Refuting Sunday-Keeping IX

The reason that it’s taking so long to do and covering so many things, is because there is just an unprecedented amount of twisting of the Scriptures. And as I pointed out last time, of lawlessness, meaning that those who believe in Sunday-keeping, the first thing they have to do is ridicule and reject the Word of God.

There are many other things here in this book, but let’s come to this one now, which is a famous one that they always bring out: Refuting Sabbath-keeping #7, out of this book, Sunday Facts and Sabbath Fiction by Russell Tardo.

7.     No Sabbath observance before the law

That’s a famous one that is quoted over and over again. Now let me just read a couple of things here.

Sabbath observance did not exist before the giving of the law to Moses on Sinai. Though many Sabbatarians zealously claim otherwise, there is no commandment to observe the Sabbath before the institution of the Mosaic Law. There is no instance of Sabbath-keeping before the time of Moses.

One zealous Sabbatarian stated, although not mentioned by name, “The Sabbath was kept by the ancient patriarch Abraham.”

Then we’ll look at that quote. Let’s examine some of the things here. Let’s go back to the beginning and let’s come down to Abraham and let’s come down to the time of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and we will look at it. Let’s understand exactly what the Bible is telling us. Now it may not say, which it does not, and there’s some truth in what he says, it is not mentioned by name after Gen. 2. So that’s not a fair statement to say, ‘it was not mentioned by name the Sabbath was kept by the ancient patriarch Abraham.’ No! It is mentioned.

It is so important, as a matter of fact, that it’s part of creation. Many people have never even thought of this way, but if you try and do away with the requirement for keeping the Sabbath, then what you’re trying to do is do away with part of the creation of God. And since this is a creation of time, it doesn’t leave evidence of a destruction, like you would try and do away with part of the earth as it has been created. So therefore, people think that, ‘Well, since nothing happened to us in rejecting the Sabbath, then it’s perfectly all right not to keep it.’

Well, let’s look and see what Genesis 2 says and then we’ll look at Abel and we’ll look at Enoch and then we will look at how the earth was during the days of Noah. We will see that you cannot have righteousness without the keeping of the commandments of God, which includes the Sabbath. So therefore, after Gen. 2, though it is not mentioned by name specifically, if someone is going to be, as Abel was called, a preacher of righteousness and that he walked with God, then they had to keep the Sabbath.

Now let’s read Genesis 2:1: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” What is the law of God and the commandments of God based upon? Jesus said, as we’ve already covered back in Matt. 5:17 didn’t we? He didn’t ‘come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; He came to fulfill, and until heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no way, or manner, pass from the law. So Christ made it very specific that the laws and commandments of God are also tied to the creation. And as a matter of fact, the very law of the Sabbath is created time and God makes it specific here in Genesis 2

“And by the beginning of the seventh day God finished His work which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made…. [Now if that would have just been the end of it, then we wouldn’t have any controversy over the Sabbath. He just rested, because He finished His work.] …And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it...” When you bless something, when God has made it and put His blessing on it, that is a profound thing. A lot of people want to have the blessings of God without keeping His laws or commandments. Just look at the world we have today for those who don’t do it, for those who reject the laws and commandments of God. What do we have?

• trouble
• crime
• sickness
• disease
• venereal disease
• murder
• rape
• idolatry

—don’t we? So God in starting off the creation made the Sabbath Holy.

1. He blessed it
2. He sanctified it

Now ‘sanctified’ means to be made Holy. So if God makes something Holy, then if you say there was no Sabbath observance before the law, then what you have to find is someplace between Gene. 2 and Exo. 16 where God said that He has now made this time not Holy and you find no place.

“...and sanctified it because on it He rested from all His work which God had created and made” (v 3). God set us an example. God is the one Who rested. Now, when we come to the case of Adam and Eve, as long as they walked with God, however long it was before they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and of course, that’s just what we have today. People say that you cannot experience wholeness or you cannot experience the full expression of your being unless you experiment and you decide, by opinion, what is right and what is good. God says, ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts and My ways are not your ways. Because as high as the heaven is above the earth, so are My thoughts above yours and My ways above yours.’ That’s why God has given us His Bible, simply because we could never discover these things on our own, and we would just be left with opinions.

You have to understand and believe that the Word of God is the viable Truth of God, which He has inspired to be written, which He has preserved, which He calls Holy. And in here we find the Truth of God revealed. Let’s come to Gen. 4 and let’s see something here concerning Abel, very important for us to understand. God is the One Who is the Lawgiver. God is One Who has set forth all laws—all spiritual laws, all physical laws. The laws by which man is able to use and make and create and do things from that which God has made. We’re held on the earth by the law of gravity, etc. Those laws still function—don’t they?

Let’s read here about Abel. Genesis 4:4: “And Abel also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat of it.” This tells us that God gave the commandment for it. It wasn’t just his opinion that he was going to do. We don’t find any place else but here in Gen. 4 until we get to the law of the firstfruits and the firstlings of the herd in Exo. 13 and the firstfruits of the ground in Lev. 23 & 27. No! Does that mean that they ceased to exist? or Does it mean that in the history of man so few ever kept it that it crowded out everything? Look what happened to Abel because he was righteous. Now you can just put in your notes there Heb. 11:4-5 about Abel and Abel was a preacher of righteousness and he preached it. What is righteousness?

What happens when you preach righteousness and show the way of God—and you live righteousness, the way that Abel did—what does this do to people who have their own self-righteousness? Well, they want to kill them. Is that not what Cain did to Abel? Cain brought an offering from the ground, which was not according to the firstfruits. He may have had an elaborate thing in bringing this, because he was going to do it out of the goodness of his heart.

• It was how he felt!
• It was his opinion!
• It’s how he thought!

rather than what God has said. This is the whole philosophy that we’re dealing with in the controversies concerning Sabbath-keeping vs Sunday-keeping.

