In Mike Davenport's sermon 'Our Eternal Sabbath Rest,' the speaker explores Hebrews chapter 4, focusing on the concept of rest as a promise from God. He outlines five key points: the remaining promise of rest, the relinquished possession of rest due to disobedience, a recorded pattern of rest through God's works, a rigorous pursuit of rest by believers, and a recurring preparation for this rest through Sabbath observance. Davenport emphasizes that rest is intrinsically linked to the gospel and faith, not works, highlighting the historical patterns of rest established by God in creation, Israel's redemption, and Christ's redemptive work. The sermon calls believers to fear falling short of this promise, urging a diligent pursuit of rest and the observance of the Sabbath as a foretaste of eternal rest. The narrative is interwoven with allegorical references from 'Pilgrim's Progress,' illustrating the journey towards spiritual rest and the role of the Church in this journey. Ultimately, the sermon points to Christ's completed work and entry into rest as the foundation for the believer's hope and pursuit of eternal Sabbath rest.

Hebrews chapter 4, the first 11 verses. Therefore, since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them, that them being those who we heard about in chapter 3 but the word which they heard did not profit them not being mixed with faith in those who heard it for we who have believed do enter that rest as he has said so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest although the works were finished from the foundation of the world for he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way and God rested on the seventh day from all his works and again in this place they shall not enter my rest. Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again he designates a certain day, saying in David, today, after such a long time, as it has been said today, if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts For if Joshua had given them rest then he would not afterward have spoken of another day there remains therefore a rest for the people of God.

For he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience Let us pray Oh gracious God we come to you as needy as Dependent Lord we need your word. Your word brings life. We need it. Help us with this text.

Open before us. Teach us. Oh, bring your spirit to hasten us on in our Christian life. Lord that none here may fall short of this promised rest. That Christ might receive all the glory having built the house and having gone before us and entering into heaven we pray in his most holy name amen you may be seated Amen.

You may be seated. The pilgrims went then till they came to the delectable mountains, Which mountains belong to the lord of that hill? So they went up to the mountains to behold the gardens and orchards, the vineyards and fountains of water, where also they drank and washed themselves and did freely eat of the vineyards. Now there were on the tops of these mountains shepherds feeding their flocks and they stood by the highway side. I saw also in my dream that when the shepherds perceived that they were wayfaring men, they also put questions to them to which they made answer.

When the shepherds heard their answers, being pleased therewith, they looked very lovingly upon them and said, welcome to the delectable mountains. The shepherds, I say, whose names were knowledge, experience, watchful and sincere, took them by the hand and had them to their tents and made them partake of that which was ready at present. They said moreover, we would that you should stay here a while to be acquainted with us and yet more to solace yourselves with the good of these delectable mountains. Then they told them that they were content to stay. So they went to their rest that night because it was very late.

Well the next day the shepherds took them on a tour and showed them things that they called wonders. They first took them to a hill called Error and there warned them about doctrinal error and the eternal consequences of those who embrace it. Secondly, the shepherds took these travelers to a mountain called Caution, where they cautioned them about the dangerous effects of a specific sin that these two travelers had struggled with themselves on their journey. Third, the shepherds took them to a door in the side of the hill and and bid them open this door and to look inside. The shepherds told them this is a byway to hell, a way that hypocrites go in at, namely such as sell their birthright with Esau, such as sell their master with Judas, such as blaspheme the gospel with Alexander, and that lie and disassemble with Ananias and Sapphira, his wife.

Then said hopeful to the shepherds, I perceive that these had on them even every one a show of pilgrimage as we have now, had they not?" Yes, said the shepherds, and held it a long time too. By this time, the pilgrims had a desire to go forward, and the shepherds a desire they should so they walked together towards the end of the mountains. Then said the shepherds one to another, let us here show to the pilgrims the gates of the celestial city if they have skill to look through our perspective glass. The pilgrims then lovingly accepted the motion, so they had them to the top of a high hill called Clear and gave them their glass to look. Then they assayed to look, but the remembrance of that last thing that the shepherds had shown them made their hands shake by means of which impediment they could not look steadily through the glass.

