In his sermon titled 'The Christian Sabbath,' Mike Davenport explores Psalm 118:22-24, focusing on the exaltation of Christ, the Father, and the day of the Lord's resurrection. He traces the transformation of the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sabbath, or the Lord's Day, emphasizing the significance of Christ's resurrection on the first day of the week. Davenport references historical and biblical contexts, including Old Testament prophecy, apostolic preaching, and New Testament writings, to substantiate this transition. He reflects on the role of redemption, arguing that the work of redemption, realized through Christ's resurrection, is even greater than creation. The sermon underscores the importance of honoring the Lord's Day as a celebration of Christ's exaltation and the foundation of the Christian church.

Psalm 118, we'll be focusing this morning on verses 22 through 24. Psalm 118, 22 through 24. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes.

This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. Let's look to the Lord in prayer. Gracious God, we thank you today for your goodness to us. Lord, this is the day that only your hand could have made.

Only you could do this. We could not do it ourselves. So Lord, we pray that you would give us grace to rejoice in this day and to be glad in it as we look back at the finished work of Jesus Christ and his resurrection from the dead on our behalf that to him might be all the glory. In his great name we pray, amen. You may be seated.

I begin this morning with a quote by the Reverend John S. Stone from the year 1844. Quote, At the introduction of the gospel, the whole state of the church of God underwent a revolution. Almost everything was changed in some way or to some extent. The mediator was changed.

Moses for Christ. The priesthood was changed. The Aaronic for the Christian. The law was changed. The Levitical for the Evangelical.

The promises were changed. Those which looked apparently to temporal blessings for those which look expressly to eternal. The worship was changed, the stately and solemn ceremonies of the temple for the simple and spiritual devotions of the Christian house of prayer. The sacraments were changed, the Passover for the Lord's Supper, and the bloody rite of circumcision for the unbloody labor of baptism. The whole dispensation was changed.

The entire framework of the Jewish being taken down and laid aside and the whole structure of the Christian being constructed and set up in its stead with all these changes then, with everything that's made new. Is it such a wonder that the day of the Sabbath also was changed?" Now these words delivered by Reverend Stone were a part of a series of messages from a pulpit, but were afterward published in a book under the title, Lectures on the Institution of the Sabbath. Now, on the inside of this book, which you can view electronically online, I did myself, you will find the following on one of the opening pages. This is what it reads, entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1844 by Alexander V. Blake in the clerk's office of the District Court of the Southern District of New York.

It was an act of Congress to have these lectures entered into the records of the clerk's office in a New York court. If that is not surprising to you, how about this? I want to read you the closing remarks of what either Congress or Mr. Blake as the representative of that Congress on their behalf provides as something of a preface, an explanation why they took the initiative of entering these lectures. Here's what it says, we believe Christ designed a change in the day for his Christian Sabbath and that in this particular, his universal church has but been walking from the first according to his own wise counsel.

If therefore what has been said in these lectures should be blessed to a more spiritual and effectual hallowing of this ancient and high ordinance of God to the great Lord of the Sabbath shall be all the praise, Brooklyn, June 8th, 1884." How far we have fallen as a nation in just a handful of generations. Well, this morning I want to address the subject of the Christian Sabbath, the Christian Sabbath, or if you prefer, the Lord's Day. Here in our opening text we see three specific things. We see first the exaltation of Christ. Second, we see the exaltation of the Father.

And then thirdly, we see the exaltation of the day. The exaltation of Christ, of the Father, and of the day. Well let's look first at the exaltation of Christ, verse 22. The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This text no doubt is familiar to most of us if not all of us.

There is no great need to belabor this point. This stone which becomes the chief cornerstone is speaking of none other than Jesus Christ. Not only does this context make it abundantly clear, the psalmist having declared in the previous verse that His God has become his salvation, but other scriptures give witness to the fact that this cornerstone is none other than Christ. Matthew 21, 42. Mark 12, 10, and 11.

Luke 20, 17. Acts 4, 11. Ephesians 2, 20. And 1 Peter 2, 7 and 8. In those three gospel texts listed there, it is Christ himself and not another that applies this text in Psalm 18, 24 to himself.

