Beginners Care Package

Holy Sabbath Series

Holy Sabbath #2

Fred R. Coulter

This is number two in a series we are doing on the Sabbath. And we’ll also do the holy days with this. And let’s understand something about the Sabbath day, brethren. Let’s understand the real purpose that God has given it. He has given it with His grace so that we can fellowship with Him; that the Sabbath can be the very best day of the week, the very highlight of our whole lives every week. Because in the Sabbath, then, we fellowship with God, fellowship with Jesus Christ, we fellowship with the brethren, and we grow in grace and knowledge, and God’s presence is with us. That’s why when He created the seventh day He made it a special time. And it says here – let’s just review in Genesis 2:2, “And on the seventh day [sixth day, as it should read] God ended His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.” Now He rested so that He could be with Adam and Eve personally, to teach them, to tell them that He is their God, their Creator; and to show them as much of the plan of God as He could, just being newly created. And in that, then, the Sabbath is an integral part of our fellowship and our relationship with God.

See, we need to realize and understand something very important. And if you haven’t seen the two tapes, “Why God Hates Religion,” be sure and watch those. Because, you see, God is not interested in a religion; God is interested in a relationship. And the Sabbath day is a relationship day between you and God the Father and Jesus Christ and all the brethren together. So as God looks down upon the earth, and where the Sabbath begins – say, over in Australia – and then the Sabbath is coming to all the people that are on the earth for a whole twenty-four hour period, the Sabbath day is beginning. Then when it ends in Australia, then it’s beginning to end all around the world for another twenty-four hours. So from God’s perspective, His Sabbath day and fellowshipping with His people is actually forty-eight hours on the earth. But it’s one day wherever you are, from sunset to sunset. And that’s what’s so important.

So “…God blessed the seventh day…” Now, we don’t find that He blessed any other day, except the holy days. We’ll cover that when we get to it. “...And sanctified it:...” That means He set it aside and made it holy. That’s why the Sabbath is called the Holy Sabbath of God. “...Because that in it He had rested from all His work which God created and made” (Genesis 2:3). Now let’s go to another place which talks about the beginning. Let’s go to the epistle of 1 John, and the very first chapter. And let’s tie these two together so that we understand that the Sabbath is a very profound and important part of our relationship with God. And the truth of the matter is this: if you don’t keep the Sabbath, you don’t fellowship with God. Now you just think on that. Because that is the only day that God has put His presence in so that He can have that time to fellowship with those that He has called.

Now this is why John was writing here in 1 John 1:1, “That which was from the beginning,…” Now we just read about where the first Sabbath was created. So we’re talking about the beginning here. “…{That] which we have heard…”, referring to Jesus Christ and His ministry. And a little later we’re going to see how Jesus kept the Sabbath and the example He set for us. “…Which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon,…” Now that means to intently gaze upon in an earnest, deep, drinking in of Who He was as a person. “…And our hands have handled, of the Word of life [and He’s the one Who created the Sabbath]; (For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and shew unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us;)…” And let’s understand something else that’s very important too: we are not going to have eternal life unless we’re keeping the Sabbath. Now you just think on that. Now that may come as a shock or surprise to you. And if you’re a Sabbath-keeper you may say, “Ooh, how ridiculous!” But we’ll show you a little later. So you just hold on here.

“…That which we have seen and heard…” And we’re going to see what they saw and heard Jesus do, “…declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:1-3). So on the Sabbath day we are to have this relationship with God the Father and Jesus Christ, because this is the time that They have set for it. Now once we understand how important that is, then we need to realize something else. Let’s go to Exodus 31. We’ll review just a little bit what we covered last time. But Exodus 31 is very important for us to understand, because God is a covenant God. And let’s understand something here concerning Exodus 31, in what is called a “perpetual covenant.” Very important thing for us to realize. When God makes a covenant – and we’re going to see, this is a separate covenant. This covenant here is not the Old Covenant. This covenant here is a Sabbath covenant, which is perpetual. This covenant was made after the covenant with Israel was already sealed. Signed, sealed, and delivered. It was ratified in Exodus 24.

Now let’s review this very carefully, and let’s analyze what God is saying, and how important that this is. And we’re also going to see that this covers, not only the weekly Sabbath, but it also covers the annual Sabbaths. Now verse 12, “And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,…” Now, let’s understand again, and reiterate again: Moses never said a word that God didn’t tell him to say. So this is not from Moses. This is from God. Too many people say, “Well, if Moses said it, well, then we can just forget it.” Well, Moses never said anything that God didn’t tell him to say.

