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Beginners Care Package

Holy Sabbath Series

Holy Sabbath #3

Fred R. Coulter

This is number three in a series of studies on the Sabbath, from the Bible. Now as we approach this, let’s understand something that’s very, very important in everything that we do. Let’s first of all begin by going to Hebrews 11:6, because this is a fundamental thing that has to be in our lives. We have to believe God. We have to believe His Word. We have to believe that He is. And that’s what it says here in Hebrews 11:6, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him [God];…" And that’s why so many people, when they get into religious things, or they get into churches, it soon devolves down into where God is way off somewhere. Because they are not focusing on God, and putting that as the central thing in their lives and what they need to do.

"It’s impossible to please Him…" Now let’s understand something: we can please God. You have to please God. Most people want to please other people, or please men. You have to please God; and sometimes that’s contrary to pleasing men. Because in certain cases men have their own ideas and things that they want to do, so it’s almost impossible to please them. But with faith it is possible to please God. Notice: "…for he that cometh [is coming] to God…" And this is what it is. You are coming to God. "…Must believe [and that means you are under obligation to believe] that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him." So it’s the same way concerning the Sabbath and Sunday question. You have to believe what God has said; you have to believe God; and you have to believe in Jesus Christ. And this time we are going to see that the Sabbath, yes, is for the New Covenant. And we are going to see some astounding admissions concerning Sunday, concerning Sabbath by Catholics, by Protestants. And we are going to learn, who changed the day from Sabbath to Sunday?

Now let’s just review: Number one, God is the one Who created the Sabbath. And we saw there in John 1 that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and that there was not anything made that was made that He didn’t create it. So the Sabbath day, being a created time, was created by the one Who became Jesus Christ. That’s why, as we’ll see a little later on, He is Lord of the Sabbath.

Number two, the fourth commandment says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days may work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest unto the Lord, holy unto the Lord. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and all that in them is. Therefore you shall keep the Sabbath day" (Exodus 20:8-11, paraphrased). Number three, we found that it was a perpetual covenant. Not just given to the Jews. And there is nowhere in the Bible where it says, "the Jew’s Sabbath," by the way, that the Sabbath is the Jews. God says very clearly that the Sabbath is His feast. And being His feast, He’s the one Who owns it. And owning it, then, He is the one Who has rule and jurisdiction and control over it. And so God is the one Who set this as a perpetual covenant, and that He is Lawgiver.

And we also saw in the first tape how that when we begin judging God, and picking and choosing which commandments we will or will not choose, then what we are doing, we are judging God. And when you judge God you set yourself up for a real difficult situation between you and God, because if you judge Him, you are not with Him. If you judge Him, you don’t believe Him. If you judge Him and His laws, you are saying that your opinion is greater than God’s. Now, God is the one Who is Creator, and perfect. So therefore, human opinion has no standing. People can believe anything they want to do, but they are not going to change God, and they are not going to change the Sabbath, and they are not going to make God go away just because they may have a point of view or two.

Number four, we saw how that Abraham, "…Obeyed My voice, kept My charge, My statutes, My judgments, My commandments, and My laws…" (Genesis 26:5, paraphrased), and that included the Sabbath day.

Number five, we saw in Ezekiel 20 how that it was that the children of Israel, and their children, rejected the Sabbaths of God. And we saw very clearly that these were given to the twelve tribes of Israel, not just to the Jews; and that this thing became sin and rebellion. Now let’s look at another scripture that is true, which is this: "Jesus Christ the same yesterday [when He was Creator God in the Old Testament], today [that was when Paul was writing], and forever" (Hebrews 13:8, paraphrased). And there is another scripture which says that God changes not. And there is another scripture which says that there is no shadow of variableness with God. All of these things tell us that the Ten Commandments and the Sabbath day are still all binding upon all human-kind.

