Does It Really Matter What We Believe?

So, brethren, today's a special time. During the year, we have regular Sabbaths, but this just happens to be the time when God's feasts, the Feast of Tabernacles last great day coincide with Sabbaths. So, can you imagine? In the next two weeks from now, we're going to be celebrating three of God's feasts. The Day of Atonement on Monday, then the first day of the Feast of Tabernacles on the Sabbath, and then the following Sabbath is the eighth day or the last great day. So, in two weeks' time, we're going to get a lot of spiritual food. And it's so exciting that we're doing all of this. Now, unfortunately, with traditional Christianity, they don't think these feast days should be kept at all. They think that with Christ, if you accept Christ in your heart, that's sufficient, that these are all feasts that don't need to be kept. How can we tell that these feast days are important, that they really do matter? How can we know this for sure? So, let's just step back and be kind of like a presenter in a court case. And you have the jury is out to see exactly how important these are and how we can be sure. And if somebody asks you, why do you keep these feasts? Here's an answer that will greatly satisfy and greatly help us make our case. There is a term, a saying, the proof is in the pudding. Now, before, in the old days, it was a little different. It added, the proof is in the pudding when you eat it.

So, it's in the eating that you determine how good. It might look great, but you don't know exactly how good it is until you taste it, you eat it. You find out the quality, what it was made of.

Also, you can see the flavor, how tasty it is, and how genuine it is. Because they've got all kinds of cheap puddings that look good. They're not really healthy for you. And so, what it's saying here is that the proof is having concrete evidence to determine a matter. Do we have concrete and substantial evidence in the Bible for what we believe?

There's a book that I have, which is called Why We Believe in Creation and Not Evolution, by Fred Meldahl. And he uses an introduction that I've always loved. It's always impressed me very much. About the proof is in the pudding. This is what he wrote about the importance of having concrete evidence to determine the truth of a matter.

Not because somebody's telling you that case or somebody's trying to persuade you, but because you have concrete evidence, solid evidence for what you believe. He writes, quote, And whether or not two wagon wheels belonged to the same axle. So you have two wheels, and apparently somebody got hurt and they were suing, and others said, well, it wasn't the wagon's fault. And so the whole thing had to do with whether these two wheels actually were part of the same axle. Rufus Coate advanced a brilliant argument based on the theory of what he called fixation of points, that the wheels came from the same axle. See, he would win the case if that was the situation. He had the jury almost convinced. Then it was Daniel Webster's turn. He asked that the wheels and the axle be brought forward. So he actually had in the court the actual wheels and the axle of this accident that had happened. It was evident the wheels did not come from the same axle, for they were not the same size. So you always had to have wheels of the same size or else the wagon could move smoothly. To the jury, Mr. Webster simply said, look at those wheels, gentlemen. Just look at them and see for yourselves that they did not, they could not, come from the same axle and wagon. This was all the argument he needed. The fact was evident, and the jury was moved by the facts, and he won the case. The same thing can be said about God's truths. They should be backed by concrete evidence in the Bible and not man-made theories or conjecture.

This applies to the basic truths in the Bible. Remember, the proof is in the pudding. There is a scripture similar or the same principle in the Bible about the proof is in the pudding. It's in 1 Thessalonians 5.21. I'm going to read it from the Living Bible version. It says, but test everything that is said to be sure it is true. And if it is, then accept it. If you see, that's concrete evidence, then accept it. But you have to test things out. Because everybody is going to have their own opinions.

You need to have concrete evidence for what you believe and practice. So we're going to look at three biblical examples. If someone asks you about these truths that you keep, you can answer in the following way. Do you know any man or woman of faith in the Bible who didn't keep the following practice? See, if it's something that we should do, we should have plenty of evidence that that's what was done in the Bible and in Bible times. So I want to have as the first topic the Sabbath day.

Do you know any man or woman, can you show this? Any man or woman of faith in the Bible who didn't keep the Sabbath day? Just give me one example. That would be wonderful to make your case. We can start. Did the first human beings, Adam and Eve, keep the Sabbath day? Let's go to Genesis chapter 2.