“…Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily My sabbaths ye shall keep:…” And this is plural. This refers to all of the holy days. And also, let’s look at it carefully now: “My sabbaths you shall keep.” Not any other day. And we’re going to see that Sunday never was a day that God ever approved of under any circumstances.

“…For it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations;…” So it is something that it is a sign. Now when it says, “It is a sign,” that is referring to Sabbath-keeping. The Sabbath-keeping is a sign. Not the Sabbath alone is the sign, but the Sabbath-keeping is a sign. The Sabbath without keeping, it is of no value to you. You’re not fellowshipping with God, you’re not fellowshipping with each other, you’re not learning of His word, unless you keep the Sabbath. And God made it a very special time, that He would fellowship with His people, that we can study from His word, that we can learn of God the Father and Jesus Christ, that we can grow in grace and knowledge, that we can prepare for eternal life for all eternity. And that’s how important the Sabbath is.

“…That ye may know…” Now you see, we have to know God. There are a lot of people who say, “Well, do you know God?” or, “Do you know the Lord?”, and their Sunday-keeping doesn’t do them any good in knowing God. Because it says the Sabbaths are those things which help you to know God. Therefore, it also follows by extension then, Christmas and Easter and all of the pagan holidays do not teach you about God. And let’s just stop here and just think about something for a minute. God is a God of truth, correct? God is a God Who cannot lie, right? Yes. No question about it. All of the holidays of the world have lies in them. Can you worship the God of truth with a lie? No, you can’t. Sunday, as we will see, is a lie. Can you worship God, truly, on Sunday, which is a lie? No, you can’t.

“…[So] That ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you.” God is the one Who makes you holy. Because, you see, if you keep any other day, if you keep Sunday – which a lot of people are reverting to now – then you are committing an act of a work of self so that you can save yourself, and tell God how righteous you are. And then God must indeed save you. But He won’t do that, because no one tells God what to do. We’ll see that a little later on.

Verse 14, “Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore [because this comes every week]; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death [and the wages of sin is death]: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.” And have we not seen that happen? Has not the church been split up? And have not those who have gone to working on the Sabbath and worshipping on Sunday, have they not been cut off from the people of God? Oh, they may have found a lot of friends in the world. But are those the people of God?

So then He reiterates it here. He wants to make it clear: “Six days may work be done; but in the seventh [day] is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD [because He made it holy]: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath,…” (vs. 15-16). Now we also need to understand that the church is spiritual Israel. So this applies to the church. And we’ll see this covenant follows all the way down through to the church. Because when you go to chapters nine, ten, and eleven, and the apostle Paul is showing that the Gentiles are grafted into the olive tree, the olive tree is Israel. And we are spiritual Israel. And so this perpetual covenant continues right on, right on into the New Covenant. This runs parallel with the New Covenant. It is part of, but parallel. Just like it was part of, but parallel, the Old Covenant.

Verse 16, “Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath…” Now notice, He says, keep it and observe it “…throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.” So this is a separate and additional covenant that is bonded to us by death. Because He says, “If you don’t keep it, you’re going to die.” A “perpetual covenant,” meaning, it goes on. It runs alongside every covenant that God has. Parallel to, and part of. Now verse 17, “It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day He rested, and was refreshed” (Ex. 31:12-17). Now that’s so important for us to realize.

Now let’s pick up where we left off last time. Let’s go to Ezekiel 20, and let’s review again what the children of Israel did. Instead of following God and doing the things, even in the letter of the law, that God would have blessed them in, because that’s what He required of them. They went after their idols, and their hearts went after the things that they wanted. So here in Ezekiel 20, let’s review this again so we can understand it. Because right in here is part of the argument that some of those who are Sunday-keepers look at and say that, “God gave the Sabbath as a curse. God gave the Sabbath as something that you should not live in. So therefore, God cursed the Jews in giving the Sabbath.” Nothing, brethren, could be further from the truth than that. That is nothing but a satanic lie. God gave the Sabbath as a blessing. And He blessed it. And He made it holy. And He sanctified it. And He wants to fellowship with you on this day. So that’s how important the Sabbath really is.

Now let’s come here to verse 18, and we’ll review in Ezekiel 20. “But I said unto their children in the wilderness [after those who had rebelled all died], Walk ye not in the statutes of your fathers [and those were following their own gods], neither observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols: I am the LORD your God; walk in My statutes, and keep My judgments, and do them;…” (Ex. 20:18-19). Now you can read in the book of Deuteronomy and Exodus, where God says, “I have given these things to you for your good, that you may live; that you may go in and possess the land. And I have given you these Ten Commandments because I love you and I loved your fathers, and I am fulfilling My word to you.” So you see, this is what’s important.

