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While you're doing that, one 
of the things that I wanted to point out, I forgot to mention, 
and when I close tonight, we'll remember Pastor Smith. I forget 
about him as well. But with reference to the court 
case, one of the things that has come up often in the court 
case is the arbitrariness of the COVID orders. We all remember 
that. You could go to Walmart, 800 
of you, but you couldn't go to church. You could have an AA 
group meeting in a church, but you couldn't have a church worship 
service in a church. So there's that running and constant 
theme of arbitrariness. Well, the specific case that 
happened last week here in Chilliwack, our attorney is Paul Jaffe, was 
basically the arbitrariness of Bonnie Henry allowing Jews to 
worship inside during the time of lockdown. No one, no other 
religious group was allowed that. And so basically what Jaffe argued 
was that we want to see the papers. I thought like thousands, hundreds 
and thousands of papers or documents generated during the COVID timeframe. the health orders and the various 
memoranda that goes back and forth from Bonnie Henry to whoever. Well, the Crown Council, they 
sent five attorneys last week up against Paul Jaffe. So they 
obviously, I mean, it appears that it's obvious that they're 
hiding something. So they have this hesitancy to 
release any documents that are relative to the case. To me, 
it seems like a close, open and shut case, of course it has all 
along, but hopefully the judge will see it clearly this time 
around and rule in our favor. So it really is just an ongoing 
sort of a battle to try and get any rationale whatsoever for 
why Bonnie Henry did what Bonnie Henry did. So that's kind of 
the contours of the case. So if you're looking at Leviticus 
chapter 23, I want to read the chapter and then we'll consider 
the Feasts of the Lord, and that title comes from the last verse, 
verse 44, So Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts 
of the Lord. So beginning in verse 1, And 
the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, 
and say to them, The feasts of the Lord, which you shall proclaim 
to be holy convocations, these are my feasts. Six days shall 
work be done, but the seventh is a Sabbath of solemn rest, 
a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it. It 
is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. These are 
the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which you shall 
proclaim at their appointed times. On the fourteenth day of the 
first month at twilight is the Lord's Passover. And on the 15th 
day of the same month is the feast of unleavened bread to 
the Lord. Seven days you must eat unleavened bread. On the 
first day you shall have a holy convocation. You shall do no 
customary work on it. But you shall offer an offering 
made by fire to the Lord for seven days. The seventh day shall 
be a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work 
on it. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children 
of Israel, and say to them, When you come into the land which 
I give to you, and reap its harvest, then you shall bring a sheaf 
of the first fruits of your harvest to the priest. He shall wave 
the sheaf before the Lord to be accepted on your behalf. On 
the day after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it. And you 
shall offer on that day, when you waive the sheaf, a male lamb 
of the first year, without blemish, as a burnt offering to the Lord. 
Its grain offering shall be two-tenths of an ephah, a fine flour, mixed 
with oil, an offering made by fire to the Lord, for a sweet 
aroma. And its drink offering shall 
be of wine, one-fourth of a hen. You shall eat neither bread nor 
parched grain nor fresh grain until the same day that you have 
brought an offering to your God. It shall be a statute forever 
throughout your generations and all your dwellings. And you shall 
count for yourselves from the day after the Sabbath, from the 
day that you brought the sheaf of the wave offering. Seven Sabbaths 
shall be completed. Count 50 days to the day after 
the seventh Sabbath. Then you shall offer a new grain 
offering to the Lord. "'You shall bring from your dwellings 
two wave loaves "'of the two tenths of an ephah. "'They shall 
be a fine flour. "'They shall be baked with leaven. 
"'They are the firstfruits of the Lord. "'And you shall offer 
with the bread "'seven lambs of the first year, without blemish, 
"'one young bull and two rams. "'They shall be as a burnt offering 
to the Lord, "'with their grain offering and their drink offerings, 
"'an offering made by fire for a sweet aroma to the Lord. Then 
you shall sacrifice one kid of the goats as a sin offering and 
two male lambs of the first year as a sacrifice of a peace offering. The priest shall wave them with 
the bread of the first fruits as a wave offering before the 
Lord with the two lambs. They shall be holy to the Lord 
for the priest. And you shall proclaim on the 
same day that it is a holy convocation to you. You shall do no customary 
work on it. It shall be a statute forever 
in all your dwellings throughout your generations. When you reap 
the harvest of your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners 
of your field when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning 
from your harvest. You shall leave them for the 
poor and for the stranger. I am the Lord your God. Then 
the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, 
saying, In the seventh month, on the first day of the month, 
you shall have a Sabbath rest, a memorial, a blowing of trumpets, 
a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work 
on it, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the 
Lord. And the Lord spoke to Moses saying, also the 10th day of 
this seventh month shall be the day of atonement. It shall be 
a holy convocation for you. You shall afflict your souls 
and offering made by fire to the Lord. And you shall do no 
work on that same day for it is the day of atonement to make 
atonement for you before the Lord your God. For any person 
who is not afflicted in soul on that day shall be cut off 
from his people. And any person who does work 
on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his 
people. You shall do no manner of work. It shall be a statute 
forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. It shall 
be to you a Sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your 
souls. On the ninth day of the month 
at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your Sabbath. 
"'Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "'Speak to the children 
of Israel, saying, "'The 15th day of this seventh month "'shall 
be the feast of tabernacles "'for seven days to the Lord. "'On 
the first day, there shall be a holy convocation. "'You shall 
do no customary work on it. "'For seven days, you shall offer 
an offering "'made by fire to the Lord. "'On the eighth day, 
you shall have a holy convocation, "'and you shall offer an offering 
made by fire to the Lord. "'It is a sacred assembly. and 
you shall do no customary work on it. These are the feasts of 
the Lord which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer 
an offering made by fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a 
grain offering, a sacrifice and drink offerings, everything on 
its day, besides the Sabbaths of the Lord, besides your gifts, 
besides all your vows, and besides all your freewill offerings which 
you give to the Lord. Also on the fifteenth day of 
the seventh month, when you have gathered in the fruit of the 
land, you shall keep the feast of the Lord for seven days. On 
the first day there shall be a Sabbath rest, and on the eighth 
day a Sabbath rest. And you shall take for yourselves 
on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of 
palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook. 