Genesis chapter 2. Right after God created Adam and Eve, this is what he created in the sixth day in verse 26. He had said, let us make man in our image. And so verse 28 blessed them. And then in chapter 2 verse 1 it says, thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. And on the seventh day God ended his work, which he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had done.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. And so right after creating Adam and Eve, God revealed the Sabbath day to them. Who was God talking about? The only ones who existed at that time was God, who became the Father, the Word, who became Jesus Christ, and all the angels. Do they need to rest on the seventh day? Are they tired? No, angels don't get tired. It was for human beings. They're the ones who get tired.

They're the ones that need rest. And so Adam and Eve learned about this weekly cycle that began at that time and has not ended to this day. Today is the seventh day. It commemorates this first Sabbath day created by God, given to Adam and Eve. Now did God's people keep the Sabbath before the covenant at Mount Sinai? Some will say, well, some of these things were with the covenant in Mount Sinai, and some of these rituals were not kept later. But let's look at the first time here where God tells Israel to remember this day, because they have been in Egypt for so long.

The Sabbath week was continuing on. Notice in Exodus 16. Exodus 16 in verse 23. This is before they met at Mount Sinai, and God gave the law to them. In Exodus 16 verse 23. Then he said to them, this is what the Lord has said. Moses is repeating what God told him. Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord.

Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil, and lay out for yourselves all that remains to be kept until the morning. And so here we see the Sabbath was kept, baked before, going up to Mount Sinai. This is a commandment that precedes the time of the giving of the law at Mount Sinai. And let's go to Exodus 20 in verse 8. Exodus 20 verse 8. Here are the Ten Commandments.

And God reminds them to continue keeping this day holy. He says in verse 8, Remember the Sabbath day. Why? Because people forget to honor it, to rest on that day. Most of mankind doesn't keep the Sabbath day. They're breaking it in their ignorance, or because they've been deceived. But he says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. That's part of his law. That's part of his commandments. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. It's not man's day. It's God's day. It's the Sabbath of the Lord your God.

In it you shall do no work, you nor your son nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day.

Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. He blessed it. We see here again that the Sabbath was not made for just one nation. It wasn't made for the Jews. Adam and Eve were not Jews. The Jews didn't exist at that time. It is for all of humanity. Now God had to call Abraham's descendants, and so that they would be an example to the world, the idea was to show the world God's truths, but they in large part were rejected. And even they, the Israelites, did not keep the Sabbath as they should have. But what we see here is that the Sabbath started with Adam and Eve and has continued until this time, and it is for all of mankind.

And many people from different races come into the church. We have Chinese brethren, we have African brethren, we have brethren from India and other parts. It's their Sabbath as well. It's never been something specific, and they keep it once they start following God's laws. Now how about, let's go from the time here of Exodus 20 of the giving of the law, how about at the end of the Old Testament? Is the Sabbath still being kept by the men and women of faith throughout the Bible?

Let's look at Isaiah 66. Isaiah 66, one of the prophets, starting in verse 15. Notice here the context. What is it talking about here in Isaiah 66 in verse 15? It's talking about the time of Christ coming. He says, For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with chariots, like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire and by his sword, the Lord will judge all flesh, and the slain of the Lord shall be many.

That's talking about Christ coming. That hasn't happened yet. And notice in verse 18, it says, For I know their works and their thoughts. It shall be that I will gather all nations together, and they shall come and see my glory. He's interested in gathering all the nations and teach them his ways. In verse 22, it goes on to say, For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your descendants and your name remain.

And it shall come to pass at that time, after Christ has established his kingdom, that from one new moon to another, which is the way you determine the feast days, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before me, says the Lord. And so here God is saying that the Sabbath is going to be kept even into the millennium. God does not lie.

Here's the concrete evidence in the Old Testament that all the men and women of faith in the Bible kept the Sabbath day. Not one can be shown throughout the Old Testament. They all kept God's commandments and the fourth commandment in particular about the Sabbath day. Well, how about the New Testament? Some people will say, well, that wasn't kept in the New Testament.

Did Jesus keep the Sabbath day? Is that something he consistently, throughout his entire life, keep? Notice what it tells us in Luke 4. Luke 4, verse 16. It says about Jesus, So he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as his custom was, this is his habit, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up to read.

So he was going to the Sabbath, in the Sabbath, to the synagogue. He wasn't keeping Sunday. He wasn't keeping any other day of the week. He was honoring the Sabbath day. That's what Jesus Christ knew. How about the apostles? Did they keep the Sabbath days?

