How Should We Keep the Sabbath?

We happen to be here on the Sabbath day. Why is the Sabbath day so important to God?

We realize, I believe, that over the years we've always said that the Sabbath was a test commandment from God. You can keep all of the other commandments and not necessarily stand out in society, in the community, where you live. But the Sabbath actually draws a line in the sand.

Because you say, I'm not going to work on this day. It involves your job. It involves when you work, and in some cases where you might work. It is a day on which all of us come here to worship God.

And it involves how we worship God. Sunday is not just another day of worship that has been moved from Saturday. God never set aside Sunday or Friday or any other day that's considered a holy day for worship. It's that 24-hour period from Friday's sunset to Saturday's sunset that God has set aside. God made the day holy. He created it. He put it as a test of our willingness to put Him first. The Sabbath shows God that we're willing to put Him first above all else.

You might remember back in Luke 14 verse 26, that was read to all of us, and we were counseled for baptism. Luke 14, 26 talks about how we're to love God more than we love father, mother, sister, brother, wife, even their own life. We're to count the cost, and the cost means that God comes first above all. So it's a sign also of His people. When God looks down as to where His people are, He doesn't go looking for Thursday keepers or Wednesday keepers or Sunday keepers. He looks among those who are keeping the Sabbath. And I think the Sabbath also includes the annual Sabbath days. So, brethren, how should we keep the Sabbath? How should we observe the Sabbath?

I believe over the years we've begun to compromise with the Sabbath in many ways, that we've let down as far as how we observe the Sabbath, what we do on the Sabbath, or what we don't do on the Sabbath. Well, what we want to find today is what is proper behavior for Sabbath services and for the Sabbath as a whole. Sabbath-keeping reflects our relationship with God.

It tells God a lot about us and who we are. It demonstrates to God how seriously we take His commandments, because this is the one commandment above all that you can't just sort of fool around with. You've got to either do it or you're not doing it. You're either not working on this day or you are working. Are we willing to put God before everything in our life? You see, that's what this particular day reflects. The Sabbath is just as holy today as it was when God first created it and created the earth. Now, over the years, again, we've said that the Sabbath is a test commandment, and many of us here have actually been faced with that, have we not?

Some may have lost their jobs over the Sabbath. God measures the church by what it does with His law, His commandments. Let's go over to 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 17. I want you to notice the principle here. 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 17. We read that the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God, and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel? Now, when you talk about judgment, many, I think today, think judgment means to condemn. You know, you're either going to go to heaven or hell or whatever you, they think judgment is all about. But judgment is an evaluation process. When God calls us into His church and begins to deal with us and give us His Spirit, God begins to judge us by what we do, how we respond to Him, how we obey Him. It is a process of evaluation. It's a process of our learning, what God requires of us, of growing, of walking with God, and living by His law. We, of all people, have been shown by God the right way to observe this day, to observe His laws. Not only just the letter of the law, but also the Spirit of the law. And God expects us to keep it. And if we want to enter into His family, we have to show God a willingness, a desire to obey Him in all ways.

And as we go along as Christians, week by week, year by year, we need to continually expand our understanding of how to obey God's law and especially how to keep the Sabbath day.

Let's turn to Exodus 16 in verse 4. Exodus 16 in verse 4. Notice here, The Lord said to Moses, Behold, I will reign bread from heaven for you, and the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them whether they will walk in my law or not. Now, notice what God said was going to be the test. The Sabbath. Not the other commandments, those are also tests, but the Sabbath is an obvious test commandment. How was it a test commandment for them? Well, six days they go out and they gather manna. And if somebody got greedy and decided to store more, he would save more over. But the next day, guess what?

He would breed worms. They couldn't eat it. But on Friday, on the sixth day, they would gather twice as much, keep it over on the Sabbath. Nothing happened. He didn't breed worms. So every week, God worked a series of miracles. If they tried to save it over, it'd breed worms. On the sixth day, they could save twice as much, didn't breed worms, and they would have it on the Sabbath. Now, God was putting them to the test to see if they would obey Him, keep His laws. The word test here means to prove. In other words, He was going to evaluate them, see if they're willing to do what He said. Verse 5, it shall come, or it shall be that on the sixth day that they shall prepare what they bring in, and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. Now, verse 27, and it came to pass that there went out some of the people on the seventh day to gather, and they found none. Wasn't anything out there on the seventh day. That's another miracle. You know, every day you could count on it like clockwork. There it is. Seventh day, it stops. It's not there. And so God was doing what? Well, He was reinforcing in their mind, number one, which day was the Sabbath? It's the seventh day. Nothing falls on that day.

On the sixth day, He showed them that that was the preparation day because they were together twice as much. Verse 28, the Lord said unto Moses, How long refuse you to keep my commandments and my laws? So God was giving the Sabbath as a test to them to see if they would obey.

He used the Sabbath to help develop His people. It was for Israel, but we are spiritual Israel today, and the Sabbath is given to us to help us as members of God's church to develop and to grow.

