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I am a retired pastor of
the Church of God (Tennessee). My name is Isaac Livingston. I am from Neyyoor India. |
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Email: Pastor True Gospel
Declaration
Sabbath day is not a worship day. It is a mandatory rest day that God gave to Israel. It is on the seventh day that is Saturday. Apostles gathered on the first day of the week for worship, as in Acts 20:7. Jesus Christ revoked the Sabbath day rest, and tells his people to enter his eternal rest.
God tells his creation to obey him.
The Bible says that even the
unclean spirits obey him; he
commands even the winds and
water, and they obey him.
Jesus tells his disciples to
teach all people to do the things
whatsoever he has commanded them.
But, people are not obeying. Further, they preach that obeying is works and we
are not saved by works. According to them, preaching to obey God is heresy. I
preach to obey God. One group of people seems to support me. Then they say; we
must obey the fourth commandment of God. It seems that they do not care about
the rest of them. What is the fourth commandment? It is: “Remember the Sabbath
day to keep it holy.” First, they say that the Sabbath day is Saturday but not
Sunday. It is true. The common Sabbath day is the seventh day of the week and it
is Saturday. There are special Sabbath days, and that is not the point here. The
next point is; how to keep it holy? They say that we should worship Saturdays,
but not on Sundays. But, that is not keeping the Sabbath day holy. Let us see
what the fourth commandment is, and how to keep the Sabbath day holy.
Let me read;
“Exodus 20:8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9
Six days shalt thou
labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is
the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor
thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle,
nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:”
Sabbath day is blessed and hallowed by resting on that
day. Sabbath commandment was given to Israel, to take complete rest by the
entire household. One more point should be included with the Sabbath
commandment, which is the extension to these verses. That is, if someone break
this commandment, how to deal with them. Let us see
Numbers
15:30-36.
"30
But the soul that doeth ought presumptuously, whether
he be born in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the LORD; and that
soul shall be cut off from among his people. 31 Because he hath despised
the word of the LORD, and hath broken his commandment, that soul shall utterly
be cut off; his iniquity shall be upon him." That is, if anyone does not take this mandatory rest, the person must
be killed. In
verses
32 to 36, (I am not reading it now), we
see here, a man gathered sticks on the Sabbath day to cook a meal, and God told
Moses to stone him to death and he was put to death. So, Sabbath is to take rest
and if someone disobeys, that person must be stoned to death. This is how to
keep the Sabbath day holy. It is not about skipping Sunday worship or worship
Saturdays only. It is to take rest and kill the one who did not take rest.
Christians confuse the Sabbath day
rest with Sunday worship. Disciples of Jesus Christ assembled with the brethren
on the first day of the week for worship. But, it was not a mandate. We can
worship God on any day at any time. Disciples went to synagogues to preach the
gospel on Saturdays. “Acts
20:7 And upon the first day of the week, when the
disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart
on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
1 Corinthians 16:2
Upon the first day of the
week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him
...”
So, they came together on Sunday for fellowship, to break bread,
for prayer, and for apostle’s doctrine. We can worship God on any day, at any
time, including Sundays and Saturdays. It is not observing Sabbath.
The Lord Jesus Christ repeatedly broke the sabbath day-law to
revise it. Sabbath needed to be revised, as eternal rest, for the kingdom
of heaven. Many Scriptures show how Jesus Christ worked on Sabbath days, and
taught to do good works on sabbath days, instead of resting. That is, Jesus
Christ has repealed the sabbath law even for the Jews. The rest; on
sabbath was changed to do good works, but it was never changed into a
worship day. Let us see how Jesus Christ handled the Sabbath days.
Matthew 12:10-13.
And, behold, there was a man which had
his
hand withered. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the
sabbath days? that they might accuse him.
11
And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one
sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it,
and lift it out?
12
How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do well
on the sabbath days.
13
Then saith he to the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched
it
forth; and it was restored whole, like as the other. That is, Jesus
healed him and changed the mandatory rest to do good on work the Sabbath. He
could have healed him the next day, but he made sure that he healed him on the
Sabbath day. He was doing such things repeatedly in order to repeal the Sabbath
day rest to give them eternal rest. Let me give a few more scriptures. In
Mark 2:23-28,
his disciples plucked the ears of
corn from the field and eat, which were not lawful. When they accused the
disciples, Jesus said in verse
27..