Yet they thought they saw something like the gate and also some of the glory of the place. Then they went their way and sang this song, Thus by the shepherds secrets are revealed which from all other men are kept concealed. Come to the shepherds then if you would see things deep, things hid and that mysterious bee." you may recognize that excerpt. It's from John Bunyan's famous work, Pilgrim's Progress. In this portion of the allegory, Bunyan uses the delectable mountains to teach the place and purpose of the local church in the lives of those who are making their way to heaven.

And children, do you know what that word delectable means? We don't use it very much. The delectable mountains. Well, it is a word we have already seen the Bible used to describe what the Sabbath is to be to us. Delightful.

These are delightful mountains. The Shepherds are pastors whose names should describe those who pastor the Church of Christ, knowledge, experience, watchful, and sincere. Well this morning, as a shepherd, I want to take you, dear traveling saint, to a hill called Clear, and have you on this day of delight gaze steadfastly on the celestial city, the place of your eternal Sabbath rest. Now we considered verse 9 of chapter 4 earlier in this series. Today as we conclude our study of the fourth commandment, I would like for us to consider the context of this verse in regard to our Sabbath rest.

This is the title of the sermon, Our Eternal Sabbath Rest. Our Eternal Sabbath rest. I shall seek to open up our text under the following five points. First, a remaining promise of rest. Second, a relinquished possession of rest.

Third, a recorded pattern of rest. Fourth, a rigorous pursuit of rest. And then fifth, a recurring preparation for this rest. Now, these points do not occur in precise sequential order in our text. The writer interweaves these points throughout the entire text.

So try to follow with me as I draw these points out from various lines in our text. So please consider with me first a remaining promise of rest, a remaining promise of rest. Our text opens up, therefore since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it, for indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them. Verse 3, for we who have believed do enter that rest." Verse 6, "'Since therefore it remains that some must enter it.'" The writer of Hebrews opens this chapter setting before his readers, even before us. He opens a glorious promise, a promise of a complete rest yet to come.

It is a promise that was held forth on the seventh day of creation, and it is a promise that remains with us even to this day. Note that it's described as his rest, his rest. It's the very rest of God, the rest that God enjoys, the rest that Jesus promised to all who would come to him, even eternal rest. The promise is one of entering, one of entering, of laying hold of and enjoying the rest promised. Note also that the promise of rest comes through the preaching of the gospel, For indeed the gospel was preached to us.

We don't receive the rest through our labors. It's a gospel rest. It has always been a rest that comes by way of the gospel since the sin of Adam. Dear ones, Old Testament saints were not saved by a different means than you and I are. Verse 2 tells us that the gospel was preached to you just as it was preached to those of the Old Testament, even to those who received the law.

The gospel was preached to them and in that gospel was found rest. To further tie this rest to the gospel we see here that only those who have believed do enter that rest. The word preached must be mixed with faith in those who hear that word. Just like those of old, there is a promised rest and we like them must go up and possess that rest by faith." Now the verb tense for do enter, they do enter that rest is interesting. It indicates that this entering of rest is already underway.

It's begun. Now the remaining nature of the promise is established by two facts. The fact that it's remaining, this remaining nature, It's established by two facts in this passage. The first is that God has established the rest and entered it himself. And what God has established does not shift.

It does not change. What he establishes remains. Second, the swearing of God that this wilderness people would not enter his rest. Now, that may not seem to you like the establishment of a promise, but listen to the way that Dr. Robert Martin describes it.

He also quoting William Gouge in the process, quote, from all we have seen it is clear that the writer to the Hebrews is confident that those who truly believe will not come short of the promised rest. In fact, he here asserts that those who have believed are now entering into it. In their case, this now actually is happening, they are not waiting to enter, they are entering. Here in confirmation of this confidence, the writer cites again the divine oath against unbelief from Psalm 95. As he has said, so I sworn my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

The reason is drawn from the force of contraries. The premise is taken from God's declaration. He has forbidden entrance into his rest to those who possess an evil heart of unbelief. The conclusion arrived at by deduction is this, those who believe are granted entrance. If the premise is true, so then is the conclusion." End quote.

