Now tonight I'm going to complete my sermon from this morning.
I didn't even get halfway through my sermon this morning, and I had so much material that
I wanted to preach on, I didn't want to rush through it, so I'm going to finish my sermon
from this morning.
So let me just do a very quick review about what we talked about this morning, and then
I'm going to get into the new material of tonight's sermon, but I preached this morning
about this false doctrine that I've seen just spreading like wildfire, and it's becoming
a very prevalent teaching amongst Baptists and just amongst Christians in general.
This movement of a Judaizing movement or forcing us to go back into a keeping of the Jewish
customs and the Mosaic law or telling us to call Jesus Yeshua and the wearing of Jewish
outfits and just this whole thing of trying to get us to keep the Sabbath day and keep
these feast days, blow a trumpet on a new moon, you know, things that do not apply to
us in the New Testament.
And just to give you a quick review, this morning we talked about the facts and I proved
to you from the Bible that this thing of calling Jesus Yeshua is a fraud.
It's not based in reality, it's not based on anything that's biblical at all, and that
it's the name of Jesus that's the name above every name to which every knee should bow.
We also went through the book of Hebrews this morning showing that the New Testament is
repeatedly called the better testament and the better covenant established upon better
promises.
And that's simply because the Old Testament dealt specifically with a group of people,
the nation of Israel.
The Bible makes it clear, they failed.
It wasn't that there was any flaw in the Old Testament, it was that they did not continue
in the covenant that God gave them and because of that the kingdom of God was taken from
them and given to a nation bringing forth the fruit thereof.
We talked about the fact that this calling of people by rabbi is something that the Bible
specifically tells us is sinful and wrong and we talked about several other things.
But I want to start out tonight by talking about the Sabbath day because this is another
thing that I'm constantly hearing these days is Christians being told that we must observe
the Sabbath day in the New Testament.
Now when I was a kid it was just the seventh day Adventist that I even heard of, but nowadays
it seems like more and more people are getting sucked into this and it's a false doctrine
and I'm going to prove that to you.
Let's start out, keep your finger there in Hebrews 4, but let's flip over to Colossians
2 quickly and we'll just look at this once again in Colossians 2, then we'll get into
the material in Hebrews 4 and I'm going to explain it to you.
But look at Colossians chapter 2 and in Colossians chapter 2 we find a very important passage
about some of the differences between New Testament and Old Testament, but look at verse
14.
It says, "...blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was
contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross, and having spoiled
principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of an holy day, or
of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come, but
the body is of Christ."
So here we see that because many of the ordinances that were part of the Old Covenant were blotted
out, taken out of the way, or done away in Christ, therefore we should not let anyone
judge us in regard to meats, drinks, and he also says there, holidays, or of the Sabbath
days.
So here it's telling us that the Sabbath day was one of those ordinances that was blotted
out, that was done away in Christ, that was a shadow of things to come.
So what did the Sabbath represent?
What did the Sabbath signify?
Go back if you would to John chapter number 5, John chapter 5, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John.
Because those that teach us today that we as Christians of the New Testament must observe
the Sabbath will often tell us Jesus kept the Sabbath, and we need to keep the Sabbath
too.
Or they'll tell us that Yeshua kept the Sabbath or whatever, but they'll tell us Jesus kept
the Sabbath.
Well that is simply not true.
Jesus did not keep the Sabbath, and the Bible explicitly tells us that in John chapter 5.
Now first of all there were many things that Jesus did that were part of the Old Covenant
or Old Testament.
Because of the fact that the Bible says that the New Testament began when Jesus Christ's
blood was shed on the cross.
Because the Bible says a testament is a force after men are dead, otherwise it is of no
strength at all while the testator liveth.
Whereupon neither the first covenant was dedicated without blood, and it talks about the fact
that the blood of animals was used to sanctify the first testament, and that the blood of
Christ sanctified the second testament, the New Testament, the better testament.
