A Short Bible Study on the Sabbath day

Transcription

1 A Short Bible Study on the Sabbath day Introduction: How did Sunday keeping begin? Bible students will not be able to find evidence in the New Testament that Sunday was considered to be a holy day by either Jesus Christ or the Apostles or any of the NT writers. In fact, no reputable history or encyclopedia has ever produced evidence that Sunday was kept by Christians in the First Century after Christ was born. But the Apostle Paul puts the beginning of a departure from the truth after his death, Acts 20: And the Prophet Daniel predicted the appearance of a power among the divisions of the Roman empire who would "think to change times and law" (Dan. 7:25). It was at this time, after the 1st century, that Sunday keeping among other things, was being promoted in the Christian church in an ecumenical move to merge Mithraistic paganism with Christianity. After the Emperor Constantine decided to favor Christianity, he made the first Sunday law on record in 321 AD, to be followed by many man made enactments ever since. 1. Who gave the law and does it have any authority over me? Isaiah 33:22. "The Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king." Isaiah 45:12. "I have made the earth and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded." Ezekiel 18:4. "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die." Note: God made the law; He has authority to do as the Creator and Sustainer of man. A soul is a complete, flesh and blood human being who is (in the biblical sense) made up of his body (the soul) and his breath. At death he rests in his grave until resurrection day. - However, the death we die because of old age or for other reasons is not the final wage of sin, the second death from which there is no resurrection is the actual, permanent wage of sin. Therefore it is said, those who are born twice die once, and those who are born once die twice. Being `born' here means, first, our natural birth and, second, our re-birth because of conversion to Christ. 2. Why is the law important? " Romans 6:23. "For the wages of sin is death." (Eze. 18:4) 1.John 3:4. "Sin is the transgression of the law." Romans 3:23. "For all have sinned." Note: Since we are all sinners, we are all condemned to death by the law. 3. How do we escape the death penalty imposed by the law? " John 3: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; 1

2 but that the world through him might be saved." 1.John 1:7. "And the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." John 3:7. "Ye must be born again." Note: Faith comes by reading or hearing and believing the Word of God. 4. How can I be born again? Acts 16:31. "And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house." 1.John 1:9. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Acts 3:19. "Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out." Notes: Believe Christ can save you, confess your sins and rebellion, repent, acknowledge the wrong you have done asking for forgiveness. Christ will forgive and restore you to His image. 5. What part does the law play in our salvation? Romans 3:20. "For by the law is the knowledge of sin." Psalms 19:7. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." Note: As a mirror reveals the dirt on someone's face but cannot remove it, so the law of God reveals sin but cannot rid us of it. The law shows the problem and sends us to Christ for cleansing. 6. Can the law save us? _ Romans 3:20. "Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight." Ephesians 2:8-9. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast." Note: The Apostle Paul teaches that the law is good for showing us our sin and thus our need for Christ but that it cannot save us; for that we need the grace of God. Those who have received forgiveness and pardon for their sins are under grace; they are no longer under the death penalty demanded by the law. 7. Does living under the grace through faith mean we do not need to keep the law anymore? Romans 6:15. "What then? shall we sin, because we are not 2

3 _ under the law, but under grace? God forbid." Romans 3:31. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law." Note: Being under grace does not mean that we are now free to break the law; it means that the law is written in our hearts and we are now in harmony with it and want to obey it. 8. What enables a person to keep the commandments? John 3:5-6. "Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit." 1 Corinthians 3:16. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the spirit of God dwelleth in you." Galatians 5:16. "This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh." Romans 8:7, "The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." Galatians 5: " But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance." 1 John 5:12. "He that has the Son has life; and he that has not the Son of God has not life." John 15:4. "Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine: no more can ye, except ye abide in me." Note: When a person is born again, Jesus, through the Holy Spirit, dwells in that person and brings him or her into harmony with God's law. John 14:15. "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Note: We do not keep the law to be saved, we keep it because we are 3