He gives us a test every Sabbath as well. You realize every Sabbath when sunset comes, you have to stop what you were doing, and you have to obey God. You have to keep His commandment.

God watches us to see our character, to see if we are developing the right character, if we are putting Him first. God wants to know that we're developing the right way of life, the right attitude, the right approach in service to Him. So it's important for us to learn to keep the Sabbath as we ought. So how we keep the Sabbath has a great deal to say about us, as far as God is concerned. Now, Ezekiel wrote—let's go back to Ezekiel chapter 20, in verse 11.

Ezekiel wrote quite a bit about the severe consequences when people defile God's Sabbath day. And what happens? Ezekiel 20, verse 11. God said, I gave them my statutes, I showed them my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them.

Moreover, I also gave them my Sabbaths. Now why? To be a sign between them and me. So it was a sign that they were the people of God, because God had revealed something to them, that He had not revealed to the other nations which day that they should worship Him. But notice that they might know that I am the Lord who sanctified them. So the Sabbath helped them to come to know God, the true God. The God of Sunday is not the God of the Bible. The God of Friday is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Sabbath is. And you and I come to know God. He reveals Himself to us. He reveals His plan, His way of life to us through and on the Sabbath. Notice verse 13. Yet the house of Israel rebelled against me in the wilderness. They did not walk in my statues. They despised my judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them. And they greatly defiled my Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out my fury on them in the wilderness to consume them. So we find that God was very serious about the Sabbath as a test commandment.

Now, brethren, I have concerns for the church today in regards to how we keep time holy and how we observe the Sabbath. We find in Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8 where God codified the Sabbath and gave it to Israel. Obviously, we know that it was in existence prior to this. Chapter 16 shows us that.

But Exodus chapter 20 and verse 8, we are told this. Remember the Sabbath day.

Okay, we're to remember it, not forget it. Then what are we supposed to do with it? Keep it holy. So it's to be observed in a holy manner, a sanctified manner. So if we keep God's Sabbath, it tells something God to God about us. It tells God that we want to be in His family, that we're willing to put Him first above all. But I'm afraid today that Sabbath, to a great extent, has become nothing more for some people than a sleep-in day. And what I mean by that is, you know, Friday night comes and they go to bed. 30 minutes before they've got to leave for church, they pop up, take a quick shower, grab something to eat real quickly, and out the door.

And the Sabbath is spent basically sleeping. Now, did God intend that the Sabbath be just simply nothing more than a sleep day? Now, we know it's a day of rest, it's a day that you're supposed to rest, but is that exactly the way God wanted to be kept? When our boys were growing up, we were always amazed at teenagers. If you didn't bother them, they'd sleep two or three o'clock.

And we'd wonder how in the world could they do that? Because six o'clock, seven, you know, something like that, eight o'clock comes around, you're out of bed. But they could sleep and sleep and sleep. And I think that's what happens sometimes if we're not careful. In the early 90s, we all realized that the Sabbath began to be watered down. The church was told it was okay to stay home on the Sabbath. You didn't have to come to the church all the time, just stay home.

People were told it was okay to go out and play around the golf on the Sabbath. It's okay to go fishing, you know, just whatever was relaxing to you. You enjoyed, you just, you know, you go out and you do that. People began to dress inappropriately for Sabbath services.

People began to treat the Sabbath day just as any other day. And they, you know, didn't look on it as a special day, a feast day, something that shouldn't honor God and be worthy of worship.

And in many cases, did not become involved in preparing for it and looking forward to it. It just snuck up on them, here it is. And so therefore, here's the Sabbath day. Well, brethren, those are not the right approaches that God's looking for when it comes to the Sabbath. Let's go back to the book of Amos, Amos chapter 8. The book of Amos, beginning in verse 4 here, we find that Amos becries here or moans about some of the problems that people had in observing the Sabbath. Amos chapter 8 and verse 4 hear this, you who swallow up the needy and make the poor of the land fail, saying, saying, when will a new moon be passed that we may sell grain and the Sabbath that we may tread or trade wheat, making the aphod small and the shekel large, falsifying the scales of deceit.

So you'll notice here, it's talking about an attitude where people are just wishing that the Sabbath day were over. Now, as we realize in the summer, Sabbath can be over almost at nine o'clock in the wintertime, four thirty, five thirty, but it starts earlier. But here, you find, instead of rejoicing in God's Sabbath, being excited about the Sabbath, you're being excited that you can have time to pray and study and do the things that maybe you can't do during other times. You find that the Israelites, when Amos wrote this, did not have a deep love, a deep respect for the Sabbath and abiding reverence for a holy time. They just couldn't wait till they could get it out of the way so that they could go do their own thing, have their own actions. Rather than where were you last night when the sun went down?

What were you doing last night when regular time ended and holy time began?

What were we doing with holy time last night before we went to bed? Now, some of you may have already been asleep last night when the Sabbath came. Yeah, when the Sabbath comes late, people go to bed at 8 or 8 30, you may have been tucked away and sound asleep. But what about this morning?