And so dear brothers and sisters, a promise of rest remains. Now having laid before us this remaining promise of rest, the writer secondly notes in the passage a relinquished possession of rest. A relinquished possession of rest. Beginning in verse 2, for indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. For we who have believed do enter that rest as he has said, so I swore in my wrath they shall not enter my rest.

Although the works were finished from the foundation of the world, for he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way, and God rested on the seventh day from all his works, and again in this place, they shall not enter my rest." verse 6, those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience. Now the entire conversation actually began in the previous chapter which was read in its entirety earlier in the service. There is an unfortunate chapter break in my estimation between chapters three and four. The previous chapter introduced us to the history of this relinquishment, this relinquished possession of rest declared at its close. For who, having heard, rebelled?

Indeed, was it not all who came out of Egypt led by Moses? Now, with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, but to those who did not obey? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.

There was a promise of rest for Israel, a promise that came through the gospel, a promise of the rest of God pictured in the promise of the blessed land. They relinquished possession of the rest by their disobedience. They refused to enter the land that was to be a physical rest picturing a promised spiritual rest. But it is also clear from the text that they disobeyed Because they did not believe. They lacked faith in the God of the promise.

They hardened their hearts and refused and relinquished the possession of the promised rest. Hear those dreaded words, words spoken by the God of the free offer of the gospel, they shall not enter my rest. They shall not enter my rest." Do those words at all grip your hearts? Are they shocking to you? Indeed, your response and my response should be no different than the Pilgrim's Bunyan described.

The remembrance of the last thing that the shepherds had shown them, the end of all hypocrites made their hands shake by which means of impediment they could not look steadily through the glass. Oh, the finality of those words spoken by the one whose will is always accomplished. They shall not enter my rest. Such a declaration speaks of finality, of hopelessness, of utter misery, of damnation. The writer of this epistle would have us to study and remember that generation's relinquished possession of rest, lest we like them should come short of that promised rest.

So first, a remaining promise of rest. Secondly, a relinquished possession of rest. And now the third point, a recorded pattern of rest, a recorded pattern of rest. Verse four, for he has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way and God rested on the seventh day from all his works. Verse 7, again he designates a certain day saying in David, today after such a long time as it has been said, today if you will hear his voice do not harden your hearts for if Joshua had given them rest, then he would not afterward have spoken of another day.

Verse 10, for he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his. Now the writer here gives us three recorded patterns of rest in all of these patterns by God himself. God's first great work was the creation of all things. And what came at the end of that great work? A Sabbath rest from all his works.

Once established by God, the Sabbath rest was a rest that man was destined to enter into by faith. George Smeaton In his great work, the doctrine of the Holy Spirit writes, quote, that the elements were already deposited in Adam by which he was in a position to reach the full perfection of his being as he was, as he was created. He needed only to have further developed that which was already in him and to abide the probation under which he was placed." That early earthly Sabbath ordained was not an end in and of itself, but even before the fall it pointed rather to an eternal rest, the rest of God that man was destined to enjoy by promise. God's second great work was the redemption of Israel from enslavement in Egypt and giving them Canaan as an inheritance, as a resting place. This work is summed up here in our text by the act of Joshua bringing the people into the promised land.

It was God who had promised them the land. It was God who led them through the wilderness and it was God who went before them and drove out the inhabitants of Canaan. What did God do upon completion of this great work? Psalm 132 verses 13 and 14 says, the Lord has chosen Zion. He has desired it for his dwelling place.

This is my resting place, my rest forever. Here I will dwell for I have desired it." So once again we have the pattern recorded, a great work of God saving this people, bringing them to this place, culminating in the act of resting. God's resting place was Zion and his people entered in to that rest. God's third great work, the third pattern of entering rest is the work of Jesus Christ coming to earth to redeem his people from their sins. Like the first work of creation, his work is a work of creation, re-creation.