Notice the example of Paul, the Apostle Paul, Acts 17.

Acts 17, verse 1 and 2. This happened some 20 to 25 years after the death of Jesus Christ. After they say, well, the law has been nailed to the cross and everything. Well, why in the world would Paul be keeping this Sabbath day if the law had been nailed and had been abolished? Notice Acts 17, verses 1 and 2.

It says, now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews, then Paul, as his custom was, this was his habit, went into them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures. Why didn't he talk about Sunday and that they had changed it to the first day of the week? There's no example. We see Christ continually doing it, the Apostle Paul. We can see in chapter 18 of Acts, verse 4, talking about Paul, and he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuaded both Jews and Greeks. So it wasn't just Jews. It was those that from different races, they were keeping the Sabbath at that time. There's no example in the Bible of anybody that's of faith, of the faith, that doesn't keep the Sabbath day. Let's go to one last Scripture, Hebrews chapter 4. We believe this was penned by the Apostle Paul, although the author is not directly mentioned. There are reasons for that I don't, I'm not going to go into. But let's look at Hebrews chapter 4, verses 9 and 10. It says, there remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest has himself also seized from his works as God did from them. The term here is in the Greek, sabatismos, which means the keeping of a Sabbath. Here in the Bible and basic English version, it says, so that there is still a Sabbath keeping for the people of God. This was written decades after the death of Jesus Christ. And here the author was telling the Hebrew Christians that this was still a day to keep. He says, for the man who comes into his rest, comes into the Sabbath rest, has had rest from his works, those six days that he has worked, as God did from his. So we're imitating what God the Father and Christ the Word did at that time, with the creating of things that we see all around us. And they paused on the seventh day, as we should too. So can we answer this question? Do you know any man or woman of faith in the Bible who didn't keep the Sabbath day? The answer is no. We do not find a man or woman of faith in the Bible who didn't keep the Sabbath. And I sustain that's the proof in the pudding. That's the proof of eating the pudding. That the Sabbath day is what is found in the Bible.

Let's go to the second example we have. The feast days that we're going to keep very soon. In two days, we have one of those feasts, the Day of Atonement. The question is, do you know any man or woman of faith in the Bible who didn't keep God's feasts once they were revealed and commanded? Can we use any example?

You'd think if the Christian churches say, well, we don't keep these and we can show you people in the Bible that were of faith that didn't keep these feasts days. Remember, God's plan of salvation is not for one race, but for all races. Salvation is available for all. Christ died for all of them.

Let's go to Genesis 1, verse 14. Unfortunately, just like this Hebrew Scripture, Hebrews 4, 9, it says, the rest when it actually says Sabbath-keeping. They should be more honest, but they want to hide from people that that is something that is commanded in the New Testament. That's talking to Christians about keeping the Sabbath.

In Genesis 1, verse 14, before God made Adam and Eve, verse 14, it says, then God said, let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and seasons and for days and years and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth.

At this time, God placed the sun and the moon in their proper position so we would have the 24-hour day cycle, and you could keep the different feasts of God. Here, the term called seasons in the Hebrew is maudin.

The first definitions of maudin are the feast days. I'll read from the Good News Bible translation of Genesis 1.14. It says, then God commanded, let lights appear in the sky to separate day from night and to show the time when days, years, and religious festivals begin.

It's talking about these religious festivals. Of course, God set up His calendar that every 29 and approximately one-half days you have the lunar cycle. You can see it from the increasing to the waning. If you look next Saturday, next Sabbath, you look up in the sky, you're going to see we have a full moon, because it's the 15th of the seventh month. It's right there, halfway, and so from a new moon, the crescent starts growing, and then it becomes full, and then you have the waning crescent all the way to the end of the month. One interesting fact I can share. Do you know how much more powerful is the sun light than the reflection of the moon light? Because He says here that He put it all in place. We wouldn't bump into things at night very often, that we do have the moon, but the sun is 400,000 times more powerful than the moon. 400,000 times more powerful. Now, you have to be God to be able to adjust it that way. That's the margin of difference, because of course the moon doesn't shine, it just reflects the light from the sun, just like a mirror does.