What do we... in other words, do we just sleep? Now, we know that the word Sabbath means rest, and obviously we work hard, and when the Sabbath comes, a lot of times we just sort of crash, and we crash, and we wake up, as I said, sometimes having slept the Sabbath away, barely get up in time to come to Sabbath services. Now, I'm not against anyone resting. You know, that's what we should do on the Sabbath, but there are other things that we should be doing on the Sabbath also besides resting. Do we take time in the morning before we come to church to pray? To study a little bit? To, you know, have some time with the family? Have we prepared to come to church to be in God's presence? Have we prayed for the success of the messages today at services? A poem 1 Thessalonians 5.25 wrote, brethren, pray for us. That was not specifically talking about the Sabbath, but he's talking about the ministry here in 1 Thessalonians 5.25. Pray for us! Clark's commentary makes a very interesting point on this, that we should not expect to receive inspiration from a speaker for whom we have not prayed. God may inspire the sermon, but the inspired message may fall on uninspired ears.

See, the ears may not be inspired, whereas the message could be. We need to realize that our appearance, our words, our conduct, and our attitude should all reflect this understanding of how to keep the Sabbath. Isaiah 58 is a scripture that clearly gives some guidelines concerning how to keep the Sabbath. Isaiah 58, as we know, is talking about fasting, and then it blends up into the Sabbath here. Let's notice in verse 13.

Isaiah 58 verse 13, if you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day. Notice, God says the Sabbath is his holy day.

He created it holy. He set it aside as a special day, and you call the Sabbath a delight, not a burden. How many people did we have leave the church and claim that they free at last from the burden of the Sabbath, the burden of God's law, when God says the Sabbath should be a delight. It was created for us, for our good, as a blessing for us. The holy day of the Lord, honorable, and shall honor him. So, you see, this is a day that we pay special honor to God. We worship God, not doing your own ways or finding your own pleasure or speaking your own words. Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, now calls you to ride upon the high hills of the earth. Now, you know, God, in the very first Sabbath, he created Adam and Eve. God walked with them. He talked to them. He explained to them purpose. He told them, look, here's this tree of life over here. You take a bit, you'll have eternal life. Here's a tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat of that, you'll die. The very day you eat of it, you'll die. And so, God began to explain and reveal to them his plan, his purpose for mankind. The same thing is true today. We come here on the Sabbath. We, you know, not only do we just come here on the Sabbath, but we have our own Bibles. We can read and study. We come to hear God's word expounded, explained, clarified, you for us, and so that we can also be reminded, be renewed, be motivated for God's kingdom. So, God is looking for people each Sabbath who understand that this truly is holy time, and that when we come here, we come into God's presence. You come before God.

Today isn't just any old day. Today is a special time to God. And when you come to Sabbath services, this is a special meeting with God. Let's notice it in Leviticus 23.

Leviticus chapter 23, beginning in verse 1. The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, verse 2, speak to the children of Israel and say to them, the Feast of the Lord, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocation, even these are these are my feast. Okay, let's notice a couple of things. First of all, he uses the term feast. The word feast is the Hebrew word mo'ad. And feast, or mo'ad in this case, means a meeting. It's translated the tent of meeting, you know, in the Old Testament, referring to when Israel would go out to meet with God, God would reveal Himself to them. The Holy Days are periods of time when God meets with His people, with those that He has called and those that He's chosen. Now, He calls these feasts, and yet the first thing He mentions is the Sabbath. Sabbath is not an annual feast, but it certainly is a festival or feast of God.

And now, let's notice, not only did He say that, but He also talked about holy convocation. Verse 3, Six days shall work be done. So God has given us six days in which to work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest. A holy convocation you shall do no work therein. It is the Sabbath of the Lord in all your dwellings. So we find that the Sabbath is a holy convocation. Now, in the Hebrew, that simply means that public worship serves. It means to come before God, that you and I are summons to meet with God, that we are to appear before God. The basic meaning of the Word is to be summoned or to be called. So it implies an official summons to come and worship God.

So you and I have been summons. What happens to you if you get a summons from the court?

You get this summons, and it says on July or April or whatever the day may be, you are requested to are your summons to appear in court, the honorable so-and-so, and to testify or whatever you're being summoned to do. Do you take a look at that and just throw it in the trash? Forget all about it? You say, well that doesn't apply to me. I don't know this judge. Now if you receive a summon, you better be there, because if you're not, you're in trouble, and you will find out that somebody will come looking for you. The word summon, if you look it up in a dictionary, means to call by an authority to appear, to come, or to do something. You and I have an official summons from God to appear before Him on the Sabbath day. God commands us to convoke with Him. When you and I come here, we come into God's presence. God is here. This is a special time to God. It is a time when He calls His family together. He says, you all come. And, you know, He invites us here. He summons us here, and He tells us to appear before Him. Now, if you were summons to appear before a king, or a president, or a ruler, how would you act? What if the Queen of England requested your presence at Buckingham Palace, sent you a letter, and asked you on such and such a date you are to appear before her, that you are going to be knighted? What would you do? Well, I'll guarantee you'd show up.