He declares by means of illustration, I am this cornerstone. Even his enemies who heard Christ's declaration knew within their hearts the purpose of his words that he saw them as the builders, these religious leaders, they were the builders and they knew that he was referring to himself as this cornerstone. So there should be absolutely no doubt in our minds that this text, though it had some overlapping application to the time of the psalmist, it's ultimately about Christ, no doubt whatsoever. But neither should we question how this came about, that the rejected Christ would become such. The next verse establishes the fact that God did this.

God did this. So secondly, we see in this text the exaltation of the Father, verse 23. This was the Lord's doing. It is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord did this work.

It was His hand. In fact, it was His plan. The Scriptures teach us that the Father is exalted in the exaltation of Christ. The Father glories in the Son just as Christ the Son glories in his Father. And the emphasis of scripture throughout is upon the doing of the Lord, the doing of God his father, it was his work.

Note with me three places that we see this. In the verses that I'm going to provide to you are just a sampling. In fact, as I was trying to make this message shorter than it would have been, I pulled out a lot of text. So let me just give you an example of three places. First, we see this as the Lord's doing in Old Testament prophecy.

So if you just take Old Testament prophecy, we see the Lord's doing, Isaiah 28 16 therefore thus says the Lord God behold I lay in Zion a stone for a foundation a tried stone a precious cornerstone a sure foundation behold I lay in Zion Not only do we see it in Old Testament prophecy, second we see it in apostolic preaching, in the preaching itself. Take, for example, Acts 2, 29 through 36. Here, Peter is preaching at Pentecost saying that God has sworn that he would raise Jesus Christ up from the dead and this he indeed did and exalted Christ to his own right hand. And after quoting the verse of David in Psalm 110, that very opening verse, Peter declares this, therefore, let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus the stone who knew the builders crucified, rejected both Lord and Christ, the cornerstone. Third, we also see this as the Lord's doing in the writing of the epistles, not only in the preaching of the apostles and in Old Testament prophecy, but also the writing of the epistles.

Note 1 Peter 1, 20 and 21. He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through him believe in God who raised him from the dead and gave him glory so that your faith and hope are in God." God did this. God raised him up. God gave him glory. The fact that the Lord has done this work causes the psalmist to declare, it is marvelous in our eyes.

It is marvelous in our eyes. Brothers and sisters, the work of God, this very work, making the rejected stone, the very chief cornerstone, should cause us to marvel. The one who came into this world that he himself created, coming in a state of humiliation, this one God has made both Lord and Christ. To this one, the Father has given a name which is above every name, That at the name of Jesus Christ our marveling would cause us to fall to our knees and confess that He is our chief cornerstone. God the Father exalted the Son.

He did this. What a marvelous thing. Christ is exalted. The Father is exalted. Now thirdly we see in the text the exaltation of the day.

The exaltation of the day. Verse 24, This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. What is this day of the Lord? Well the context would indicate that the Lord's day is tied to the Lord's doing.

This is the Lord's doing. This is the Lord's day. Wouldn't you agree? This day has everything to do with the doing, the responses to the doing and the day they go together. The distinguishing marvelous doing of God that has captured our heart is to be joyed in and rejoiced over.

This day of the Lord revolves around what we saw in verse 22, the exaltation of Christ that occurs after his humiliation and rejection when Christ is made the cornerstone of his church. What day is associated with the ending of Christ's humiliation and the beginning of his exaltation? What day? None other than the day of his resurrection. It's his resurrection.

The first day of the week. The day of His resurrection is the day the Lord has made, and we are to rejoice and be glad in it. This is not some verse that teaches us to be thankful for each and every day. Now Are we to be thankful for each and every day? Yes we are.

The Bible teaches us that, but not here. Jeremiah tells us in Lamentations, the mercies of the Lord are new every morning. That's enough to give us a reason to thank the Lord for the day. But this text, this text has everything to do with how we respond to the day of Christ's exaltation, the first day of the week, the day following the Jewish Sabbath. Matthew Henry penned the following in his commentary on this particular text.

This verse may be very fitly be understood of the Christian Sabbath which we sanctify in remembrance of Christ's resurrection when the rejected stone began to be exalted. Here is the doctrine of the Christian church. It is the day which the Lord has made, has made remarkable, made holy, has distinguished from other days. He has made it for man. We will rejoice and be glad in it, not only in the institution of the day, but in the occasion of it.

