The Validity of the Sabbath

It's featuring the coming financial squeeze. The one previous to it was, would Jesus attend your church? What do you think? Would Jesus attend your church? Well, I guess in part, if I may play off of that title, would depend on when does your church meet. And I'm not speaking a morning or afternoon.

Why are we here today? You say, well, I'm in town for Thanksgiving and this is the closest church. No, I don't mean it that way. I know why I'm here. We're in town, yes, for Thanksgiving. But if we weren't in town for Thanksgiving, we would still be meeting today somewhere with God's people. So why are we here today? I mean, why not be here or there tomorrow?

Why are we here on the seventh day? Why not the first day? Why not the fifth day, as some people, a major religion? The fifth day, I'm sorry, the sixth day. The sixth day is their day. I'll give you a title right up front. I'll tell you what I'm talking about today. The validity of the Sabbath. The validity. Focus on the word validity. Why it is valid. Why we are here. Why it matters. Why it's relevant. Why it has always mattered.

Why it does matter. And why it will always matter. The validity of the Sabbath. You know, you can find all kinds of rumors floating around. It's interesting that sometimes I hear a rumor of what I'm going to do, and I didn't even know I was going to do that. Let's go back to Genesis 2, verses 2 and 3. I want to deal with something that's extremely fundamental.

It's basic and it's foundational to what we believe and why we meet as we do. And I'm not focusing so much today on how you keep the Sabbath and, you know, what's proper, what's improper. That's not my purpose. Because, you know, that doesn't matter if the Sabbath is not valid. But if it's valid, then you can pursue on, well, then how does God expect us to use it? Now, obviously, some of that's covered today, but not much, because, again, that's not the focus of the sermon. But the validity of it. Because if I know it's valid, I'm sorry.

You're not going to take it away from me. You're not going to get me to come off of it. If you know it's valid, nobody's going to take it away from you. Nobody's going to let, you know, get you off of it. Notice, in Genesis 2, verses 2 and 3, we find two very important points of information. And again, that's tie everything to the validity of the Sabbath. You find two very important points of information here in Genesis 2, verses 2 and 3.

Let's read it first. And on the seventh day, this is the week of recreation, on the seventh day, God ended His work, which He had made. And He rested on the seventh day from all His work, which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because that in it He had rested from all His work, which God had created and made.

We find, number one, the creation of the Sabbath. Now, what the Sabbath is based on, in principle, is eternal. But the creation of the Sabbath as a 24-hour unit of time, sunset to sunset, here's the creation of the Sabbath. The week is completed by God taking an additional day beyond the sixth and making it holy, making the seventh day Sabbath. So here's the creation of the Sabbath. This is a very important point. This is when it was created. And number two, who first kept it?

Who first kept it? God was the one who first kept it. In fact, God here, that rested, is the one that would later... He's the Word. He's the Logos. He would later come as Jesus Christ. So, He first kept it. So both of these facts are crucial to the validity of the Sabbath. Now, here's something that's very important to bear in mind. Here, the Sabbath is brought into the picture before any laws or any covenants have been officially given and made with man.

Now, there are laws that exist, but before any kind of covenant, before any laws are, quote, officially given or made with man, and I didn't say Jew or Israel, I said man, mankind. Before any are brought into the picture, here is the Sabbath. At this point in time, there are no covenants existing with man in any form, yet here is the existence of the Sabbath.

People will try to tell you that when the Sabbath is incorporated into a covenant, and that covenant is superseded or broken, that then the Sabbath goes out of existence. No, something that previously existed is brought in. A covenant goes, that which is previously brought in still exists. See, when you look at it from the top down, the validity of the Sabbath is not based upon a covenant. It does not require a covenant to bring the Sabbath into existence.

The Sabbath was existing before any covenants with man. It was existing and established before God made any covenant with any human. So, it's not dependent on man, and it's not dependent on a covenant. The existence of a Jew, the existence of Jews, or the existence of Israel has nothing to do with whether the Sabbath exists or not. When somebody tries to say Jewish, it has nothing to do. Its existence has nothing to do with whether there's a Jew around or not, whether Jews exist or not, where Israel exists or not.

God was the first being to keep it, right there in Scripture, and something I learned long ago, brethren. If a man tries to reason with me out of man's writings at the ignoring of the Bible, I don't waste my time with him. If they want to talk with me based on the Bible and what it says, I will talk with them.

It's like a man down in Florida years ago, a member, he came to me one day and he said, so-and-so at work wanted to have a religious discussion with me. He said, I knew this guy didn't believe in the Bible, so I said, do you believe the Bible is the Word of God? He said, no. He said, well, I'm not going to waste my time with you.