So what we see is that when Jesus Christ lived on this earth, that was still the Old Covenant,
that was the Old Testament.
Until he died on the cross, that is where the New Testament came into force, according
to the book of Hebrews.
But that being said, Jesus did not keep the Sabbath, and let me show you where it says
that in the Bible.
John 5.15, the man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus which had made him whole.
Because they were upset that he had healed this man on the Sabbath.
Look at verse 16, and therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because
he had done these things on the Sabbath day.
Look at verse 17, but Jesus answered them, my father worketh hitherto and I work.
So is Jesus working on the Sabbath day here?
And then look at the next verse, therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him because
he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his father, making himself
equal with God.
Now, an important principle of Bible interpretation is that when the narrator of the Bible is
speaking, it's always accurate.
I mean when the Bible, and look, this isn't just the Pharisees saying that he broke the
Sabbath, this is the narrator of the Bible telling us that he broke the Sabbath, that
he said that God was his father, and that he made himself equal with God.
And by the way, this is a great scripture on the fact that Jesus is equal with God.
It says here he made himself equal with God, and it says here that he broke the Sabbath.
Now you say, well that means that Jesus sinned.
Absolutely not.
Jesus Christ was without sin.
The Bible says he who knew no sin became sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him.
The Bible says he was tempted at all points, like as we are, yet without sin.
Well you say, well why was it not a sin for Jesus to work on the Sabbath, even during
the Old Covenant?
Because look, working on the Sabbath was a major sin in the Old Testament.
It was a major sin, not a minor sin, it was a big deal.
But yet here Jesus says, well I work on the Sabbath.
My father worketh hitherto and I work also, and it says by doing so he'd broken the Sabbath,
meaning he had not rested on the Sabbath.
Go to Hebrews 4 and I'll explain to you why.
Because a simple understanding of what the Sabbath means and what it represents helps
us to understand why Jesus was right to work on the Sabbath, but why everyone else was
not supposed to work on the Sabbath under the Old Testament.
Now one thing I like to point out to people is that all throughout the Old Testament when
we're looking at things that came after Moses, there's a lot of talk about keeping the Sabbath,
and it's a big deal.
But then in the New Testament we never have one time in the entire New Testament, not
one time where God tells us to keep the Sabbath, not once.
And contrary wise, we have two places, Colossians 2 that we just looked at, and Romans 14 that
tell us not to worry about it.
So if we have two places saying hey, that was Old Covenant, that's done away in Christ,
that's blotted out, and nothing telling us to keep it, then you know what, how in the
world can you believe that this is something that we're supposed to be doing in the New
Testament?
When he flat out said, he blotted out those ordinances, they were done away in Christ.
And another thing that's important to understand is that there's no commandment that was given
to observe the Sabbath until Moses.
You know in the days of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, there's no talk of keeping the Sabbath.
The Sabbath was part of the Mosaic law, it was one of the carnal ordinances that was
imposed on them for a time.
It was symbolic of something that was fulfilled in Christ.
Jesus did not come to destroy the law, he came to fulfill the law, and it was fulfilled
in Christ, and Hebrews chapter 4 explains to us how the Sabbath was fulfilled, and if
you understand this, it makes perfect sense why Jesus worked on the Sabbath.
And that's why they wanted to kill him, because he's working on the Sabbath.
Now look at Hebrews 4 verse 3.
It says, for we which have believed do enter into rest.
And by the way, this chapter, I mean almost every verse of this chapter is about rest,
and it specifically talks about the Sabbath day.
He says, for we which have believed do enter into rest.
As he said, as I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest, although the
works were finished from the foundation of the world, for he spake in a certain place
of the seventh day on this wise, and God did rest the seventh day from all his works, and
in this place again, if they shall enter into my rest.
Seeing therefore it remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to whom it was first
preached enter not in because of unbelief, again he limiteth a certain day, saying in
David, today after so long a time, as it is said, today if you will hear his voice, harden
not your hearts.