The sabbath
was made for man, and not man for the sabbath:
28
Therefore the Son
of man is Lord also of the sabbath. Jesus was making the change as
the Lord of the Sabbath. In
Luke 13:10-16 he loosed a woman from the infirmity of eighteen
years, on a Sabbath day. In
Luke 14:1-4
Jesus asked the chief Pharisees, is it lawful to heal on the sabbath
day? And in verse
4,
he took the man, and healed him, and let him
go;
In John
5:6-11 Jesus healed an impotent man on a
Sabbath day telling him, to Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.
It
was not allowed by the law.
In John 9:13-16,
Jesus healed a blind man by
applying clay to his eyes. Verse 16 says,
Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This man is not of
God, because he keepeth not the sabbath day. (Read)
John 5:16 says
… the
Jews persecute Jesus, and sought to slay him, because he had done
these things on the sabbath day.
17
But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
18
Therefore the Jews
sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath,
but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.
Jesus Christ broke the Sabbath day. Many Christians deny saying that Jesus never
broke any law. He broke all the laws of the flesh to establish the laws of the
Spirit. But, the Jews and all the religious people were against Jesus then, and
even now. They advocate the religious observations, but not the righteousness of
God. Colossians 2:16 Let
no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or
of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:
17 Which are a shadow of things to come;
See, Sabbath day is also included with the ceremonial festive days, which are
not important to God. However,
verse 17 says
that it is the shadow of things to come. Let us see what it is the shadow for?
In the book of Hebrews 4:1-11,
Sabbath is explained. The physical observance was given in the Old
Testament, which is the shadow of the spiritual thing, which Jesus gives to his
people. Jesus offers it, and we must enter into it, and so we have the
responsibility to enter in. Let me read just
verses
9-11 (Read it). 9
There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.
(Please notice, it is available only to the people of God. If you are not
one of them, it is not for you. If you are one of the people of God, please
listen.) 10
For he that
is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did
from his. (If you have already entered into the rest, you got it. You are
with the Spirit of God, he takes over, you will soar on the wings of the Spirit
as an eagle.)
11
Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall
after the same example of unbelief. For those who have not entered yet,
let us
labor therefore to enter. Labor is to do hard work. It does not refer to the
works that is in ceremonial works of circumcision, observing the physical
Sabbath, ceremonies and feast, following the traditions of the religion,
attending churches, singing songs, etc. Nobody can be saved by those works. But
we must obey what Jesus Christ tells us to do.
"Luke 13:24
Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say
unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able." He tells us to
strive to enter. Striving is to work hard, or we may say, labor and heavy laden.
Jesus calls us to his rest in Matthew 11. “28
Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. 29
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye
shall find rest unto your souls.
30
For my yoke
is easy, and my burden is light.”
We must learn from him and follow his ways. It is easy and light. "1
John 5:3 says, For this is the love of God, that
we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous."
They
are not grievous means, it is easy. Let me read
a
few more verses in Hebrews 4. "Hebrews 4:1
Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left
us of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it....
3 ..., as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath,
if they shall enter into my rest:" God got angry at Israel and said that
they will not enter his rest. So, fear him and be careful.
Verse 7 says, "Again,
he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it
is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." It
says that, if today, if you hear his voice harden not your heart. Let me say
what it is. It is the spiritual reality. The resurrected Lord Jesus Christ and
his angels are doing a work among his people even now. If you are in it, if you
are not striving to enter, it may be even today, Jesus may give the last call,
and close the door for ever. That is what the verse says. So, if you hear his
voice today, don’t harden your heart. This is the warning in this verse. We also
see that it is not that hard. I hope that you will enter his rest.
Thank you for listening. God bless you. May his
presence go with you. Amen.
Please write to me in the 'Mail Box' below. I will reply
promptly. Thanks.
For more details, let me give a link: "Sabbath lesson" Thank you.
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Matthew 28:20, & Mark 16:15. Jesus Christ preached his commandments to obey, as his
Gospel; it is the true Gospel to inherit Eternal life. Genesis 3:1-4 & 2 Corinth 11:2-4. But Preachers, who are Serpents of Satan, preach the life of man Jesus just to believe, but not to live as a chaste virgin, as the gospel; it is another gospel, which cannot and will not give Eternal life.The true gospel will convert evil people to do good and thereby they will inherit the kingdom in heaven
. John 3:19-21 say that people are two kinds, evil and true. Evil doers will not come to the Light, who is God; but people of truth come to God for their deeds to be made manifest. We have good and evil people by our standard of our society or culture. These evil people may be converted to be doers of truth by the power of God, and they may inherit the kingdom of God in heaven.
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Email: Pastor True Gospel
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