Now let’s go to the New Testament, and then we’ll go back and see some prophecies of the New Testament in the Old Testament. Let’s come to Mark 2. We’ve covered this a couple of times before, but let’s be sure and understand very clearly what this is telling us. This is a very profound, and moving, and dogmatic statement by Jesus Christ. Now let’s come to verse 27. "And He said unto them, The sabbath was made for man,…" Now the Greek can mean there, "on account of man." In other words, because man was created, God made the Sabbath for man; for his benefit, for his rest, for fellowship with God. As we’ve covered, what a tremendous Sabbath that first Sabbath must have been with Adam and Eve and God, right after they were created. And God is talking with them and teaching them on that Sabbath. And that’s what God wants to do with us today, through His Spirit, through His Word, through His ministers, so that we can all fellowship together with God. Because our fellowship begins with God.

So, "The Sabbath was made for man…" A blessing. A benefit. A wonderful thing from God. "…And not man for the sabbath:…" And this means that no man has the authority or the right or the prerogative to come and say that, Well, "I don’t like the Sabbath. I’m going to change it to Sunday," or Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday, whatever it may be. Man does not have jurisdiction over the Sabbath. God does. Now notice verse 28. "…Therefore [because of these two statements] the Son of man [Who is Jesus Christ] is Lord also of the sabbath [day]." Now the Sabbath day, the seventh day, is the Lord’s day. It is completely a wrong thing to call Sunday "The Lord’s Day." Unless you want to worship the false lord.

Now you need to understand that there are false Christs, there are false gods. And we are told to have no other gods before us. And if you worship on a day other than God has said, then you have another god before you. Or, you are worshipping God in vain. Or, you are judging God, and saying, "God, I don’t like Your Sabbath. Sunday is more convenient for everyone." And there was even a religious leader who said, "Well, if Jesus came to the earth today, He would worship on Sunday." Well, they’re in for a big surprise. The Creator is not going to change the day in which He would worship God on if He were a man on earth again.

Now let’s come to Isaiah 55, and then we’ll see some scriptures. Now I know there are a lot of people who will say, "Well now, who is he to say this?" Well let’s just look at the scriptures. Let’s back away from putting this as a point of view from a man, or a minister, or a teacher, or a church, or someone who has a doctrinal stance, which by all means must be upheld. Because you see, we all have to agree with the Word of God. And we all have to agree with God. And we are not going to tell God what to do. We are not going to command God what to do. We are not going to take something that God has made and created and set it aside and say, "That’s not worthy of our consideration." Now if we do, then we’re in great trouble with God.

Now let’s pick it up here in Isaiah 55:6. "Seek ye the LORD while He may be found,…" And we’re going to see that keeping the Sabbath and understanding about the Sabbath is a very important part of seeking God. Why is that? Because the Sabbath is an appointed time, a holy convocation, as we saw, which God said you shall keep holy. This is a day that He has appointed that spiritually He will fellowship with His people. And so when you are keeping the Sabbath, you are continually seeking God. Just like we started out in Hebrews 11:6 – the one who is coming to God must believe that He is. And when you believe that He is, then you have to believe that everything He says is right and true and perfect; and that His Word is truth.

So seek Him while He may be found, "…call ye upon Him while He is near: let the wicked forsake his way,…" Now the wicked person is not the one necessarily who is doing overt criminal sins in the society. A wicked person is one who says, "God says…" when God never said. A wicked person is one who says, "Sunday is the Sabbath." Now you might not consider that person a wicked person, because they’re not out doing overt crimes. But those sins are worse sins because those are direct sins against God. And they are teaching lies in the name of God. We’re going to see that. "…And the unrighteous man his thoughts:…" So whatever thoughts you have contrary to the Sabbath day, you better start forsaking them as God has said, "…and let him return unto the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (vs. 6-7).

Now let’s look at Isaiah 56. Answer this question: people say the Sabbath was for the Old Testament, but the Sabbath is not for the New Testament. The Sabbath was for the Jews, but the Sabbath is not for the Gentiles. Well we’ll see. Let’s look at some of these scriptures here concerning the Sabbath in Isaiah 56. Let’s begin right here in verse 1. "Thus saith the LORD, Keep ye judgment, and do justice: for My salvation is near…" And we need to understand, the return of Christ is near. How close it is, we don’t know. In our lifetime if we try and measure it in terms of years, five or ten years to us seems like a long time. But to God it’s just a snap of a finger, or a blink of an eye. Because a day with the Lord is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as a day. This is a prophecy for our day.