Like the second work of God, his work is a work of redeeming un-enslaved people. And like the two previous works of God, this great work culminated in rest as well. Hence we read of this second Joshua, Jesus, Yeshua, the Lord saves, bringing the real and eternal rest that the first Joshua couldn't bring the nation. Now did Joshua bring a temporary rest? Yes.

Did he bring an eternal rest that could be called God's rest? No. He brought merely a picture of that eternal rest. Hence God speaks of another day, a rest that is still to come. But the second Joshua, Jesus, does what the first could not do.

And we see this in verse 10, for he who has entered his rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from his. Now, I cannot say it dogmatically and you may be persuaded of a different interpretation, but after all my study I am even more convinced that the he here in this verse is a reference to Jesus Christ. I think it should be capitalized. That what the verse is stating is that Jesus Christ has entered his own rest having ceased from his own works in the same manner. We'll look at that in a minute.

In the same manner that God ceased from his work and entered his own rest. Now, admittedly, there are not a few who hold to this he referring to the Christian either as an individual or as a representation of all believers. So what do I rest my interpretation on? Why do I lean on this he here being Christ? And then why does it even matter?

Well first, the writer addresses his audience in the plural throughout the entire context. Everything is us and we. The singular pronouns, he and the possessive his in this same text only refer to God the Father or to Christ. For those consistent uses of pronouns to no longer be the case in this one verse, a major change would have been brought on by the writer, which change to me seems unlikely. Secondly, the overarching context of the passage is centered on Christ's finished work and his subsequent rest.

Note with me, we heard it earlier, note with me chapter 3, how it opens. Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our confession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him who appointed him, as Moses also was faithful in all his house. For this one has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, insomuch as he who built the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but he who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all his house as a servant for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward.

But Christ as a son over his own house, whose house we are, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. So the writer would have us to consider Christ. It is to Jesus Christ that the attention is intended to be drawn throughout this entire passage, not to the rest that is promised, not to the recipients of that promised rest. That's not the focus. The writer wants us to consider Christ as the faithful builder of the house that is his church.

Dear ones, the focus here is nothing other than the work of Christ. In fact, the narrative of the work of Christ begins back in chapter 2 verse 10. So having Christ as the focus of our attention, we come to chapter 3 verse 7 to chapter 4 verse 13, distinguishing those who are and who are not of that house that Christ is building. Some have fallen away in unbelief. Others are pressing on to enter that rest and to not fall short of it.

And then the writer returns to Christ again to remind us what he did when this work of building his house was completed. Chapter 4 verse 14. Seeing then, that's looking back, seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the son of God, let us hold fast our confession. He who built the house has now passed through the heavens, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. That is, he has entered his own rest.

And I would argue the fact that the entire book of Hebrews showing that, Hey, when one priest died, another arose. And year after year after year, this had to happen, but not Christ. Christ came one time and he finished and he's entered his rest. The third argument I would lean upon in saying this is referring to Christ is stated best by John Owen. Quote, if the he refers to the individual Christian or to a class of people made up of individual Christians, the analogy of the verse breaks down.

What are the works that believers should be said here to rest from? Their sins, say some. Their labors, sorrows, and sufferings, say others. But how can they be said to rest from these works as God rested from his own? For God so rested from his as to take the greatest delight and satisfaction in them, to be refreshed by them.

Exodus 31 17. Men cannot, they cannot so rest from them as God did from his, but they cease from them with a detestation of them so far as they are sinful and joy for their deliverance from them so far as they are sorrowful. This is not to rest as God rested." End quote. Hence, Owen argues that this can only and ever be truly said of Christ. And why does the interpretation matter?

Well, in my mind, this is what is at stake. The entirety of the promise of the rest, the entirety of the argument of holding fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. The whole argument rests solely upon the finished work of Christ. How is it and why is it that we are to lay aside every weight and the sin which so easily ensnares us and run with endurance the race that is set before us? Brothers and sisters, the reason is that Jesus is both the author and the finisher of our faith.

And how do we, how do we do what the writer is telling us to do right here in our text? How is it that we keep from falling short? How is it that we can even enter that rest? It's by looking unto Jesus. And I believe that is what the writer is pointing us to here.