Adam's Clark commentary on Genesis 1.14, and he was a Hebrew scholar, he says the term, the term, which is translated as seasons in some places, he says this, quote, four seasons, then he's going to explain, for the determination of the times on which the sacred festivals should be held. In this sense, the word frequently occurs. This is the most common, the mordim. And it was right that at the very opening of his revelation, God should inform man that there were certain festivals which should be annually celebrated to his glory. And so we go to celebrate for God's glory these feasts. You see, it's not any man's glory, it's not any church's glory, it's God's glory that we do this.

In the Old Testament, we have a scripture that shows us how these feasts are going to be kept all through time, from the time God revealed them to the time of Christ's establishment of the kingdom of God, Zachariah chapter 14.

Here's one of the last parts of the Old Testament, and you have these feasts being kept.

And God has very encouraging words. In Zachariah 14 verses 3 and 4, again, let's look at the context, let's look at when this is talking about. Verse 3, it says, It says, So we know exactly where Christ is going to land when He comes. Right there at the Mount of Olives, in front of Jerusalem.

And then in verse 9, it says, He's not going to have any other rivals.

No other religion is going to be allowed. Only God's way of life.

He says further in verse 16, So again, this goes beyond our time in the future, where the Feast of Tabernacles is going to be kept.

Commanded by Jesus Christ Himself. And then in verse 16, He says, He's going to be kept. And then in verse 16, He says, He's going to be kept. And then in verse 16, He says, He's going to be kept Himself.

Verse 17, And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts. On them, there will be no rain. There will be a complete drought. And there won't be any water. The plants are all going to dry out. All the rivers, all the streams, all the lakes, they'll all dry out. And believe me, if you've ever been close to death, when you're so thirsty, you're willing to do anything to just get a little glass of water. And so they're going to humble themselves and come back and repent of that. Verse 18, If the family of Egypt will not come up and enter in, they're Muslim today, the great majority. They shall have no rain. They shall receive the plague with which the Lord strikes the nations who do not come up to keep the feast of Taberna. You think it's important for God? Absolutely. Is it important for him today? Absolutely.

And here in the God's Word translation of verse 19, it says, this will be the punishment for Egypt's sin and for the sin of all the nations that won't celebrate the feast of Tabernacles or booths, as they put it. So God means business. And he wants us to learn how to keep these feasts, to share with the world as they come to the knowledge of the truth. It's a wonderful time.

In the New Testament, we also see the importance of these feasts. In 1 Corinthians 5, let's go there. Again, concrete examples of men and women of faith keeping the feasts of God. 1 Corinthians 5, verses 6-8. Paul is speaking to the Corinthian brethren. He says, Your glory is not good. Do you not know that a little leaven leavens a whole lump? Therefore purge out the old leaven, that you may be a new lump, since you truly are unleavened. For indeed Christ our Passover was sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. So it's not just physically keeping them, but with the right spiritual attitude. I'd like to read from the Encyclopædia Britannica, 11th edition, which was the one where they dedicated to religious subjects. It says about this, 1 Corinthians 5, 6-8, it says, There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic fathers. The first Christians continued to observe the Jewish festivals, though in a new spirit, as commemorations of events, of which these had been the shadows. Thus the Passover, with a new conception added to it, of Christ as the true pashal lamb, continued to be observed. That's on the subject of Easter, 11th edition, Volume 8, page 828. So they admit there was no such thing as these other feasts that are being kept today. Easter was not kept at that time at all. The Passover, Days of Unleavened Bread, were. Let's go to some final scriptures in Revelation 12. Revelation 12, verse 17, describing the church, the true church. In the end times, Revelation 12, verse 17, when the woman has to flee to be protected at the time of the Great Tribulation, it says in Revelation 12, verse 17, it says, and the dragon was enraged with a woman, symbolic here of the church, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ said, they are keeping what I have commanded, and that these are all the commandments of God. So we haven't made up these things. They're there in the Bible for that person that wants to see it, and living color. In chapter 22, verse 14, another one of these that have been mistranslated because of the implications of what it says. In Revelation 22, verse 14, it says, blessed are those who do his commandments. There are other translations that say that they wash their robes. But this is the right translation. Blessed are those who do his commandments. See, it doesn't say hear them. They actually put them into action, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates into the city. So obedience is part of this way of life. Obedience to these laws of God and to these wonderful truths. So let's answer the second question. Have you found any man or woman of faith in the Bible that did not keep these feast days? Once they were revealed and commanded? The answer is no. There isn't a man or woman of faith in the Bible who didn't keep God's festivals once revealed and commanded. So let's go to the last one. It had to do with the food laws in the Bible. Number three, do you know any man or woman of faith in the Bible who didn't keep the food laws?