Christ becoming the head of the corner. Christian Sabbath days, he says, must be rejoicing days." End quote. Time does not permit, but if you have time later today or this week, read the verses before and after our text. Please don't do it now. Read the verses before and after our text.

Verses 14 to 21 and 25 to 29, you will note in those verses how right and how fitting is the public worship of Christ and how tied up this public worship is with God's doing and the day that he distinguished from all others by means of what he did. Well at this point in the sermon, I would like to turn your attention to the wording of our confession, to the wording of our confession, the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession. It says this in chapter 22 of religious worship and the Sabbath day, paragraph 7, quote, as it is the law of nature that in general a proportion of time by God's appointment be set apart for the worship of God, so by His Word in a positive moral and perpetual commandment, binding all men in all ages, he hath particularly appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy unto him." Now let me stop right there mid paragraph. It's important to note their understanding that God's establishment of the keeping of a Sabbath has not changed. God has in His Word from the beginning of time, even by nature, appointed one day in seven to be His holy day.

This, our confession argues, has not changed. It's a perpetual commandment. But something has changed. I continue the paragraph. God hath particularly appointed one day in seven first Sabbath to be kept wholly unto Him which, from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week.

And from the resurrection of Christ was changed into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's Day and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished. Abolished. Dear ones, I believe this text right here in Psalm 118 is a pivotal text in the right understanding of the transfer from the Jewish Sabbath to the Christian Sabbath. And I believe that you can use this text we have been looking at to support the arguments made in our confession. The change is based on the resurrection of Christ from the dead.

Indeed, this text teaches us that this change hinges on the time when Christ was established as the cornerstone. That is when his humiliation ended and his humanity entered into the exaltation he had known from the beginning of time. This text teaches us that it is indeed the Lord's day. God has laid claim to this day by his work of salvation that his own hands wrought. But wait, you may say, haven't we already established in this study that God laid claim to the seventh day?

That after his work of creation that he rested on the seventh day from all his labors and blessed that day and hallowed it, isn't the seventh day the Lord's Day? Indeed it was from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Jesus Christ but the rest the rest of Jesus Christ, the enjoyment of all his labors, the day when he could declare all very good. That was Resurrection Sunday, the first day of the week. It was a day that only the Lord could have made. Thomas Watson in his book, Heaven Taken by Storm, notes, great was the work of creation, but greater the work of redemption.

It cost more to redeem us than to make us in The one there was only the speaking of a word in the other the shedding of blood The creation was the work of God's fingers. Redemption the work of His arm. In creation, God gave us ourselves. In redemption, He gives us Himself. Thus the Sabbath, putting us in mind of our redemption ought to be observed with the highest devotion.

Hence our confession states that the observation of the seventh day of the week was abolished. Indeed, it must be abolished. To continue on in observing the seventh day would be to exalt the work of creation above the work of redemption. To continue on in observing the seventh day or to observe no day at all would be to minimize and desecrate the day the Lord has set aside for us to marvel at and rejoice in his work of establishing his son as the cornerstone of the church he died to redeem. As we saw in the fourth chapter of Hebrews last time in the midst of declaring throughout the entire book the fading away of the things of the old covenant, the writer declares, unashamedly yet clearly, there remains therefore a sabbatismos, a Sabbath rest for the people of God.

And that day is now the first day of the week. So if God indeed set aside the first day of the week as the Christian Sabbath for new covenant believers, do we find evidence of it in the New Testament? The answer is an emphatic, yes we do. We do. And not only that, but we see evidence in the early church as well, something well documented, but we will have no time to deal with the early church this morning.

I'll leave that to your own personal study, but Let's take a look at the New Testament. Consider with me first the very day of Christ's resurrection. Turn with me to Luke 24. Luke 24. In God's providence, we have been in John, and our brother Scott has been dealing with Christ's resurrection.

I love how God sometimes dovetails messages so for our profit. But I have a reason in turning us specifically to Luke 24 because there are things here that John doesn't mention. But Luke 24, note with me the opening words of the narrative of Christ's resurrection. Luke 24, 1, now on the first day of the week, very early in the morning. That's how it opens up.

On the first day of the week, very early in the morning. Big deal, you say. It's the first day of the week. It's just establishing a timeframe, okay? It's been noted by some that Christ in His ministry always referred to his resurrection as what?