Jesus work is complete. He has entered his rest. Without this the promise no longer remains. Without this there is no promise. And so since Jesus has completed his work and since he has entered his own rest let us then enter that eternal Sabbath and let us do so by fourthly in our text, a rigorous pursuit of rest, a rigorous pursuit of rest.

Verse 1, therefore since a promise remains of entering his rest, let us fear lest any of you should seem to have come short of it, for indeed the gospel was preached to us. Verse 3, for we who have believed do enter that rest. Verse 6, since therefore it remains that some must enter it, it has been said today, if you will hear his voice, do not harden your hearts. Verse 11, let us therefore be diligent, diligent to enter that rest lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. Brothers and sisters, we are called to fear, to fear.

Not a fear, as various writers put it, of uncertainty, of hope, of a discouraging or despondent nature, nor a fear that anything which God has promised can possibly fall on his part. But A cautious and watchful fear, solicitude against careless indifference, care, diligence, circumspection, a holy dread of falling short of this promise. Remember again the allegory of Bunyan. Not only were the pilgrims shown the celestial city, They were also warned of error, besetting sins and hypocrisy. Which things would cause those pilgrims to fall short of the celestial city?

Which things will also cause us to fall short. Remember as well the context of our text, the generation of Israel that were brought out of Egypt to the very borders of the promised rest where they were given not just a promise of rest but also a command, a command to enter that rest. We too have here in this text not only a promise of rest that's given to us but we also have a command from the Lord to actually enter that rest. The writer of the epistle has already warned us back in chapter 2, therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward.

How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, so great arrest? We are being exhorted to strive with all that is in us to enter the rest which we have received by the promise of God a gospel Striving that must be mixed with faith in those who hear it. Apart from faith our striving is sin. Apart from faith all striving will cause us to fall way short. Any hardening of the heart towards the promise of God or towards the rigorous pursuit of what has been promised will prove fatal.

Therefore, the ultimate danger of the evil heart of unbelief attributed to the Israelites and of which too we can be guilty is actual disobedience to the promised command, to the promised command of God, the promised command that we have here in His Word. Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. It's not just being in the race, many run. Run in such a way that you may obtain it.

And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it, that is all the Olympians and the sports folks, they do it to obtain a perishable crown. But we for an imperishable crown. Dear brother and sister, are you showing diligence in a rigorous pursuit of entering that eternal Sabbath rest? Remember, the pursuit is the pursuit of Christ.

It is laying hold of what Christ has done. It is looking to the rest that he entered as the securing of our own eternal rest. So we have seen a remaining promise of rest, a relinquished possession of rest, a recorded pattern of rest, and a rigorous pursuit of rest. What does all of this have to do with the fourth commandment? Why preach this passage as the closing text of a study on the fourth commandment?

Well, verse nine establishes our fifth and final point, and it's this, a recurring preparation for this rest. A recurring preparation for this rest. Verse 9, there remains therefore a rest for the people of God. As we discovered in an earlier sermon, the word rest here in verse 9 is a different Greek word from all the other words translated rest in this passage. The word here in verse 9 is sabbatismos, the only place that's used in the scripture, possibly a word even coined by this writer on this occasion.

And it's a noun built upon the verb form, thus denoting an action within the very noun form. Here in the middle of this text about eternal Sabbath rest, A rest that has been received in foretaste fashion, but not completion. In the middle of it all, the writer says, there remains therefore a Sabbath keeping for the people of God. In the New Covenant era, even up until our eternal Sabbath rest is known in its fullness, Sabbath keeping remains. In keeping, in keeping the Sabbath here and now, We declare to all around us that we have begun to participate in and enjoy the eternal rest into which we strive to enter.