What if the President of the United States asked you to come, and, you know, on a certain date, that he wanted to sit down and to talk with you? Well, you would be there. But you and I, brethren, are appearing before the great ruler of the universe, the most powerful being that there is.

We are hand-selected by Him and called by Him, and He has summoned us to meet with Him, and to be here with Him. Let's notice that a part of keeping the Sabbath is to reverence God's sanctuary. Now, I realize this is not a tabernacle. This is not a temple. But yet, we are the temple of God. Are we not? And when we come as the temple of God, we meet together, we are to have a certain amount of respect for the sanctuary. In Leviticus 19, just back a few pages here, verse 30, Leviticus chapter 19 and verse 30, God says, You shall keep my Sabbath and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord. The word reverence means to fear, to be afraid of, to stand in awe, to honor, or to have high respect.

Brethren, when we come together, do we have the respect for God, the awe for God, the fear for God that we should when we meet before Him? In chapter 26 and verse 2, this is repeated again. Chapter 26 verse 2, You shall keep my Sabbath and reverence my sanctuary.

I am the Lord. So, brethren, this includes, if we're going to pay respect or reverence, honor to God, it has to do with the way we dress when we come before God, just like how we would dress when we come before a world leader. It has to do with our getting the church on time, how we conduct ourselves before God. It has to do with our being in our seats, ready to take part in song services, listen to the sermonette in the sermon, you know when the time comes. I've noticed over the years that there's a certain laxity that begins to take place. Let me just describe what I'm talking about. It seems that many of us end up bringing food and drink into the auditorium during what we would call the worship service.

Now, you know, we have coffee and tea and these type of things out there, and you know, they're there beforehand. They're there afterwards, but it seems like sometimes we don't think we can make it through two hours without a cup of coffee or something to drink. And so, I see people getting up and going out and coming back. I see people who bring those type of things in. And to me, we're here. We're in a formal setting. We're worshiping God. We're here to honor Him.

And there's just a sometimes a lackness, a laxness that takes place. Sometimes we have people who are constantly talking during services. Now, I see people all the time. I say something. A wife pokes her husband. You know, they say something. Or husband pokes his wife. You know, we're not talking about that. I'm talking about people carrying on their own conversation. A sermon's going on up here. A sermonette's going on up here. But they've got their own conversation. There's something more important going on down here. And, you know, that's not the way we honor God or we worship God. That's not the way that we are to do that. We must not forget whom we're worshiping. We're worshiping the living God. I would say years ago that we would not even, we wouldn't even dare think of doing something like this. And not that there are examples, but you could go into almost any church in the land. You know, you're Protestant, Catholic, or whatever. And you wouldn't find anyone hauling food in and eating it or hauling drinks in and drinking it during what they would consider their worship service. I think we as a church, we as a group, a congregation, need to take the Sabbath more seriously in how we approach it. And that we need to realize that we have let some things slip. We've let down in some areas.

We are told that we are to assemble with others and to worship God. It's a holy convocation.

We are required to congregate. That's a part of what Christianity is all about. You really cannot be a living room Christian and faithfully obey the commandment that God gives to have a holy convocation on the Sabbath. A great part of God's law on the Sabbath has to do with our interacting with one another, with our involvement with God's people on a regular basis. We're here to fellowship with one another, and that's part of what the Sabbath is all about. That's one of the big reasons. In Hebrews 10 verse 25, let me read this. We'll come back to this section again later. But Hebrews chapter 10 in verse 20, well verse 24, says, Let us consider one another in order to stir up the love and good works.

So part of the reason why we're here is to stir one another up, to encourage one another, to good works, and to stir up love, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some. So he very clearly was showing that some people were not doing this, even at that time. But exhorting, the word means to encourage, exhort one another, and so much more as you see the day approaching. As we get closer to the prophetic end-time events transpiring and taking place, we should be exhorting, encouraging one another, helping one another.

We're here to learn from other members, to hear the sermons, the sermonettes.

And too often apostasy sets in. When we become lukewarm, we begin to let down.

Proper Sabbath observance allows us to develop and to maintain a proper relationship with both the human family, because on the Sabbath you have the opportunity, with your own physical family, to be able to interface with them, as well as the spiritual family, which we have here. We find that the Bible very clearly shows that clothing and worship are inseparable, how we dress and how we worship God.

If Jesus Christ decided to come visit you one day, what would you do differently? And you're presently doing? What if you got a hand-graved invitation, written in gold or something? Jesus Christ will see you on Wednesday at seven o'clock, looking forward to meeting you.

Probably most of us would go home and start cleaning our house, wouldn't we? You know, after the Sabbath, we would go home and we would clean our house, but would you rush out and buy some new clothes? Would you take the best you have, wash them and iron them and make sure that they have a perfect crease or whatever it might be? Would you make sure that you're dressed modestly? That you wouldn't want to be embarrassed before Jesus Christ?