"'and you shall rejoice before the Lord your God "'for seven 
days. "'You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord "'for seven 
days in the year. "'It shall be a statute forever 
in your generations. "'You shall celebrate it in the 
seventh month. "'You shall dwell in booths for 
seven days. "'All who are native Israelites 
shall dwell in booths "'that your generations may know "'that 
I made the children of Israel dwell in booths "'when I brought 
them out of the land of Egypt. "'I am the Lord your God. So 
Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. 
Amen. Remember the overarching structure 
of the book of Leviticus. It's primarily focused on what 
we call ceremonial law. In other words, law regulating 
the worship and conduct of the children of Israel as the holy 
people of God separate from the nations around them. The book 
starts off with the sacrifices, the particular sacrifices that 
are utilized in the worshippers approach to God. And then we 
deal with the priests. The priests mediate the worshipper's 
approach to God. In other words, the worshipper 
has to go through that mediation, the priest, who then offers the 
sacrifice to the Lord for the worshipper. Several sacrifices, 
or at least one of them is consumed wholly, but others are made to 
participate in, in terms of eating. So the worshiper and the priest 
get to partake of some of the meat of those sacrifices. After 
the giving of the regulations concerning sacrifice in the priesthood, 
we see it put into practice at the end of chapter 9. At the 
end of chapter 9, you see a positive impact. They offer up the sacrifice. 
They do it in a lawful manner. And then God sends fire down 
from heaven to consume the sacrifice. And the people rejoice with a 
shout. And then in chapter 10, we see a negative. contrast with 
reference to Nadab and Abihu. They offer up strange fire before 
the Lord, and then fire comes down from heaven, but instead 
of consuming the sacrifice, it consumes Nadab and Abihu. They 
did not operate in a lawful manner as they approached God. And then 
as we move through the narrative, we start to see regulations concerning 
holiness and unholiness, sacredness and profaneness. And profaneness 
simply means, in this context, outside of, not sacred, not consecrated 
unto. And then when we get to the Day 
of Atonement in chapter 16, that's the one day out of the year when 
the high priest goes into the Holy of Holies, and there he 
makes sacrifice for the children of Israel. But then he takes 
a scapegoat, he lays his hands upon the goat, he confesses the 
transgressions of Israel, and then he sends that goat out into 
the wilderness. A wonderful picture of the removal 
of sin. We call that expiation, the removal 
of guilt associated with sin. And then from chapter 17 and 
following, we see what's called the Holiness Code. And the Holiness 
Code is simply regulations for the lives of the Israelites in 
their day-to-day practice. In other words, how they're supposed 
to be separate from the heathen around them. things that deal 
with their diet, things that deal with their clothing, things 
that deal with their skin, things that deal with their issues that 
come from their bodies. All these things can render a 
man or a woman unclean and thus unable to enter into the presence 
of God. so they had to maintain that ceremonial cleanliness or 
purity. Now last time, in chapters 21 
and 22, we considered the conduct of the priests. Not in their 
formal capacity per se, like we have in the early chapters 
of Leviticus on how they handle sacrifice, but things pertaining 
to who is qualified to go in to the house of God and present 
a sacrifice at the altar. Remember that the priests who 
had some sort of a defect or deformity, some spot or wrinkle 
or other blemish, they were not able to go and sacrifice. God demanded purity. As well, 
He didn't cut them off, they did still participate in the 
food that was allotted to them. We also saw that animals were 
to be without defect. In other words, God is a thrice 
holy God, those who come to Him must be approved. And so God 
gives those rules there in Leviticus 21 and 22. Now here in chapter 
23 we see that Israel was a people that was tied in large part, 
at least religiously, to the calendar. And so you see these 
feasts of the Lord indicated here in chapter 23. We're not 
going to go through every jot and diddle of this particular 
passage. Some of it is ambiguous, at least 
in my reading, and I'm going to lean a bit on Wenham tonight 
with reference to going through the text, but more more emphasis 
will be later on in terms of some practical lessons that we 
can glean from the chapter. So Leviticus 23, the feasts of 
the Lord, a central part of Israel's life as the covenant people of 
God when they dwelt in the land. And this is, in fact, an old 
covenant situation. I'll speak to the issue as to 
whether or not these things continue into the New Covenant. Short 
answer is, no, they do not, because as I said, it's ceremonial law. 
Jesus fulfilled that and thus abrogated these specific things 
in terms of the regulation of God's people. So as we look at 
the chapter, we see first an emphasis on the weekly Sabbath 
in verses 1 to 3. We've seen that reiterated already 
in the book of Leviticus several times. We see that it reflects 
what we find in Exodus chapter 20, which is moral law. And then 
again later in Deuteronomy chapter 5, I'll speak to the distinction 
between moral and ceremonial in a few minutes. But we see 
the weekly Sabbath in verses 1 to 3, and then the annual feasts 
in verses 4 to 44. And essentially this breaks down 
into two parts. You have first the spring feasts 
in verses 4 to 22, and then secondly the fall feasts in verses 23 
to 44. So in terms of the calendar, 
you have these couple that are mentioned here for spring, and 
then you have others that are mentioned for fall. But let's 
first look at the weekly Sabbath in verses 1 to 3, and notice 
first of all the divine authority behind this command. Notice in 
verse 1. Now remember, in the book of 
Leviticus, it's not a systematic theology, it's not Louis Burkhoff, 
it's not Hermann Bavink, it's not Francis Turretin, where we 
like categorizing and we like lists and compartments. Okay, 
this is moral law, this is judicial law, this is ceremonial law. 
You see a broad sense of that in the book of Exodus. Exodus 
chapter 20, the Ten Commandments, is moral law. Exodus chapters 
21 to 23 is judicial law, the application of those moral principles 
into life in the society of Israel. And then in chapters 25 to 40, 
with reference to the building of the tabernacle, that's the 
ceremonial law. So the distinction, or the division 
rather, is there, but it's not always as clear cut. So we'll 
see moral law sprinkled throughout sections that deal with ceremonial 
law. We've seen that up to this point already in the book of 
Leviticus. Chapter 23 is no different. So 
the Sabbath, as I've mentioned several times in the past, has 
got both a moral aspect and a ceremonial aspect. So moral law, the Ten 
Commandments, the fourth commandment, remember or observe the Sabbath 
day to keep it holy. The moral principle there is 
one day out of seven, the creature must worship his God. One day 
out of seven, the creature must worship his God, his Creator. 