So he brought the offering and what did God say? He said, v 7: “If you do well, shall you not be accepted? But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door.” What is sin? ‘Sin is the transgression of the law.’ So there is law. God is Lawgiver. Every time He deals with people He enters into covenant and law with them. Remember this: All covenants have laws and commandments. This one here did. The covenant that God originally made with Adam and Eve, which then they broke, they received the penalties, which we can read of here in Gen. 3. God still kept dealing with Adam and Eve and with Abel and with Cain, until Cain murdered Abel. Then he was punished for it.

Now let’s come over here to Genesis 5:21; let’s see about Enoch: “And Enoch lived sixty-five years and begat Methuselah. And Enoch walked with God...” (vs 21-22). Now do you think you’re going to walk with God being sinner openly? And if you walked with God, what did God do every Sabbath? He rested every Sabbath—didn’t He? So if you ‘walk with God’ that means you’re keeping the commandments of God. You don’t have to state which ones, because obviously the commandments of God, since God is eternal and Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever, then the commandments that God gave them are no different than the commandments that God gave to Israel. And they are no different than the commandments that God gave to us. Now we do, through the sacrifice of Christ, have a different means of justification for our sins, that is true. But having a different means of justification, does not eliminate law. You cannot eliminate the law of gravity because you disagree with it, but it’s still there, and so are God’s laws and commandments.

So he walked with God and he had God’s favor so much that when they were after him to kill him, just like Cain did of Abel, God translated him to another place on earth. And Heb. 11 says that he died. ‘These all died in faith, not having received the promises.’

Now let’s come to Genesis 6 and let’s see something. So what are we dealing with? Look at the genealogies that we have in Gen. 4 & 5 the genealogies of Cain, we have a bare minimum history. Why do we have a bare minimum history? Because that’s all we need to know! The history of Israel after that was nearly a repeat of what it was before the flood.

Now let’s see what happened during the days of Noah. Genesis 6:5: “And the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth...” Remember what we covered last time. ‘Where there is no law, there is no sin. And by the law is the knowledge of sin.’ So if there was no law, if there was no Sabbath, if there was no Ten Commandments, then God would not judge them because you cannot be judged unless there is a law which has been transgressed, so then judgment comes.

“...the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually” (v 5). So they were living in such a way that every thought that they had was toward evil, just like what we have today. How many people are really righteous? Now there are some people who do good, but please understand and note this carefully: there is a vast difference between do-gooding and the commandments of God. Do-gooding to help someone in trouble, or something, that’s fine. God expects it. But the commandments of God then are those things which God has given and those come from the heart of God. Whereas, someone who is a do-gooder, it comes from their heart. There can be no comparison between the two. With God’s way He does not give you a choice of your opinion vs His opinion, and if your opinion is good to you, He will accept. No! God gives you a choice of whether you will obey Him or not. There’s a vast difference.

Now it was so bad, v 6: “And the LORD repented that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.” So He said, ‘Okay, I’m going to destroy it all, man, beast, everything.’

Verse 8: “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the LORD.” Grace is the favor and blessing from God. You find grace because you’re repented and humbled and yielded to God in wanting to do His way. Then God gives His grace to you. God is not going to give His grace to you because you hate His law. That’s the whole point of everything before the Flood—is it not? Why did He destroy everything? The evidence is everywhere that the Flood did occur. They were wicked, they were evil, they were sinners.

Now let’s read here about Noah, v 9: “These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man and perfect in his generations, for Noah walked with God.” Now again, you’re not going to walk with God unless you keep His laws and commandments which include the Sabbath.

Verse 11: “Now the earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence.... [And remember what Jesus said, ‘As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in the days of the coming of the Son of man.’ And they probably had their Professor Tardo telling everyone that they didn’t have to keep the commandments of God, that the laws of God were done away, that after all, our forefather Cain who invented this religion—the way of Cain—this is what it developed into. You need to understand that. You can’t come to the Bible with a hostile attitude and expect to understand anything.] ...And God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt—for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth…. [Means corrupted God’s way. Now if there weren’t laws and commandments, there could be no corruption.] (so this is telling us there was so bad that): …God said to Noah, ‘The end of all flesh has come before Me, for the earth is filled with violence...’” (vs 11-13). And what defines violence? The commandments of God! What defines right behavior? The commandments of God! What is lacking here? Two important things:

• The love of God
• The love of neighbor

You corrupt the way of God so you don’t love God, and you have violence against your neighbor, so you don’t love your neighbor. And Jesus said, ‘On those two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.’

When you read these things and you’re looking for a fight to pick against God and say, ‘Well, I can’t find any Sabbath observance here.’ Okay, well then we’ll have to be as he says, ‘A zealous, well-intentioned Sabbatarian.’ But one day all the Sunday-keepers who reject the commandments of God are going to have to stand before the judgment seat of God. As a matter of fact, are they not standing before that right now? Are they not being judged in their lives right now? No question about it!

The next person that we deal with is Abraham. What I want to cover is this: How many people really were keeping the laws and commandments of God vs those who had rejected them? A very few! All of mankind, the whole society, had rejected it. So much so that God said, ‘Away with it all, I’m going to destroy all flesh.’ When you start picking a fight with God, you think you’re ever going to understand His Word? No! He gives grace to the humble.