The third day after his crucifixion. That's how he always referred to it. He established it as the third day after his crucifixion. That's when he would rise again. Yet all four Gospels, they record this event as occurring not three days or the third day after his death.

They stated all four as the first day of the week. The difference being not in the actual day, but in rather how it's described, how was the day described. Rather than pointing back to emphasize what Christ said, they seem to be pointing forward to the implications of what Christ did. That's what they're driving home, what Christ did. Dr.

Robert Martin provides the following insight, quote, it's not difficult to see why the apostles reason from the resurrection of Christ to a new Sabbath. God providentially fixed the time of Jesus' death as the day of preparation, Friday, the time of His resurrection as the first day of the week, Sunday, with his spending the whole of the Jewish Sabbath Saturday in the grave. Had the Lord fixed the days on which these things came to pass differently, let's say Tuesday through Thursday, with no reference to the already existing Sabbath, we rightly could conclude that his providential timing was of no significance with reference to a change of the Sabbath. But because God proceeded as He did from the Christian perspective, a change of the day was almost inevitable. As another scholar notes, there certainly was an unsuitableness in the seventh day as a day of spiritual rejoicing for Christians being the day on which their Lord and with Him all their expectations and hopes lay buried in the grave." End quote.

And what were the disciples doing? We'll look at it in a few minutes, but you know it already. They were hiding. They were sad. But there's a day coming.

The Lord's doing and it's going to be marvelous and they're going to rejoice and they're going to be glad. But note the next appearance of Christ to his people on that very same day. He appears to the women in the garden, but note the next appearance. Beginning in verse 13, we find two disciples. They're on their way to Emmaus, And we read in verse 15, so it was while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them.

And what does Jesus do? He preaches the word to them. He preaches the word from Moses and the prophets. He preaches the word to them. And then later on as they sit down at meal he seems to draw their attention to the supper that he instituted in the upper room in the presence of his disciples.

Now we can't I can't argue from the text that they actually did the Lord's Supper. The way it reads, it seems that Christ vanished after He broke bread and gave thanks and handed it to them. But at least it seems that their eyes were opened and they tied this back to what happened in that upper room. And then we read in verse 33 that after Jesus vanishes from their presence, so those two disciples rose up that very hour. We're still on the Sabbath.

What we call the Sabbath, it's Sunday, the first day of the week. It's still the first day. It's Sunday. They rose up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem and found the eleven and those who were with them gathered together. Note that they joined the others that were gathered together and what happens while this group of the disciples are gathered together here on this Sunday?

Christ meets with them. Christ meets with them. Verse 36, now as they said these things, these are the two disciples explaining everything that had just happened, as they said these things Jesus himself stood in the midst of them and said to them, Peace be to you." And then this chapter closes with Jesus in verse 50 blessing them. He blesses them, gives them a benediction as it were, and what do they do? In verse 55, here on this first Sunday, they worship Him.

They worship Him. They worship Him. And what's the result of the day upon these ones who were gathered and Christ appeared in their midst. These who were discouraged in heart and were hiding." Verse 55 tells us they They were filled, verse 52, I'm sorry, and they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. With great joy.

Sounds a lot to me like Psalm 118 22 to 24. The risen Christ made the cornerstone and their understanding they're starting to grasp it. He comes on that very Sunday preaching the word. He comes on that Sunday into the midst of the gathered people and they worship him and they go back to Jerusalem with joy, rejoicing in this day and boy were they glad in it. Now turn to John 20.

We've been in John 20, turn to John 20 because in John 20 we have something that's not in Luke 24. John 20. And note John's account of what happened when Christ appeared to these gathering of disciples that we just saw in Luke 24. What happens here in John 20? Well, we read in verses 24 and 25 this, Now Thomas called the twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came.

The other disciples therefore said to him, we have seen the Lord. So he said to them, unless I see in his hand the print of the nails and put my finger into the print of the nails and put my hand into his side, I will not believe. I will not believe. Thomas was absent on that first gathering. And because he was not there, his faith wavered.

Can I say it like this? Thomas missed that first Lord's Day meeting and therefore he missed out on the blessings, the comforts, and the joy that the others experienced. It's right here in the text brothers and sisters. It's not a stretch. He wasn't there.

