>>You know, I like to always begin with an amazing fact. I don't know if you've ever heard of the Lemba Tribe in Zimbabwe, South Africa. There's a group of between 50 and 80,000 people there that claim ancestry with the Hebrews. And there's a lot of things that would lend you to believe that. They still practice animal sacrifice, they wear yarmulkes, they don't eat pork, they circumcise the male children, they use the Jewish star on their graves, and they still keep the seventh-day Sabbath, which they've been doing as far back as they can remember. BBC was very intrigued by this and they, working with another group, did a number of DNA tests, back in 2000, on the Lemba Tribe and they were astonished to find out that, indeed, they did have Hebrew DNA.
>>Amen.
>>And not just were they related to the Semitic DNA, they were, particularly aligned with a group within the tribe of Levi that were called the Cohen Tribe - and the word 'Cohen' in Hebrew, it's the priestly tribe - and, as near as they can figure, that sometime during the time after the Babylonians attacked Jerusalem, that when Jeremiah and some of the remnant fled into Egypt - God had foretold they'd be persecuted in Egypt - and another group went south picking up African wives along the way, and they made their way 2,800 miles all the way down to Zimbabwe. And they have done their best, over the centuries to retain that faith and they worship a monotheistic God. You know, throughout the Reformation there have been groups that have stood up for particular truths that seem to have been lost by God's people. And one of those truths, that I'm very passionate about, we're going to talk about today, is the truth regarding the Bible Sabbath.
Now, the reason that I feel very confident talking to you about that is because it's one of the Ten Commandments, so you need to take that up with the Lord. Furthermore, it is the only one of the Ten Commandments that begins with the word 'remember'. Why do you think God would start out one commandment with the word 'remember'? Because He understood there would be a possibility they would forget. And so, our message tonight is dealing with The Day Of Restoration - it is a day of rest and it's a day of restoring that has been neglected by much of the Christian church. Well, I've got a lot of fun things I'm going to be sharing with you - and a lot of scripture, so if you like to take notes, you might want to get your pen out because I'm going to be moving through them pretty quickly.
First question: From where do we get a seven-day week? Now, all around the world everybody observes a seven-day week. Now, that's really an unusual question because we understand why all the civilizations in the world have a year with approximately 360-365 days - even the ancient civilizations - because that's how long it takes the earth to go around the sun - there's something in astronomy that gives you that calendar. We understand why all the ancient civilizations had a month with approximately 27 to 30 days because that's the lunar cycle. That's where we get the word 'month' - from the moon. And - but where in the sun, moon, or stars - of course, you get a 24-hour day because that's how long it takes the earth to rotate one time on its axis, right?
But where in the sun, moon, and stars do you get a 7-day week? Where can the world trace a 7-day week? The only place you can trace it to is Genesis chapter 2, verses 1 through 3 and it says, "Thus the heavens and the earth and the host of them were finished. And on the seventh day God ended his work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made."
You know, it's very interesting right there, it says, way back in the beginning God established this weekly cycle. I remember I worked for about a year and a half with the Native Americans in New Mexico. And I talked with some of my Navajo, the Hopi, Sioux friends and they said, 'Oh, we had a seven-day week before the bilaga’anas showed up.' That's Navajo for 'white man' - and I thought that was fascinating, because the only place that can be traced to is the Word of God.
Now, it's interesting that in the very first book of the Bible, in the very first chapter - second chapter of the Bible it says 'The seventh day, the seventh day, the seventh day' - I don't know if you counted it - three times. Then you get to the last book of the Bible, there's another significant number mentioned three times; what is it?
>>Six, six, six.
>>Six, six, six. Seven is the number for God and perfect completion, six is the number for man - man was made on the sixth day of the week. You remember in Revelation it tells us that the beast power says everybody's supposed to bow and worship, and if you go to Daniel chapter 3, Nebuchadnezzar makes an image 60 cubits by 6 cubits. And I heard one professor say it was probably 6 x 6 x 60, which means it's like 6-6-6. And everybody's got to worship. The final battle is going to be regarding who you worship. One group will have the seal of God and worship God, the other group will have the mark of the beast and worship the beast. Am I right? The battle, in the very beginning, between two brothers, they both brought their sacrifices to God, they both claimed to worship the same God - one did it God's way, one did it his own way, and the one who did it the wrong way - invented his own worship - persecuted and, ultimately, killed the one who did it God's way. That's going to happen again at the end of time. History will repeat itself. Jesus said, 'Those who kill you will think that they are serving God. And so, we're heading in that direction so we need to understand these themes and God's commandments regarding worship. Right there in the beginning God made everything in how many days? He made it all in six days, but how many days in a week?
>>Seven.
>>Because He made another day for what?
>>Rest.