"…And My righteousness to be revealed. Blessed is the man that doeth [is doing] this,…" Now whenever you read "-eth" in the King James version of the Bible, that means that it is a present tense participle: "the one who is doing…" So there’s a blessing. There’s a blessing for doing this. "…And the son of man that layeth hold on it;…" That is, grasps it and understands it, and inculcates that into his way of life with God. "…That keepeth the Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth his hand from doing any evil." So there’s a blessing. Most people think that if you keep the seventh day Sabbath you are cursed. But that is not so. You are blessed. Now let’s notice verse 3. "Neither let the son of the stranger [who is a Gentile], that hath joined himself to the LORD, speak, saying, The LORD hath utterly separated me from His people:..."

Now today, the Church of God are the people of God. And we’ll see that. And there remains Sabbath keeping for the Church of God, as we will see. Sabbath keeping for the people of God. So they are not separated. "...Neither let the eunuch say, Behold, I am a dry tree. For thus saith the LORD unto the eunuchs that keep My sabbaths,..." Now this is God speaking. This is not an opinion of man. This is not a doctrine of a church. This is the teaching of God from His very mouth. And remember that Abraham "…obeyed My voice, kept My charge, My statutes, My commandments, and My laws." So it’s the same thing here.

"...That keep My sabbaths and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant;..." This is the New Covenant. This is a prophecy of the New Covenant. And a prophecy, then, that the New Covenant church of God, would be keeping the Sabbath. So as you look around in the churches in the world and you see this church, and that church, and the other church, if they are keeping Sunday you can immediately eliminate them as having nothing to do with the truth of God. Now verse 5, "...Even unto them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place [that is, to be in New Jerusalem] and a name better than of sons and daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off." Now what does that mean? That means that they will receive eternal life. Why? Because to receive eternal life requires Sabbath-keeping, taking hold of the covenant of God. That’s why. An everlasting name. Now you go back to Revelation 3, and Jesus says, "I’m going to give you a new name." Jesus says, "I’m going to give you the name of My Father, and the name of the city of Jerusalem, New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, and My new name." So this is New Testament doctrine right here, prophesied by Isaiah some almost 800 years before the New Covenant was enacted.

Now notice verse 6. "Also the sons of the stranger, that join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, and to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants, every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it, and taketh hold of My covenant;..." Now that’s the New Covenant. There can be no doubt, no doubt from the Scriptures that Sabbath-keeping for the New Testament is a requirement from God. Now we will prove that even more strongly as we go on. "... Even them will I bring to My holy mountain, [which then is new Jerusalem], and make them joyful in My house of prayer:…" So that’s quite a thing. "…Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted upon Mine altar; for Mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people" (vs. 6-7). And that’s why during the Passover as we find recorded in John 2, that Jesus went to the temple and cast out the money changers, and got rid of all of them who were merchandising the people and shortchanging them, and cast them out and said, "This shall be called a house of prayer for all people."

Now let’s come to Isaiah 58. Now let’s see another one concerning the Sabbath, which is a prophecy. Verse 13, "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath,..." Now that means don’t be walking on it by doing your own thing. "...From doing thy [own] pleasure on My holy day;..." God calls it His holy day. Does any man have any right to declare that the Sabbath is not holy? Does any man have a greater authority than God, Who’s Creator, to say that the Sabbath is not holy? Of course not. "... From doing thy pleasure on My holy day; and call the sabbath a delight [it’s not a burden], the holy of the LORD [because God made it holy], honorable; and shalt honour Him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:..." Because it is a day to study God’s Word, to speak of God’s way; to speak of His thing; to understand His way. Not talking about your business and your pleasures. Not out boating, and golfing, and hiking, and swimming. Not going to football games, and all of this thing that happens on Saturday.