You know, if you get rid of the Bible, you have no foundation. So if you're going to go to the Bible, the foundation, then you have to go and look at what it says. So here was God, the first being to keep it. He established it long before a Jew had ever been heard of.

So the validity of the Sabbath is not based upon the Jews or any other humans, but the Sabbath does have something to do with something very important to God in regards to man. Okay. Sabbath, seventh day. It began at sunset. It began at sunset of the six-day ending. As the sixth day was coming towards a close, as it was drawing near sunset to conclude the sixth day, and the seventh day is about to begin.

As the seventh day began, that's the beginning of the Sabbath. At that point in time, Adam and Eve were existing. They had been created on the sixth day. And so from the point of time of their creation, it was a matter of hours. I don't know how many. I don't know if it was 10 hours, 12 hours, or whatever. But I do know that within a matter of hours of their creation, the Sabbath was created. Let me ask you something. Was Adam a Jew? Was he a Gentile? I don't know. What was Adam? What were Eve? Say, you can't classify him a Jew. You can't classify them in Israelite. You can't classify him a Gentile, can you?

We'll come back to that thought. But they were neither Jew nor Gentile. And you know what? Created on the sixth day, within x number of hours, here's the Sabbath, and God keeping the Sabbath, guess why? They were keeping it with him. They were not cut off yet. See, at this point in time, at the time that the Sabbath is created, Adam and Eve are alive and living. They've not been cut off from God. There's no flaming sword around the tree of life at this point.

There's no hiding in the bushes by them. God was with them. He was with them on the Sabbath, teaching, instructing, sending an example. And again, bear in mind, keep in mind that the one who created Adam, put him to sleep, took a rib, made Eve. That God, the Word, the spokesman, the Rock of the Old Testament, that was the one who would later come as Jesus Christ.

He was sharing with them in a very special way. He was having a very special fellowship with them. They were having what we call a Sabbath relationship with their Creator. Right off the bat, the Sabbath was put to the right purpose in their lives. And that right purpose is for a special relationship with God. Now, we know the account. Who doesn't know the account that, you know, reads any of the Scripture? All that changed shortly. They became cut off, flaming sword around the tree of life, driven out of the garden, and that special relationship was gone.

And so, mankind, as a whole, did not maintain the Sabbath. Adam and Eve were special to God. They were His. They were the forebears of all to come. People today get all caught up, and it's okay. It's interesting. I find it interesting myself to look at genealogies. Who was great-great-grandpa?

There's a family. Years ago, there was a family in Memphis, Tennessee. That's where we started services. In 61 in July, we were at the inaugural service. And there was a family of Joneses there.

And they did some checking into their background and found out, lo and behold, that our family and their family were beams, their Joneses, but that we went back to a coming great-great-great-grandfather, Jones. And we knew we had some Jones on my mother's side of the family back in there somewhere. And we actually could go back to a common grandfather.

And it's interesting to check genealogies. You know, if I asked Mr. Brown, who does he think he would come up with if he went back on his genealogies all the way back to the greatest, greatest, greatest, greatest, greatest, however many that would be grandfather, there's only one answer. It's the same one that everyone in here would have to give. Adam.

And if your ladies went back to the greatest grandmother, it would have to be Eve. We all go back to them. I'm not going to turn to this verse, but you can write it down if you wish.

In Acts 17 and verse 26, it references that all people, all races, all nations come from one blood.

The one blood, and the only time there's been the one blood, and what's being referenced by one blood, is Adam and Eve. It's Adam and Eve. So he involved them in his Sabbath to begin with, because that is central to a special relationship with him, and that is what he illustrated right there at the very beginning, before everything got off base, before everything got messed up, because that's what he desires with all of us, a special relationship with him.

When God calls someone into a special relationship with him, he gives them knowledge of the things that matter to him. He gives them knowledge of the things that count with him that are precious to him. He begins to involve them in what he is involved in. He begins to reveal himself and what counts with him and what he stands for. He begins to reveal and make known his special treasures. I'd like for you to turn with me, please, to Nehemiah 9. Nehemiah chapter 9.

I'll pick it up in verse 13. Nehemiah 9, beginning in verse 13. Nehemiah is praying here. He's addressing God. Notice how he words this.

Here shortly. Verse 13.

You came down also upon Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven, and gave them right judgments, true laws, good statutes, and commandments, and made known unto them the Holy Sabbath.

Now, I'm reading from the King James and I misread it on purpose. It does not say he gave them the Holy Sabbath. It does not. Now, I don't know what your translation says.