Let’s look at what God told Isaac. You had Abraham, and then Isaac, then you had Jacob, then you had the twelve tribes of Israel later. And in God dealing with every one of them—do you think that He would look upon Abraham and call him righteous because he was a law breaker? No, he believed God! It was imputed to him for righteousness, that is true. But does that mean once you have righteousness imputed to you that you can go do whatever you think and whatever you want and ignore the commandments of God and the Word of God and the Truth of God, in any generation, in any age? If God is going to come as He did to Abel and to Enoch and to Noah and to Abraham, and walk with them and talk with them, and bless them and make covenants with them, do you think that He’s going to walk and talk with sinners who are living in sin? Who thumb their nose at the Word of God? Who reject the commandments of God? Reject the Sabbaths of God? And by the way, as we have seen in Gen. 15, that we have the foundation of the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread right there going clear back to Abraham. ‘If you’re Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise.’ So you see what happens to people when they reject the way of God. They have such hatred toward the Sabbath.

Now, let’s see what He said here. He told Isaac, Genesis 26:2: “And the LORD appeared to him and said, ‘Do not go down into Egypt.... [Isn’t it interesting, are we not as the church likened unto Isaac who was the promised seed that was given to Abraham. So likewise we of Isaac are the promised seed of the covenant that God made with Abraham for the spiritual sons? Absolutely, no doubt!] ...Live in the land which I shall tell you of. Stay in this land, and I will be with you and bless you, for to you and to your seed, I will give all these lands; and I will establish the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. And I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and will give to your seed all these lands. And in your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because Abraham obeyed My voice...’” (vs 2-5).

I’ve mentioned time and time again. The three most important words in the Bible are: ‘Obey My voice.’ The two most deadly words are, ‘I think.’ Right after that is ‘I believe,’ that is from your own personal opinion rather than on the Word of God. Now if you believe in Christ, and if you believe in God the Father, and if you believe the Word of God to be true, that’s the kind of belief that you need to have. But to just have an opinion, to just have a belief, then everything becomes an opinion. Abraham obeyed His voice. Did it have to be written down if he obeyed His voice? No, because he obeyed! Not everything in the whole life of Abraham is recorded for us here in the book of Genesis, just the major important things. You go back and analyze it. Gen. 12, God calls Abraham and says, ‘Leave your father’s house and go into the land I will show you and I will bless you and I will bless them that bless you and curse them that curse you and in your seed shall all the world be blessed.’

Now we have nothing from the time that occurred when he was 75 until we come to Gen.15, we have very little except just the travels that Abraham took. Then when we come to Gen. 15 we have again very little until Gen. 17, when He gives the covenant of circumcision to Abraham and to Ishmael. Isaac wasn’t born at that time. When we read a summarized history, such as we’re doing here in the book of Genesis—and we need to understand something. When it says like this, ‘Because he obeyed My voice,’ that’s important. That’s a major statement which includes everything, though we know not all of what God told Abraham—do we? No!. But he still obeyed His voice.

“...and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws’” (v 5). Now this is something for someone who doesn’t have faith. Because the first thing they will do, they will look at that and say, ‘Well, this does not tell us which ones. So how do we know what they are?’ That’s why they are then re-codified for the children of Israel from Mount Sinai.

• It doesn’t mean that they didn’t exist.
• It doesn’t mean that they weren’t viable at that time.
• It doesn’t mean that there were no laws and commandments from creation until the giving of the law by God to the children of Israel after they came out of the land of Egypt.

This kind of thinking is really very hostile toward God.

Also remember another thing: when Paul wrote to Timothy he said, ‘You have know the Scriptures from a child. And these Scriptures are God-inspired and they are able to lead you unto salvation through faith in Christ.’ So if you truly have faith in Jesus Christ, and you go back and read these statements, you’re going to have absolutely no trouble with them. But if you have trouble with them, then you’re carnal minded and you’re not subject to the Law of God and you’re not willing to obey His voice. And by the way, remember that the Sabbath commandment was spoken by the voice of God. So you put yourself in some really terrible circumstances here.

Let’s read what else he has here (from Sunday Facts & Sabbath Fiction).

Of course, such statements are utter nonsense, being totally insupportable by Scripture or any historical record.

Well, recently we had Peter Jennings who is the nightly newscaster for ABC. He went on a quest to find the historical Jesus. Totally ignored the Scriptures, didn’t even look at those. And you know what, he never found Him, because the historical record is in the Bible. You think you’re going to find any history of those people before the Flood? No, it was all destroyed! Very little of the history of the world from the time after the Flood until we come down to the time of the children of Israel in Egypt is really very much discoverable, if any at all. When we come down through the time of David and Solomon and all of those things, history for us does not begin until the axial period of the days of Hezekiah. But now that’s another whole long historical lesson. But since he says here:

...utter nonsense...

Now who’s he accusing of utter nonsense, those who believe in the Sabbath? Well, if you believe in the Sabbath, you can accuse us of that all day long, but who are you really accusing? God!

No where does the Bible make such a declaration. For that matter we may as well allege that Abraham observed Sunday...

Now that statement is utter nonsense.

...since there is as much Scripture for either position.

Not so! Sunday-keeping is law-breaking. And Abraham was righteous, and Enoch was righteous, and Noah was righteous, and Abel was righteous—meaning they were law-keepers, Sabbath-keepers, Holy Day-keepers. Here’s what we’re dealing with. We are dealing with carnal minded debate of one opinion vs another opinion, rather than what do the Scriptures truly tell us.

It’s unfortunate that some in their zeal for Sabbath observance will stoop to the point of fabricating what cannot be found in the Bible.

Now this is about as hostile as the book written by Alan Dershowitz, The Genesis of Justice. An atheist who does not believe in God can find very little good in the Old Testament, and whole lot of fault with God because He didn’t include this, and He didn’t include that, and He didn’t include the other thing. So we have the same thing here. Now he quotes this one from the Daily Life in Bible Times:

“There seems to have been no observance of a special day of rest among the Hebrews before the time of Moses. The first mention of the Sabbath is in Exo. 16:23 when the Hebrews...

Now that’s an incorrect statement. They were the children of Israel, and the children of Israel did descend from Heber, but these were the children of Israel, not just Hebrews in general.

