are my feasts. Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of rest and holy convocation. Ye shall do no work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. A holy convocation. A holy assembly. A convocation. An assembly. A gathering together. You know, I'd like to look at an example in the Old Testament found in Nehemiah concerning a man of God. The beautiful picture. The beautiful testimony. Nehemiah 13. Now, Nehemiah gives this account. In those days I saw in Judah some traveling. I'm sorry. In those days I saw in Judah some treading the wine presses on the Sabbath and bringing in sheaves, lading asses and also wine, grapes, figs and all manner of burdens which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day. And I testified against them in the day wherein they sold vituals. There dropped men of Tyre also therein, which brought fish and all manner of wear and sold on the Sabbath unto the children of Judah in Jerusalem. Then I contended with the nobles of Judah and said unto them, What evil thing is this that ye do and profane the Sabbath day? Did not your fathers thus? And did not our God bring all this evil upon us and upon this city? Yet ye bring more wrath upon Israel by profaning the Sabbath? And it came to pass that when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the gates should be shut and charged that they should not be open till after the Sabbath. And some of my servants I said at the gates that there should no burden be brought in on the Sabbath day so that the merchants and sellers of all kinds were lodged without Jerusalem once or twice. Then I testified against them and said unto them, Why lodge ye about the wall? If ye do so again, I will lay hands on you. From that time forth they came no more on the Sabbath. And I commanded the Levites that they should cleanse themselves and that they should come and keep the gates to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember me, O my God, concerning this also and spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy. You know, I believe it's time for us to like Nehemiah, lift up the standard of the Lord's day and to get some holy grit in us to not just slide with the free liberated Christian society we find ourselves in into all of the things that they do on the Lord's holy day and say, We're not under law. We're under grace. And if you would preach any such thing as this and plead with them for obedience to God and a keeping of the heart of God that is manifest in the Sabbath. They say, Legalism, traditionalism, dead works, Christ Jesus has made me free from the law. Yes. Hallelujah! Christ Jesus made me free from the ceremonial law. I don't have to go sprinkle any blood or kill any goats because Jesus Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us and He's Lord of the Sabbath. When He fulfilled it, He came to fulfill it. All of the law and all of the prophets fulfilled in Him and He gave unto us His Spirit that we should now be living above the law and we should have it written upon the fleshly tables of our hearts. Nehemiah, I like him. He took a stand to keeping the Sabbath day holy. He said, If you guys don't quit hanging around outside the wall trying to lure the people of God into trading, communion and fellowship with God for some fish and some wares, I'm gonna lay hands on you. You say, Well, that's Old Testament. Look at Jesus. Look at Jesus. Jesus. When the Jews Passover was at hand, Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and changers and money sitting. And when He had made a scourge of small cords, He drove them all out of the temple. The sheep, the oxen and poured out the changers money and overthrew the tables. Said unto them that sold doves, Take these things hence. Make not my Father's house a house of merchandise. And His disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house has eaten me up. Oh, that we would get such a zeal for God and such a zeal for holiness and such a zeal for the right things of God and for keeping the Lord's day holy that it could be said of us, The zeal of God's house, God's purposes, God's design, God's plan, has eaten Him up. He won't get Him to go leisurely frittle away the Lord's day because His heart is set on His God. He just wishes He could have two Lord's days in Samhain instead of just one. He's not going to waste away the one God has given Him. Bless God. In Mark it tells us Jesus went to the temple and He cast out those that sold in the temple and overthrew the money, tables and the seats of them that sold doves and would not suffer that any man should carry any vessel through the temple. Pretty radical. Our Lord Jesus did only those things the Father told Him to do. He wasn't in the flesh. I'm afraid if I tried that I'd get in the flesh. But Jesus wasn't in the flesh. Zeal for His Father's purposes and heart were burning within Him. He suffered no man to carry any vessel through the temple and defile the temple. He gave Him a picture of what God intended. What vessels are going through your house? What vessels are being carried through your temple to draw you away from God? What vessels are you suffering to be carried through your temple? Even as we're here in the service this morning. Oh yeah. I'm going to buy that new thing. I'm going to check to see if I won the bid on eBay. I wonder. When I get home this afternoon I'm going to look. Robbing you of communion and meditation and fellowship with God. What vessels are carrying through your temple? I can't wait until He finishes preaching so we can get out there and have some fun. What vessels, unsanctified vessels are being carried through your mind into your temple? We are the temple. We are the body of Christ. Is Jesus ruling and reigning