I like the King James. It's not the only good translation, but it is still recognized by all authorities as the most accurate word-for-word translation that's ever been made. I changed a word on purpose. If I had read, made known to them the Holy Sabbath, that would be sufficient in one sense, wouldn't it? But that still cuts it short. Notice what it says, made known, if you have a King James, made known unto them your Holy Sabbath. It's God's. It's His treasure.

It's His Sabbath. It's not mine. I don't have a right to tamper with it or change it or do away with it. Made known to them your Holy Sabbath. Let's go back to Genesis 12.

In Genesis 12 and verse 1, Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get you out of your country, from your kindred, from your father's house to a land that I will show you. So this is Abram. He was called Abram. Then his name was changed to Abraham later. But this was his calling. I mean, he was called to leave his country. I want to ask a question. How old was Abraham at this time? Does anybody know or want to take a guess at what his age was when he was called? Anybody. If you're wrong, you're wrong. It doesn't matter. Somebody, I mean, just take a wild guess. How do you think he was when he was called? Close. When you're within five years, you want to go up or down? 75. Does anybody know how old Abraham was when he died? 175. So for 100 years, God worked with Abraham. He worked with him for 100 years. Notice with me, over in Genesis 26.5, Abraham was called and put into a special relationship with God, his Creator. And in that special relationship with his Creator, this was said of him later on in Genesis 26 in verse 5. It says, because that Abraham obeyed my voice, kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws, and it did include the Sabbath.

Well, that was the beginning of God beginning to work with a certain line of men and to create a nation from him and all of that. And after so long a time, as we know the account, God chose an entire nation to be his and to reveal himself to. Notice with me Deuteronomy 14. Deuteronomy 14.

Now, it's interesting. It says here in verse 2, Deuteronomy 14 verse 2, you know, there was Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and then Jacob's name changed to Israel, and 12 tribes, counting Joseph as one of them. And if you split Joseph into the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, you've got a total of 13 in that sense. And, of course, they were the birthright tribes.

The supremacy of the blessings came upon them, the birthright blessings.

But here you've got a situation where God is choosing a whole nation just as he had a special relationship with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He's going to have a special relationship now with their descendants with the whole nation. And it says right here in verse 2, for you are a holy people unto the Lord your God. Now, I want to digress a bit.

I think it was in 1994 my kids and wife would probably remember we had a basketball, one of those YOU basketball weekends down in central Mississippi for the region. And best my memory serves me, it had to be in 1994. It could have been early 1995, but I think it was 1994.

And the man that was giving the sermon that day, and of course we had hundreds and hundreds of people there, maybe close to a thousand, I don't remember the numbers, he got up basically with a title that more or less had to do with how you properly keep the Sabbath. It was supposed to be promoting the Sabbath. And then he took the hour for the sermon to start diminishing the Sabbath every way that he basically could, that he felt he could get away with in the climate of that time.

And those who were around in those days know how things went. And you know what was going on.

Anyway, he got to a point, and in his sermon he said, God, and by the way, the man was in the Atlanta area at one time. He says, God never referred to his people in the Old Testament as a holy nation. Angelo was sitting on my left. I flip to this verse here as well as to another one.

And I kind of nod you in the elbows and in the elbows, in the ribs of my elbow. And I point here for her to read this verse and then I flip over. And she's kind of like, don't make a scene.

But I'm saying this man either, you know, this is a man with high responsibility, and he either doesn't know his Bible or he's willing to lie. And I think he knew his Bible, and I think he was willing to lie because lying served his purposes. Anyway, it says right here, for you are a holy people to the Lord your God. And the Lord has chosen you to be a peculiar people, peculiar, special, purchased people unto himself above all nations that are upon the face of the earth. He chose a physical nation at that time to have a special relationship with him.

And of course, you know, they didn't live up to their end of the deal. We know that.

But he chose them to enjoy a special fellowship with him. If you flip over to Deuteronomy 26, and this is another place where the similar is repeated.

Deuteronomy 26 verses 18 and 19, And the Lord has avowed you this day to be his peculiar or special or purchased people, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments, and to make you high above all nations which he has made in praise, and in name, and in honor, and that you may be a holy people to the Lord your God, as he has spoken.

Notice Psalm 135 verse 4. Psalm 135 and verse 4.

The psalmist wrote, For the Lord has chosen Jacob, and of course Jacob's name was also changed to Israel. And sometimes, you know, when it says Jacob, it means the individual, and it says Israel, it means his descendants that carry his name.

Chosen Jacob unto himself, and notice Israel, again, there's that word in the King James, peculiar for his peculiar treasure.

Let's go back to Exodus 19.

Therefore, if you will obey my voice and date and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure to me above all people.