...when the Hebrews were camped in the Wilderness of Sin, before they received the Ten Commandments.”

Let’s go back there to Exodus 16. Let’s just look at that again. And let’s look at what God said to them. He revealed the Sabbath to them. We’ve already covered that, so if you don’t have that, you can go back and look at The Holy Sabbath series again.

Exodus 16:23: “And he said to them, ‘This is that which the LORD has said, “Tomorrow is the rest of the Holy Sabbath to the LORD….”’” (v 23). So when you keep the Sabbath you’re not doing it to yourself, you’re doing it unto God. And we’re not looking to ourselves to justify ourselves, or to earn our salvation because we observe the Sabbath. You cannot earn salvation by Sabbath-keeping. But you cannot be saved without Sabbath-keeping, because salvation comes through Jesus Christ to justify your sins so that you’re put in right standing with God. Then you can walk in His ways and not be living a life of sin, which includes Sabbath-keeping. It’s unto the Lord.

Then he says, “‘…Bake what you will bake today…’” (v 23) and so forth. Verse 25: “And Moses said, ‘Eat it today, for today is a Sabbath to the LORD.... [It belongs to God, it’s His, He created it. It’s special time.] ...Today you shall not find it [manna] .in the field. Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, in it there shall be none.’ And it came to pass that some of the people went out on the seventh day in order to gather, but they did not find any” (vs 25-27). What did they do? They transgressed the Sabbath commandment right in the presence of God, literally right under His nose, because you had the pillar of fire by night and the cloud in the daytime and God’s presence was there.

Verse 28: “And the LORD said to Moses, ‘How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?…. ]They belong to Him.] …See, because the LORD has given you the Sabbath, therefore He gives you the bread of two days on the sixth day. Let each one stay in his place. Do not let any one go out of his place on the seventh day.’ So the people rested on the seventh day” (vs 29-30). And the word ‘rested’ there means to sabbathize the Sabbath. So we have it there, now we’ve looked at that one.

Then we come to the next one. What we’re seeing in most of these cases, we’re seeing an examination of human interpretation to base their rejection of the Sabbath. That’s what they use to reject it. Not the Word of God. Oh, they try and reject it with the Word of God later on, but they really don’t have that kind of success in doing so. Let’s continue on here in the book:

Sabbatarians claim that God’s command to Israel to remember the Sabbath to keep it Holy (Exo. 20:8)...

and we’ve gone over that many times

...indicates that it was something previously known to them. Therefore they should remember or recollect it.

Well, it means both—remember in the past and remember in the future. They choose not to remember in the past, so they say well, that was only for them to remember in the future.

So the recognized Old Testament Hebrew authorities, Keil and Delitzsch, however claim otherwise.

Now notice, they didn’t go to the Word of God, they went to men giving commentary on it. Now what if these men had their opinion? What if that opinion is contrary to the Word of God? Remember God says, ‘My thoughts are not your thoughts and My ways are not your ways.’ So here’s what they quote:

“Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy, proposes an acquaintance with the Sabbath as the expression ‘remember’ is sufficient to show, but not that the Sabbath had been kept before this.”

Well, they actually did keep it before that, about a whole month before that.

From the history of creation, that had been handed down, Israel must have known that after God created the world in six days, He rested on the seventh day and by His resting sanctified the day. But hitherto there had been no commandment given to man to sanctify the day. This was given for the first time to Israel at Sinai.

Now a lot of people believe that is true, but that is not true.

Therefore, we see that God intended for Israel to remember the Sabbath by observing it in their future and by recalling that God had rested on the seventh creation day, but they themselves had no previous knowledge of any Sabbath observance.

Partially a true statement they didn’t, because when they were slaves in Egypt, they lost all knowledge of God’s way. That’s why God called them out to reveal His way, not to create something new, but to tell them of His laws and His commandments.

The method in their madness: Why would someone interested in keeping the Sabbath insist that Sabbath observance preceded the law? Because it then could be alleged that what pre-dated the law could not perish with the law.

Now we’re getting into some real convoluted thinking here.

Therefore the Sabbath began at creation, as alleged, and not on Sinai, then it is escaped being nailed to Calvary’s cross with the rest of the law.

I’m not going to go through Col. 2. If you don’t have them write in for the series on Colossians and the extra tape we have with it, More on Colossians 2. Sufficient to say here is that the truth of Col. 2 is the exact opposite of what they allege. Jesus didn’t nail any law to the cross, He took away the sins by blotting them out through His sacrifice. And that the Holy Days and that the Sabbath, and that he even refers to eating and drinking—that is the clean and unclean meats, and so forth—no man was to judge you. Now how can anyone judge you if you weren’t doing it? So that shows that in Colossians they were doing it. So by all means write for those sermons, and then you can see for yourself that the way they interpret it and the way that the NIV does it is wrong.

(go to the next track)

Now let’s continue on and see some more of this convoluted thinking that we’re reading here. It shows that the ‘carnal mind is enmity against God and is not subject to the law of God and neither indeed can be.’

However this reasoning is faulty on all accounts. The first reference to any human resting on the Sabbath is made in Exo. 16:23, where manna was given to Israel in the wilderness in which they were forbidden to gather on the Sabbath. The plain fact is no institution of a Sabbath observance was imposed upon anyone before the giving of the Law of Moses.

Did God impose it or did He command it? There’s a difference. Now if you’re going to impose it that means that you are going to enforce it and make them do it and God did not do that.

Now therefore, in the name of honesty and fear of God, let’s refrain from adding to His Word what simply isn’t there.

Now we’re not adding to what simply isn’t there. We are discovering what is in there. That is the difference.