Why isn't that we keep the food laws? Well, because everybody in the Bible, including Jesus Christ, kept these food laws. They're commanded. Notice in Genesis chapter 7, in verse 1 and 2, way before Mount Sinai, or what they are giving of the law. Notice Noah, when he entered the ark, Genesis 7, verses 1 and 2, it says, Then the Lord said to Noah, Come into the ark, you and all your household, because I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. You are obedient. You are following my laws. You shall take with you seven each of every clean animal, a male and his female, two of each animals that are unclean, a male and his female. Well, what is this talking about? Food laws. They're animals that are unclean to eat. They're prohibited by God. That should not be eaten. Notice in verses 7 and 8, it says, So Noah, with his sons, his wife and his sons' wives, went into the ark because of the waters of the flood, of clean animals, of animals that are unclean of birds and of every thing that creeps on the earth. Two by two, they went into the ark to Noah, male and female, as God had commanded Noah. And so again, we see an obedient man of God. He didn't eat unclean animals. There's no authority to do so. Notice in Leviticus 11, here's where God reiterates, not that he starts it, but he reiterates these laws to Abraham's descendants. Leviticus 11, verse 45, it says, For I am the Lord, who brings you up. Let's see here. Nope. 1, chapter 11, verse 17, it says about the different animals here. It says, verse 21, Yet these you may eat of every flying insect that creeps up on all fours. And then he says, in verses 45, it says, For I am the Lord, who brings you up out of the land of Egypt. To be your God, you shall therefore be holy, for I am holy. This is the law of the animals and the birds and every living creature that moves in the waters and of every creature that creeps on the earth. To distinguish between the unclean and the clean, and between the animal that may be eaten and the animal that may not be eaten. So God establishes this. This is part of his law. And throughout the Bible, we see men and women of faith keeping it. Let's go to Acts chapter 10, because I'm running out of time. I don't have time to give you all the other scriptures. But Acts chapter 10 is important because of what Peter says.

Now, Christ had already died quite a number of years before. You'd think Peter would say, oh, now we don't have to eat the same way. We can eat unclean animals. But what did he say in Acts 10 verse 14 through 16?

It says, but Peter said, when he saw that vision of these animals, but Peter said, not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything common or unclean.

And so, of course, this was his habit. This was his custom. God was showing him something, though, with this type of big apron that came down with animals. And a voice spoke to him again, the second time, what God has cleansed you must not call common. This was done three times, and the object was taken up into heaven again. Now, while Peter wondered within himself what this vision which he had seen meant, in other words, he didn't start killing those animals and eating them.

Behold, the men who had been sent from Cornelius had made inquiry for Simon's house and stood before the gate.

And the summary of this is in verse 28, where Peter says, then he said to them, you know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me I should not call any man common or unclean. So that's the principle, that now a person could be part of the fellowship and that God was calling not only the Jewish people into the faith, but all the Gentiles, and that you shouldn't ostracize or separate yourself from them.

Revelation 18 verse 2, we're finishing up. This is the last scripture. Revelation chapter 18 verse 2. This was given to John probably around the year 95. All the other apostles had died. That first generation of Christians, most of them had died. There was a new generation. And yet, look what the Apostle John says in Revelation 18.2. He says, And he cried mightily, with a loud voice, saying, Babylon, the great is fallen, is fallen, and has become a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, and a cage for every unclean and hated bird. So there's no change. Those birds are still unclean. And so we see here again, ask the question, do you know any man or woman in the faith, in the Bible, who didn't keep the food laws? I have not found anybody. No, there isn't a man or woman of faith in the Bible who didn't keep God's food laws once known. So we see actual concrete examples throughout the Bible for what we believe and practice. We're off to God's feasts pretty soon, so don't let anyone ever fool you into thinking you don't need to keep them. Remember, the proof is in the pudding.