So His statutes and His judgments are right. You read all of Psalm 119 about the laws of God, the commandments of God, the statutes of God – they are right, they are good, they are whole, they are perfect, they are righteous. All the precepts of God are right altogether. And you see, when we come to that conclusion then we begin to have the mind of Christ and the mind of God to understand these things. But if we’re with our carnal minds, going to fight against God and hedge our bets, as it were, and keep our little old carnal reserve for us in the back of our minds, waiting for the day when we can just go out and do what we want to do…like a lot of people did when they first heard that they could eat unclean meats. Why, that very Sabbath before they even went home brethren were out there, all gathering together, planning to go to the Red Lobster and have their shrimp, and have their clams and have their lobster, and all of those things. Which God says those things are an abomination.

So you see, don’t reserve that part of your mind for yourself, because that carnal reserve is going to trip you up and cause you to walk away from God. See, God wants you to love Him with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your being. It is a whole-hearted thing between you and God. So He’s saying here that, “I want you to walk in My statutes and keep My judgments.”

“…And hallow My sabbaths;…” Plural. Holy days. Leviticus 23 shows that all the holy days are Sabbaths. “…And they shall be a sign between Me and you,…” Remember what the perpetual covenant was: for the children of Israel, through all their generations for a perpetual covenant it will be a sign. “…That ye may know that I am the LORD your God. Notwithstanding the children rebelled against Me: they walked not in My statutes, neither kept My judgments to do them, which if a man do, he shall even live in them; they polluted My sabbaths: then I said, I would pour out My fury upon them, to accomplish My anger against them in the wilderness. Nevertheless I withdrew Mine hand,…” (vs. 20-22), because God is merciful, kind, and gracious, and doesn’t even desire that sinners die. He wishes that they would repent. A little later on in Ezekiel He says, “O Israel, why will you die? Turn you, turn you!” And this is what God is saying today to the church: “O Church of God, why will you die? Why will you suffer any more? Why will you go back into the world? Turn you, turn you, come back to God! Come back to the Sabbath. Come back to the holy days. Repent, and turn your whole heart to Him!” That’s what He’s saying here.

So He withdrew His hand, “…for My name’s sake, that it should not be polluted in the sight of the heathen, in whose sight I brought them forth. I lifted up Mine hand unto them also in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the heathen, and disperse them through the countries; because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, and had polluted My sabbaths,…” So they did those three things. “…And their eyes were after their fathers’ idols. Wherefore I gave them also statutes that were not good,…” Now those are the statutes of the religions of this world. Those are not good. “…And judgments whereby they should not live;…” God’s judgments are in those things whereby they will live. So these are being turned over to all the pagan devices, which their hearts went after. “…And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb,…” Instead of the firstborn going to God, now they pass them through the fire to the god of Moloch. “…That I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD” (vs. 22-26).

Now there are two ways you’re going to know God: one, if you follow God and do His way and keep His laws and commandments, and have the Spirit of God, then you will know God. The other way you’re going to know God is if you sin, and if you go out and grievously destroy your life, and you come to the very end in trouble and tribulation and trial and difficulty, then you’re going to know that God has done that. And you will know God through that. And then you have to repent and really come to God. Otherwise, it’s the end. And for those who have once tasted of the holy gift and have received the Holy Spirit, and have done those things, it’s very important for you to understand that you cannot, under any circumstances, go back into this world and expect God to bless you. The blessing of God comes from His Spirit through Jesus Christ; through doing the things that please Him.

Now hold your place here, and we’ll come back to Ezekiel 22 in just a minute. But let’s go to 1 John 3 for just a minute, and let’s see something that’s very important and profound for us to understand. And this is how we know that we are in Christ. And this is how we love one another. Now, let’s pick it up here in verse 22. “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in His sight.” Now, is it pleasing that you keep His commandments and His laws and His statutes and His judgments? Why, of course it is. Is it pleasing that you keep the Sabbath and the holy days? Certainly it is, because God gave those to us to keep. God gave those to us to fellowship with Him on. God gave those to us so we can learn of the Lord.

“…Do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” Again, the Sabbath brings us into a created relationship with each other. That’s why we are to have brotherly love. But you can’t have brotherly love unless you love God first. You can’t have brotherly love unless you all agree, and love God and keep His commandments. Then you can love each other.