Now you see, Satan has tied up this world in such a way that he has put so many important events on Saturday that when people sit down and in a carnal way to choose what they want, whether God, or whether their carnal way, all the carnal ways are appealing. They have all the best sales on Saturday. They have all the sports on Saturday. Well you see, that is the lust of the world and the pride of life. That’s not of God. Here’s what is of God: "…Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD;..." So you never will delight yourself in God until you start keeping the Sabbath. "...And I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth,..." Now this is talking about the heritage of the New Covenant, being the very sons and daughters of God. "...And feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it" (vs. 13). So whenever God speaks something, know for sure that it’s going to happen.

Now let’s come to the New Testament. Let’s cover just a couple of other things here that we need to understand, that we need to put together and analyze. Let’s come to Matthew 5, and let’s really zero in on this so that we understand what Christ is saying. And this is something that is so profound, because most people think that under the New Testament, "You don’t have to keep any laws. Christ did away with the old laws." Well we will see from Christ’s own mouth that, no, He did not. Now let’s come here to Matthew 5:17. "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets:..." Now what did we just read in Isaiah? We read a prophecy of New Covenant Sabbath keeping, it didn’t we? Yes we did. "...I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Now what Jesus fulfilled were all the prophecies concerning Himself, and then His sacrifice, being our Passover, superseded all the animal sacrifices and all the temple ritual that was at the temple. Those are what He fulfilled. Jesus fulfilled nothing for you. You, with God’s Spirit, have to fulfill it. And we will see that in just a bit.

"...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 all be fulfilled." So the only things that have been fulfilled are the animal sacrifices, and all the prophecies concerning Christ’s first coming. All the prophecies concerning His second coming have yet to be fulfilled. All the laws of God are still binding and in effect. No question about it. And the Sabbath is the key.

Now let’s continue on. Verse 19, "Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven:..." Now what is this telling us? Which commandment do people consider the least? Well the main one they consider the least is the fourth commandment about remembering to keep the Sabbath. The next one they consider the least one is not making any graven image of any kind and bowing down to worship it. And so the Catholic Church, when they have their summary of the Ten Commandments, completely eliminates the second one concerning idols. But in their own Bible, in the Douay version of the Bible, you go to Exodus 20 and the second commandment is still there as a testimony against the Catholic Church, that they have no right to change the commandment of God and bring people into abominable idolatry. And we’re going to see that they are the ones who have forced Sunday-keeping.

So if they teach the least commandment they shall be called least. Now notice, "...But whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." And that’s what’s so profound. Most people don’t go by what the Scriptures say. They read it and then they give their opinion, and then their opinion becomes scripture. Well that’s not what Jesus said.

Now let’s come to Matthew 22, because here is another profound scripture that is given by Jesus, which is also for our understanding. Now let’s understand this. How many people have said, "Well, I have love in my heart, and all I’d need to do is just love God." Can you love God and reject His commandments? Can you turn your back on the commandments of God, reject the Sabbath, keep Sunday - and we might as well put in here, because there are other days too - Christmas, Easter, and all of those things, and say that you love God, when none of those things are found in the Bible? What is the love of God? We’re going to read some scriptures here in Matthew, and then we will go to the epistle of 1 John.

Matthew 22:37, "Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind." So the way of God is a full-time way of life. It’s not something you just do once a week on the Sabbath, but it’s something, even while you’re working, you work according to the commandments of God with the kind of work ethic that comes out of the commandments of God. When you help and you serve and all those things, it’s all according to the commandments of God. Because God is the one Who has given you life. God is the one Who has given you breath. God is the one Who has given you your soul and your heart and your mind. And now they know that there’s a connection between the heart and the mind, that many of the cells in the heart are actually the same kind of neuro-cells that are in the mind. So this is why God requires it. He says, "This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." Now notice verse 40. This is a profound verse. Because if you love God, then you are going to keep His commandments because, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matt. 22:37-40).

Now God means what He says. Jesus was asked by a man, "What should I do to enter into life?" And He says, "Keep the commandments." And that was in a Sabbath-keeping society. And he said, "I’ve done them from my youth up." And Jesus said, "Then go sell all that you have and come and follow Me." And the rich man went away grieved, for he had many, many possessions (Matthew 19:16-23, paraphrased). See, he put his carnal life ahead of serving Christ. And that’s what many people do.