The ceremonial aspect is which day that occurs on. In the Old 
Covenant, it was Saturday. In the New Covenant, it is Sunday. 
So there is a ceremonial aspect, or a positive law aspect, that 
affects the change of the day. but the moral principle abides. 
The reality is that God's people are called, even in this new 
covenant setting, we'll speak to this more later, they are 
bound by God to observe Sunday as the Christian Sabbath or as 
the Lord's Day for the worship of the living and true God. So 
looking at chapter 23, notice in verses 1 and 2 you see the 
divine authority. So this wasn't Moses, this wasn't 
a band of, you know, extra religious or extra pious people within 
the body politic that said, you know, we really should set apart 
a day in order to worship God. No, this comes with divine authority, 
just as ceremonial and moral and judicial law does come, but 
here it's reiterated. speak to the children of Israel, 
and say to them, The feasts of the Lord, which you proclaim 
to be holy convocations, these are my feasts." General, overarching, 
specific thesis statement concerning the rest of the chapter, and 
then notice the specific emphasis on the Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath 
in verse 3. Six days shall work be done, 
but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it, It 
is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. Now that, 
as I said, reflects Exodus chapter 20 at verses 8 to 11. And then 
in the second giving of the law in the book of Deuteronomy to 
the second generation, remember the wilderness generation dies 
in the wilderness for their grumbling and their rebellion against God. 
So on the plains of Moab, as they're poised to go into the 
promised land, God, through Moses, gives a series of exhortations. 
He reiterates the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy chapter 5. So 
in Deuteronomy 5, 12 to 15, you see that same emphasis on the 
fourth commandment. Now in terms of that specific 
commandment, there is a positive aspect. So in Exodus, they are 
commanded to remember the day, Exodus 20 and verse 8. And then 
in Deuteronomy 20 at verse 12, they're told to observe the day. 
The Israelites in Exodus 20 at verse 12 are told to remember 
something, which indicates that it had already been present. 
It had already been extant. There was already something in 
operation that God reminds them of or calls upon them not to 
forget. You are to remember the Sabbath 
day. It had already been in place 
because God ordained it in the garden in Genesis 2, verses 2 
and 3. We see Cain and Abel. go at the 
end of the days, that's the end of the days of the week, to present 
their sacrifices before God. They had received that through 
God, or by God, through Adam. Adam knew that, and Adam passed 
that on to Cain and Abel. So they, at the end of days, 
come and present their sacrifice to God. Exodus chapter 16, when 
they're gathering manna, God tells them to collect the double 
portion on Friday so that they can observe the Sabbath on Saturday, 
so that they can rest, do no regular work on that day, so 
that you can rest in the Lord and sanctify the Lord. So they're 
told to remember what had already been in place, and the Israelites 
were to observe that which had already been in place. And the 
reason they were to remember the day, or the specific focus, 
was to keep it holy. They were to keep it holy. The 
activity of God recorded in Genesis 2-3 was the paradigm for Israel. In Genesis 2, we find God, having 
created in the space of six days all things out of nothing by 
the word of his power and all very good, on that seventh day 
he rested. There was a rest of complacency, 
a rest of approval. And we read there in chapter 
2 in verse 3 in the book of Genesis, then God blessed the seventh 
day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His 
work which God had created and made. That does not mean He is 
the deistical God that made the world and then sort of forgets 
all about it. Rather, it means that He rested 
from that work of creation ex nihilo, creation out of nothing. He built the world. He did all 
that he intended to do, and now he rests, he's enthroned, and 
he looks upon approvingly his creation. G.K. Beale makes this 
observation with reference to Genesis 2 and verse 3, in the 
context of arguing from that passage that this includes a 
mandate to humans. This is where Adam would have 
learned Sabbath-keeping from God Most High. Beal says the 
Hebrew word for bless is normally restricted to living beings in 
the Old Testament and typically does not apply to something being 
blessed or sanctified only for God's sake. Accordingly, Genesis 
2-3 appears to be directed to humanity as a creational ordinance 
to regard the seventh day of each week to be blessed and set 
apart by God. Creation ordinances. In other 
words, what God does in the creation account, the creature is supposed 
to observe and glean from that, and learn from that. We see labor 
emphasized by God with reference to Adam. We see marriage as a 
creation ordinance. We see, as well, Sabbath-keeping 
as a creation ordinance. Now, when it comes to Sabbath 
dispute in the book of Mark, chapter 2 specifically, when 
Jesus is going head-to-head with the Pharisees, he speaks about 
the Sabbath being made for man, and not man made for the Sabbath. 
And then Jesus asserts his lordship and authority over the Sabbath. 
And Ryle comments there. He says God gave it for Adam 
in paradise. He didn't give it initially to 
the Jews at Sinai. The Sabbath command predates 
Sinai. It goes back to Genesis chapter 
2. He says God gave it for Adam in paradise and renewed it to 
Israel on Mount Sinai. It was made for all mankind, 
not for the Jew only, but for the whole family of Adam. So 
the creature is to remember and observe that day in religious 
worship unto God. So that's the positive aspect. 
In terms of the prohibition, you're to cease from your regular 
labor. That's contained there in Exodus 20, and again in Deuteronomy 
chapter 5. There is a prohibition against 
regular work. You see that sprinkled upon these 
feasts of the Lord as well. No customary work. In other words, 
there's to be a cessation from labor for that particular day 
to give yourself wholly to the glory of God. On these feasts, 
the same sort of thing obtained. They were to cease from their 
regular stuff, and they were to enter into the presence of 
God and enjoy communion and union with Him. And I think we glean 
from this that God takes our rest seriously. God commands 
His people to rest. God gives us the gift of Sabbath 
for that particular reason. We're not machines, we're not 
tractors, we're not those who can continue unabated. God speaks 
with grace to His people and gives the gift of Sabbath to 
them for their rest and for His glory. So there was to be no 
regular work, and the scope of the command was comprehensive. The covenant family, even the 
beasts of burden, were to be given that day off. And then 
in terms of implications, we have a cessation from regular 
employment. But the Fourth Commandment, we 
need to remember, not only enjoins Sabbath-keeping, but it does 
enjoin good hard work. Six days you shall labor and 
do all your work." In other words, God doesn't command only rest. 