>>Rest and worship - because we're resting in Him. Did God make the Sabbath rest just for the Israelites? Have you heard that before?
>>Yes.
>>This is one of the areas where my dear friends in some other churches are making an assumption that isn't accurate. Listen to what it says - Mark chapter 2, verse 27 - Jesus speaking, He said, "The Sabbath was made for Jews" - is that what it says?
>>Man.
>>M-a-n - it's just another spelling for Jew. You spin it around upside down you can make that 'm' look like a 'w', right? What does He say? Sabbath is made for man - and that word there means 'mankind'. What else did God make for man in the beginning? God said it's not good that man should be alone, so He made woman. Do we need the things that God made for man in the beginning? Not only did He make the Sabbath He made woman. Do we still need women?
>>Amen.
>>Hopefully everybody is together on that one, right? So these things that God made were not for Jews. They were - do only Jews need a day of worship and rest? Or is that something everybody needs? Some more verses - Isaiah 56, verses 6 and 7, "Also the sons of the stranger," - meaning non-Jews - "that join themselves to the Lord, to serve Him, and to love the name of the Lord, to be His servants, everyone that keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of my covenant; even them I will bring to my holy mountain and make them miserable in my house of prayer:" - Is that what it says? "...make them joyful in my house of prayer...for mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people." Who quotes that? "My house shall be a house of prayer for all nations"? Jesus, when He drove the money changers out of the temple. He obviously still believed that verse. And so, he said, 'even the sons of the stranger' - it's for everybody.
Now, look at what's going on in our culture today - and the stress. It is phenomenal. You know, I think the five leading causes of death in North America - and I'll see if I can remember them - you got heart disease and you've got diabetes and you've got stroke and you've got cancer - and one of them is accident - accidental death - they're all connected with stress and stress is exacerbated when we don't rest. And there has never been a society that has worked as long and hard as we do now because, for one thing, we've got artificial light, for the last 150 years, 24 hours a day. The other thing, now, is you can't leave your work at work, you bring your work in your cell phone with you and you're constantly getting e-mails and messages and texts and all kinds of things and it's like people are not resting. There are chronic problems in first world countries, that people are having with their health because they don't rest.
You know, I remember reading that when Neil Armstrong and his partner went to the moon and they were actually walking on the surface of the moon, that Houston kept giving them commands and orders for every step they took - 'Now, don't forget, get this sample and then go over here and make sure and check that.' 'Take a picture of this.' And finally they stopped, they said, 'Is everything okay?' And they said, 'Yeah, we're fine. We just realized we're on the moon and we just want to stop for a moment and take it in.' I mean, wouldn't you want to stop and kind of look around and say, 'Wow, I'm on the moon and I'm watching the earth rise.' They said, 'We're probably not going to get to do this very often. We've got to, just, like, stop and take it in.' And so, they finally agreed at the control center, 'Alright, enjoy it, but don't wait too long.' We get so busy with life and the worries of life that we don't ever take it in. We don't rest. We don't worship. And the devil has us working so hard that we're destroying ourselves.
Now, how has God honored this day of restoration that we read about? Well, you can read - we already read Genesis chapter 2, now go to Exodus, in the Ten Commandments, and that's Exodus 20, you can read verses 8 through 11, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy" - I want to pause right there. Why does He say 'Keep it holy'? Do you keep something that you don't already have? If I ask you to keep something for me and I walk away, you're going to say, 'Well, Doug, what is it exactly that you want me to keep? You've got to give it to me first, before I can keep it.' So, whenever God asks you to keep something, it's assumed you already have it. If you come to my house and it's winter, and I've got a fire going, and I say, 'Can you keep the fire going?' You'd assume the fire's already going, right? But if I said to you, 'Can you keep the firing going?' and you said, 'No problem.' And after I leave you go check the fire and it's cold ashes, you'd say, 'Why did he say 'Keep the fire going' if there's no fire? So in the command, when He says 'Keep the Sabbath holy,' it's pretty well understood that it already was and I'm asking you to keep it that way. And He goes on and He says, 'And He blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.' God sanctified it, He blessed it, He commanded us to remember it.
Remember, they're not the 'Ten Suggestions', they're not the 'Ten Recommendations' - these are commandments from God. And I have people say, 'Well, you know, I would, but it's inconvenient' or 'I had something else I needed to do.' I've never heard that excuse used when one spouse talks to another and says, 'You know, I didn't really plan on committing adultery but, you know, something came up.' And I, you know - you know how you say - no you keep it. It's a commandment. It's a commandment if we love God. God rested that day, He blessed that day, and He sanctified the Sabbath. He did something to that day that He didn't do to any other day. And Jesus goes on and He says in Matthew 5:19, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven." Now, Jesus is not saying they'll be in the kingdom, He's saying if somebody is teaching others to break even the least of the commandments - by example and by their word - they're not going to be in the kingdom. The people in the kingdom will call them the least. That's what He's saying - they will be called the least among those who are in heaven. They're not going to make it to heaven. You see the difference? Some people think, 'Well, they're just going to be on a lower scale in heaven.