Maybe you'd put on what we used to term our Sunday best to make sure that you when we appeared before Christ. Well, brethren, guess what? We are here before Christ. He is here with us. He sees us. He observes us. The Bible is filled with examples of how God's people dressed up to reverence the sanctuary. They made a big deal out of this facet because spiritually the outward and the inward should agree. How we are inward should be reflected by how we are outwardly. How we are outwardly should reflect inwardly our relationship with God. Now, Matthew 22 is an interesting parable that Christ gave. Verse 11, Matthew 22, verse 11, it's not talking about the Sabbath, but the principle we want to look at. There was a wedding supper plan, and some made light of it. Some didn't come. Finally, we find all the guests show up.

And verse 11, when the king came in to see the guests. So here's the king. He's going to see, okay, who showed up? The king saw a man there who did not have on a wedding garment.

And maybe he didn't think it was important. Why should I put on a wedding garment? So he shows up. He has no wedding garment. And he said to him, friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment? And he was speechless. And the king said to the servants, bind him, hand him foot, take him away, cast him into outer darkness, and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now, why did this happen? Well, he was not prepared to meet Christ at his second coming, was he? Second coming came. Here's the king, the wedding supper. And this man is not dressed in the proper garments. Revelation 19, in verse 7, tells us what the proper garment we should be dressed in. You see, the spiritual should reflect the physical and the spiritual.

In verse 7, we find the type of wedding garment God's looking for. It says, Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. So here's the bride. She's ready. The marriage is about to take place. And to her, it was granted to be a raid and fine linen, clean and bright for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. So the spiritual garments that we're supposed to put on would be righteousness, doing what's right. Then he said to me, Right blessed are those called to the married supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are the true sayings of God. Isaiah 61 and verse 10 shows the same thing.

Shows that the fine and clean linen has always been a part of God's thinking and does represent righteousness. Now in Psalm 110, we might read that. Psalm chapter 110 verse 3, we find David mentioned something here.

Says, Your people shall be volunteers in the day of your power. In the beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth. Now Jameson, Folsom and Brown has an interesting comment on this. It says, In the beauty of holiness, this expression is a poetic phrase of holy garments, such as those that were worn by the high priest on the great day of atonement.

You see, God wants to look down at his people and see that we have truly put on the beauty of holiness. See, this is a holy day. And how are we going to put on the beauty of holiness on this holy day unless we are keeping it holy? And so God expects us to put on holiness. Now you'll find that God is looking at our character, in other words.

In Leviticus 16, it's interesting, we find here in Leviticus 16, beginning in verse 1, it describes the priests. And the priests, as you know, once a year, went into the holy of holies on the day of atonement. Now you and I, as the sons of God, spiritual priesthood, today have access to the holy of holies on a regular basis when we pray come before God. But let's notice this. Now the Lord spoke to Moses after the death of the two sons of Aaron when they offered profane fire before the Lord and died. And the Lord said to Moses, Tell Aaron your brother not to come at just any time into the holy place inside the veil before the mercy seat which is on the ark, lest he die, for I will appear in the cloud above the mercy seat. Thus Aaron shall come into the holy place with the blood of young Bullock, sin offering, and a ram of a burnt offering. He shall put the holy linen tunic and the linen trousers on his body. So he has to put the holy garments on. He shall be girded with a linen sash and with the linen turban. He shall be attired. These are the holy garments. Therefore he shall wash his body in water and he shall put them on. Now in chapter 39 of the book of Exodus, that was the Leviticus 16. Now Exodus chapter 39, you have a whole chapter here, and I won't read this, I'll just draw your attention to it, that talks about how the priest was to be dressed. And it goes into great detail talking about how his garments and the various items of his garments were to be made. Just one verse like to focus your attention on. Verse 30, then they made the plate of the holy crown of pure gold and wrote on it an inscription like the engraving of a signet, holiness to the Lord.

Now why do you find that these garments were called holy garments? Well again, James and Falset and Brown commentary says the garments were called holy simply because they were not worn on ordinary occasions, not worn on ordinary occasions, but assumed in the discharge of the sacred function. For reverence of the sanctuary and material was elaborately embroidered, color it had an imposing splendor, being all made of linen, they were symbolic of the truth, purity, and other qualities in Christ that rendered him a high priest. So rather than you find that you and I, when we come into God's presence, should be dressed first of all with in with holiness, and then by our actions and how we live and how we present ourselves, that we also display that holiness before God. You know in Exodus 19, Israel was called a kingdom of priests, a holy nation.

1st Peter 2 9 says that we today are the same thing, that we are called the same.