For all the earth is mine, and you shall be unto me. And notice this phrase, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

These are the words which you shall speak unto the children of Israel.

Kingdom of priests, a holy nation, and the Sabbath wasn't created, had previously existed, but it was brought into the picture as a covenant. I'm not saying it wasn't in the picture. I'm saying it is utilized into this picture as a covenant and as a sign. And actually, if you go with me to Exodus 31, the Sabbath itself is kind of like a covenant within a covenant.

There was the covenant that God made with Israel at Sinai, where he incorporated at the heart and core of it the Ten Commandments, which in every one of their facets, every one of their principles, their laws, pre-existed that they were already around. But they were codified in a covenant form with Israel.

Covenant goes out, those codified laws don't go out.

But anyway, the Sabbath was actually focused in on the born. And it's interesting, the only commandment that uses the word remember with it, remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.

There's no gentleman down in Waycross, Georgia, years ago when they had blue laws. Some of you old ones know what blue laws are.

If I remember correctly, and he told me about it, he was mowing his grass one Sunday, and he got charged, he got fined for violating the blue laws. It was breaking the quote Sabbath.

He got hauled in before the judge.

Judge said, you know, Mr. So and so, basically, you know, how do you plead? Well, not guilty. Not breaking any, not sinning or anything.

Well, you're, you know, mowing your grass, whatever, on Sunday, violating the blue laws. And he told me, he said, Judge, the Sabbath is the seventh day.

And he actually backed the judge in the corner on it, quoting Bible scripture.

And the judge came back and said, well, sir, listen, how do we even know when the seventh day is anymore?

He said, Your Honor, would God tell us to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy, and then let the weekly cycle be lost, and then say, ha ha, you just got to figure out, you better keep three days to make sure you're...

And he had the judge. Now, he might have still had to pay the fine, I don't know. But you think about that. Would God say, you remember it, but I'm going to let it be lost in times where you can't know?

That would be ridiculous.

Anyway, here in Exodus 31, 31 verse 12, and the Lord spoke to Moses, verse 12, saying, Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Truly, my Sabbaths, you shall keep.

And then singles out... You know, there's 52 a year for that matter, but he singles out... Of course, the Sabbaths do include the Holy Days.

Then he singles out the weekly Sabbath, the one that we have, obviously, most often. It's a sign between me and you throughout your generations that you may know that I am the Lord that does sanctify you.

God picks a man. He picks men and women are included, obviously, and he picks a nation. And the Sabbath is always brought in as a part in that special relationship. You shall keep the Sabbath, verse 14, therefore, it is holy unto you. Everyone that defiles it shall surely be put to death. And in those days, coast to coast, border to border, the Old Covenant, one of the things that it contained that the New Covenant doesn't is it had the administration of death. You could take a person out and execute them for breaking the Sabbath. We're not under the administration of death. It's still a sin to break it. The ultimate penalty is still death. Ultimately, what we call the second death, it's not an immediate penalty. But in those days, it could be an immediate penalty because of the administration of death.

For whosoever shall do any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done, but the Sabbath is the Sabbath of rest. Notice again, holy to the Lord.

Whosoever does any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath. To observe the Sabbath throughout their generations for a perpetual covenant, it is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. And notice, if you do a study on the Sabbath, and we talk about the validity of it, part of that validity obviously is due to what it's connected to.

For in six days, the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day, he rested and was refreshed. It's tied to creation.

It's tied to creation.

Ezekiel 20.20.

That's perfect vision. 2020.

Not everybody has it, I know.

It's interesting the statement is made through Ezekiel, and Ezekiel 20 and verse 20.

And, Hallo, my Sabbaths, and they shall be a sign between me and you that you may know...

Now, this is interesting. Hallo, my Sabbaths, there'll be a sign between me and you that you may know...

When this kind of phraseology is used, it means a relationship, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. That is, that you may have a relationship with me, that you may carry a relationship with me. That kind of wording speaks to having a relationship with God, between God and His people. If you check the biblical records, you'll find that the two prime reasons that Israel went into captivity, and Judah did too later. Judah was allowed to come back, those who wanted to. Israel didn't. Israel was not allowed to come back to the land at that time. But you will find that the two prime sins were idolatry and Sabbath breaking.

Idolatry and Sabbath breaking.

So you can read God's desire and motives with ancient Israel. You can read His incorporating of His holy Sabbath and Sabbath. But like Adam and Eve, Israel failed to be faithful to God. And, of course, the house of Israel in Rehoboam's day, when the whole nation split and ten tribes split off and were known as the house of Israel, and the three that were left, Judah with Benjamin and Levi, you sprinkle in among them, they became known as the house of Judah. But when Israel failed to be faithful to God, and were taken out of the land, they eventually even lost their identity as to who they are. Now, the Jews today know who they are. But the ten lost tribes don't. They're still around. There's a heavy proportion of Americans that are the descendants of Manasseh.