He wants us to do it and He wants us to teach it. Isn't that what we just read? Whoever will do and teach them - so, you might be thinking, 'Oh Pastor Doug, you're teaching the commandments, that's a little legalistic.' The devil has intimidated a whole generation of Christians with being labeled as pharisaical or legalistic if we talk about the law of God. But I've got news for you, God talks about His law. Jesus talks about the law - not that we're saved by the law - we're saved by grace, amen?
>>Amen.
>>But, if you love Him then you're not going to be afraid to find out what best pleases Him. So, in what two ways is the Sabbath a sign? It says, 'I'll give them my Sabbath as a sign.' Well, there's a couple things you can read about. Ezekiel 20, verse 12, it says, "Moreover also I gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between Me and them, that they might know that I am the Lord that sanctify them." Now, He didn't just give the Sabbath to the Israelites - He certainly did remind them of it - but He gave it to man right back in the beginning. Remember, we learned God sanctified the day. Does God have the power to make something holy? Does God have the power to make you holy? See, it's a sign of that. Every Sabbath day we're reminding ourselves that He can sanctify us.
Another example you'll find - you can read in Exodus 31:17, "It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the Lord made" - so He takes us back, again, to creation. How many people were in the world at creation? Two, right? What were their names? How many here are related to them? It's a trick question. You're also all related to Noah too, did you know that? And that means we're brothers and sisters, right? And did He make the Sabbath for man? He wanted Israel to remind the nations of what they forgot. It reminds them that, in the beginning, when He created the heavens and earth, He made one more day so every Sabbath we remember that He can sanctify us and He can recreate us. He can create, within us, a new heart. Isn't that what David prayed? The Sabbath reminds us - He's a creator. I don't think you'd have problems with the evolutionary teachings within Christianity today if people would have remembered the Sabbath day the way they were supposed to.
Ultimately, a Christian is what? Follower of Christ, right? Are we together? What was the example of Jesus? Which day did He keep holy? Luke 4, verse 16, and we read there, "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was," - now, what's a custom? Something you do once? Or is a custom a way of life and a practice? When you say someone does something customarily, that means it's their ongoing practice. "...as His custom was He went into the synagogue" - the word 'synagogue' means 'the church; the gathering' - "...and stood up for to read." - scriptures. Jesus went to church and read the Bible every Sabbath. And you can look at the apostles - what was their example? What did Paul do? What was his custom regarding the Sabbath day? This one is in Acts 17:2, "And Paul, as his custom was, went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures." In fact, it says - you read in Acts 18:4 - some people say, 'Well, he just reasoned with them out of the scriptures because he was trying to reach the Jews.' You read here, it says he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded Jews and Greeks. Indeed, when Paul wanted to arrest Christians, when he first went out, he went into the synagogues looking for the Christians. Why would he look for them there? Because they kept the same day as the Jews.
Now, I've got to pause here and issue just a little oasis in my rant. I remember when I first learned these things, it troubled me, because I first accepted Jesus - I read the Bible, I went to church on Sunday - most of the churches I went to, they'd meet Sunday - they'd meet other days, but they never really kept a day like the Sabbath. Let's face it, most Christian churches, even within the Protestant church, even within the Catholic church, they might go to mass, they might go to church - I've preached in many different denominations - I remember preaching in a Baptist church and, before I even started, I met a deacon at the door and he said, 'You'd better be done by noon, there's a football game.' (Laughter) And so then they go home and mow the lawn, right? So most - or they go shopping - they don't keep it like a holy day. Had I known - there are some in our church that know the Sabbath truth and they're not keeping it like a holy day either. We begin to compromise with the culture around us.
I remember when I first learned these things, it kind of troubled me. And I was upset. But, you know, I - I finally realized, 'Look, I just want to know, what does the Bible really say? Because I want to be a Bible Christian. What did Jesus really teach? What did the apostles teach?' That's our next question. Did the apostles also meet with the Gentiles on the Sabbath day? Read in Acts 13, verse 42, "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath." And then it says, "On the next Sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." You can read in Acts chapter 16 it says, "And on the Sabbath Day we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made;" - all through the book of Acts and the gospels, with everything that is said about the Sabbath day, they were not teaching that it was to be done away with. It was all understood. It was one of the commandments, and yet, it's rarely spoken of among Christians and our whole society suffers because it's being neglected. People's health is suffering. Love relationships suffer, families suffer from stress, and if they'd keep the Sabbath, they'd have that quality time with God and with each other. And see, that's what it boils down to, friends.