His faith wavered unlike theirs because that's where Christ was. There is much to glean from this and apply to our own lives. There is much to be lost when we miss the gatherings of Christ people. But to further that thought and I believe to demonstrate from this very text the emphasis just made in regards to the presence of Christ on his day and the blessings that come by it, I would have you notice when it is that Christ ministers to the unpersuaded Thomas. John tells us in the very next verse that after eight days, after eight days, after eight days, his disciples were again inside and Thomas with them.

Jesus came, the doors being shut, And once again, he stood in the midst. Now, if you remember from our study of the first part of this chapter in our exposition of John, the Jews count days differently than we do. So when John says after eight days, we have to understand that the resurrection Sunday is counted as the first day. It's counted as the first day. Children, you can count to eight, right?

You got eight, you count. Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, eighth day, Jesus appears again. The disciples are gathered again. And I would argue that you are seeing a pattern being established among Christ's own disciples and even Christ himself making himself known in their presence. Once again, on that very next Sunday, the disciples are gathered and once again Jesus is found in the midst of his gathered people.

John Owen argues, hence Jesus left Thomas under his doubts a whole week before he gave him his gracious conviction that he might do it in the assembly of his disciples on the first day of the week. So when we come to the book of Acts, it's not surprising to find the language of Acts 1-4 and 1-6 being assembled together. And when they had come together, God's church gathers. That's what they do. It's what they do.

That's why we're here. That's why John MacArthur and Grace Community Church are gathering. That's what the church does. And it was such a gathering that we read of when we come to chapter 2, the well known passage concerning the Holy Spirit coming down at Pentecost. There in the opening verse we read that when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place.

Not only were they gathered, they were in one accord. It wasn't accidental. Well, look there. You're here. Imagine they were with one accord in one place.

Now, we need to understand the background of Pentecost to understand the timing. Leviticus 23, 15, and 16 sets the time of the observance of Pentecost as 50 days after Passover. In other words, it would fall on the day after the seventh Jewish Sabbath. You young kids, are you up to speed on your math tables? Multiples of seven, seven times seven is 49, full week.

So day 49 is a Sabbath. Guess what day 50 is? Sunday. It's Sunday. The resurrection day, Sunday, is the day filled with the presence of Jesus Christ.

We've seen that. Pentecost, also a Sunday, is a day filled with the mighty working of the Spirit. And so we have these two great events, pillars in the New Covenant Church, the redemptive accomplishments of Jesus Christ which culminates at His resurrection and the pouring forth of the promised Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, these two events magnify the person and work of Both the Son and the Spirit, and they both happen on the first day of the week, on Sunday. These two events are the central focus of both the preaching of Christ as well as the prophecies found in the Old Covenant. This is what the New Covenant is like.

Christ is going to do a work and the Spirit is going to come in power. Since this is the case, argues Dr. Martin, Is it unreasonable to think that the day of rest would be changed to reflect these great events? Well, there are many references to gatherings throughout the book of Acts, but We don't specifically see a reference to the day of the week again until we come to Acts 20 verse 7, Acts 27. There we read, now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.

So on the first day of the week, The saints are gathered, Paul is preaching, and they're participating in the communion table first day of the week. We see this common phrase once again in Paul's first epistle to the church at Corinth where he states in 1st Corinthians 16, 1 and 2, now concerning the collection for the saints as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia so you must do also, So you see it's common. What I'm telling you, I've already told the churches in Galatia. I've already told them. On the first day of the week, let each of you lay something aside storing up as he may prosper that prosper that there be no collections when I come so here these people are on the first day of the week in their normal gatherings and they're to bring their tithes and their offerings.

It's part of the worship of God's people that it would entail tithes and offerings. Well the last reference that points specifically to the change of day for the observation of the Sabbath is found in Revelation 1-10. Look with me there, please. Revelation 1-10. Thank you for patiently going to these different texts with me.

I want the Word of God to go after your conscience, not what I'm saying. Revelation, look at chapter 1 and verse 10, John here speaking, I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and I heard behind me a loud voice as of a trumpet. I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. Now what's happening here in this text? Christ comes to John there in his isolation on the Isle of Patmos.

John could not be with the gathered church of that day. He was imprisoned there on that island. He couldn't be with the gathered body. But in spite of providential hindrances, he's in the Spirit, it being in the Lord's holy day. Just as John did on that Sunday after his resurrection when Jesus appeared to his disciples, what happens?