He doesn't command that you just lay on your couch all the time 
or that you only engage in holy duties. No, going out to work 
is a very blessed and wonderful pursuit that God gives to man. But as well, we need to see that 
there is this pursuit of holy things. If you turn to the prophet 
Isaiah, specifically in Isaiah chapter 58, Isaiah 56 and 58 
speak to the issue of the weekly Sabbath, and the context is very 
appropriate to a New Covenant setting because it speaks concerning 
the Messianic reign. It's looking forward to the coming 
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and it tells us those things that 
will occur in that New Covenant era. Chapter 56 speaks about 
the eunuchs having been excluded from the presence of God. We 
saw that in Leviticus chapter 21. Last Wednesday night, well 
in Acts chapter 8, we see the Ethiopian eunuch brought in to 
full communion and union with God Most High. So 56 deals with 
that, it deals with Sabbaths. But then here in chapter 58, 
God gives what is the underlying sort of idea relative to Sabbath 
keeping. Now, in this new covenant era, 
I know that questions come up. Can I go to Tim Hortons on Sunday? 
Can I go do my shopping at Superstore on Sunday? I think that if you 
get the doctrine down, I'm leaning on Dabney here. Dabney says if 
you get the doctrine down, then the practice kind of works itself 
out. There's not, you know, a strict set of rules in Romans 17, which 
there is no Romans 17. These things you can and cannot 
do. But the spirit of the Sabbath is here in Isaiah 58, at verses 
13 and 14. Notice, if you turn away your 
foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, 
and call the Sabbath a delight, Notice, your pleasure contrasted 
with a delight in God. He's not saying your pleasure 
is necessarily wrong. He's not condemning your time 
with your wife. He's not condemning your playing 
ball with your children. He's not condemning that. But 
he's saying there should be a cessation of those regular sorts of things. 
I'm not saying don't play ball with your child on Sunday. You 
can't throw the Nerf ball to your kid. That wasn't the implication. 
The idea is that he's not after you to have this dour, sour, 
you know, lemon-looking, you know, I just ate a lemon, I'm 
gonna be sad and pathetic all day on a Sunday. That's not the 
spirit of Sabbath-keeping. Notice, if you turn away your 
foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, 
and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, 
and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your 
own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight 
yourself in the Lord. and I will cause you to ride 
on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage 
of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken." 
And then back to our particular text, with reference to the fourth 
commandment, we see the positive aspect, remember or observe, 
and or observe, and then the prohibition, a cessation from 
labor, and then the rationale. What's the reason God gives for 
Sabbath keeping in Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5? Well, in Exodus 
chapter 20, it's the doctrine of creation. Again, it points 
us right back to Genesis chapter 2. In other words, for in six 
days the Lord your God made the earth and all things in it. And 
on the seventh day, he rested. That's the rationale for the 
creature to observe this one day and seven. God made the world 
and rested. You occupy space in his world. You ought to do likewise and 
rest. The second reason is in the book of Deuteronomy, and 
it's redemption. Because God has redeemed you out of the house 
of bondage, or out of the house of Egypt and bondage, you now 
have this blessed privilege of life in the land and rest in 
your God. So again, we need to get away 
from this idea that Sabbath-keeping, for instance, is this imposition 
that is bad and harsh and vicious on people. and then notice with 
reference, moving on now, to the annual feasts in verses 4 
to 44. Again, you've got a bit of a 
general statement there in verse 44 announcing the particular 
theme, these are the feasts of the Lord, holy convocations which 
you shall proclaim at their appointed times. Again, this is God, this 
isn't Moses, this isn't a band of men that are pious in Israel, 
and they say, you know what, we should really have these fall 
feasts, we should really have these spring feasts, it'd be 
a good thing for us to engage in, and to show our appreciation 
to God the Lord. No, God the Lord regulates that. 
In fact, I would argue that the fourth day and the creation of 
light bearers for seasons has to do with Israel's calendar, 
has to do with the fact that they were a body of people covenanted 
to God that were going to engage in worship according to a particular 
plan and purpose. So that's the declaration. I'm 
going to quote Wenham now concerning the specific emphasis. He says 
the recurring refrains in this chapter about holy conventions, 
our translation has convocation, and rest days shows that this 
chapter is dealing with how the laity, the non-priests, should 
celebrate these holy days. This is a calendar for laymen. 
not priests. A comparison with Numbers 28 
and 29 confirms this. Numbers 28 and 29 specifies in 
detail which animals are to be offered on each day. By contrast, 
this chapter is usually content with a brief reference to food 
offerings, a phrase which covers all sacrifices except the purification 
offering. It was the priest's task to know 
what kind of sacrifice must be offered on which occasion. It 
was enough for the layman to remember that he had to attend 
the Holy Convention, at which sacrifices would be offered on 
his behalf, and to observe these extra rest days. So that's the 
focus here. It's not instruction to the priests 
on how to conduct this, it is rather revelation to the children 
of Israel on how they were to observe this. So the priest would 
be tasked with offering up the sacrifices, the worshiper would 
be tasked with being present, and then knowing what was going 
on in terms of what the priest's conduct was. Now in terms of 
the nature of the feast, holy convocation is used often, or 
holy conventions. Is that what the NIV has? Conventions? Or convocations? Look at verse, 
I'm sorry, verse two. It has conventions? Okay, yeah, 
this comes up in verses 2, 3, 4, 7, 8, 21, 24, 27, 35, 36, 
37. And there will be a quiz on that 
when we end our time tonight. Worship services, the time that 
the children of Israel come out and they gather together corporately. 
Now there's this emphasis in the Bible on corporate worship. 
Not suggesting that you can't read your Bible and be blessed 
in your private time. You should and can. Not saying 
you can't be blessed at the family altar when the dad or mom opens 
the scriptures and reads that to the children. Not saying that 
at all. But in Psalm 87 we see that Yahweh 
loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places 
of Jacob. Doesn't mean he hates the dwelling places of Jacob. 
He just delights when the people of God come together as the people 
of God corporately to worship him and to praise him. And so 
this heavy emphasis on these holy convocations simply means 
worship services in Israel's calendar. Notice as well the 
perpetuity of the feast. You see this emphasis on forever 
in verse 14b, verse 21b, and verse 41b. So naturally, persons 
read these verses and say, well, we've got to keep the Feast of 
Weeks because we're still part of forever here. We've got to 
keep the Feast of Tabernacles because we're still part of forever 
here. I would suggest that forever is conditioned by the covenant 
that it is in. So the old covenant governs that 
use of forever. So in other words, God says as 
long as the old covenant is extant, you must observe these feasts. 