Right now, assuming you're alive and breathing, your heart is beating, you are experiencing life. Enjoy it. Look around, you're alive - at least for the moment, right? You experience life in a dimension called time. If you don't have time, you don't have life. God tells us that love is demonstrated in time. I won't ask for a show of hands, but I bet there's more than one husband here who has had the wife say, 'We don't spend time together anymore.' I've had Karen say that to me - 'We're just not spending time' - I said, 'I was here all week.' She said, 'But you were in your office.' She said, 'It's different than, like, quality time.' Now, do you all know what I'm talking about? Really communicating. Love is experienced in time, and God wants to have a love relationship with us. You can't be happy without loving God. You can't get to heaven without loving God. You can't obey Him if you don't love God. You can't love someone without time. It's in the context of time you get to know them - you get to express your love. Isn't that right? So, after God made everything good, good, very good and beautiful in six days, He says, 'I'm making one more day so we can experience it together.' You ever see something wonderful and wish you had someone to show? Thought, 'No one will ever believe this. What a beautiful view.' Whatever it was. God made us social creatures and we spend time together. He wants to spend time with us. The Bible says He walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. Jesus said to the disciples, 'Can you come pray with me?' and they went to sleep.
Number 8, Did Jesus intend for His people to keep the Sabbath after He died for their sins? Now, I already showed you Jesus kept it. Paul kept it. The apostles kept it. What about the church in the future? Jesus talking about the signs of His return and the end of the world. He says, in Matthew 24, verse 20, "Pray that your flight be not in the winter," - He's not talking about a flight on American Airlines, he's talking about fleeing for your life - "Pray that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Everything Christ said was in the context of assuming His people understood this was a commandment to remember. Does the Bible teach that God's people, in the end time, will need to keep the seventh day Sabbath holy? Now, most people, up until now say, 'Yeah, the Sabbath sounds good.' But I just mentioned the seventh day - because what day did God say that He blessed?
>>The seventh.
>>The seventh day. Does it matter? Did God say, 'Keep a sabbath day holy'? or did He say, 'Keep the seventh day holy'? Do you pick the day you're going to bless, or do we pick the day He blessed? And I remember struggling with this when I first learned these things. Let's read on here and I'll say more about it. The dragon was wroth with the woman - who's the dragon?
>>Satan.
>>Satan - the devil, right? Who's the woman in this - Revelation 12?
>>The church.
>>God's church. You just know the dragon's mad at her - it's the good church, right? "And the dragon was wroth with the woman and he goes to make war with the remnant of her seed that keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." The dragon is going to make war with those that keep the commandments. Think about this - Daniel chapter 3 - those who do not worship the image of Nebuchadnezzar will be killed. They've got to make a decision - Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego - you know the story? Will we obey the commandments of God or the commandments of the government? Daniel chapter 6 - there it's the first commandment - 'Thou shalt have no other Gods' - King Darius makes a law that you're only to pray to him for thirty days. Daniel has to make a decision: 'Am I going to obey the law of the government or the law of God?
In the end of time, it's also going to be a question of which god you serve and whose commandments you obey. If we don't understand that these things do make a difference, then we're just going to end up being a lot of milk toast Christians that say, 'Lord, Lord' - and Jesus says, 'I don't know you.' If you want to be a real Christian - if you want to have a revival, then start being one who says, 'Lord, speak, your servant listens. I'm going to do what I know You want me to do.' The Sabbath is part of that - it's in the Bible. Revelation chapter 14 - just before Jesus comes it says, "I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and tongue, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice," - a message going to the world - Jesus said, 'Go into all nations' - "Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come:" - this is just prior to the end - talking about the judgment, right? And notice what it says: "and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." Do you know that is an exact quote from the Sabbath commandment? It's calling people back to the worship of the creator and that's what was - the Sabbath was all about. There's a message that goes to the world before Jesus returns and, later in this same passage, it says, "And I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man," - Jesus comes. We have a message that's to go to the world, calling people back to, not only be hearers, but doers of the word, amen?
>>Amen.
>>You can read there - it also said in Revelation 14, verse 12, "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." And the end of the book - "Blessed are those who do His commandments that they might have a right to the tree of life and to enter in through the gates of the city." Blessed - He wants you to have that blessing. God did not bless the day so you could feel like it's a curse. But, you know, one of the hardest things to give is time. My father had a lot of money - he was a millionaire - and I'd want to spend time with him. And, sometimes, he was so busy he'd say, 'Oh, here's five dollars - go to the movie.' And I was always thankful for the five dollars, but in my heart I'm thinking, 'I was hoping we'd do something together.' Because sometimes it's easier to give a donation than give yourself. When you give your time, you give yourself. I try to teach my kids: when you have an appointment don't be late, because if someone's waiting for you, you are stealing their time and you're stealing a piece of their life. It's rude. Amen?