So what have we seen so far?
The Bible first of all told us that we which have believed in Christ have entered into
rest.
Then he talks about people not entering into rest, and he says they did not enter into
rest because of their unbelief.
And then it says in verse number 8, for if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not
afterward have spoken of another day, there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of
God.
Watch verse 10.
For he that has entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works as God
did from his.
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief.
Over and over again in this passage, if you believe, you've entered into rest.
Those who are in unbelief have not entered into rest.
He repeated that basically four times, okay?
And he's saying here what it means to enter into rest is when you've ceased from your
own works as God did from his, because he said when God created this world, God spent
six days creating the earth, and he rested the seventh day.
And the Bible's saying when he rested the seventh day, he ceased from his works.
And the Bible compares that to being saved.
He says when you've believed on Christ, you've entered into rest because you've ceased from
your own works as God did from his.
That is what the Sabbath represents.
Now look if you would at Hebrews chapter number 6.
I didn't have this in my notes, but it just kind of popped into my mind.
Over in Hebrews 6 verse 1 it says, Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of
Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead
works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms and on and on.
I like what Brother Garrett said in a sermon that he preached in the preaching class.
He said, you know, faith, he said, dead faith is faith without works.
Dead works is works without faith.
And here when he says dead works, these are people that are not saved, right?
But they're doing works.
And the Bible says that the beginning point of salvation is repentance from dead works
and faith toward God.
Because you see, most people that aren't saved but they think they're saved, what are they
trusting?
They're trusting their works.
And the Bible says we can't trust in our works and still be saved.
We have to repent from trusting in our works and we have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
and that's called entering into his rest.
Why?
Because you don't work your way to heaven.
The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves it
is the gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast.
And the Bible says, but to him that worketh not but believeth on him that justifieth the
ungodly.
His faith is counted for righteousness.
So look, you don't work your way to heaven, you rest your way to heaven.
You say, well that sounds great, that sounds great.
Now look, I'm not saying we don't do any work, but you know what?
The work that we do has nothing to do with getting us to heaven.
Because salvation is a Sabbath of rest where we just, God did all the work, we just rest
in him.
And here's the thing, in order to be saved we have to cease from our own works, meaning
that we can't try to work our way in.
We have to give up on that and say, you know what, I can't earn it, I can't work for it,
it's a free gift, I just need to receive it by believing in Jesus Christ.
And look, that's what this is teaching in Hebrews 4.
He says over and over again, if you've believed, you've entered into rest.
If you haven't entered into rest, it's because of your unbelief.
And he says, he that has entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works,
as God did from his.
Let us labor therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief.
Paul's crystal clear here, and he's spending an entire chapter virtually in chapter 4 explaining
to us the significance of the Sabbath.
That is a great picture of resting on what Christ has done, ceasing from our own works,
and just believing in him.
And that Jesus will give us rest.
Not limited to a certain day, he says, but that Jesus Christ will give us rest if we
cease from our own works and trust in him.
When Jesus died on the cross, he spent 3 days and 3 nights dead.
Because the Bible says in Matthew 1240, as Jonas was 3 days and 3 nights in the heart
of the earth, so shall the son of man be 3 days and 3 nights in the whale's belly, so
shall the son of man be 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth.
So Jesus Christ said he would be in the heart of the earth for 3 days and 3 nights.
Now if Jesus Christ had already risen from the dead early the first day of the week when
they went down there to bring the spices and so forth to the tomb, he was already gone.
The stone was already rolled away.
So that means that the 3 days that he spent in the heart of the earth were basically,
just to keep it simple, were basically Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.
Those are basically the 3 days that he was dead.
And then he rose again the third day, which is Sunday.
So if Jesus Christ was dead for those 3 days and 3 nights, and if we think about the fact
that Jesus Christ was slain as the Passover lamb, and he was slain on the 14th day of
the month Abib, and that's a whole other sermon in and of itself, there's plenty of evidence
for that.