But anyhow, they don't know it. But they cease to function in a special relationship with God.

Now, none of that destroys the things of God. None of that destroys the things of God.

None of that changes His standards or values. Wouldn't it be something? How weak would God be that if I said, well, God, I don't like Your ways. I'm just not going to do them. And that'll destroy them. That'll negate them. That'll nullify them. That'll remove them out of the way. God would be very weak. It'd be ridiculous to even think that I could destroy the things of God by me just saying, well, I'm not going to do them. You cannot destroy the things of God by refusing to do them.

It doesn't change His standards. God doesn't say, well, you know, for so many years, I, as God, believe such and such, and such and such mattered with me and counted. But, nah, it doesn't matter anymore. That's okay. You humans are just kind of weak. So I'll just change the way I see things. I'll change what I require. I'll change what is important and I expect of you. Now, it only means that people negate these things in their lives and living. But human neglect and avoidance does not destroy or invalidate the things of God. To me, these examples we look at, they bring out certain things to me to my thinking. I believe that any time that God chooses to bring a person into relationship with Him, He begins to reveal to them what's important and valid to Him.

When He begins to bring a person into relationship with Him, I believe He begins to reveal to that person what is important and valid to Him. And I believe the special relationship that God engenders with one is based upon the special things of God, of which the Sabbath is very central.

It's not the only thing, but it's very central. God's people are given God's things, the things of God, and God's people go hand in hand. And in that, I am the Lord. I change not. Malachi 3.6.

Jesus Christ, yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13.8.

But this is November 26th, I believe, if I'm counting right, 2011.

And we're sitting here today, and there are others of God's people in various locations. Sitting, you know, in services. What about today? What about this time? Does, you know, if you look back, God chose a man. He chose certain men. He chose a nation. And He brought to their attention that which was important to Him. And speaking of the Sabbath, He brought to them that which He had created as the end of the week, the seventh day, and incorporated it at the time that He involved Adam and Eve with it, the forebears, before they, as we might say, went AWOL. And we come down today. What about today? Does God have a people? Does He have a people that He's brought into a special relationship with Him? Well, let's look at a couple of verses, a couple of scriptures. Titus 2.14. Titus 2. Because you think about it, when it comes to the key things of God, the important things, and He doesn't change, then what would change? Or would anything change? Would He take on a whole different perspective? Titus 2.14. Breaking into the thought, the context in verse 13, looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ, who, verse 14, who gave Himself for us.

Why did He give Himself as a sacrifice? Why did He give Himself for us that He might redeem us, that we might be cleansed, we might be forgiven through His covering blood. When a person repents and they're baptized and they come under the covering blood of Jesus Christ and they're cleansed through that covering blood. You know, when I hear Amazing Grace, that's one of those few songs that I cannot hear it without getting goosebumps. The truth of it, the value of what it speaks to, that He might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto Himself. Notice the words again, if you have a King James, to make us or purify us to Himself a peculiar, a special, or a purchased people, zealous of good works. Does God still have a people that He's brought into a special relationship with Him? And of course, this speaks to that. It's obvious, isn't it? The second Scripture for now is 1 Peter 2, 9. 1 Peter 2. And verse 9.

Peter talks about this very same thing, a special people, a purchased people, called to a special relationship with God. 1 Peter 2, 9. But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. You see familiar terminology here that you got in the Old Testament.

A holy nation, a peculiar or purchased or special people, that you, for the purpose, that you should show forth the praises of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. A royal priesthood, a holy nation, which in time past you now, who are the people of God, in time past you didn't all fit within a certain national boundary.

It wasn't from Dan to Beersheba, which was all the way the northern most outpost of the nation of Israel, all the way to the southern outpost Beersheba, from Mediterranean to across Jordan. It'd be like us saying today from Maine to California, from L.A. to New York, from Duluth, Minnesota to Bluxey, Mississippi. You're talking about the parameters, the extent of national boundaries, which in time past you, that I'm talking to Peter says in this letter, you weren't a people in time past. You didn't, you're not pulled from just one nation or one country. You're not drawn from within a certain set of national boundaries, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy in the past, but now have obtained mercy. Notice Galatians 3.

Adam and Eve were created. They were involved, that very first Sabbath, they were, as the forebears of all mankind, they were involved in the Sabbath.

Mankind went wayward. God worked with certain ones before you get to Abraham, but when he called Abraham, he involved him in the things of God, which included the Sabbath.