>>Amen.
>>And so, giving time is a precious thing. And so, if you say, 'Lord, I love you. I love you, but I haven't got any time right now.' Well, do we really love Him? It's the supreme proof that you love God when you give Him your time. When He makes an appointment - not you make your own - and He's made an appointment with us, amen? He said, 'I blessed the day' - put aside all the cares of life. Now, someone's going to say, 'Pastor Doug, well, you worship God one day a week. I worship God seven days a week.' That's nonsense. First of all, I worship God seven days a week too. We're talking about keeping the Sabbath. The Sabbath says, 'Thou shalt not do any labor' - and if a person says they're worshiping God by not working seven days a week, they're not holy, they're lazy. So we're not talking about that. God has specified a specific day - matter of fact, He says, 'Six days thou shalt work' - that's part of the command, right? One day you don't do any work so that we can have this quality time. And, yes, it does say that coming together to worship God is part of the Sabbath. You read in Leviticus 23 the Sabbath is called a holy convocation. That means, as far as possible - I know some people are - they're infirmed or they're shut-in or they're isolated but, if you can, we come together to worship God. Its something you do corporately.
Dwight Moody said, in his book Weighed and Wanting, "I honestly believe that this commandment is just as binding today as ever it was. I've talked with men who say it was abrogated" - it's talking about the Sabbath commandment - "But they've never been able to point to any place in the Bible where God repealed it. When Christ was earth He did nothing to set it aside." You know, in fact, looking at my clock here, and talking about the Reformation, you know, a lot of the early reformers knew the Sabbath truth and kept it. Some of the early Waldenses and the Hussites and the Reformers - they were burnt to death because they kept the old Sabbath, historians say - they kept the historic Sabbath of the Jews. Well, I don't know where God commands us to keep the Sabbath of the Gentiles. Show me one verse in the Bible that commands us to keep the first day holy. I only do that - I don't want to be arrogant, I do it because I know it's not there, but what day does most of the Christian world keep?
>>Sunday.
>>First day. And there's not a single scripture that tells us to do it. Now, listen to what the honest theologians from all these different denominations say. I'm just going to go through a few. There's scores of these I could read, but I'll run out of time. Baptist church - this is written by Dr. Edward T. Hiscox, author of the Baptist Manual, "There was and is a commandment to keep holy the Sabbath day, but that Sabbath day was not Sunday. It'll be said, however, and with some show of triumph, that the Sabbath was transferred from the seventh to the first day of the week. Where can the record of such a transaction be found? Not in the New Testament, absolutely not. There is no scriptural evidence for the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week." He says more. Congregational church - Dr. R.W. Dale - this is his book The Ten Commandments, "It's quite clear, however rigidly or devotedly we may spend Sunday, we are not keeping the Sabbath. The Sabbath was founded on a specific divine command. We can plead no such command for the observance of Sunday. There is not a single line in the New Testament to suggest that we incur any penalty by violating Sunday." The Lutheran Church - and this was in the Augsburg Confession, which a lot of Protestants were involved in, "The observance of the Lord's Day, Sunday, is not founded on any command of God, but on authority of the church." Episcopal Church - "The Bible commandment says, 'On the seventh day thou may rest' - that is Saturday.
Nowhere in the Bible is it laid down that worship should be done on Sunday." That's Phillip Carrington. Presbyterian Church - this is Eaton - Canon Eaton in his book on the Ten Commandments, "There is no word - no hint in the New Testament about abstaining from work on Sunday. The observance of Ash Wednesday or Lent stands exactly on the same footing as the observance of Sunday, into which no Sunday divine law enters." He says it's just a tradition. Anglican church - "And where are we told in the scriptures that we should keep the first day at all? We're commanded to keep the seventh, we're not commanded to keep the first.' That's Isaac Williams. Methodist Church, Amos Briney, his Theological Compendium, "It is true that there is no positive command for infant baptism, nor is there any for keeping holy the first day of the week. Many believe that Christ changed the Sabbath but, from His own words, we see that He came for no such purpose. Those who believe that Jesus changed the Sabbath, base it on only a supposition.”
And I've got pages of quotes like this. Honest theologians know that if you're going to go by the Bible, all we can do is look around and say, 'Well, this is what everyone is doing so we're going to do what everyone is doing.' A reformation means you break out of that mold and say, 'We're not going to follow traditions of men, we're going to follow the word of God.' And, when we decide to follow the word of God, you're going to see something remarkable happen. Not only will God bless, the devil's going to get very upset. Amen? Maybe that's what we need. Persecution often refines.