The Bible explains that it was the Passover when he was crucified.
So if you think about it then, then that means that that Thursday was the Passover.
And then that Friday was the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which would come on the 15th day of
the month Abib.
And then what was Saturday?
The Sabbath day.
Now look, was anybody supposed to work on the Passover?
No, that was the Sabbath of Rest unto them also.
Was anybody supposed to work on the Feast of Unleavened Bread?
Was anybody supposed to work on the Sabbath?
No.
So therefore, for the 3 days and 3 nights that Jesus Christ was dead, no one was doing
any work.
Or at least they weren't supposed to be doing any work, isn't that correct?
Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and the normal Sabbath.
And then, you know, first day of the week he's risen.
That is a great picture of the fact that while Jesus Christ was purchasing our salvation,
he can do any work.
Because he's showing, look, you just rest, I'm doing this.
You rest for all 3 days.
Because people will say, well he was done when he was on the cross.
No, no, no.
It's the death, burial, and resurrection.
And during that time of the death, the burial, and resurrection, everybody's supposed to
be resting.
And that's a picture of the fact, look, you can't work your way to heaven.
He doesn't need your help.
Jesus paid it all.
And so therefore that is how Jesus fulfilled the Sabbath.
He fulfilled the Passover, he fulfilled the Unleavened Bread when he said, I'm the bread
of life, he was without sin, and he fulfilled the Sabbath day by doing all the works as
we just rested.
Now look, that's why Jesus worked on the Sabbath, he said, well my Father worked on the Sabbath.
Because look, Jesus did all the work for salvation.
We don't do the work for salvation, we rest in him.
That's why it makes sense for Jesus to work on the Sabbath, but us not to, under the old
covenant.
Now another thing, go if you would to Philippians chapter number 3, and then we're going to
go to Galatians.
Go to Philippians chapter 3.
So that right there should explain to you why we don't observe the Sabbath in the New
Testament.
Why don't we observe it?
Well, because God specifically told us in Colossians 2 that it was fulfilled in Christ,
it was blotted out, it was done away, it was something that was a shadow of things to come,
it was a picture.
Hebrews 4 explains to us that our Sabbath is Jesus Christ, and that it is not limited
to a certain day of the week, but that rather we rest in him as our ticket to heaven.
We don't try to work our way in, we've ceased from our own works to get us into heaven.
So we covered that, but another thing that we see is the commandment that New Testament
believers must be circumcised.
So number 1 we saw, you know, the Sabbath day is not for us in the New Testament today.
But another thing that you'll see often taught is they'll say that we as New Testament believers
must circumcise our children and be circumcised.
And again, this is more of the Judaizers, you know, those that are trying to impose
on us things that are done away in Christ, things that had to do with the Old Covenant
that are specifically repealed in the New Testament, okay?
Look if you would at Philippians chapter 3 verse 2, it says, beware of dogs, beware of
evil workers, beware of the concision.
And then he says, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice
in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
So when he says beware of the concision, the word concision there, he's basically using
a derogatory word for circumcision.
He's basically calling it the concision, it means like the chopping off, or the cutting
off.
He's saying look out for these people who basically just want to cut off your flesh.
That's what he's saying when he says beware of the concision, and he says something very
similar in Galatians that is why I'm basing on that, why I believe that's what he meant
by that.
Okay, he says because we are the circumcision, he's basically saying look, you don't need
to be circumcised, because we already are the circumcision if we worship God in the
spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.
Now keep your finger there, flip over to Romans chapter 2, Romans chapter 2 to the left in
your Bible, and compare what we just saw in Philippians 3 with Romans chapter 2 verse
28.
The Bible says, for he is not a Jew which is one outwardly, neither is that circumcision
which is outward in the flesh, but he is a Jew which is one inwardly, and circumcision
is that of the heart in the spirit and not in the letter, whose praise is not of men
but of God.