Time came, he formed a whole nation from Abraham's descendants. He involved them in the Sabbath. Here we are in the New Testament time, and it talks about he has a people. He's developing a people. Notice Galatians 3. Let's see, beginning in verse 26. Galatians 3 verse 26. For you are all the children of God, by faith in Christ Jesus. And the Galatians were Gentile converts as such. There weren't Jewish converts mixed in among them, but they were Jewish converts to the truth. But he says, For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Notice what he says in terms of your value to God, your spiritual worth, in terms of God's love of you and concern and working with you and wanting a relationship with you. And in all those terms and more, there's neither Jew. He doesn't look at you and say, Oh, he's a Jew. I'll show special favor.

Well, this one's a Greek or a Gentile. I won't show as much. No. He says there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither Bund nor free. There is neither male nor female. Now, when it comes to marriage, there's male and female. And don't get it mixed up.

It's Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve. So, but spiritually speaking, there's neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you beat Christ, notice, then are you Abraham's seed? You counted as Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. You might turn with me back to Romans 11. I'm not going to go through the chapter. It's an interesting chapter. Israel is like the natural olive tree in the analogy that Paul uses. And the Gentiles are like the wild olive tree. But it's interesting he speaks of a grafting in. And I'm not going to take time to play all that out. But verse 17, it's an interesting statement. And I just want to touch upon this about grafting in, and then we'll look at something. Verse 17, And if some of the branches be broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree, it's interesting. And if you flip with me to Romans 2, you know, God's spiritual people today are not based on physical boundaries or bloodlines.

God's spiritual people today, the church, the firstfruits, the ecclesia, the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, it's not based on. You don't have to come from a certain set of national boundaries, or a certain race, or whatever to be a spiritual Jew.

But it's based on a spiritual relationship with God that He has given us opportunity to partake of.

It's based on a real fellowship with Him. Notice Romans 2, Verse 28 and 29. Verse 28, For He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. You know, there were people that could come, in Paul's day, they come and say, I'm a Jew. My bloodline is pure. I was born a Jew, or I was born a Benjamite, which they remember the house of Judah. I am a Jew, and I'm entitled to certain things, not so spiritually, anymore than anybody else. You could have somebody who came forth and said, I was born a Jew. I've grown up a Jew. My bloodline is totally Jewish, and He's a physical Jew. And that's where it stops as far as a special spiritual value that is referenced in verse 29. Verse 29, He is not a Jew, which is one outwardly. Neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. Notice, but He is a Jew. Remember what the Scripture said? Either Jew or Gentile, Jew or Greek, born to free, male or female. But He is a Jew, not whether He's Jewish by nativity, but if He's won inwardly, if He's converted, if He's one of the first fruits, the ecclesia.

He is a Jew, which is won inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart and the spirit, and not in the letter whose praise is not of men, but of God. A person could say, My skin is black, and I am a spiritual Jew.

A person could say, My skin is yellow, I am a spiritual Jew. My skin is red, and I am a spiritual Jew. My skin is white, it is Gentile white, I am a Gentile white person, and I am a spiritual Jew. And at the same time, a physical Jew could say, I am a physical Jew, but they're not automatically a spiritual Jew, because the people of God come now, not by national boundaries, not by race, the people of God. And it's interesting that Peter references that, yes, still, and once again, God has a people, and they come. It's anybody that God calls to Christ.

And when I don't, you know, this idea of the concept Christ is the Son of God, it goes far beyond just that concept. Anybody can see that concept in the Bible, and everybody's familiar with it. It goes into what are the values of that God? What does Christ stand for? What does He expect of us? What is He all about? What is the Father all about? Just one little note.

Tomorrow, in some pulpits, people will hear that if you don't get saved, and you die unsaved, you're going to burn forever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever and ever, and I could keep going. Never burning up, but always in pain, which makes God the greatest torturer who has ever lived.

People don't think through the false doctrines they preach.

They may mean well, but they don't think them through.

Anyhow, let's notice 1 John 1. So the people of God, the ecclesia, the called-out ones, the ones who are called and who yield and respond, and God is able to bring them to that point where they can truly be in Christ through baptism and a process of growth and development.

1 John 1. This is the aged Apostle John towards the end of that first century.

He's writing after decades of having been an Apostle and taught and seen all that he has seen.

He says in 1 John 1, he wants to convey certain things that are extremely important. He says in verse 3, verse 3 of chapter 1 of 1 John, that which we have seen in all of his fellow Apostles of the originals, all of them are dead by this time. He's the only one left living of the original Apostles.