Will all of the saved be keeping the Sabbath in heaven? So we've already shown the apostles and Jesus, what about in the future? You can read Isaiah 66, verses 22 and 23, "'For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it will come to pass that from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come and worship before me,' says the Lord." - All flesh. So you look here in the Bible - we see - we know Adam kept it in the Garden of Eden, we know the children of Israel kept it - we're going to say more about that - we know the apostles kept it, we know we'll keep it in heaven, and who do you think the preacher's going to be there? Jesus - nobody will sleep during the sermon when He preaches.
At what time of day - let's get a little more specific - does the Sabbath actually begin? Some people think it starts at midnight or something - no. You know, we set our clocks back this week - some of you came an hour early. They do that at 2:00 in the morning - that's not when the Sabbath starts. You read in the Bible it says, 'From even unto even' - Leviticus chapter 23:32 - 'you'll celebrate your Sabbath' - that's sundown. Again, Mark 1:32, "And at even when the sun did set' - now someone's going to send in a question and say, 'Well, how do they keep the Sabbath on the International Space Station?' Send that in, we'll do it for Facebook after the program. You want to know the answer, don't you?
Question 12 - now this is where people say, 'Yeah, you're right, we're supposed to worship God every seventh day, but since we - you know, the calendar's been changed, we don't know what day the seventh day is.' Have you heard that? Can we be certain that the present seventh day of the week - Saturday - is the same Sabbath day that Jesus kept holy? Absolutely. Luke 23:54 - you read in your Bible - and we know that when Christ was crucified it says, "And that day was the preparation," - that's what you call Friday - the day you prepare for the Sabbath - "and the Sabbath drew on." So it's the day before the Sabbath - and then it says, "and they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment."
I've just got to pause here. To me, it always is mind-blowing that the disciples, after following Jesus for three and a half years, hearing Him preach - lots of Sabbath conflict with the legalist and religious leaders - that when He finally died, they wanted to take His body off the cross and prepare it. They had not finished embalming Him and they said, 'You know, we need to stop because the Sabbath's coming. We'll come back Sunday morning after the Sabbath. It would not please Jesus if we continued doing this, even though it's a labor of love.' It was so thoroughly engrained in their minds how Jesus felt about the Sabbath, they wouldn't even finish embalming His body. Most of us would say, 'Well, that's - the ox is in the ditch, you gotta do it.' Right? They would not do it. Matter of fact, you know, Jesus spent seven hours on the cross. Do the math. Crucified at 9:00 am, died at 3:00, took an hour to get his body off the cross - six hours alive, one hour resting on the cross. Jesus died before the Sabbath, He rested from His work of redeeming man through the Sabbath, He rose Sunday morning. He did not rise to establish a new Sabbath, He rose to continue His work as our high priest in heaven.
>>Amen.
>>And so He even kept the Sabbath in His death. So I want to go on here, so we know - Good Friday - they went home, kept the - by the way, who wrote the gospel of Luke? Dumb question, right? (Laughter) What I meant was he was a Gentile, right?
>>Yes.
>>So this would have been a great place for Him to say they went and kept the Jewish Sabbath. Luke doesn't call it that, he says, 'the commandment'. Right? And then, Sunday morning, the women come to the tomb, they see it's empty - Mary comes first - He appears first to Mary Magdalene, and when He rose early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene. And here you've got just an outline of what that looked like. You've got the Preparation Day - Friday, you've got Sabbath - Saturday, and people keep Sunday, they celebrate Sunday - they call it Easter is what day? Sunday - they say it's the day of the resurrection. Nobody contends that. And so, as soon as you say, 'Well, we really don't know which day is Saturday anymore,' you're telling me you don't know which day Sunday is either, right?
So, if you have problems with my Saturday, you've got problems with your Sunday. There's no question. You even look in the dictionary - Merriam Webster is one of the most popular dictionaries in the world - 'Saturday - the seventh day of the week.' If that does not convince you, in over a hundred and five languages of the world, the word for the seventh day of the week - what we call Saturday - is Sabbath. Now, it's not so in English, we get it from the Greek god, but you speak Spanish, it's Sabado. Yah panimio nimnoshka ruski? It's dobre subota - Sabbath in Russian, right? And if you're in Micronesia it's pong sabat. In 105 languages - isn't that interesting? They all have the same word. It was the Sabbath rest, even in the places where the religion was not Christian. The name they had for the seventh day of the week was the Sabbath because it goes all the way back.
And you say, 'But Pastor Doug, the calendar was changed.' You're right, the calendar was changed. Let's look at the change. Most prominent change in the last 2,000 years was when we went from the Julian calendar to the Gregorian calendar. In the Julian calendar they needed to adjust for the seasons - it was nothing - no conspiracy here - so they took October 4, Thursday, they added ten days and it went from the 4th to the 15th. There's a picture you can see to kind of relate to. You notice it went from Thursday to Friday. So did they change the calendar? Yes. Does a change in the calendar ever affect the weekly cycle? No, it makes no difference. So whenever it says - because people see the week on the calendar and they see the month on the calendar, they think they're interwoven - they're not. They're two completely separate cycles of time. That's why your birthday is on a different day of the week every year.