John's there and Jesus appears to him again. Jesus comes to him again. He can't be with them. Christ comes to him. Christ comes to him because John would be in one of those gatherings had he not been there on that island.

And what is the vision that Jesus gives John? What does John record? John goes on to record, I saw seven golden lampstands, which Jesus at the end of chapter one says are what? Seven churches, representative of all churches. He saw seven golden lampstands and in the midst of the seven lampstands, one like the Son of Man.

So there on the Lord's Day, Christ is seen by John walking among his churches. His expectation is that they will be gathered to praise him, the cornerstone to rejoice in the day that commemorates the exaltation of his resurrection, that commemorates his saving work. And what is Christ's response to John? It was a confirmation of the reality of what? His resurrection, which ushered him into that state of exaltation.

He says, I am the first and the last. I am he who lives and was dead and behold I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of death. Christ is among the lampstands.

He's among the churches on the Lord's Day. And what's he declaring? His resurrection. His resurrection. That's what he's bringing John's attention to.

In regard to John's use of this phrase, Lord's Day, he could have said the day of the Lord, but the early church had already come to know the day of the Lord is what? It's Judgment Day. So it became known as the Lord's Day. And even a contemporary of John, Ignatius, he just simply calls it Lord's. Lord's, it's Lord's.

Dr. Martin notes that in a very brief time the adjective, kuryakos, the Greek word for the Lord used as a possessive, so it's lords, that kuryakos, lords, It was standing alone and was sufficient standing alone to denote the Lord's day. The Lord's day thus is King Jesus' imperial day, he says. It belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ and has special reference to him, even as the Lord's Supper derives its name from the fact that it is a memorial of the Lord's suffering, so the Lord's Day derives its name chiefly from the fact that it is a memorial of the Lord's resurrection." Dear ones, the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the Lord's doing.

It is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." Do you recall the words of the text which we opened up there in Mark in our study, the one we started out with in this portion regarding the fourth commandment? The Sabbath was made For man, right? And we saw in the Greek that it's for man's benefit.

That's what it's saying. It was made for the benefit of man. My question for you is this. If the Sabbath of creation was indeed instituted for and proved itself to be for the benefit of man. How much more the Sabbath of redemption.

How much more. Creation is indeed marvelous to our eyes, but what about redemption? Can you imagine a more fitting response on this, the imperial day of the risen Christ in rejoicing and being glad in it, of showing honor to the cornerstone of the church? I close with this quote from John Willison. Quote, the Sabbath is changed to the first day of the week because it is the most honorable and glorious day to Christ and His church that ever dawned upon the world, the most honorable day to our Redeemer, and the most joyful to the redeemed, and therefore all to be kept in perpetual remembrance.

Hence, by the Spirit of God and ever since Christ's resurrection upon this day, it is called the Lord's Day, it being the most glorious day ever he had. It was in an eminent manner his birthday, for in it he was born from the dead. In it, God solemnly owned him to be his only begotten son. Hence that word in Psalm 2, thou art my son. This day I have begotten thee.

Let me just interject. We try to go back to Christ coming to earth. The day when he was begotten and owned and exalted again was resurrection. So, thou art my son, this day I have begotten thee is applied to the day of his resurrection." And it's done so in Acts 13, 13. Mr.

Willison goes on to say, quoting Romans 1, 4, he was this day declared to be the Son of God with power. Was not this then a joyful day? A day to be had in everlasting remembrance? The day our Jonah came safe out of the whale's belly. But they, our Samson, carried away the gates of Gaza.

Now it was that death lost its sting. Now the grave and hell lost their purchase. Now the serpent's head was bruised. Now were they all swallowed up in victory. Now it was that our glorious Redeemer rested from all the works of suffering and redemption and rejoiced in the review thereof with infinite satisfaction.

Amen. Father, we thank you for your Word. Oh God, you providing such a means of salvation, it's marvelous in our eyes. Marvelous. Lord, help us on this, your day, a day to rejoice and be glad in your doing.

Oh Lord, help us to do that. Help us to do that. May we like those disciples on that very first Sunday go back to our homes with joy, joy in this cornerstone that we have, that we're built upon. To him be all the glory in the church forever and ever. Amen.

Amen.