Of course, Paul was not one of the original, but Paul is also dead, probably Barnabas and others. But anyway, that which we have seen and heard declare we to you that you also may have fellowship with us and truly our fellowship, the relationship fellowship, is with the Father and with the Son Jesus Christ.

And once again, if God has a people, and He does, and He's going to have a people, and He's going to keep a people, His church cannot die out. That's a promise from God.

He's going to incorporate the Sabbath as part of that relationship, as central to it. In Hebrews 4, once again, the Sabbath is brought into the picture because it is so central to the things of God. Notice in Hebrews 4 and verse 9, there's a couple of things that are crucially told us here. One, I'll just read it first. Now again, I'm reading it in the King James.

There remains therefore a rest to the people of God. Now, here's the first thing that in one sense jumps out. He has a people. He has a people. Are you part of God's people? Yes, sir, I am.

Ma'am, are you part of God's people? Yes, I am. I've been called, I've responded, I've been baptized, I'm part of the ecclesia, part of the first fruits. I'm part of the people of God.

You're part of the people of God. For the people of God, there remains number two, or you can put it number one, however you want to, the other aspect, a rest, a rest to the people of God.

Whether anybody else does it or not, God is requiring it of His people. It says it remains. Now, this book was written approximately 30 years after the church began. It was written approximately 30 years after the church began. God's ecclesia, His church, has been going forth for about 30 years approximately at this time. The Apostle Paul is saying, for God's people, yes, He has a people. And for His people, it hasn't been done away with. It's still there, a rest. It's interesting, verse 4 says, for He spoke in a certain place of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all His works. So, you even have the seventh day mentioned.

Those of us who have been around for quite a while, we know what the word rest comes from here. If you have a margin in your Bible, like I do, I could read it if I use the marginal rendering, the way it could have been translated by the King James translators. I could just as easily read it. There remains, therefore, a keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God. The word here for rest is sabbatizmos. It's S-A-B-B-A-T-I-S-M-O-S. Sabbatizmos sounds almost like Sabbath, doesn't it?

It's a derivative of, in strong as exhaustive, 4521. I mean, you just look up the numbers if you want, and the Greek 4521, it means sabbatos or the Sabbath. Anybody who will just honestly, objectively look at the verse and what it says, and check the Greek if they want to, realize it says there remains, therefore, the keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God. If you want to count yourself as part of the people of God, you're required of God to keep His Sabbath. Why is it that that was the door, and I don't mean in replacement of Christ, that's not the way I mean it, but I mean it as a door or a gateway or an opening into so many things of God. I mean, for how many of us did we find out about the Sabbath, and as we were willing to take that on, other things were opened up to us. And why is it, and how is it, that so many times when the Sabbath is chucked, everything else begins eventually to fall asleep and be lost. It is central.

I will express my personal view. This is my personal view. I think it fits with the Bible, but I'll just state it. My personal view is that one cannot delve into the things of God without the Sabbath being eventually brought into the picture.

I know for a fact that Dr. Graham once said, and he's 90 or 91 now, he once said when he was put on the spot about the Sabbath, I talked with his personal secretary of about 15 years. Well, he might have had another secretary or two, but she found out about the Sabbath and went to him. And he said, I know Saturday's the Sabbath, but I can't preach it. The world is not ready for it.

The world will never be ready for it. Christ will have to enforce it. And then the world will try it, and they'll like it. I believe that God will begin, when God begins to reveal His values, Himself, His values to a person, I don't believe that He can or will without eventually bringing in the Sabbath. I don't believe that God cannot or will not introduce, build, and maintain a relationship with people without eventually bringing the Sabbath in. It has always been such a central focus and role and a special relationship with God. Does God love all people? Yes. Is He going to work with all people in due time? Yes. But when He does call somebody and they do respond, and He does draw them deeper into His things, I don't see any way not to reveal eventually His Sabbath to them. See, when He created it on the seventh day, actually made the seventh day a Sabbath, and He involved Adam and Eve, who are the forebears of all of us. From the beginning, it was meant to be this way, to serve this purpose. Notice another basic fact. It's in Mark 2.

Mark 2. Somebody of you know where I'm going. Verses 27 and 28. Verse 27, here's Jesus Christ talking. In verse 27, Mark 2, and He Christ said unto them, The Sabbath was made for the Jew.

Yeah, I know. I'm just ready to begin. I'm bad to do that.

It says nothing about the Sabbath was made for the Jew. It says nothing about the Sabbath made for Israel, only in the issue of the Jew and Israel being part of mankind.