Where mankind is concerned, did the Sabbath begin with the law? The answer yes. Sabbatarians deny this. What did not originate with the law could not perish with the law as hinted previously. They refer instead to God’s own seventh day of rest at creation as the original institution of the Sabbath.

True, correct, yes!

But the Genesis account of God’s rest on the Sabbath day was never imposed upon anyone until the exodus of Israel from Egypt.

Now it doesn’t say that. Let’s come to Deuteronomy 30. Now we’ve already covered this several times, but let’s go there again so we can read it into the record. God didn’t impose anything upon anyone and never will, because He has set before us choices. When you set before people choices, you do not impose upon them. So that’s an entirely inappropriate and completely silly argument.

• Is God imposing the Sabbath on anyone today? No!
• Are they sinning by breaking it? Yes!
• Do they suffer the consequences of it because they break it? Yes!

Now that’s exactly what God gave to the children of Israel and exactly what God gives to us today. This is the same principle by which He also approached the thing with Adam and Eve—correct? He said, ‘You can eat of every tree of the garden freely, except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.’

• Did He not give them a choice? Yes!

Even in the presence of God, right in the Garden of Eden:

• Did God impose upon them? No!
• Did He give them choices? Yes!
• Did He hold them accountable for their choices and responsible for their actions? Yes!
• Did He judge them because of the sins that they committed? Yes!

Same way here.

Deuteronomy 30:15: “Behold, I have set before you this day life and good, and death and evil.” And this is what we are all confronted with in our lives—correct? Yes!

• The Truth and the good you find in the Bible.
• The death and the evil you find in the world.

Those things happen because ‘the wages of sin is death.’ So God gave them the choice.

“In that I command you this day...” (v 16). So God does command, but a command is not an imposition upon you. You choose to do it. What is imposed upon you is the penalty for breaking it and what is graciously given to you for obedience are blessings from God. That’s what God is saying here in the whole thing.

“In that I command you this day to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments... [It’s not the law of Moses. Moses never originated it. Moses never wrote one law from his own mind. He just conveyed to the children of Israel the laws and the commandments of God and the ways of God. He was merely a mediator between God and the people.] ...walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments... [Is that not what we read concerning Abraham? Yes! Did Abraham choose to obey God? Yes! Therefore, it included Sabbath-keeping. You can come to no other conclusion.] ...that you may live... [Now, we’re going to see a little later on that they say anyone who keeps the laws of God and the commandments of God are subject to death.] ...that you may live and multiply. And the LORD your God shall bless you in the land where you go to possess it. But if your heart turn away...” (vs 16-17). That means that you think, you get a different opinion, which you could have, you can think anything you want to, you can have any opinion that you want to, but know for sure you’re going to be held accountable for it in this life, as God judges your life the way you are living now, and at the resurrection you will be judged in the day of judgment.

“But if your heart turn away so that you will not hear... [Remember what we read concerning Abraham, because ‘he obeyed My voice,’ he heard, he listened.] ...will not hear, but shall be drawn away and worship other gods and serve them… [This is automatic, living law has been from creation and will be through all eternity. Let’s understand that.] (If you’re): “...drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, I denounce to you this day that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days on the land where you pass over Jordan to go to possess it. I call heaven and earth to record this day against you...’” (vs 17-19). Now doesn’t this sound almost exactly the same words that we find in Matt. 17 & 18, heaven and earth? Jesus said, ‘Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.’ Jesus said, ‘But the Son of man is Lord even of the Sabbath Day.’ Now think on that for a while!

Now if you’re all involved in Sunday-keeping and this sounds a little strange to you, well you better ask yourself the question: Do you really love God? And if you love Him, do you keep His commandments like the Apostle John, the apostle of love who wrote more about the love of God than any other man who was used of God to write the Scriptures? He said that if you love Him, you’ll keep His commandments. Jesus said, ‘If you love Me, keep My commandments.’ There’s no way around it except as you twist and turn it in your own mind.

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing. Therefore, choose life, so that both you and your seed may live, that you may love the LORD your God, and may obey His voice... [Same thing as applied to Abraham.] ...and may cleave to Him; for He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers—to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob—to give to them’” (vs 19-20).

So it ties it all right in together—does it not? Absolutely! No question about it! God has not imposed Sabbath upon anyone. He says, ‘Here are My commandments, you choose to do them. If you do, I’ll bless you. If you don’t you’re going to have curses.’ That applies at any time in history beginning from Adam and Eve clear to the last man.

Then he quotes Nehemiah where Nehemiah talks about the Sabbath, and so forth, to try and prove a point, but that doesn’t prove the point. Let’s see what he says here now on page 40:

The Bible reveals in unmistakable language that Sabbath observance was unknown to Israel or anyone else before the giving of the law to Moses on Sinai.

He has absolutely no proof for it.

Sabbath-keeping was made known to Israel at Sinai.

Which was just right after they got out of Egypt—right? Remember, they couldn’t keep the Sabbath while they were in Egypt because they were in bondage. Where does law breaking lead to? Leads to bondage! You become a slave to your sins. You become a slave to Satan the devil. That’s the whole lesson of types of Israel in Egypt. That because they lost the knowledge of God, rejected what Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob did and followed their own instincts and got all wrapped up in the gods and the way of Egypt, so much so that when Moses went up on Mount Sinai and was up there for 40-days and 40-nights, what did the people say? ‘Make us gods.’ So they created the golden calf. So they went right back to the gods of Egypt.

Sabbath-keeping was made known to Israel at Sinai.

Of course, it was. That doesn’t mean it didn’t exist before.

It therefore could not have been observed by Israel or anyone in anyway before them.

Indeed! Enoch, Noah, and Abraham, we just read about them—right?

...and company were not even in a position to explain what a Sabbath was.

How do you know, were you there? Let alone whether they were faithful to observe it. But what did God say of Abraham? What did God say of Enoch and Abel and Noah? They walked the ways of God and obeyed His voice!