So here the Bible is saying that the truly circumcised one is the one who is circumcised
in the heart, not in the flesh.
That's why he says in Philippians 3, we, and he's talking to Gentiles, he's talking to
the Philippians, Philippi, Macedonia, these are not Jews, he says we're the circumcision
if we worship God in the spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the
flesh.
Now let me ask you this, are the Jews today rejoicing in Christ Jesus?
They don't believe he's the Messiah.
They are not a Jew, the Bible says.
They might be one outwardly, but the Bible says the real Jew is the one who is a Jew
inwardly, whose circumcision is not in their flesh but in their spirit because they rejoice
in Christ Jesus.
Go to Galatians chapter number 2.
Galatians deals with this over and over again, the subject of circumcision.
We could turn to so many places in the New Testament that tell us that circumcision is
not a New Testament practice for us.
Look at Galatians chapter 2 verse 3 and tell me if there's any doubt about this scripture.
It says, but neither Titus, this is Paul preaching, but neither Titus who was with me, being a
Greek, was compelled to be circumcised.
He's saying look, I did not force Titus to be circumcised.
Now poor Timothy started hanging around with Paul before Paul had figured this out.
So Paul had Timothy circumcised as an adult because he basically, you know, Paul, there
were times when Paul struggled with some of his upbringing as a Pharisee with Gamaliel,
he was kind of hanging on to some of that stuff sometimes.
But when we see Paul writing scripture under the inspiration of God here, he always has
it right.
And he says here, look, Titus was not compelled to be circumcised.
And it says in verse 4, and that because of false brethren, unawares brought in, who came
in privily to spy out our liberty, which we have in Christ Jesus, that they might bring
us into bondage to whom we gave place by subjection, no, not for an hour, that the truth of the
gospel might continue with you.
Here he says, look, there were false brethren creeping in, trying to get Titus to be circumcised,
and he says, we didn't give subjection to him, we wouldn't listen to him, we wouldn't
do it.
Titus was not circumcised, the author of the book, get this now, the recipient of the book
of Titus, one of the pastoral epistles who Paul is writing to, lifting up as a great
man of God, not even just a pastor, but a pastor who was commissioned to start churches
in every city in Crete.
The man who Paul said, I'm trusting you to start churches everywhere in Crete, was not
circumcised.
But we're supposed to believe in the New Testament that we're supposed to circumcise our children
and be circumcised as adult men?
No.
Wrong.
The Bible's clear here.
Now look at chapter 5, and look at verse number 1, Galatians chapter 5 verse number 1, the
Bible reads, stand fast therefore in the liberty where with Christ hath made us free and be
not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Behold I, Paul, say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
Now does Galatians 5 to look like a pretty good verse on telling Christians to be circumcised?
I mean how can you read Galatians 5 to and walk away saying, oh I need to circumcise
my children, I need to go out and get circumcised.
He says, behold I, Paul, say unto you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit
you nothing.
I testify again to every man that is circumcised that he is a debtor to do the whole law.
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law.
You're fallen from grace.
And what he's referring to here is that people were getting circumcised because they believed
that they had to get circumcised to be saved.
That's what these false brethren were teaching that came in in Acts chapter 15.
And they came in and they said, you must be circumcised and keep the law.
And what Paul's saying is, okay, you want to be justified by the law?
You want to be saved by keeping the law?
Well then, okay, forget about grace.
You want to be saved by law?
Okay, keep the whole law.
And the Bible says in James 2 verse 10, he said, for whosoever shall keep the whole law
and yet offend in one point, he's guilty of all.
See it's impossible to keep the whole law.
And Paul says if you want to be saved or justified through keeping of the law, he said, you know
what, if you're going to be circumcised, now you're a debtor to do the whole law.
Now that you're trusting the law to save you, that's what you have to do.
But look, the Bible is never commanding us to be circumcised in the New Testament.
Contrary wise, he's telling us it's of the heart.
Contrary wise, he's saying, Titus, you don't need to be circumcised.