Someone wrote a letter to the U.S. Naval Observatory - James Robertson answered, "There has been no change in our calendar in past centuries that has affected, in any way, the continuity of the cycle of the week." And so, none of it ever affects the week. And, if that doesn't convince you, because some people are skeptical - it doesn't matter how much evidence you give them - you might convince me that there was a Jewish family that got washed up on a deserted island and, as devoted as they were about Sabbath keeping, they lost track of time - or they were in a dungeon, or it was cloudy so long they couldn't tell what the days were. But you're not going to convince me 16 million Jews around the world have forgotten their holy day. Am I right? They are still keeping the same day. And you might be wondering, 'What happened?' We'll try and get to that tonight, a little bit.
Have the Ten Commandments been changed? No, the Bible says, 'I am the Lord, I change not.' My covenant - 'I will not alter the thing that has gone out of My lips.' 'Every word of God is pure and you shall not add unto His words lest He reprove you and you be found a liar.' 'Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God and keep His commandments for this is the whole duty of man' - this is Ecclesiastes 12 - 'for God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether it be good or evil.' The conclusion of the whole matter - fear God and keep His commandments.
>>Amen.
>>Amen? God has not changed. The beast power described in Daniel 7:25 will think to change times and laws. Now, look at the Ten Commandments. You see if you can find one that is both a time and a law. Ten seconds. (Laughter) It's only the Sabbath. That's the only commandment that is a time and a law. Has there been an attempt to change it? Can man change God's law or just attempt? Yeah, God foretold this would happen. Does breaking just one of God's commandments matter? It does. You read in James chapter 2, verse 10, "Whoever shall keep the whole law and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all." I mean, if you go to the judge and say, 'Look, your honor, I realize I killed that person, but it's only one person. I am a good citizen other than that, and I'm faithful to my wife and I pay my taxes.' He's going to say, 'I'm sorry, you're guilty.'
So, does one commandment matter to God? I believe it does. So, what happened? Where did Sunday come from? It doesn't come from the Bible. Here's encyclopedia Britannica - I'm trying - I just have time for some of the most convincing evidence. The earliest recognition of the observance of Sunday is a constitution of Constantine in 321 AD - that's being like 300 years after Christ. They thought, 'Well, you know, we'll reach a lot more of the Romans - they kind of worship in the first day of the week. We don't want to be like the Jews' - because they had become very unpopular and so they began to distance themselves from the Jews and they started to keep the commandments of men to be more popular - and that's what it says in Matthew 15:9 - Jesus said, "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men." Now I've got to pause here and just make this clear. 'Pastor Doug, are you saying that people who have been going to church on Sunday are all lost?' No, God winks at our ignorance - Acts chapter 17, verse 30. He's a merciful God. There's a lot of beautiful spirit-filled people that don't know this truth. Will there be people in heaven that had too many wives? It's talking about all at one time. Will David be in heaven? Jacob? Even Solomon. Will I be in heaven if I take extra wives?
>>No.
>>No, He's not going to wink at my ignorance, because I know better. And so, sin is knowing to do good and not doing it. If we continue to sin willfully after we receive a knowledge of the truth - Hebrews chapter 10 - there remains no more sacrifice for sin. And so, God is calling us back to His word to bless us, not to be a burden. Amen?
>>Amen.
>>Some say, 'Well, God just created the Sabbath for the Jews at Mount Sinai.' That's not correct. Did the Sabbath exist before Mount Sinai? It says Moses and Aaron, after God called Moses at the burning bush, he met his brother, they went to the elders of Israel, and they gathered together the elders and told them 'God is going to do something wonderful for you. You need to consecrate yourselves to Him. You need to remember to keep the Sabbath day.' 'How do you know that, Pastor Doug?' Look at what happens when Moses goes to the Pharaoh and says, 'Let my people go.' And Pharaoh says, 'I don't want to let them go.' And he goes on to say, 'Behold, the people of the land are many and you make them' - what? - 'rest.' You know what that word is in Hebrew? Shabbat - you're making them keep the Sabbath. Because Moses said 'You guys need to turn back to God.' This is before they had even gotten out of Egypt. They knew what the Sabbath was. 'You're making them rest from their burdens.' And Pharaoh said, 'I'm going to teach you a lesson. I'm not going to let you rest. I'm going to have you making bricks with no straw. I'm going to increase the quota.'