Thus we are certain that Sabbath where service to God is concerned was undeniably a part of the Old Testament law which God plugged into operation with Moses and which it had its plug pulled at Calvary.

Well, that tells you the way that they think.

All of these begin prior to the law, that is: Melchizedek, the tithe, the sacrifice, and so forth, were incorporated in the law and were abolished with the law. Plainly Sabbatarians err in all counts in maintaining that the Sabbath is still in force because it began before the law and thus was not cancelled with the law.

Now, you see, you’re reasoning in circles and you’re picking and choosing. If you don’t have the book, The Harmony of the Gospels, where I go through and I clearly explain how it is that Jesus Christ:

1. fulfilled the laws
2. fulfilled the prophets

—and what does that really mean. It does not mean the abolition of them because Christ said, ‘Don’t even think that I came to abolish the law.’

8.     Sabbath-keeping died with the law

This is the full expose of Colossians 2:16-17.

Let me read the New International Version translation of Colossians 2:16-17. And this is where a lot of people have been led into more and greater sin. “Therefore, do not anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival... [Oh, my, what a terrible translation!] ...a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come... [Absolute, improper translation! It’s of things which are coming, not were to come. It’s a present tense participle—‘the coming things.’ In other words, the exact opposite of what they allege that it did away with these things; it absolutely enforces them, because this shows us God’s plan through the Sabbath and Holy Days.] ...the reality, however, is found in Christ” (vs 16-17).

So you write for the series on Colossians and the extra one that I did on, More on Colossians 2.

Because we are complete in Christ... [which is true] ...having found acceptance with God entirely through Him... [which is true] ...He has dispensed with the former shadowy elements that regulated meats and drinks... [that is clean and unclean foods] ...and Holy Days and any kind including seventh day Sabbath. Not man, but God Himself, dispensed with the Sabbath personally...

He never did, otherwise God would be lawless. God is Lawgiver. So you see what happens when you have such a hatred for the laws and commandments of God and when you have such a carnal mind that you just despise and hate what God has said, that you despise the Old Testament. You despise those parts in the New Testament which show concerning commandment-keeping and don’t read them, don’t study them, don’t apply them.

Not man, but God Himself dispensed with the Sabbath personally, nailing it and the six hundred and twelve other legal demands to a blood-stained cross. Not one shed of that law could fall off the cross and flutter down to the ground to be picked up again by Sabbath-keepers. Therefore, the return to legal observance of the Sabbath or law of any kind is retrogressive and prevents one’s acceptance of the only salvation God recognizes, the one provided entirely by Christ through faith alone.

Let’s come to Matthew 19. Let’s see something very clear here. We’re talking about salvation through Jesus Christ—correct? That’s what he’s saying. Let’s understand something. Salvation does not come through law-keeping. The laws and commandments of God are required to be kept. Salvation is a gift of God, we know that, so don’t ever accuse us of trying to earn salvation again. Now here in Matthew 19 we find something very important. And I know the arguments that are going to come up, because He mentions the commandments of God, and He doesn’t mention the Sabbath. But, my friend, remember this: they were living in a Sabbath-keeping society; they kept the Sabbath by the law of the land. So the young man came—let’s come right here in

 Matthew 19:16: “Now at that time, one came to Him and said, ‘Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?’.... [Good thing! He’s calling commandment-keeping an evil thing. How did Christ respond? Did He say, ‘Look, the good thing is whatever you think in your mind and if it feels good and sounds good and appeals to you and it’s just overwhelming coming up through your personality, do it.’ No! What did He say was a good thing?] ...And He said to him, ‘Why do you call Me good? No one is good except one—God. But if you desire to enter into life... [Is He offering him salvation? Yes, He is!] ...keep the commandments.’…. [He, being a little technical, he said to Him]: …‘Which?’ And Jesus said, ‘You shall not commit murder; you shall not commit adultery; you shall not steal; you shall not bear false witness; honor your father and your mother; and, you shall love your neighbor as yourself”” (vs 16-19). There you have it right there, it doesn’t say one word about the Sabbath. No, it doesn’t, but Jesus said He was Lord even also of the Sabbath. And He showed us how to keep the Sabbath. He set the example.

Now notice what the young man said. “The young man said to Him, ‘I have kept all these things from my youth. What do I yet lack?’” (v 20). Jesus said when you do everything that you’ve been commanded to do then you’re unprofitable servants. So if you do it in the letter of the law, and if you do it because you feel it’s imposed upon you, then you haven’t been profitable at all. These things are designed so you can do the profitable thing of

• loving God
• loving neighbor
• growing in grace and knowledge
• fellowshipping with God the Father and Jesus Christ

That’s what this is all about! You can have nothing that comes between you and God.

Now let’s see what Jesus answered, v 21—after he said, ‘Well what do I lack? I’ve already done this. I’m ready for eternal life, right now—“Jesus said to him, ‘If you desire to be perfect, go and sell your property, and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow Me.’…. [But the young man was committing idolatry of this things.] …But after hearing this word, the young man went away grieving, because he had great possessions” (vs 21-22).

All these arguments concerning Sabbath-keeping that are brought up here, you don’t have it through faith alone. By the way,

• you must have faith to keep the commandments
• you must have faith to keep the Sabbath
• you must have faith in all of these things

So what we’re dealing with here is a lack of faith.

I’m not going to continue on any more here concerning Colossians 2, but let me just read some of the commentaries that he writes, and this is why people come up with these things and say, ‘Well, what do the commentaries say?’ Well, I’ll tell you what, I don’t use a commentary, except the Word Biblical Commentary, because it just explains the meaning of the words. There is some doctrine like this in here, but of not of the lawless hateful doctrine of Protestantism.