See, when He says the Sabbath was made for man, who was the first man? Adam. Who represents all mankind? Adam and Eve. The Sabbath was made for mankind. That's what Christ is saying. Because people like to say, hey, you know, the Sabbath is Jewish. You ever stop to think there's nothing Jewish about the Sabbath? It gets connected with them because they're about the only ones, along with some very, very few denominations that keep the Sabbath. But they get connected with it. You know, that old Jewish Sabbath. No, it's interesting that the Jews even reject the ones who gave it way back there. Therefore, the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath. It belongs to God. The one talking to them is the one who created it back there at the time of the Garden of Eden and Adam and Eve. There's nothing Jewish about it. It's mannish. That's what it is. It's mannish, not Jewish. It's mannish and female-ish. We use the term mankind in the general sense of incorporating both male and female. So, it says, the Sabbath. Again, a plain statement, the Sabbath was made for man, for his benefit, his good, which included the Jew, which included Israel because they're part of mankind, but not exclusively for them. But you know what is most important?

It's godly. It's godly. The Sabbath points to and recognizes God. It acknowledges him, and in so doing, it does mark and identify a special relationship with him.

Think about four scriptures. We'll turn to and bring this to a conclusion. Zechariah 14.

Zechariah 14. This is one we always read, usually more than once, at the Feast of Tabernacles, and actually gets read a number of times through the year in God's Holy Day plan.

Because it entails the hope of mankind, you know, when the entire world is brought under Christ someday and into a special relationship with God all the way around this planet, the Sabbath will be a major basis. It won't be the only, but it'll be a major basis of that relationship, and it will serve its proper role worldwide. See, the time is coming. Zechariah 14.9 says, and this event will occur in due time when Christ returns, says, And the Lord shall be king over all the earth. He's going to be supreme over all the earth, and people are going to have to respond to him. They're going to have to look to him. They're going to have to obey him. And that day shall there be one Lord, one boss, one master, and his name one. There's going to be one supreme one sitting on this earth, ruling out of Jerusalem, and the whole world is going to have to respond. And in that time, notice with me Isaiah 66. In that time when Christ rules, in all the world begins to say, as the law goes forth from Zion, let us go up and learn the way of God, His ways, His law.

You can see the chronology after Christ returns here. Within the last three verses of Isaiah. So just go to the last chapter, Isaiah 66, verse 22 and 23. Verse 22, For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. A new heavens and a new earth, when Christ is here, ruling and reigning on this planet. And notice what it says, and it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, that's just simply the way God counts a month. They're lunar with Him, and we correspond them on the Roman calendar to see where the holy dates fall.

But from one new moon to another, and notice what it says, and from one Sabbath, from one Sabbath to another, shall all Jews and all Israel. Again, I misread it on purpose. It says, all flesh, all nations, all races, all people are going to come to worship before me, says the Lord. What day will be the day of worship in the world to come? The Sabbath. What did He give Adam and Eve that they didn't stay with? The Sabbath. What did He give to His people, His ancient nation of Israel? What does He give to His church today? The Sabbath.

What's He going to give in the future? The Sabbath. How can anybody who will look objectively say the Sabbath is not valid? Two final scriptures. Let's go to Romans 8. Romans 8.

God has a people, and just as He has always done, He gives to His people the things of God.

The truth. And along with the truth, He grants His Spirit. And there's something very important in regards to God, His truth, and His Spirit. Romans 8. Romans 8. Romans 8. And verse 14. The people of God for whom there remains the keeping of a Sabbath in any age or anytime are led, the true people of God, that He's doing truly a spiritual work in, are led by the Spirit of God. Notice how this is worded. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, who are led by, who follow that lead, who pursue that lead, follow that lead, they are the sons of God.

And God's Spirit, which includes the Sabbath as far as the things of God, God's Spirit never leads us away from the things of God. We may choose not always to follow, but if we choose to aberrate, we start peeling off from God's Spirit because it's only going to lead in the direction of the things of God. One final scripture, it's John 16 and verse 13. John 16 and verse 13.

God's Spirit leads into the things of God, never away from them. That's why it says in John 16, 13, How be it when he or it, the Spirit of truth is come, he or it, notice, will guide you into all truth. It always leads in the direction of truth. And if God is truly working with somebody, truly, truly working with them and they're yielding, they will be led to the Sabbath because the South with this part of the things of God. It honors God. It points to God. It has to do with a special relationship with God, a special fellowship with God. That's why it has such a validity and it always will. And that's why they will always remain the keeping of a Sabbath to the people of God, because the people of God will always carry and have a special relationship with God. It's nice being with you, brethren, on this special day. And I wish all of you Godspeed and safety and peace and great growth as we draw ever closer and closer to the return of Jesus Christ to this planet.