Now notice, verse 24, “And he that keepeth [the one who is keeping] His commandments dwelleth [is dwelling] in Him,…” That’s how you’re dwelling in God. That’s why the Sabbath is so important; that you are dwelling in Him. “…And He [that is, Christ] in him [that is, the one who has the Holy Spirit]. And hereby we know…” We know. And brethren, put this test to yourself: Do you know? Do you know that you abide in God? Do you know that you love God? Do you know that you have the Spirit of God? Do you really grasp what this is saying? “…And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the Spirit which He hath given us” (1 John 3:22-24). So that’s important.

Now let’s see what happens when people go against this. Let’s see what has happened in the churches of God. It has happened in the past. Let’s go back to Ezekiel 22:25. And for those of you who are long-time church members and are now…understand what has happened in Worldwide Church of God – and also Seventh Day Adventists, it’s happened to them, because the Jesuits have an agenda to take down all Sabbath-keeping groups. We are against a satanic assault against the people of God. And that assault is not coming in a war that you would think of. It is coming in a war of ideologies; it is coming in a war of surreptitious doctrines. It is coming in clever-sounding arguments that Satan has devised that sound blessedly true, but lead you to destruction.

Right here, Ezekiel 22:25. “There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof,…” Now a conspiracy is a knowing, planned, plotted scheme to deliberately change and destroy. And that’s what has happened to the Worldwide Church of God. It was a deliberate, planned, schemed, worked-out thing, where the children of the devil, the tares, came in and planted themselves in the hierarchical structure of the Worldwide Church of God, the hierarchical structure of the Seventh-Day Adventists Church, the hierarchical structure of the Church of God, Seventh-Day. All three have been infiltrated, to take them down concerning the Sabbath, to take them down – especially the Worldwide Church of God – concerning the holy days; and now to bring them back in to the pagan Catholic days of Christmas and Easter and all of the other occult holidays that are of the world. It is done by conspiracy. It is a planned infiltration. We’ll see that Peter prophesied of that in just a minute.

“…In the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey;…” Only they’re ravening the prey through false doctrine. They are ravening the prey through lying duplicities. “…They have taken the treasure [have they not? Yes.] and precious things [have they not? Yes.]; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated My law,…” The ones who should keep it, violated it. The ones who should know it, have violated it. “…And have profaned Mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane,…” Now how do you do that? By saying, “Well, every day is alike.” Just like the Jehovah Witnesses: “Well, every day is holy to us.” And one man asked some of the Jehovah Witnesses one time, “Well, when do you work? If every day is holy, when do you work?” They put no difference between it. “…Neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean,…” And now people are eating unclean foods. “…And have hid their eyes from My sabbaths,…”

Now what does this tell us? If you hide your eyes it is a deliberate conspiracy to avoid the truth. And a conspiracy must have lies to replace the truth. And these false doctrines sound so blessedly true; which we’ll cover some of them when we get to them. “…And I am profaned among them” (Ezek. 22:25-26). That means that since they have hid their eyes to the Sabbath, they are not fellowshipping with God the Father and Jesus Christ on the Sabbath; therefore, God becomes just like any other profane god in the world. And that’s exactly what Satan wants you to do. And there has been so much confusion because of these false prophets and teachers coming in, that some people have given up even studying the Bible. And given up, even saying, “Well, the Bible is confusing.” No, the Bible is not confusing, if you let the Bible interpret the Bible. The Bible is confusing if you listen to the satanic arguments of the ministers of unrighteousness who have come in.

And as I told one woman, who said this happened to her husband, and I said, “If you can tell your husband this: tell him that Satan has got him exactly where he wants him.” He is no longer going to study the Word of God, he’s not going to listen to the Word of God. Things for a while will go smooth, because Satan wants to draw you out even more. And bam, the vice is going to close. Now, I hope that whoever is in those circumstances can recover themselves out of it. Because we’re talking about eternal life. We’re not talking about Sabbath-keeping or Sunday-keeping as a religion. We’re talking about eternal life and eternal death.