As long as the old covenant is in play, you must be obedient 
with reference to these feasts. When we know that Jesus has come, 
the old covenant is now obsolete, not because it was bad, but because 
it had functioned in the manner that God had intended. Christ 
comes, he ushers in the new covenant. So based on that reality and 
several other concerns, there is no abiding emphasis on the 
children of God in the New Covenant to keep the Feast of Weeks, to 
keep the Passover, to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. This is 
an Old Covenant people observance. So the forever there is conditioned 
or governed by the Covenant. Now with reference to the Spring 
Feast, you see that in verses 5 to 22. And again, we're not 
going to go through every jot in detail here. But first, you 
have the Passover and unleavened bread. These go together. Now, 
Wenham extends from verse 4 all the way to verse 14, where if 
you have the New King James right above verse 9, you see the translators 
put in, the feast of first fruits. This is the part that's a bit 
ambiguous for me. I didn't have enough time today 
to go through and comb through all the commentaries. So I'm 
just going to lump it in as he does here, Passover and unleavened 
bread. So the Feast of Unleavened Bread 
is sometimes just called that, but it always includes Passover. 
It occurred or it was celebrated in the month of Abib, which was 
called Nisan, after the exile. So that'd be about March or April 
in our calendar. It's also spoken to in detail 
in Exodus chapters 12 and 13. Remember, Exodus chapter 12 is 
the specific instructions for the Passover. The children of 
Israel were to kill their animal, they were to splash the lamb 
above their door so that the angel of death could pass over 
and then kill the Egyptians, and not the children of Israel. 
So Passover loomed large in Israel's history. And with reference to 
the reason for the feast, it is because it celebrates the 
redemption from their bondage in Egypt. So Deuteronomy 16 also 
deals with the feast, as does Exodus chapter 23. Exodus 23, 
not so much. Deuteronomy 16, a bit more fuller. So I'm going to lean on Deuteronomy 
16 a little bit as well. So the reason for the feast was 
specifically stated in Deuteronomy 16, for in it you came out of 
Egypt. So it was the great redemptive 
act of God in the Old Covenant, when God delivered the children 
of Israel out of Egyptian bondage. Remember, the book of Genesis 
ends on a high note. Joseph is exalted, he's elevated, 
he's basically second in charge over Egypt. Well, then he dies, 
and then the new pharaoh didn't know the history of Joseph, and 
he sees all these Hebrews as a wonderful slave force, and 
he puts them into slavery. The children of Israel about 
Exodus 2.25 cry out because of the bondage that they find themselves 
in. They're in pain, they're suffering. It's not necessarily 
God we want to repent for any sins that we may have committed. 
They're just hurting. So they cry out to God, God hears, 
and then He calls Moses to be that deliverer, to be that instrument 
by which the children of Israel will be delivered. Now we know 
how the narrative goes, we know that it's quite dramatic, we 
know that it's quite awesome, the way that God plagues the 
Egyptians, And he delivers the children of Israel through the 
Red Sea. And it's a great and triumphant victory on the part 
of God for his people. So the Passover remembers that, 
or the Passover recollects that. And that's the emphasis here. 
And with reference to sacrifice in Deuteronomy 16, 15, it says, 
none shall appear before me empty. In other words, you're supposed 
to bring a sacrifice. You're supposed to bring an offering. 
And I'll argue later that all of these feasts have a specific 
emphasis on that reality. The idea being that God's given 
you everything. God's given you life. God's given 
you food. God's given you water. God's 
given you everything, jobs. So it is right and honorable 
for the child of God to bring sacrifice to the Lord. Now secondly, 
you have the Feast of Weeks in verses 15 to 22. It's referred 
to as the Feast of Harvest in Exodus 23, verse 16. Literally, in the Septuagint, 
which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament, 
Here in verses 15 and 16 is where the word Pentecost comes from. 
This is also referred to as the Feast of Pentecost. Pentecost 
simply means 50th. And when you do the math, you 
will see count 50 days. Pentecost to the day after the 
seventh Sabbath. So this is the Feast of Weeks, 
or Pentecost. This is when, in Acts chapter 
2, the children, the Israelites, were all gathered together in 
Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost. And that was a unique time for 
the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. All nations were gathered together 
there. The Spirit comes in power and fulfillment of Joel's prophecy. 
And then the church receives that endowment or that blessing 
of the Spirit to engage in the task of missionary enterprise. 
So the Feast of Weeks was celebrated in the month of Sivan, which 
was May or June on our calendar. And it was a time to remember 
God's blessing and God's provision. In Deuteronomy 16.10, it says, 
which you shall give as the Lord your God blesses you. And the 
feast was a time to remember their bondage in Egypt and redemption 
by God. So that's a recurring theme as 
you go through these feast days. God tells them to remember that 
redemptive act. Now it's not the exact same, 
but there's certainly a parallel with reference to the supper. 
What do we do when we come to the supper? It's not a reward 
for our good behavior. It's not a special token where 
God says, you know, I'm really pleased with you all, so go ahead 
and take this bread and drink this cup. It's a time to remember. 
Remember what? Do this in remembrance of me, 
the great redemptive act of God in that new covenant setting, 
we have this Lord's Supper, that sacrament, to be that reminder 
for us. And then as well, if you look 
specifically at our text here in 2322, it was a time to express 
charity for the poor. When you reap the harvest of 
your land, you shall not wholly reap the corners of your field 
when you reap, nor shall you gather any gleaning from your 
harvest. You shall leave them for the poor and for the stranger. 
I am the Lord your God." So built into the civil polity in Old 
Covenant Israel was charity for the poor. It didn't come in the 
form of a welfare check. It didn't come to a guy that 
laid on his couch and watched Oprah all day and drank orange 
soda. It came for those, even though 
they were poor, they went out and they labored. They went out 
and collected that which was left by those who had plenty. So it was a time to express charity 
for other children of God in the covenant community that were 
poor. And then that brings us to the fall feasts in verses 
23 to 24. I'm sorry, 23 to 44. We've got the Feast of Trumpets 
in verses 23 to 25, a very brief passage, �Then the Lord spoke 
to Moses, saying, �Speak to the children of Israel, saying, �In 
the seventh month, on the first day of the month, you shall have 
a Sabbath rest, a memorial of blowing of trumpets, a holy convocation. You shall do no customary work 
on it, and you shall offer an offering made by fire to the 
Lord.� I haven't done the math, but I believe that there were 
Sabbaths that would have occurred on non-Saturdays. So you had 
the weekly Saturday Sabbath, but then you had occasional Sabbaths. 