The Pulpit Commentary says: With St. Paul, they, the religious festivals and the seventh day Sabbath shadow forth prophetically the concrete facts of the Christian revelation and therefore are displaced by its advent.

If so, then God could not judge the world or convict it of sin.

The Sabbath of the Jews was typical and therefore was abolished in Christ...

Wrong! It’s the Sabbath of God, not of the Jews.

...and therefore as well as for other reasons, the Lord’s day, which took its place from the beginning of the gospel dispensation...

Lie! It did not. Paul kept the Sabbath. Peter kept the Sabbath. The apostles kept the Sabbath after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

...from the beginning of the gospel dispensation was changed from the last to the first day of the week.

Now pray-tell, show me in the Bible where it says that. It doesn’t.

The Sabbath day was so long and so deeply associated with the stated feasts, the sabbatical year, the jubilee year of Judaism, that it partook of their typical character and thus passed away with the other institutions of Judaism.

Now remember what we did in the series. We went through part of the Code of Jewish Law. The code of Jewish Law is Judaism. The Word of God is not Judaism. The laws of Judaism in the Code of Jewish Law are not the laws of God, but are the human laws devised in the minds of men to impose these things upon people. So it was the Jews who tried to impose it upon people and make everything a bondage, not Christian Sabbath keepers who believe in the grace of God, and justification by faith.

Keil and Delitzsch says: But this... [that is Sabbath observance] ...is an institution peculiar to the Old Testament...

Not so! Remember what we read concerning the Sabbath in Acts 13? How that Paul preached on the Sabbath and then the very next Sabbath what happened? The Gentiles and the whole city came to hear him. And he told them to continue in the grace of God and grace and Sabbath-keeping are united there right by the preaching of Paul, whom these people profess to follow and they don’t even understand it.

At the time, as an ‘entole de nomos,’ that is commandment of the law, an ingredient of the Sinaitic law, it belonged to the shadow of good things to come, which was to be done away when the body of Christ had come. Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath...

Can you believe this thinking? You abolish it, but Christ is the Lord of it, and yet you claim to follow Him and say He abolished it, but He’s the Lord of it. If you believe that He is your Lord, He is also Lord of the Sabbath and why then do you insist on your Sunday-keeping? It’s like James says, ‘You’re double minded.’ You can’t have it both ways. That’s just a Scriptural fact.

And after the completion of His work, He rested on the Sabbath, but He rose again on Sunday...

And we’ve already covered that. Again, you write in for the Harmony of the Gospels, and we’ll show and prove absolutely that Jesus was in the grave three complete days and three complete nights, and He rose right before the Sabbath, the weekly Sabbath, ended so He rose on the Sabbath and not on Sunday. See how they go back, always go back to their lies; always go back to their false propositions; always go back to their own God-rejecting law-rejecting theology.

...rose again on Sunday and through His resurrection, which is the pledge to the world of that fruit of His redeeming work He has made this day, Sunday, the Lord’s Day for His church to be observed by it till the captain of their salvation shall return.

Now I tell you what. Someone who doesn’t know about the Bible and they go and they start reading these commentaries, they’re going to get very confused. So the best thing to do is this:

• read the Bible
• study the Bible
• begin with the things that are simple and easy to understand
• then go forward from there

If you don’t have The Christian Passover book, write in the very first chapter we have Fourteen Rules of Bible Study. Those are rules that you find right out of the Bible and those need to be followed to understand it. But understand one thing, and I’ll tell you this right here, which is this: If you do not obey the Word of God as you see it and understand it, beginning with the simple, then you will lose all understanding and God will take it from you.

• You cannot live a lawless life and understand the Scriptures.
• You cannot reject the commandments of God and understand the Scriptures.
• You cannot misapply the Word of God through lies and deceitfulness and understand the Scriptures

And that’s precisely what we are dealing with here in reading of these commentaries.

The next one they have which we’ve already covered. We covered this on the Holy Sabbath series, which then here in reputation of it.

9.   The fourth commandment is absent from the New Testament

Not so!. It’s full of it, when you come to understand it.

Let’s come to Isaiah 56 and let’s understand something here. Let’s answer the question: Was the Sabbath for the Jews only? Let’s see what we have. Here’s a prophecy. Is this the Word of God? Yes! If you believe in Jesus Christ and you believe that the prophets prophesied of Him, then you believe in the prophets, do you not? Yes, you do! Can you only believe the prophets in only the things that you agree with? or Must you agree with the prophets in all that they say? You must agree with all that they say! If you don’t, then you are picking and choosing. If you are picking and choosing, then you’re going to find yourself in trouble. Now let’s read this prophecy. This is not hard to understand. This is not difficult to comprehend. This is simple and straightforward and easy to understand.

Isaiah 56:1: “Thus says the LORD... [Now this is from God, this is not from Moses, this is not from Isaiah. He only wrote what God said. Let’s read it.] ...‘Keep justice and do righteousness... [In order to do that there’s got to be some kind of law—correct? Absolutely!] ...for My salvation is near to come, and My righteousness to be revealed.’” Who brings salvation? Jesus Christ! His “salvation is near to come.” This is talking about the ministry of Christ and the salvation that He would bring.

• Is that not what people want, salvation through Jesus Christ?
• Was not Jesus Christ the One Who was the Lord God of the Old Testament? Yes, He was!
• Is He not the one Who inspired these words to be given to Isaiah, who then wrote it down and God preserved it and protected it and passed it on down to us today? Absolutely!