Now let’s come to 1 John 5, and let’s begin in verse 2. "By this we know..." Now if you want a special study on the epistle of 1 John, you write in for the study book that we have, The Seven General Epistles, and ask for the tapes on 1 John. We go through every verse, verse by verse, and study it and really go through it, and it will help you to understand it. Now here, verse 2, "By this we know [God wants us to know] that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments: and His commandments are not grievous" (1 John 5:2-3). So if you love God, what are you going to do? You’re going to keep His commandments.

Come back here to chapter 2, and let’s see some other things. Verse 3; again, and the whole epistle of 1 John tells us there are 47 things that we are to know as Christians. Verse 3, "And hereby we do know that we know Him,..." So this is not just some sort of a flippant little thought in our mind. This is something that we know, that we’ve proved, that we understand, that we live by, that it is a concrete part of our lives. This is how you know if you know Him: "...if we keep His commandments." And what is one of the major commandments of His? Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Now notice, "He that saith, I know Him,..." And how many Sunday-keepers say, "Know the Lord! Know the Lord! Know the Lord!" And yet every week they’re transgressing the Sabbath, aren’t they? And every week they’re setting themselves up as greater than God, because they say, "Our Sunday is our holy day." Notice what God says: "He that saith, I know Him, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:3-4). Now that’s pretty profound. Because there are probably some very nice, sincere Sunday-keeping and teaching ministers that you would think, "My, how can they be a liar?" Well they are liars if they tell you that Sunday is the Lord’s day. That is a blatant, absolute lie. We’ll see that a little later.

Notice verse 5: "But whoso keepeth [is keeping] His word,..." And what did Jesus say? "Therefore, the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath day." Are you keeping that word? "...In him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in Him. He that saith he abideth in Him [that is, dwelling in God] ought himself also so to walk,..." (vs. 5-6). And "ought" means, you are under obligation to walk as Jesus walked. Did Jesus keep Sunday? No. Did He teach the seventh day Sabbath? Yes. Are you walking that way? Are you keeping the words of Christ? Let’s continue.

Let’s come now to the gospel of John, John 14. And here’s some profound and simple statements upon which the whole of the Word of God revolves, upon the whole relationship that you have with Christ - revolves around this, John 14:15. "If ye love Me, keep My commandments." Are you keeping the commandments of God? Are you keeping the Sabbath day of God? And remember James said, that if you offend in one of the commandments you have broken all of them (James 2:10, paraphrased). So maybe you’re not a murderer; maybe you’re not committing adultery; maybe you’re not lying and stealing. But if you’re not keeping [the] Sabbath you’re lying to yourself, if you believe in Sunday. And then you are stealing time from God, because that’s His time. And you are having another god before you, because that’s not what God said. And you are committing idolatry, because you think your thoughts are better than God’s. And you are taking the name of God in vain because you have rejected His Sabbath day where He says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."

So you see, if you love Him you will keep His commandments. And this has the force that, "you will keep the commandments, namely Mine," as Jesus said. And as Creator, He is the one Who gives the commandments, correct? Yes. Now let’s come down here to verse 21. "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them,..." Again, the "-eth" in the King James means, "is keeping," present tense participle, on-going, always keeping. Are you keeping the commandments of God? Are you keeping the Sabbath of God? "...He it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him." And Judas, not Iscariot wondered, "Well now how are you going to do that, Lord? How are You going to manifest Yourself to us and not to the world?" The manifestation comes through the commandments. He gives the answer, verse 23: "Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him,..." (John 14:21-23).

What are some of the words of Jesus? "Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the Sabbath." Do you keep His words? If you’re not, don’t think that the Father is loving you, because He is not. So you have to keep the words of the Father. And the Father will love him if you keep Jesus’ word, "...and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My sayings:..." Now we’re down to any saying of Jesus. It’s not a matter of just the Ten Commandments alone. It’s not a matter of the New Testament, or parts of it, or the Old Testament, or parts of it. It is His sayings. And this book, Old Testament and New Testament, contain the sayings of God and of Christ, and the inspired writings of the prophets and the apostles. Are you living by every Word of God?