4 saved. 9. Did Jesus keep the law? _ John 15:10. "I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love." 1 Peter 2: "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin." Luke 4:16. "As his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day." Note: A test of loyalty. Exodus 31:17; Deut. 26:18; John 14:21."God is calling upon all to behold the Lamb of God, which takes away the sin of the world. Christ lifts the guilt of sin from the sinner, standing Himself under the condemnation of the Lawgiver. He came to this world to live the law in humanity, that Satan's charge that man can not keep the law might be demonstrated as false. He kept the law in humanity, and when He was accused falsely by the Pharisees, He turned to them, asking with a voice of authority and power, "Which of you convinceth Me of sin?" (John 8:46) He came to reveal to the heavenly universe, to the worlds unfallen, and to sinful men, that every provision has been made by God in behalf of humanity, and that through the imputed righteousness of Christ, all who receive Him by faith can show their loyalty by keeping the law. As the repenting sinner lays hold of Christ as His personal Saviour, he is made a partaker of the divine nature." (Signs of the Times, April 7, 1898 par. 8) 10. Are the Ten Commandments binding for New Testament Christians? Jesus says: Matthew 5: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till be fulfilled." Matthew 19:17. "If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." John 14:15. "If ye love me, keep my commandments." Note: The principles embodied in the Ten Commandments are a part of God's character of love. These laws show us how to come into harmony with God's nature. When they are presented, the rebellious heart says, "How can I get out of keeping them?" The heart that loves God wants to keep them and come into unity and harmony with God. 11. How does the born-again Christian relate to the law? Romans 3:31. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we established the law." John 15:10. "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in 4

5 my love." 1 John 2:3-4. "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that says, I know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him." Psalm 40:8. "I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." Note: God's people are called to proclaim the Sabbath truth and many will, with trembling hands, search the Bible for proof of Sunday sacredness. Unable to find such, they are brought to a decision. How will you decide? 12. What role does the law have under the new covenant? _ Hebrews 8:10. "For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts." Notes: Those under the New Covenant will know and love God's law. 13. The fourth commandment says, "Remember the Sabbath." Which day of the week is the Sabbath? Genesis 2:3. " And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work." Exodus 20:9-10. "Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God." John 19:31. "The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day,... besought Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away." Matthew 28:1. "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." Note: Saturday is the Sabbath, the seventh day of the week: Sunday is the first day of the week. 14. Can God's law be changed? Luke 16:17. "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Psalm 89:34. "My covenant will I not break, nor alter the thing that is 5

6 gone out of my lips." Malachi 3:6. "For I am the Lord, I change not." Note: The Sabbath is a powerful testimony to the sovereignty of God. Only He can create, and only He can make something holy. This is why Adventists object so strongly to the change from Sabbath to Sunday as the Christian day of rest and worship. Without a clear divine mandate, such a development is nothing less than an affront to God. 15. How long will the law of God endure? Psalms 111:7-8. "All his commandments are sure. They stand fast for ever and ever." Revelation 12:17. "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." Revelation 14:12. "Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus." Note: These two texts from Revelation refer to the end time saints. Revelation 22:14. "Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Isaiah 66:23. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says the Lord." How will people be saved, those who never knew these truths? - The Bible indicates that there will be many who never heard of Jesus or knew about the Sabbabth who will be in heaven because they lived up to all the light they had. They cherished heaven's principles. and the blood of Christ covered them. After they get to heaven they learn that they are there because Christ died for them - as it is related to us in Zechariah 13:6: "And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends." That means some of the redeemed never knew that Christ died for them. Some never knew of the seventh day Sabbath, yet they will be saved for the same reason. Many will keep the Sabbath for the first time in heaven, Isa. 66:22,23; people like John Huss, Martin Luther, John Calvin, Charles Wesly and the godly William Miller. - But those who learn of these truths here and willfully reject and disobey it because they trust in being good church members somewhere will experience this - "He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" 1.John 2:4; Rev. 21:8. The underlying principle is this, "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." James 4:17. God looks at our heart. Note: The commandments will endure into all eternity. Love for God and 6

7 love for others are part of what makes heaven such a delightful place. The End of the Bible Study on some Aspects of Sabbath day keeping 7