Notice here in Exodus 19, if you'll just turn back there quickly, Exodus 19 verses 10 and 11, the people were to meet with God. God was going to come down on Mount Sinai. He was going to give them the Ten Commandments. In verse 10, Moses told the people to consecrate themselves today and tomorrow and let them wash their clothes so they were to be ready to meet God. Then in verse 17, Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. You and I are here today, brethren, to meet with God, to appear before our Maker. And we find that they were to meet with God with clean clothes, prepared to meet God. You and I should likewise come before God with cleanliness.

Part of our reverence in meeting with God and coming into His presence is to make sure that we dress properly. Does your appearance count before God? The answer is absolutely yes.

In recent years, I've seen a growing fad that is people dressing down.

I mean, we all have seen people who just seems like today more and more people are just very casual and dress down. You can go to England today, and you can still see people working, digging ditches, coats on ties, you know, a shirt out here with a shovel working.

Have you ever watched any of the movies back in the 1800s, 1920s, and the 30s, how people dressed? I mean, they dressed to the hilt. I'm not saying that we have to dress that way. That's not my point. But what we find is that today people become very casual, and there are churches that pride themselves on, well, you come, you know, God accepts you anyway you are.

You come in your cutoffs. You know, you come, you know, smelling like you haven't taken a bath in a month or two. You know, that's fine. You come, you know, any old way, flip-flops, whatever you might be wearing, you know, that's okay. You just come on, and you know, they're telling people that they can come in this way. So you find the fads today are to dress down and also to draw attention to the body. There's an abysmal lack of training, educational grooming, hygiene. You find today. Romans 12 verse 2 tells us not to be conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

That is so easy to conform to the standards of this world. Remember the sermon I gave to you on what laws should we keep from the Old Testament? And one of the things that I emphasize was the fact that we are to be a holy people, and when God chose Israel, He gave them judgments and statutes that they were to be a different people separated from the nations around them.

Sometimes there's an error in our thinking. It's very easy for us to think, what I'm wearing is modest. And what we're doing is comparing it with the world around us. Maybe what they wear. But still, too often, it's immodest compared to what God would want. What is the teaching of the United Church of God on Sabbath dress? Well, let me read it to you. Basically, what we have taught. For men, except in tropical climates in the islands of the tropics, where formal dress may be a special shirt or other formal garments, we expect men to come to the congregation to wear a shirt, tie, quality slacks.

We expect them to be, you attire this way. We believe that most men can afford a suit coat or a jacket and a tie and a shirt. Over the years, we found that sometimes, you know, if a person didn't have some of these things, that they could go to a second-hand shop like Goodwill, other nonprofit places, and for five or ten dollars, buy a jacket. I remember when I went to Ambassador College, I've mentioned this before, we'd had a fire about a year, year and a half before I went to college, burnt everything we had.

So, very thankful people in the neighborhood got together. They gave us a whole elective collection of furniture. Nothing matched, but we had furniture, and they gave us a lot of clothes. I mean, we had bags of clothes. When I went off to Ambassador College, out of those bags of clothes, there was one suit. It was a gray suit with pink stripes, and it was obviously not a young man's suit. It was an older person's suit, but it fit me, and so I had a suit to wear to Ambassador College.

My uncle, who I was named after, gave me a white dinner jacket. So, I had a white dinner jacket I could wear to special occasions, but I wore that suit. Had a tie or two that I pulled out of the bag, and you know, that's what I had when I went to Ambassador College. Somewhere into my first year, second year, somebody gave me an old maroon sports coat, corduroy, and I had that.

After my sophomore year, my parents bought me a blue suit. I went on a baptizing tour at the end of my junior year, and I took my gray suit, my corduroy jacket, and my blue suit, and that's what I wore. That's what I graduated with. That's what I had when I came out into the ministry, because we didn't have much at that point. Now, I only mentioned that because what you find is we've clothed our children over the years out of many outlet places, you know, finding good quality clothes and doing those type of things.

And we can certainly, I think as a rule, find something that we can wear to appear before God. For women, for the ladies, we expect you to wear the best dress, best suit or pantsuit you can afford.

Strapless dresses, halter tops, and outfits that show plunging necklines.

Our backsides are not acceptable type of wear for the Sabbath.

Over the years, United has written a number of articles concerning some of these things. In fact, I went on our website a couple of days ago and typed in the word, modesty, and all kinds of different articles pop up. You can do a little research that way, and I think you'll find a number of things. Don Hooser wrote an article a couple years ago titled, Heart to Heart Talk with Women and Teen Girls. Let me just quote from the article, because this was something that appeared in the United News. It says, there's a difference between dressing attractively and dressing to attract. Many women wear clothing that's too low, too high, too tight, or too transparent. In other words, clothing has the twos. It says, much of it is too form-fitting, defining every curve exactly. Often, clothing, body jewelry, tattoos, draw attention to body parts, like printed words across one's breast or one's bottom. We suggest the sit-down test.

Sit in a chair in front of a mirror and see if the hem of your skirt still reaches to your knees.

And look in the mirror to see what others can see under your skirt. Then, lean over and see if you can see down your blouse. Godly character is shown by not compromising even in the smallest way.