Now let’s come to 2 Peter 2, and let’s read this, and let’s see what their tactics are. And then we’ll get into a little more concerning the Sabbath again. “But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily…” Now that means stealthily. You don’t even know that they’re there. They don’t even let you know that they are an agent of Satan the devil. And in some cases, they may have a spiritual something about them that is rather magnetic. And Jude says those are the spirits of demons. Now let’s see what they do. “…Who privily [or stealthily] shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction” (2 Peter 2:1). Now what are some of the damnable heresies that they bring in? Sunday, Christmas, Easter, New Years, in the way of days of observance. What else do they bring in? That Christ was a created being, and He was not God before He became human. That Christ was just a prophet. Those are all part of it. What other damnable heresies do they bring in? Eating unclean meats. That’s another one. And then teaching things like going to heaven. And you can just start adding up all the heresies of the Catholics and the Protestants, and you’ve got exactly the recipe that Satan the devil uses to take down Christians.

Now notice, verse 2. How many are going to recover themselves from it? Read verse 2. “And many shall follow their pernicious ways;…” Many. And “pernicious” means blasphemous. Because they’re blaspheming God, they’re blaspheming His Sabbath; they’re blaspheming the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. And many will follow them. Why? Because that is the broad way. As Jesus said, “Broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many be that go in at that gate. But narrow is the gate, and strait is the way that leads to life…” (Matthew 7:13-14, paraphrased). Now which path are you on? What have you believed? How many false prophets have you listened to? There’s one man whose name coincides with “wreck.” And he has gone around and “Rector-ed” all kinds of people with false doctrines. Perverting, especially, the Passover day, to say that we should keep it at 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon, which is a ridiculous heresy. A self-appointed teacher, and many are following his pernicious, blasphemous ways and have had their faith overthrown.

Brethren, one thing for sure, the true keeping of the Sabbath, in spirit and in truth, is going to ground you in Jesus Christ, that you build on that foundation of Christ. And then none of these false teachers or prophets will come along and knock you off the beam. Verse 3, “And through covetousness shall they with feigned words…” knowing that they are deceptive; knowing that they are wrong, “…make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingereth not, and their damnation slumbereth not.”

Then God said here in verse 4, “For if God spared not the angels that sinned,…” Think of it, brethren! What is sin? Sin is the transgression of the law. Part of the law is the Sabbath. If you have gone to Sunday-keeping, you are sinning every single week with predetermined, malicious forethought. Now think on that. If God didn’t spare the angels, “…but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment; and spared not the old world,…” Flooded the old world. Killed all there was because of the sins of man. “…But saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly; and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an [everlasting] ensample unto those that after should live ungodly; and delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing [what they were doing], vexed his righteous soul from day to day…” (vs. 4-8).

Verse 9; now take this to heart. If you want to come out of this thing, you can. If you want to turn to God, you can; if you want to come back to God, you can. But you have to repent. “The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:…” So you can come out of it.

Let’s review a little bit more concerning the Sabbath day. Here’s what we have learned so far:

1. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Not some other day. Not any day we choose.

2. God is the one Who gives the commandment.

3. God has given us six days to do all our work. We are to rest from our labor and work on the Sabbath day.

4. The Sabbath is a memorial of God’s creation of heaven and earth. You will never believe in any form of evolution if you keep the Sabbath and know God. Because you will know that He is Creator.

5. It is a memorial of Israel’s slavery and lack of Sabbath observance while they were in Egypt.

6. It is the only day of seven in the week that God specifically blessed and made holy.

7. The seventh day Sabbath is a holy convocation. It is a day of assembly and worship. Now when we get a little further along we will take one whole session and go through how to keep the Sabbath; what we can and cannot do according to the laws of God.

8. This is perhaps the most important of all, the aspect of it: it shows that God owns the Sabbath. It is His.

So man has no jurisdiction over it. Man has no say-so in it. It belongs to God. He made it for mankind. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. So always remember that.

Now let’s understand something else. Can a man make something holy? No. What does it take to make something holy? In order to make something holy, whoever does it must be holy himself. And only God is holy. So therefore, think on it this way: no man can make Sunday holy. No man – I don’t care whatever his office is, even if he is the Pope – can proclaim another day holy. Man is not God. Now if we do that, then we are rebelling against God. And so, you see, what would happen is this: if a man could command something to be holy because of his intrinsic power, and God were to accept that, then man would be telling God what to do. And man has no power to tell God what to do. Shall the created thing say to the Creator, “What are You making?” No, of course not. So, you see, when we get to Sunday-keeping, keep that in mind.

Now let’s understand something else, when we judge the Sabbath as something unworthy that we should keep. Let’s remember that we are judging God. We are judging the Law. Now let’s go to James 4 and let’s review this, if we haven’t done it already. And this is a profound principal that you really need to understand and always keep in mind. If a man tells God what to do, man is then commanding God. And if man commands God, then man becomes God, and God becomes a servant of that man. Now you see, you need to put it in that perspective so you understand.