Now, if Moses represents Jesus and he says 'rest,' who would the pharaoh represent? The devil. He wants to increase our burdens so that we are restless. You know, Jesus said, 'Come to me, I want to give you rest.' The Lord is trying to call us back to the blessings that we're missing. He says, 'Go and tell them they're going to have to make bricks without straw.' Notice what happens next - we're just tracing this history here - after Moses, then, leads them out of the land of Egypt, they cross the Red Sea, before they get to Mount Sinai, they get hungry. God says, 'I'll give you bread from heaven.' This is in Exodus 16, He said, 'I'm going to give you bread six days a week. There'll be no manna from heaven on the seventh day. Some of the people didn't trust God and they went looking for manna on the seventh day and God said to Moses, 'How long will you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?' The Sabbath was a commandment and they had not even gotten to Mount Sinai yet. Isn't that right? Exodus 16 is the manna story. Exodus 20 is the Ten Commandments. It goes all the way back to Genesis 2. And so, please don't fall for that popular argument, 'Well that was just for the Jews.' Who believes that only Jews are supposed to rest? Only Jews are supposed to worship? And why wouldn't God - what was wrong with the seventh day? Why would He change it? Did He make the seventh day before or after sin?
>>Before.
>>Before. It was perfect. God's law doesn't need changing, we need changing, amen? What blessings is God promising to those that are contained within the Sabbath commandment - those who remember it? Jesus said, 'Come unto me all you who are weary and heavy laden.' And what does the Lord want to give us?
>>Rest.
>>'I'll give you rest.' He wants us to have peace. He doesn't want us to live in fear. He doesn't want us to have stressful lives. He goes on and says in Exodus 33, "My presence will go with you and I will give you rest." 'Pastor Doug, we're not supposed to keep that commandment because we only keep the commandments that are repeated in the New Testament. I was doing a seminar like this and a lot of people were coming from this community - a pastor came, who disagreed with me, and right during the talk he said, 'Brother Doug, you're putting these people under a burden of works.' And it kind of stopped everything so I had to address it. So I said, 'Why do you say that?' He said, 'You're talking about keeping the Sabbath - you're putting them under a burden of works.' I said, 'No, brother, I respectfully disagree. I'm telling them to rest. You're telling them not to rest. You're putting them under works.' And I said, 'Do you believe God wants us to keep the Ten Commandments?' He said, 'No.' And then people in his congregation were actually in the audience, they went 'Ah!' and he said, 'Well, yes!' And then he knew that would include all ten - he said, 'Nine of them.' (Laughter) And I said, 'So you're telling me the only one we're supposed to forget is the only one that begins with the word 'Remember'? (Laughter) He said, 'Well, it doesn't appear in the New Testament.' That is a myth.
You know, you repeat something people think it's true. There is a commandment that does not reappear in the New Testament, it's the third commandment, 'Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. The Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.' Where is that in the New Testament? Closest you get is the Lord's prayer - 'Hallowed be Thy name.' Right? But do we find the Sabbath commandment in the New Testament? Many, many times - and you can read in Hebrews, He says, 'And they will enter into My rest' - 'He spake in a certain place on the seventh day on this wise'. There are a number of scriptures and Jesus never said that it was done away with. And here's just a few of those. You read there in - it says, 'They'll enter My rest' - He says, 'There remains a rest for the people of God' - and that word 'rest' there means 'a keeping of the Sabbath' - Sabatismos.
You know, we're looking at the last days right now. Two groups will worship - one will have the seal of God and one will have the mark of the beast - and it really boils down to who you obey. I want you to notice something about those who worship the beast and his image, it says, in Revelation chapter 14, verse 11, "The smoke of their torment ascends up forever and ever and they have no rest." Who has no rest? Those who worship the beast. They have no rest who worship the beast and his image. Who does have rest? Those who come to Jesus. And Jesus said, 'If you love Me, keep My commandments.' He goes on and says, 'If you know these things' - John 13, verse 17, "If you know these things," - blessed are you - "happy are ye if ye do them." So we've been talking about a very clear Bible principle - a teaching - it may not be popular in the Christian world - I've heard pastors say, 'Pastor Doug, I know this is in the Bible, but what will happen to my congregation? I'll lose my job if I take a stand for this.'
Friends, what profit is it if you gain the whole world and you lose your soul? We need to seek first His kingdom of righteousness. Jesus wants us to come to Him and experience that rest. That's the great invitation - 'Come unto Me all ye who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest.' Now, I know some of you are hearing new things and I'd like to recommend - there's a lot more I have to say - there's a website you can go to and it's simply sabbathtruth.com - I think they're going to pop that up on the screen there for you - wonderful website - a lot of information - has the history of it - just about anything you can think of. But mostly, I want to ask you right now, are you willing to say, 'Lord, if this is true, I'm willing to walk in the light of truth.' Is that your prayer?
>>Amen.
>>Give me grace to do it.