As Luke 16.10 says, she who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much. Now, it says he who is faithful, but you can put she in there also. Total nudity is less exotic than sexual packaging. A woman in skimpy or tight clothes is more exciting and mysterious because she is tantalizing and teasing to a man in a way similar to a stripped-tee show.

His appetite is stimulated to see and imagine more. The peekaboo effect is also erotic. Advertisers know that a split-second sexy image can have as great an impact as a longer scene. Likewise, high slits in skirts are like a flashing light. Now you see thigh, now you don't.

In sheer clothes, loose blouses when a woman leans forward, sleeveless tops with loose armpits offer titillating peeks of skin and underwear. Three fisights near the beach, we face this dress down or dressing to draw attention problem. Where are those? Well, Hawaii, Panama City Beach, Jackal Island. We find that people wear flip-flops to church, common beach sandals, running shoes. These are not acceptable. This is not what we should be wearing before God to worship Him and to honor Him. Now, as parents, it's not always easy as you begin to have teenagers and they're growing up and they begin to have a mind of their own, but you need to teach them about these principles, proper dressing among our young people. It's got to start somewhere and should start in a home with parents teaching and training their children.

You know, people used to place a great deal of emphasis on attending God's church years ago. I remember when we first came out to Pittsburgh, we had some people used to drive from North Carolina over to Pittsburgh. Now, you can look at a map and you go from North Carolina through West Virginia, which did not have anything but a two-lane highway at that time. To get up to Pittsburgh, it was a long trip and they came on a regular basis. They couldn't come every Sabbath, but they came as often as they could. I've seen people who are paraplegics in a bed where they couldn't do anything. Somebody had to roll them in, take them back out, attend Sabbath services because they wanted to be there. Now, today we find it seems like almost any excuse, any reason comes up for not being as services. People say, I'm tired.

Hey, I get tired, too. But, you know, you still come to Sabbath services. Sometimes people say, I'm depressed. So what? We all get depressed, are discouraged at times. We find that people want to stay home today. They want to listen to a tape. They want to listen to cybercasts.

But you should ask yourself the question, should you be doing that unless you have a health problem or there's a legitimate reason for doing so. Now, we realize today with the exorbitant cost of fuel that there are some people who can't come every Sabbath because they simply can't afford to be here. Sometimes health problems limit somebody. But what I'm addressing here is, if you have the ability to be here and you just don't come because you want to stay home, that is not acceptable to God.

Now, I think what we need to realize is that we shouldn't be making every reason not to be at church or missing church. We should strive to be here if at all possible. We used to have to send people home because they'd come to church and, oh, they're off-sacking, their noses stopped up, and they're hacking and coughing, and we say, you go home. You know, you're going to make everybody else sick. But, you know, they wanted to be there. Well, I think we need more of that type of attitude not to bring sickness to church but just to want to be here. Another thing I've noticed four times a year, we have double services. Once during the days of unleavened bread, pentecost, trumpets, and once during the Feast of Tabernacles. You know what I've noticed? When we have double services, generally the ones that you would think who might only be able to come to one service and then go home come to both, I'm talking about the elderly. Generally, most of those who are elderly come to both services. Guess who doesn't? The younger couple, especially younger couples with children, don't come, and you find, well, you know, my kids, they can't sit through two services. Whatever happened to the fact that we used to keep seven days of unleavened bread and have two services a day, what happened to the Feast of Tabernacles when there were many times we had three services a day, a Bible study, and two services the next day, and you know, we didn't think anything of it. And services ran three and four hours. Now be thankful, uh, you know, today, but we don't have too many two and two and a half hour sermons. They used to be the standard. Now, I realize that the reason they were the standard and reason why at one time we did that was because we didn't have too many churches, and when the people came, it was an opportunity to dump the whole load on them. So you tried to give people as much as you could during that seven or eight day period. Well, we came to realize after a period of time, hey, everybody attends a local congregation, they have sermons, they have Bible studies. We don't need to do this. And so, you know, we we've backed off from that, but it just seems like we've also backed off from the fact that we have two services that we need to train, we need to teach our children to sit still. Let's notice in Hebrews chapter 10 again, Hebrews the 10th chapter, verse 23.

He said, let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for he is faithful who promise. Let us consider one another to provoke or to excite, in other words, to spur on, to encourage one another, to provoke unto love and the good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as we find as the manner of some is, but exhorting or encouraging one another so much more as we see the day approaching. So rather than we ought to try, you know, have every effort, the Sabbath should be the focus of our week. The Holy Days, you know, the Feast of Tabernacles is what we plan our year around, is it not? I mean, we get a calendar and the first thing we do is mark all the Holy Days on it, you know, for the year.

And you begin, okay, this is the Feast. Where do we want to go this year? And what do you do? You begin to plan your year around the Feast. Our week should be organized around the Sabbath day.

Now, if we're always or consistently, sometimes it seems like it's always the same people, arriving late at services. We're not showing respect or honor to God either.