Now here, let’s pick it up right here, James 4:11. “Speak not evil one of another, brethren. He that speaketh evil of his brother, and judgeth his brother, speaketh evil of the law, and judgeth the law:…” Now we have that too, don’t we? We have people who judge us because we keep the Sabbath and they keep Sunday. So what is it that they are doing? They are judging the Law. How are they doing it? They are looking at the Ten Commandments and picking out the fourth one and saying that, “We don’t want to keep this law.” And they have, by conspiracy, hid their eyes to it with false doctrines. And we are going to go through every one of these false doctrines and see where they are false, when we come to Sunday-keeping.

“…But if thou judge the law, thou art not a doer of the law, but a judge [and hence, you are judging God]. There is one lawgiver, Who is able to save and to destroy: who art thou that judgest another?” (vs. 11-12). And who are you that judges God? So in reality, what happens then, if you say the Sabbath is not worthy to be kept, you are saying that God lied. You are saying that God gave something which was evil. You are judging the Law, and you are judging God. Now maybe you’ve never thought of it that way before.

Now we have already seen that it is a perpetual covenant that we are to keep. And we have seen that Sabbath-breaking is against God; it’s polluting the Sabbath. And so those who have done that have done so in a conspiracy. Now let’s understand something very important: Sabbath-keeping is essential to salvation. Now let’s begin and understand that we need to have faith. Let’s come to Hebrews 11:6. And we’re going to approach this from a little bit different point of view than maybe we would otherwise. But I want us to understand when we come to the places in the New Testament I want you to understand what Jesus is doing, what He is really doing, and what He is not doing.

Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him:…” Whatever is done, we do by faith. We do Sabbath-keeping by faith, we do holy day keeping by faith; we do all the Ten Commandments by faith. We do all the commandments in the Spirit and worshipping God in spirit and in truth and loving Him by faith. So if you don’t have faith, you’re not going to please God. Sunday-keepers do not have faith, the true faith. They may have a false faith, but let me tell you something – a false faith is going to fail you. And it will certainly fail you for eternal life. “…For [the one who is coming] he that cometh to God must believe…” Now the Greek there means, he is “obligated.” He is under obligation to believe that God is. Now when you believe that God is, you believe everything that He is, everything that He stands for, everything that He says. Because God is holy and righteous, and perfect, and loving, and true, and kind, and gracious, and longsuffering. So we are coming to God. So there wherefore, we have to believe that He exists, and “…that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.” Now if you excuse yourself from keeping the commandments of God, are you diligently seeking Him? You have to ask that question. I would say no.

Now let’s come to Isaiah 55 and let’s see something that is very important, and how Sabbath-keeping and salvation go hand-in-hand. While we’re turning to Isaiah 55, let me ask you a question: do you think that you can get into the kingdom of God if you have another god before Him? No. Do you think you can get into the kingdom of God if you have statues and idols? No. Do you think that you can get into the kingdom of God if you dishonor and neglect your parents, do so willfully, without repenting of it? No. Do you think that you can get into the kingdom of God if you are a willful, malicious murderer? No. Or a willful, malicious adulterer? No. Or a willful, malicious thief? No. Or a willful, malicious liar bearing false witness? Or ravening in your covetousness? No. Neither can you get into the kingdom of God unless you’re keeping the Sabbath.

Now let’s understand what we need to do. Isaiah 55, and let’s begin in verse 6. We saw there in Hebrews 11 how we are to seek God. Now notice, here’s something that He tells us. “Seek ye the LORD while He may be found,…” Now this is also telling us that there is a time when He won’t be found. And as a matter of fact, God told Jeremiah that the Jews were so bad, that He said, “Do not pray for this people. Do not lift up your voice unto Me for them, for I will not hear” (Jeremiah 7:16, paraphrased). So you need to ask yourself this question: “Am I going to seek God while He may be found, or am I going to be too late?” Now you have to determine that. That is a choice you have to make.

 “…Call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts:…” Because that’s where all of this rebellion and rejection of the Sabbath comes in, from carnal human reasoning, from the carnal mind that is not subject to the law of God, and neither indeed can be. So He says, “Let him forsake his thoughts.” “…And let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the LORD.” And how true that is concerning the Sabbath. I read an article where one man said, “Well, I don’t believe where God still calls all the unclean foods ‘abominations’.” You see, that’s his thought: “I don’t believe…” So let’s think about it here.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (vs. 6-9). Yet we are to come…