Now notice. And He says, "...And the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s..." (vs. 24). So in reality, if you reject the Sabbath, not only are you rejecting Christ, but you’re rejecting the Father. And you cannot say that you love the Lord, because you’re not keeping His commandments. Now that becomes very profound, very clear. You need to realize that.

Now let’s go back and see what Jesus did. Let’s go to Luke 4:16. Jesus kept the Sabbath. A lot of people say, "Well, He went into the synagogue because the Jews were keeping the Sabbath, and so they met on the Sabbath..." Listen - you need to understand that in the time of Jesus Christ about 1 in 3,000 attended synagogue. So He didn’t go there just because the Jews were there. He went there because it was a place of assembly on the Sabbath. And we will see this right here.

Verse 16, "And He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up: and, as His custom was,..." So all during His life up to that point, "...He went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto Him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And He closed the book, and He gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on Him. And He began to say unto them, This day [the Sabbath day] is this scripture fulfilled in your ears." Jesus preached on the Sabbath and He preached the Sabbath. "And all bare Him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth" (Luke 4:16-22). And so they didn’t believe Him. Just like today. People do not believe God when He says, "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."

Now let’s come to verse 31. After…what they did, they thought Christ was very presumptuous, and they said, "We’re going to kill Him." So they took Him out to throw Him over a brow of the hill. So He came down, verse 31, "…to Capernaum, a city of Galilee, and taught them on the sabbath days." That means every Sabbath, every Sabbath, every Sabbath, every Sabbath. "And they were astonished at His doctrine: for His word was with power." And God’s Word is with power. And Christ spoke with power. And then we find that He cast out a demon, right there in the synagogue, right on the Sabbath. "And in the synagogue there was a man, which had a spirit of an unclean devil [demon], and cried out with a loud voice, Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with Thee, Thou Jesus of Nazareth? Art thou come to destroy us? I know Thee who Thou art; the Holy One of God. And Jesus rebuked him, saying, Hold thy peace, and come out of him. And when the devil had thrown him in the [ground] midst, he came out of him, and hurt him not. And they were all amazed, and spake among themselves, saying, What a word is this! For with authority and power He commandeth the unclean spirits, and they come out" (vs. 31-36).

Now let’s come to Mark 3, and let’s see what Jesus did on the Sabbath. You can read through the Gospel accounts and see what Jesus did on the Sabbaths. Jesus healed on the Sabbath, He preached on the Sabbath. He did all of these things on the Sabbath day to set an example for us, that we should follow in His steps. Now let’s pick it up here in Mark 3:1. Right after, notice – that’s right after the verse we read in chapter 2:28, that He is saying that He is Lord of the Sabbath. He didn’t come and say… Now, if God was going to change the Sabbath to Sunday, He would have to have Jesus say, like He did of the commandments there in Matthew 5, 6, and 7: "You have heard it said of old time, ‘Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.’ But I say to you, that you are going to keep the first day of the week." You don’t find that anywhere, do you?

He said He’s Lord of the Sabbath. Look what He did on the Sabbath, right after saying that. Verse 1, "And He entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. And they watched Him, whether He would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse Him. And He saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. And He saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace." So this is showing, yes, you should do good on the Sabbath. What did Jesus do? "And when He had looked round about on them with anger,…" He was really righteously indignant for their hard hearts. "…[And] being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, He saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other." And rather than rejoicing in the goodness and grace of God, and the power and the healing that God gave, notice what the Pharisees did, verse 6: "And the Pharisees went forth, and straightway took counsel with the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him" (Mark 3:1-6).

Now you see, they weren’t concerned with their wrong attitude and their Sabbath-breaking by having hatred and murder in their hearts. They were not loving God. They were there on the Sabbath, but they weren’t loving God. And they weren’t acknowledging Christ as the Savior. They weren’t acknowledging Him as sent from God. So that’s really something. So Jesus withdrew, and you have the rest of the story there. Everywhere you go, Jesus healed on the Sabbath, cast out demons, and He preached on the Sabbath; setting an example of what should be done, because the Sabbath is holy unto the Lord. And He is the Lord of the Sabbath day.

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