in your temple? Does He need to come into your temple and drive out the money changers because money has gotten a hold of your heart? Does He need to come into your house and drive out the doves, the sheep, the goats because your mind is on those things? What is in your temple? What vessel is in your temple that Jesus would not permit to be there? And it's robbing you of fellowship with God. Let's turn to Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58, verse 1. Cry aloud! Spare not! Lift up thy voice like a trumpet and show my people their transgressions. And the house of Jacob, their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinance of their God. They ask of me the ordinance of justice. They take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast, ye find pleasure and exact all your labors. Behold, ye fast for strife and debate and smite with the fist of wickedness. Ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your voice be heard on high. For is it such a fast I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow his head as a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Wilt thou call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I have chosen, to lose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him and thou hide not thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee. The glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer. Then shalt thou cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity, if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and that darkness shall be as the noonday, and the Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones, and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters fail not. And then, and they that shall be of thee, shall build the old waste places, and thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations, and thou shalt be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the path to dwell in. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, and from doing thine own pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor 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 has spoken it. Hallelujah! You see, tucked in the middle of all of this, of the fast that God has chosen, is the keeping of the Sabbath. May we make application to the Lord's day? Is that a violation? Is that a twist? Is that a stretching it too far? I don't think so. I think these things were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come, and we can learn, and we can apply the principles that are written for us. Do you want to have a life that's blessed? 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 thou shalt honor him, and not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words, then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord. Oh, glory! And I shall cause thee to ride upon the high places. Those high places like John was in when he was on the Isle of Patmos. I would say that had to be a pinnacle of a high place with God in John's life when he was on the Lord's day found in the Spirit. What about you, my brother, my sister? Are you found in the Spirit on the Lord's day? Or, are you found doing your own ways, going your own way, finding your own pleasure, speaking your own words? Would we trade going our own way, finding our own pleasure, speaking our own words? What robbery! May I say that? What emptiness! When I could have had communion and fellowship with God and been in the Spirit. On the Lord's day, is the Lord's day a delight to you? Is it a day to honor God, bless the Lord? Or, is it finally Sunday's coming? I don't have to go to work. We're going to get a good game together. We're going to sit around and tell stories, speaking our own words. We're going to fill up the day with activity that has no eternal value, no spiritual benefit. One of the marks of the last days is men shall be lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God. Do you see it? Do you see it? Come! More restaurants are open in Lancaster County today. More restaurants have been built. More feasting is going on. And you know that I believe it's not wrong to go to a restaurant at times. But what does it say to that man and that woman, that heathen woman, working in the restaurant when the Christians come in to the restaurant for a meal on Sunday? You work to serve me. Oh no, I would never work. But you serve me. You work. And by the way, I'll leave you on the track to witness to them. Many restaurants in this county get a flood of people after the church is dismissed with the Christians. Should it be that way? Am I off the wall? The amusement parks. The places of pleasure. Sunday. The biggest day of business. It couldn't close on Sunday. Wal-Mart. Shall we run to the same excessive riot as with this world and be found walking up and down the aisles in Wal-Mart of what to purchase on a Lord's Day? Shall we? Shall we? Shall we be telling idle stories on the Lord's Holy Day? Shall we be amusing ourselves with jokes? Anytime? Of course not anytime. But on the Lord's Day, speaking thine own words, thine own idle words. You know, I think we just need to take a good look at this thing. And we need to just examine where we're at. Examine yourselves whether you be in the faith. Examine yourselves whether you be where the Lord Jesus Christ would have us to be. And I'm talking to myself as well. What do we do on the Lord's Day? Should we be playing games? Is there any regulation to those games? Do they have a place for us on the Lord's Day? When should we ever step our foot in a store on the Lord's Day? A grocery store or a Wal-Mart? When would Jesus go in there on that day? When would the holy apostles go in there on that day? There may be an occasion that