I think it's those occasional Sabbaths that Paul refers to 
in Colossians 2, 16 and 17, a passage that people believe mitigates 
against Sabbath observance. Somebody come in? I'm gonna hear him throw down. 
I just thought maybe... So there were occasional Sabbaths 
that were on Israel's calendar as well. And then the next one 
is the Day of Atonement in verses 26 to 32. Now the Day of Atonement 
is covered at length in Leviticus chapter 16, and in Leviticus 
chapter 16 at verse 29, you have the same time reference as verse 
27. Also, the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day 
of Atonement. These three feasts, these two 
and the next one, all occur in the seventh month according to 
verses 24, 27, and 34. So the seventh month was a busy 
month in terms of feasts to the Lord with reference to Old Covenant 
Israel. And then you have finally the 
Feast of Tabernacles in verses 33 to 43. It's also referred 
to as the Feast of Ingathering in Exodus chapter 23, verse 16. It was celebrated in the month 
Tishri, the seventh month, so that would be September, October 
on our calendar. And the feast was a time of celebration 
at the later harvest. Everything good? OK. And then the feast was also a 
time when the children of Israel dwelt in booths. That's the feast 
of tabernacle. Tabernacle simply means dwelling 
place. So a booth, a tent, a dwelling 
place, whatever, however the translation you have translates 
it. The idea is, and it's found there specifically at the bottom, 
Notice in specifically verse 40, you shall take for yourselves 
on the first day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of 
palm trees, the boughs of leafy trees, and willows of the brook. 
And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God for seven days. 
You shall keep it as a feast to the Lord for seven days in 
the year. It shall be a statute forever 
in your generations. You shall celebrate it in the 
seventh month. You shall dwell in booths for seven days. All 
who are native Israelites shall dwell in booths. Notice the specific 
purpose here, that your generations may know that I made the children 
of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land 
of Egypt. I am the Lord your God. So the 
specific emphasis, again, is to recall that time when they 
were delivered from Egypt, and they dwelt in these temporary 
dwellings, tents, booths, or tabernacles in the wilderness. 
Meredith Klein says, the name tabernacles reflects the custom 
of dwelling in booths during the festival, which served as 
a memorial of life in the wilderness. So not only were they redeemed 
by God, they were sustained by God in the wilderness. The children 
of Israel had a wrong reading, the Old Covenant apostate, or 
non-believers in Old Covenant Israel, had a wrong reading on 
the wilderness. They looked at it as a time of 
curse. They looked at it with scorn. 
God tells them, as a father carried his son, so I carried you. It 
was God's sustaining and God's influence and God's blessing 
upon them in the midst of the wilderness. Is it somebody in particular? 
Really? Is it a girl? Okay, because there 
was a girl hanging out here earlier today. Like we should go eject them 
from the sanctuary, honestly. Give them the heave-ho. What'd you say? I think we probably got enough 
guys out there, yeah. What's that? Oh, Isaac's worried 
about his bike, gotcha. Well, the guy could take it and 
ride off, not a bad concern. All right, so that's basically 
the chapter. I just have a couple of thoughts 
in terms of application. The first is the purpose for 
the feasts. The purpose for the feasts, that 
comes from the passage, it comes from Exodus 23, Deuteronomy 16, 
and just some other passages in the Old Covenant here. First, 
to remind the covenant community of their history. Just like our 
history is rehearsed for us when we take this bread and eat this 
bread and drink this cup. We remember our history. Do this 
in remembrance of me. So these feasts would help the 
children of Israel not forget from whence they came and the 
position that God had blessed them with. Secondly, it was to 
promote joy in the covenant community. Look specifically at chapter 
23 and verse 40. and you shall take for yourselves on the first 
day the fruit of beautiful trees, branches of palm trees, the boughs 
of leafy trees, and willows of the brook, and you shall rejoice 
before the Lord your God for seven days." So again, the idea 
here is not pain, torture, punishment, and misery. It's joy in the presence 
of God Most High. It's delight in remembering what 
God had done in terms of redemption. So to remind the covenant community 
of their history. Second, to promote joy in the 
covenant community. Third, to encourage community 
participation in the covenant community. Turn to Deuteronomy 
16. Deuteronomy 16, specifically at verses 11 and 14, you'll see 
that everybody was to participate. It wasn't simply the heads of 
the household. It wasn't simply the men that were to respond. 
Now there were instances where just men went to the city of 
Jerusalem, but in these feasts, all the people were to participate. 
Notice in chapter 16 at verse 11. So it was to be a time of joy, 
and it was to be a time of joy for the entirety of the family. 
And that's rehearsed again in verse 14, "...you shall rejoice 
in your feast, you and your son and your daughter, your male 
servant and your female servant, and the Levite, the stranger, 
and the fatherless, and the widow, who are within your gates." So 
it was a time to encourage community participation in the covenant 
community. Fourth, it was to promote reciprocity 
within the covenant community. Reciprocity means I give and 
I take. You give and you take. Specifically, 
reciprocity to the poor. We see that there in chapter 
23 at verse 22. When you go and you reap, leave 
some for the poor in Israel so that they may enjoy the bounty 
of the land. But then as well, a reciprocity with reference 
to God. The offering of sacrifice to 
God. Notice specifically at verses 
37 and 38. These are the feasts of the Lord, which you shall 
proclaim to be holy convocations, to offer an offering made by 
fire to the Lord, a burnt offering and a grain offering, a sacrifice 
and drink offerings, everything on its day. God, again, is kind 
in his provision. God, again, is kind in his goodness 
to his people, and God gives us things richly to enjoy. But 
it is duty but privilege as well for us to return a portion to 
God in a hearty acknowledgment that He has blessed us. The Apostle 
indicates in our New Covenant setting that God loves a cheerful 
giver. He doesn't want you grudgingly 
offering up money or time or talents or whatever it might 
be in terms of His service. No, He calls us to cheerfulness 
in this. God blessed us. God gave us greatly. We are to return in kind things 
to Him. Fifth, as well, the purpose for 
the feast, to protect the covenant community from idolatry. To protect 
the covenant community from idolatry. Notice again in verse 44. So 
Moses declared to the children of Israel the feasts of the Lord. 