In other words, we should be here, and when the song leader gets up and says, brethren, we'll be starting services in five minutes or two minutes. That's the cue.

Go sit down, find your place. Now, I know that we all like to talk. We're the talkiest people, you know, on the face of the air. We talk and talk, communicate. But there comes a point that, you know, fellowship ends, we come to services, and we should be in our places so that when the song leader says, brethren, let's pick up our songbook and turn to page so and so, that every last one of us is here. We're ready to go, and we don't have to worry about that. There isn't a disturbance of somebody trying to find where to sit. You see, God has given us the Sabbath day, and it's a day of rest. I mean, we all understand that. It's a day that we can rest, we can catch up. If we are so exhausted when the Sabbath comes that we can't get out of bed, there's something wrong with our work that we're doing. We need to back off and ask ourselves, are we allowing our work to so dominate us that we're not able to keep the Sabbath day?

So, we've got to think about the Sabbath. Let me just show you. There are a number of things that we can do on the Sabbath, and we should do. The Sabbath is a day that we can visit the sick or the widows. Maybe you have a little extra time that you could drop by and you could visit with someone, especially those who are shut in. What about writing a letter or a card to those who are sick or somebody that you know that needs encouragement? Sabbath is a time where we should be able to study more of God's work. If you're busy during the week, maybe you study something, but you don't have the opportunity. It's a time where you might be able to catch up on the good news, world news and prophecy, united news, you know, some of these type of things. It's a time when we should be talking with our families about the kingdom of God, family of God, the plan of God, and you'll just have a special time on the Sabbath.

It's a time when you can walk, maybe go out, have a picnic, walk in the park. I'm not saying taking two or three mile hike, but just get out in the creation.

You know, for 50 years, my wife and I have done just this. We have run the circuit.

You know, we've gone to church. The Sabbath to us is quite different than the Sabbath to you, because, you know, a lot of times I'm up late Friday night or I'm up early Saturday morning, you finishing up a sermon. We're off, you know, several miles down the road in the morning, come back in the afternoon, you know, you fellowship, you counsel, you anoint, and then you go home and you drop, you know, Saturday evening. And one year, we had a sabbatical out in Pasadena. That year, I didn't have anything to do. I probably gave two sermons during that nine months I was out there, and all five of our children were there. Mark was the youngest. He was a little baby, had just been born, and we would occasionally go out in the park. Normally, I would fix the picnic lunch. I would play with the boys. We'd have lunch. We'd sit down, have a Bible discussion. We'd walk around and look at the creation. You'll engage in that and talk about some of those things, and you'd be able to spend time and interact with your family. You know, that's what God intends. We can come to church with one another. We can discuss world news. We can discuss prophecy. We can discuss what's going on. The time for us that actually was family time was always Friday night. It was only Friday night, and Bill and Betty know this, that you would have time where you could have some time with the family. And Norma always fixed a very special meal. Many times, we'd have really a nice meal. We'd have the table set up, special flowers. We would have candles on the table, and we'd really have something that the boys would look forward to. We'd have a special dessert for them, and you have a special family time. See, the Sabbath, instead of being a drudge for our children, should be something that they look forward to, a delight. Special toys that they may only get to play with or games on that particular day. So, we need to be able to do this. Back in Exodus 20, verse 8 again.

Exodus 20, verse 8, we are told, remember the Sabbath day, keep it holy.

It's interesting about the word, remember. The Sanseino commentary says this. It says that the meaning is that we should always keep the Sabbath in mind during the week. Remember it. It's coming. And then we should think about it and prepare. We should be preparing for the Sabbath. Friday is a preparation day, but I've known people who couldn't get everything done that they needed to do on Friday. So, guess what? You start on Thursday. You start thinking about the Sabbath. You think, well, you know, Friday night, especially when the Sabbath starts early, maybe you're 4.35. You barely get home. Here's the Sabbath. So, maybe you've got to start on Wednesday or Thursday. You make sure your clothes are pressed. You make sure your shoes are shined. You prepare the food ahead of time. You have any heavy cooking that needs to be done. You've got things lined up and lined out so that when the Sabbath comes... See, the principle is that you want to have as much time on the Sabbath to worship God, study His Word, fellowship with one another as you possibly can. You don't want to be encumbered by a lot of physical details.

So, brethren, what you find is that God has given us this day.

He has a day that He has created for us. Mark 2, 27. The Sabbath was created for man.

It's created for us. It's God's gift to us. God said, okay, once a week you stop. You rest. This is your day. And so we should use that day as a day of rest. We should use that day as a day to draw close to God. It is a day to draw closer to our families, physically and spiritually. The main element on this day is to learn to worship God, to honor God, to respect God, how we approach God. And so, you know, I've tried to give you some pointers on how we can do that. We need to make sure we watch our actions during the service itself, how we dress, our punctuality, and how we serve one another, how we encourage, how we exhort one another, stir one another up to love, as the Bible says. So, as the Bible clearly tells us, brethren, remember the Sabbath day. Keep it holy.