is necessary. Maybe your child is sick and you didn't realize that there was no more of what you need for the child. It is depleted. Yes. There is grace. Yes. It can go. But are we too much on the other side that we just, ah, we're free. Let's just stop in and buy some drinks and something to eat. And those things in themselves are not exactly the absolute issue here. The issue is what you're trading it for. It's the big issue. But it's also a testimony issue as well. It shows that we're being drawn in and being infected. Well, I said I want you all to be able to share as well. I'd like to leave us with these scriptures in Isaiah 58. God says, If thou draw thy soul to the hungry, satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity and the darkness shall be as the noon day. The Lord shall guide thee continually and satisfy thy soul in drought and make fat all thy bones. And thou shalt be like a watered garden which springeth water, fail not. And they that be of thee shall build the old waste places. Thou shalt rise up the foundation of the many generations. Oh, may we not slide along with liberated Christendom in America that just says, We are free. None of this applies to us. Oh, God help us. That there would be a foundation raised up for many generations of the people who walk with God. And they're found on the Lord's day in meditations, in prayers, in fellowship, in attending of church services and worship services, in ministering one to another, in ministering to a needy soul, drawing out their soul to the hungry. Oh, many different things. Many beautiful things. Acts of charity, of kindness, working unto the Lord, yes, but shunning and shutting out the world. And all of its drawing and alluring things that would draw us away from that Isle of Patmos experience with Jesus. Let's kneel together in prayer. Father in heaven, as you look upon each of our hearts this morning, Lord, you know where we're at. You know where we've let down or let up, where the vision has become dim and we're allowing the Lord's day to just become an ordinary day. Oh, God, I pray have mercy upon us. I pray forgive us our failures, Lord, our sins, for we have sinned against you, Lord, in not seeking the Lord, in not praying, in not admonishing one another, instructing one another in spiritual conversations, but just letting it be a carnal conversation, letting it be just pleasures, letting it be other things instead of holiness unto the Lord. Father, I pray that you would help us, God, as a congregation to have a right balancing these things, God. We don't want to be legalistic, but, oh, God, we want to be a holy people who are sanctified and set apart unto God a holy bride that when Jesus comes, we won't be found choked up with the cares of life, love of money, pleasures, and other things. Oh, God, we want to be of those that are found watching, and, yes, I know that's seven days a week, but, oh, Lord, let us not bring the Lord's day down to just another day. Teach us, Father, how to apply and make application to your Word in each of our lives. I confess, Lord, I don't know how to do all this, but, Lord, I pray you would take your Word and apply it to each of our hearts and as a church, as a brotherhood, that we may walk holily, unblameably, in this crooked and perverse nation and shine as lights that the world may know that we have been with Jesus. Thank you, Lord. We trust you for these things. In Jesus' name, amen. Turn the time over to Brother Paul to moderate. Well, how thankful I am for the Lord's day to be able to set aside a day to worship, seek the Lord, rest from our labors, and I know that many of you are as well thankful for this day that God has given us, the principle that He's given us in the Word that our brother laid out so well to us this morning. I'm just very grateful to God for that. I had to think of what Brother Denny shared one time concerning King David's words. I think it was, early in the morning will I seek Thee. And then he made the application early in the morning and early in life. This morning, can we also make the application early in the morning and early in the week? And of course, also early in life. But early in the week will I seek Thee. It fueled up for the week and ready for the week that's ahead. You know, the people we meet and the work that we're in. Early in the week will I seek Thee. Take some time apart for the Lord. Seek the Lord, not for a couple hours, not for an hour, but for a day. Take a day of rest. Seek the Lord. I'm so thankful for God's principle in this. And I bless the Lord for renewing my vision this morning, Brother. For it, I confess that I've been slipping in this area. So, I wonder what your thoughts are. Anything to add to the message, affirmation that you might have? There's a hand down here in the front. Anyone else, just get your hands up if you have a word to share with the congregation. For myself, I feel it's a disrespect that we don't honor our Jesus and honor our Lord, that we can't give up one day. We can't be here in time for to hear what the Lord has to express. When I was a Catholic, yeah, I disrespected the Lord because I didn't know what a born-again Christian was. But I know better right now. And we all do. And if we don't, we need to talk to some brothers or sisters about it. Because I think a day of Sabbath is a very important day. If it wouldn't be in the Bible, it wouldn't be important. It's in the Bible. It's in the Old and the New Testament, if I understand it correctly. And in my heart, I'll always respect and love my Creator. Look what He's given us. And we can't give Him one day. That's 24 hours, but up to seven days in a week. We should give Him more than one day. I want to try to learn to give Him every