Lord there is capitalized, that means Yahweh, God of Israel, 
God of the covenant people. Craigie says, the Passover was 
a celebration of freedom. But at the same time, it was 
a reminder that freedom from Egypt and worldly dominion had 
been exchanged almost immediately for a new commitment. The new 
commitment was made evident in that their celebration was made 
by the Israelites as the covenant people of God. So in other words, 
these feasts, the weekly Sabbath, was a deterrent to the idolatry 
that infects the people of God. My little children are little 
children. Keep yourselves from idols, 1 John 5, 21. Church attendance, 
observance of the sacrament, those things are necessary to 
guard our minds and hearts and to keep us from straying from 
the God that we love. And then sixth, it was to promote 
obedience in the covenant people. Freedom from slavery in Egypt 
meant joyful obedience to God their Savior. Notice the stipulation 
specifically in verses 29 and 30. For any person who is not 
afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his 
people. And any person who does any work on that same day, that 
person I will destroy from among his people. Sanctions are attached 
in order to promote this obedience, not just the only reason, but 
one of the reasons these stipulations are added is to promote obedience 
in the covenant people. And then finally, in terms of 
the purpose for the feast, to provide rest for the covenant 
people. Again, God is good. He gives 
us rest. God's not at war with us in our 
nature. He made us as creatures. We need 
to eat, we need to exercise, we need to rest. And God sees 
that, and God provides for that. So, no customary work. We see 
it in verse 8, 21, 25, 27, 28, 32, 35, and 36. So in Israel's calendar, you 
had time off from your customary work to be spent in the presence 
of God, in the presence of others, to do good to others, and to 
enjoy the bounty that God had provided. So the purpose for 
the feasts, I'm sure there's other things that could be said. 
Secondly, I just want to speak quickly to the perpetuity of 
the feasts. As I said, the feasts are categorized 
as ceremonial law. Moral law, Exodus 20, Deuteronomy 
5, is perpetual. It's binding on all men everywhere. 
It's trans-covenantal. That means it doesn't matter 
what covenant you find yourself in, it's always wrong to murder. 
It's always wrong to engage in idolatry. It's always wrong to 
commit adultery. It's always wrong to do what 
God says in those Ten Commandments. So moral law is binding upon 
the New Covenant people, Old Covenant people, whoever. But 
with reference to ceremonial law, it was given specifically 
to the children of Israel for purposes. Our confession, I think, 
summarizes this well. It says, besides this law, after 
having commented on moral law, commonly called moral, should 
have just read that, God was pleased to give to the people 
of Israel ceremonial laws. Now, here's what ceremonial laws 
do. Here's what they did. Here's how they function. Containing 
several typical ordinances. Remember, a type is something 
that happens in the past and points forward to something in 
the future. So in the Old Testament, you have types. They could be 
people. They could be events. They could be buildings. They 
could be certain things that had typical significance of something 
that would be the anti-type that would come in the stead of, that 
would fulfill that type. So that's what typical ordinances 
mean. So, containing several typical 
ordinances, partly of worship, prefiguring Christ, His graces, 
actions, sufferings, and benefits, and partly holding forth diverse 
instructions of moral duties, all which ceremonial laws, being 
appointed only to the time of Reformation, are by Jesus Christ 
the true Messiah and only Lawgiver, who is furnished with power from 
the Father for that end, abrogated and taken away. So when it comes 
to these feast days, as I said, the Old Covenant was the forever. When the Old Covenant is rendered 
obsolete by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the inauguration 
and institution of the New Covenant, those feasts that were attached 
to Old Covenant worship are no longer binding upon us. just 
like Old Covenant sacrifices, just like temple worship, just 
like a priesthood. Those things unique to Israel's 
worship, those were bound up with Old Covenant ceremonial 
laws. So when we come to the New Covenant, 
it's the New Covenant that's supposed to inform and instruct 
us when it comes to worship in the Church of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. We don't co-opt old covenant elements and bring them in to 
new covenant situations. That's a big problem. You can't 
do that. That's not right. And so with 
reference to the feast, their perpetuity was governed by the 
covenant. So the abrogation of the old 
covenant means the abrogation of the ceremonial law of the 
old covenant. So therefore, no feasts for us today. And then 
finally, I don't mean no feasts, we can feast, God's good, but 
no feasts commanded on our calendar with reference to the Church 
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then finally, the place of 
the weekly Sabbath. I mentioned earlier the Sabbath 
is both moral and ceremonial. So the principle, one day out 
of seven, the creature must worship the Creator. That is binding. 
That's binding upon all men at all times. If we try to jettison 
that, we have to argue as to how one of the Ten Commandments 
is still no longer binding on us today. That's a fool's errand. That's a very difficult thing 
to do. I know some have tried. I know there's an ethic that 
says, or a practice that says, well, if it's not repeated in 
the New Testament, then it's no longer binding. The Reformed 
people say, no, if it's not rescinded in the New Testament, then it's 
still binding. You'll find no command in the New Covenant to 
forbid bestiality. And yet we all prohibit that 
based on old covenant precepts. So we need to make sure that 
we're arguing and thinking through these things rationally. So the 
Sabbath is both moral and ceremonial. The ceremonial aspect deals specifically 
with the day upon which we worship and the worship that is conducted 
on that day. We don't have a priesthood. We 
don't have a temple. We don't have a tabernacle. We 
don't have sacrifices. We don't have incense. We don't 
have all those things. As well, the perpetuity of the 
Sabbath is grounded in the moral law. It's grounded in the moral 
law of God. So it's binding upon us in this 
day. So the New Covenant upholds the 
Sabbath, not the Old Covenant feasts. The New Covenant upholds 
the Sabbath, but not the Old Covenant feasts. And by Sabbath, 
I mean weekly Sabbath. William Ames made the observation, 
because oftentimes, not often, but outside of a reformed community, 
people hear this and they think legalism. People hear this and 
they think Judaizing. People hear this and they think, 
oh, you're taking us back to the old covenant. No, that's 
not it at all. The Ten Commandments are binding. 