Dr. Martin notes the following quote Hebrews 4 9 helps to identify the redemptive historical matrix within which the relevance of the Lord's day is to be understood as a Christian Sabbath, to be observed by God's new covenant people in remembrance of the great redemptive work of Christ in securing for us an inheritance in his Sabbath rest and as a pledge of our entering that rest within this matrix, the Lord's Day Sabbath is where rightly observed a foretaste. It's a foretaste of our full inheritance." So consider the following three observations to demonstrate the design of the Lord's Day as a recurring preparation for our eternal Sabbath rest. First, the Lord's Day Sabbath and our observance of it are designed to increase our understanding of our eternal Sabbath rest and the work of Christ in securing that rest for us. It was from a hill called Clear, a hill called Clear, there on the Delectable Mountains that the pilgrims truly saw the glory and blessing of the city to which they traveled.

The Prince of Preachers, Charles Spurgeon, tells this story of one of his friends. When a gentleman was inspecting a house in New Castle with a view to obtaining it as a residence, the landlord took him to the upper window, talked much about the numerous benefits, and added, you can see Durham cathedral from this window on a Sunday. Why on a Sunday above any other day? Inquired our friend with some degree of surprise. The reply was conclusive enough because on that day there is no smoke from those tall chimneys.

Spurgeon goes on to say blessed is the Sabbath to us when the earth's smoke of care and turmoil no longer be cloud our view then then can our souls full often behold the goodly land in the city of the New Jerusalem. Second, the Lord's Day Sabbath and our observance of it are designed to increase not only our understand but our enjoyment, our enjoyment of that eternal Sabbath rest, both here and now as a foretaste and there in heaven when we actually enter that final rest. My dear friend, if you find no delight in one day of rest, What makes you think that you will take the light in an eternal rest? If one day spent in its entirety in communion with Christ and his bride is drudgery, what must the prospect of an eternity of such communion be unto you? J.C.

Ryalwell said, Sabbaths are a foretaste and fragment of heaven. The man who finds them a burden and not a privilege may be sure that his heart stands in need of a mighty change." End quote. But not only for understanding, not only for enjoyment, thirdly, the Lord's Day Sabbath and our observance of it are designed to increase our rigorous pursuit. Almost like to grease the tracks of that rigorous pursuit of that eternal Sabbath rest to spur us on in faith and obedience to the one who has won that rest for his people to hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end. Richard Baxter wrote, what fitter day to ascend to heaven than that on which he arose from earth and fully triumphed over death and hell use your Sabbath as Steps to glory till you have passed them all and are there arrived." End quote.

Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. I close with these encouraging words from Thomas Watson. It is but a while and you shall have done weeping, wrestling, and praying. It is but a while and the race will be over and you shall receive the end of your faith the salvation of your souls. It is but a while and you shall have done your weary marches, you shall put off your armor and put on white robes.

Christian, you have but a little way to go, a little more violence to exert, a few more tears to shed, a few more Sabbaths to keep, and then your hopes shall be crowned with the beautiful sight of God." of God." Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience. Let's pray. Oh gracious God, so much set before us. Oh, what a promise given to weary ones who are heavy laden, ones who are weary. Oh God, there are some who have never come to you.

Oh how great is the burden they bear. Like Christian early on burdened down with sin and guilt and the damnation and wrath that hang over their head. Oh God help help those who do not know you. Help them to hear the words of Christ come into me, all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Yes, it's a rest of taking the yoke, but we share that yoke with Christ.

It is a rest compared to what we endure without Christ. But all the eternal rest and the promise of entering that only because Christ has finished his work, his labor, He has seen the travail of his soul and he is satisfied. He has entered that rest and he goes to prepare that rest for us as people. But Lord we pray that you would help us not to grow weary in doing well. Lord, it's not those who begin well who enter that rest, but those who like Paul finish well.

So God spur us on and help us to use a day like today, a Lord's Day Sabbath, help us to use the day, Lord, to better understand what our Savior has done, to better understand what He is preparing for us, to better enjoy you and the prospects of that full enjoyment that we will have on that eternal Sabbath rest Lord and to spur us on to grease the tracks Lord as we go back out into the world tomorrow that we will go back into that having spent the day with you having received joy for our journey Lord as we leave these delectable these delightful mountains and continue our pursuit of the celestial city Oh give us eyes to see Christ and to lay hold of him by faith. We pray in his most holy name. Amen.