day. But we have to work for a living. We have to do what we have to do to meet our needs. But that one beautiful day that we can come with our brothers and sisters that love Him as well as He loves us, we've got to share that with Him. And I thank you very much for the sermon. In our beautiful name of Jesus Christ. Amen. Go ahead. I was just sitting here pondering how the Lord's Day must have appeared to the Jews who were Sabbath keepers and who were zealous for the Sabbath. And it seems to me it would almost be like us looking at a new sect that began to worship on Monday. We would kind of think that well, Monday's a work day. Monday's the first day of the week. How strange that this people on a normal work day would gather together and worship the Lord. And I just think that that also should be our heart. That the rest that God promised and desires for us to enter into is not a day, but it's a Sabbath rest. Also, I've been meditating on what happened in Daniel when Belshazzar took the sanctified vessels that were dedicated to the worship of God and he brought them out and began to toast the gods of silver and gold and stone and wood. And I think that this whole thing with America doing what they're doing on the Lord's day, making it common, a day that was supposed to be set apart, the glory of that kingdom was finished. It was judged and found wanting. I think it's a sign of the times that that's what is happening here in America. Go ahead, Brother Ben. I also appreciate the standard being lifted up this morning and the clear preaching of the heart of God in this matter, even though we realize it's not a law. And I can also confess that I had failed in a few areas in this and I appreciated the reminder and the refreshment there. But I guess in the one area that I find myself most probably not carrying on in what I was taught at home was quitting early on a Saturday evening. I well remember at home that we never, growing up on a farm, we never went out in the fields after the evening meal. And we ate the evening meal at four o'clock. Of course we did our evening chores, fed the cows and milked the cows, but we never went out into the fields Saturday evenings. And I find myself not, I think that carries over and I know it carries over in my own life if I work too late Saturday evenings that I cannot truly worship God in the spirit on a Sunday. Amen. Was there a hand in the back? Go ahead, Sister. I wanted to say amen to the message also and related incident that happened to me when I was a young woman. I was about 20 years old and living in California and supporting my mom and my sister off of my waitress job that I had. And because of that, because so many were depending on what I could make, I had to work when they told me to work and they had me work on Sunday. I remember that God had already spoken to me that I needed to be born again. But I was avoiding Him because the Christian world that I saw didn't seem any different than what I was. In fact, in a lot of ways, I was already better than they were. I did not smoke, drink, cuss, all those things. So I thought I was pretty good and had loved the Lord since I was little. But He was telling me He wanted a relationship with me. And I remember one Sunday in particular that a group of about 25, 30 church people came in and it was my job to serve them. They each wanted a separate check. They all had like coffee and an English muffin. And nobody else wanted them because they were, I don't know how to say it gently, they were kind of pushy. And so I waited on them. And the pastor of the group looked at me and he said to me, You love Jesus, don't you? And I looked at him and I said, Yes, I do, and how can you tell? He said, Oh, I can just see it all over your face. Well, how come you don't come to church? I said, Well, because you're here and I have to serve you. And that's just an idea. We do, if we could be, if the Christians can depart and not be partakers of this world and the way that it does business, maybe more people would see that witness. And at younger ages, if I had seen somebody at a younger age, maybe I wouldn't have had to wait until I was 35 to be born again. Thank you. Thank you for that testimony. Brother Daniel? Yeah, this was a real blessing to me today because I've been on a search the last five or six years in some of these things. There's a lot of arguments, the Sabbath and the Sunday and all of those things. And I've just been studying a bit on it. But something that I've been noticing is, like they say, the proof is in the pudding. Like if you look at the fruit of the people who keep the Lord's day, like Aaron was saying, it really struck me how he was saying, you find a man, try to find a man that says, I'll steam every day I like, but it's hot for God. And that really spoke to me because I've been noticing the fruit of the people who don't, who just don't really care if you say we're not under the law. Another thing that really caught my attention about a year ago, I was doing some reading about Hudson Taylor. It made a real deep impression on me. When he was almost dying, he was on his last, one of his last trips through China. He was touring all the many churches that were all over the place. And he was very weak, but he was going through, and he ended up dying, I think, in one of those churches then a few weeks later or whatever. But it was the Lord's day, and he needed to travel this certain distance. And he had been being carried by the converts. They were carrying him all over. But because it was the Lord's day, he said, I don't want to be carried. I don't want to make you work. And that is how strict, like we would call that strict. We would call that legalism. But he said, No, today I will.