That's the argument. The Fourth Commandment is part 
of a unit. If you get rid of the fourth, you've got to have 
some good rationale as to why you get rid of the fourth. I've 
got arguments for the three passages in the New Covenant that seem 
to mitigate against Sabbath-keeping. Romans 14, Galatians 4, and Colossians 
2. Those are passages that don't 
speak to weekly Sabbath-keeping. But we have the firm word of 
our Lord Jesus in Matthew 5, 17-20, Do not think that I came 
to abolish the law. I didn't come to abolish it, 
but I came to fulfill it, confirm it, to strengthen it, to heighten 
it in some sense, at least relative to our confession. So Ames says, 
to those who say this is legalism, this is Judaizing, he says, He's right. The more that a people 
disregard this principle of sanctification, Jesus prayed, sanctify them by 
thy truth, thy word is truth. If we say, well, the fourth commandment 
really isn't for us today, when we jettison that, it does have 
a practical impact upon the one who jettisons it. And Voss makes 
the interesting observation with reference to the Sabbath. He 
says, it has faithfully accompanied the people of God on their march 
through the ages. I love that. It has faithfully 
accompanied the people of God on their march through the ages. 
And then the last thing I want to mention is, with reference 
to these feasts of the Lord, I want to mention just a real 
practical thing. The Free Grace Baptist Church 
never had an opportunity to do this so near Christmas. It does 
not have special services during the calendar year because of 
the regulative principle of worship. Now, it hasn't happened, well, 
maybe it does a little bit here and there, but several years 
ago I used to get a lot of questions, why don't you have a Christmas 
service on a Thursday, if Christmas is on Thursday? Why don't you 
have a Christmas service on Tuesday, if Christmas is on Tuesday? Why 
don't you guys have a service on Ascension Thursday? Why don't 
you guys have a service we do on Easter Sunday, but for a different 
reason? Why don't you have a service 
on this day? Because of the regular principle of worship. The regular 
principle of worship means that we go based on what covenant 
we are in and listen to the covenant head command us on how we're 
supposed to worship. It's just that simple. Now, as 
I said, I don't get as many questions now. We're just looked at as 
the weird church in town that doesn't have a Christmas service 
on Thursday if Christmas is on Thursday. Turretin makes this 
observation. in his chapter on the Law of 
God with reference to festivals. Festivals, things that the Church 
imposes on the people of God in the New Covenant. Does the 
Church have the right to impose things on the people of God in 
the New Covenant? Yes, they do if it's commanded 
by God. If it's not commanded by God, 
no, they do not. So that's basically the argument. 
The regular principle of worship says we're supposed to do nothing 
more, nothing less, and nothing else than what God demands in 
worship. And again, we don't go to the old covenant to ask, 
how do we worship God? We go to the new covenant when 
it comes to how do we worship God. So he asks the question, 
whether it belongs to the faith in the New Testament that besides 
the Lord's Day, there are other festival days, properly so called, 
whose celebration is necessary per se and by reason of mystery, 
not by reason of order or ecclesiastical polity only. He says, we deny 
against the Papists. Notice who's in his crosshairs. It's the Papists. It's the Papists 
who added to the calendar. It's the Papists who added these 
days. I called them, when I was a kid 
in the Papist church, we called them holy days of obligation. 
You were obligated to observe that particular day. Why? Because 
Jesus commanded it? No, because the Pope commanded 
it, because councils had commanded it, because tradition had commanded 
it and upheld it. So he gives several reasons as 
to why we deny this. And he says this, it is one thing 
to make mention of the conception, nativity, death, resurrection, 
and ascension of Christ on certain days in discourses to the people, 
and thus to embrace the opportunity of exhorting, consoling, instructing 
Christians to edification, piety, patience, and holiness. It is 
another, however, to make, and by established law, to impose 
necessarily upon Christians festivals sacred to God and the saints, 
to constitute these a part of religion and divine worship as 
more holy than other days." The former, mentioning the Nativity, 
mentioning the Incarnation, and this is our practice, We don't 
have a special Christmas service, but it's usually in the minds 
of everybody, so it seems wise or prudent to preach sermons 
on the Incarnation. It's a good time of the year 
to do that, but it's not a holy day of obligation that we set 
apart and bind the people of God's consciences to. You better 
show up for church on a Thursday if Christmas is on a Thursday. 
He says, the former can sometimes be employed with advantage according 
to the circumstances of time, place, persons, and things. And 
then he says, parenthetically, provided abuse, superstition, 
and idolatry are absent, as was not rarely done in the primitive 
church. He says, but the latter, making laws, making impositions 
upon the people of God in their consciences in terms of observing 
holy days. He says, the latter is not lawful, 
both because it belongs to God alone and not to men, to prescribe 
what belongs to divine worship, and because religious worship 
is not to be paid to any creatures but to God alone. I think that's 
a great answer. I think our confession as well 
summarizes it well. But the acceptable way of worshipping 
the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His 
own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to 
the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, 
under any visible representations or any other way not prescribed 
in the Holy Scriptures. So generally speaking, light 
of nature teaches us there is a God, we are His creatures, 
we should worship Him. But that's not all. We are not 
then left to ourselves to divine how we're supposed to worship 
this God. We look to the Book of God to give us commandment 
from God on how to worship God. In the Old Covenant, it was tabernacle, 
temple. It was priesthood. It was sacrifice. 
It was incense. It was instruments. It was a 
whole host of things. In the New Covenant, we pray 
the Word, we preach the Word, we read the Word, we sing the 
Word, and we see the Word. That's the emphasis in New Covenant 
worship. When it comes to the appointed 
time, it's on the Lord's Day, the Christian Sabbath, which 
is perpetual. It is to be observed even to 
the end of the age. That's why we don't have Christmas 
services on a Thursday, if Christmas is on a Thursday. Well, let us 
pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank 
you for your word. We thank you for this section 
in Leviticus 23 and the emphasis that we find here in terms of 
the worship of God by the people of God in a manner appointed 
by you. We thank you for the blessings that we have in the 
new covenant. We thank you for our church. We thank you for 
all the churches of Christ. We thank you that your people 
are scattered throughout the earth and that each and every 
Lord's Day they gather together corporately to bring glory and 
praise unto our great God. I pray that you would go with 
us now, that you would watch over us in the remainder of this 
week, and we pray that you would be glorified in our private lives, 
in our family lives, and with reference to our church and in 
society as well. And we ask through Jesus Christ 
our Lord.