“‘Blessed is the man who does this... [So there’s a blessing. Do you want blessings from God? Do you want God to bless you in what you’re doing? Of course, you don’t want God to curse you—do you? No! What is it that He does and that lays hold of it? Let’s read it. It’s in your Bible] ...and the son of man who lays hold on it; who keeps the Sabbath... [In the King James it is ‘keepeth,’ that means is keeping as a practice.] ...who keeps the Sabbath from profaning it; and keeps his hand from doing any evil’” (v 2). Now does any evil describe all the rest of the commandments of God? No doubt about it! The Ten Commandments:

1. You shall no other gods before Me
2. Make no idol or bow down to it
3. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain
4. [Sabbath command]
5. Honor your father and mother
6. Don’t do any murder
7. Do not commit adultery
8. Do not steal
9. Do not bear false witness
10. Do not covet

If you break any of the other nine, you’re doing evil. So it says here ‘that keeps the Sabbath from polluting it,’ meaning keeping it the proper way according to the instruction in the Bible. ‘And keeps his hand from doing evil.’ That’s how you receive salvation. He says it’s near at hand. So what we really have is this: you cannot have salvation apart from Sabbath-keeping.

• Christ is the One Who brought the knowledge of salvation.
• Christ is the One Who’s the Lord of the Sabbath.
• Christ is the One Who set the example of what we should to on the Sabbath.

“And do not let the son of the stranger, who has joined himself to the LORD.... [Gentiles! Oh, oh, oh. Weren’t we told that the Sabbath was for the Jews only? We’re talking about stranger, joins himself to the Lord.] ...speak, saying, ‘The LORD has utterly separated me from His people’.... [In other words, ‘I’m not part of the children of Israel, so I have no part with God.’ But God says you could join. When were most of the strangers joined to the Lord? In the New Testament church—correct? Beginning with Cornelius and his family and all the Gentiles that Paul taught. He taught them to keep the Sabbath.] ...And do not let the official say, ‘Behold, I am a dry tree.’ For thus says the LORD. ‘To the officials who keep My Sabbaths...’” (vs 3-4). Plural. That is the weekly Sabbath and the annual Sabbaths.

Now you see how much trouble you get yourself into when you believe the kind of things that are written in this book. You’re rejecting God. Everything that we read tonight is totally countermanded here by the Words of God. Now who are you going to believe—a man or the words of God?

“‘...who keep My Sabbaths, and choose things that please Me... [Is that not what we’re supposed to do? What did the Apostle John write in 1-John 5? Why are prayers are answered is because ‘we keep His commandments and do the things that please Him.’ Ho, ho, ho! That’s almost exactly identical to what is said here—isn’t it? Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, and the Word of God is true and eternal and it fits together, all together when you really want to understand it. It just falls together perfectly because it is the perfect inspired Word of God and is Truth.] ...and take hold of My covenant’” (v 4). How do you take hold of the covenant of Jesus Christ? Through repentance of sin and baptism, and then keeping the commandments of God.

“‘Even to them will I give within My house and within My walls... [What did Jesus say to the apostles on His last Passover night? He said, ‘I go to prepare a place for you. In My Father’s house are many mansions. If it were otherwise I would have told you.’ Word-for-word almost to what we have here. So see how utterly foolish and false these arguments of Protestantism are.] ...and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters... [What was the promise that Jesus gave in Rev. 2? He will give us a new name and He will write upon us. Rev. 3:12 the name of the Father, the name of Jesus Christ, the name of the city of new Jerusalem. We have it right here in this cursed, hated Old Testament, in the view of people like Dr. Tardo.] ...I will give them an everlasting name... [Is that not salvation?] ...that shall not be cut off’” (v 5).

Now v 6: “‘Also the sons of the stranger, who join themselves to the LORD to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants, everyone who keeps from profaning the Sabbath, and takes hold of My covenant.’” Now let’s go back and analyze this verse for what it says.

• the sons of the strangers. Now we have coming down through Gentile families—don’t we? We have the stranger before, up here in v 3, now we have the sons.
• Joined themselves to the Lord to serve Him. How to serve Him! To love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone that ‘keeps the Sabbath from polluting it and takes hold of My covenant.’

What do we truly have? The Sabbath is for Gentiles with a special blessing. Sabbath-keeping and salvation go together hand in hand. Just like Sunday-keeping and lawlessness go together hand-in-hand. You see the difference?

• No one can please God by keeping Sunday.
• No one is going to receive salvation by depending on their works of Sunday-keeping.

They are going against God by accusing Sabbath keepers—you know the same tactics. We’re going to see next time that happens in politics. If someone is against you, you demonize them. That’s what they do with Sabbath keepers. I’ll tell you what, God is going to have His judgment on them and it’s coming. You cannot receive salvation with Sunday-keeping. There it is right in the Scriptures. You have to have Sabbath-keeping.

Scriptures from The Holy Bible In Its Original Order by Fred R. Coulter

Except where noted

Scriptural References:

1. Genesis 2:1-3
2. Genesis 4:4, 7
3. Genesis 5:21-22
4. Genesis 6:5-6, 8-9, 11-13
5. Genesis 26:2-5
6. Exodus 16:23, 25-30
7. Deuteronomy 30:15-20
8. Colossians 2:16-17 (NIV)
9. Matthew 19:16-22
10. Isaiah 56:1-6

Scriptures referenced, not quoted:

• Matthew 5:17
• Exodus 13
• Leviticus 23, 27
• Hebrews 11:4-5
• Genesis 3,
• Hebrews 11
• Genesis 15, 12, 17
• Matthew 17, 18
• Colossians 2
• Acts 13
• 1-John 5
• Revelation 2; 3:12

Also referenced:

Sermon Series:

• Holy Sabbath
• Colossians

Books:

• Sunday Facts and Sabbath Fiction by Dr. Russell K. Tardo
• The Genesis of Justice by Alan M. Dershowitz
• The Harmony of the Gospels by Fred R. Coulter
• Word Biblical Commentary
• Code of Jewish Law by Solomon Ganzfried & Hyman Goldin
• The Christian Passover by Fred R. Coulter