Contrary wise, he's saying here, look, don't go out and get circumcised.
That just shows me that you're not even saved is what he's saying to them.
Now look, obviously I'm sure there are plenty of people in this church that are circumcised
because we live in America and basically in America today, you know, circumcision is
something that's just a part of the American culture through the influence of, you know,
Jewish influence that has basically influenced going back to what, the 1930s, 40s, 50s?
Because everybody before that generation in America was pretty much not circumcised.
I mean before World War II, 90-some percent of Americans were uncircumcised.
Why?
Because the Bible is clear that this is not a New Testament doctrine.
This has nothing to do with being a Christian or believing in Christ.
So that's why 90-some percent of Americans were uncircumcised before World War II.
But because of World War II and the whole thing of the Holocaust and so forth, you know,
a lot of the Jewish doctors and so forth started to basically promote this and say, hey, you
need to be circumcised for health reasons.
Okay?
And really it was just because they just wanted people to be circumcised, I guess, so that,
you know, they wouldn't use that to determine who's a Jew and who's not like they did in
Nazi Germany.
And look, no question, Nazi Germany was a horrible, wicked place.
Adolf Hitler is a wicked man who's burning in hell right now, okay?
And obviously there were many Jews that were killed and so forth, no question about that.
But you know what?
That's not going to make me circumcise my children because of something that happened
in World War II, okay?
That has nothing to do with Bible doctrine.
Now you say, well Pastor Anderson, I just believe that there's a health benefit for
being circumcised and so I'm going to continue to circumcise my children.
Well let's keep reading and see if that holds up with Scripture here.
It says in verse 5, for we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith.
For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which
worketh by love.
So what he's saying there in verse 6 is that basically there is no benefit to being circumcised
and there is no benefit to being uncircumcised.
It says the same thing in chapter 6 verse 15, for in Christ Jesus neither circumcision
availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature.
So I'm not going to walk away from reading the Bible and say, well you know what, I'm
just going to be circumcised just in case.
You know, or I'm going to circumcise my children just in case, okay?
Because of the fact that it's not something that avails anything.
God's saying there's no benefit to it, there's no reason to do it.
And so therefore we don't believe in doing it, okay?
He says in verse 7 of chapter 5, back where we were, he said, ye did run well, who did
hinder you that ye should not obey the truth?
This persuasion cometh not of him that calleth you.
This teaching that you need to be circumcised, he's saying.
Now go to chapter 6 and he goes into a little more detail about it.
He says in verse 12 of chapter 6, as many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh,
and these are the concision, that's what he's referring to.
They constrain you to be circumcised.
He's saying they force you to be circumcised, he says, to make a fair show in the flesh
only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.
So he's saying that they're circumcising you just to avoid persecution, just to basically
please the Jews, just to make the Jews happy, we're just going to circumcise the Jews.
No.
He said, look, they're making a fair show in the flesh, they're trying to glory in your
flesh, and he says in verse 14, but God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our
Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and I unto the world.
He's saying I don't care what they think.
I don't care what people think about the fact that, you know, we don't circumcise our converts
and we don't circumcise our children.
It's not necessary, it's not biblical, it's not the New Testament, it is something that
is done away in the New Testament and therefore it is not something that we need to observe
in the New Testament.
But let's move on to the final point that I want to make.
Go to Genesis chapter 9.
So a quick review, we've debunked these things one by one.
Number one, his name is Jesus, not Yeshua, okay?
That is a false teaching.
The New Testament was not even written in Hebrew.
Modern Hebrew is a language that wasn't even invented until the 1800s because Hebrew was
a dead language for over 1500 years that was only a written language and did not have a
native speaking verbal component.
Therefore it is impossible to know how Hebrew was pronounced thousands of years ago.
We know that a lot of the Hebrews we showed from the book of Judges couldn't even make
the SH sound.
All of the whole tribe of Ephraim was unable to make the SH sound, according to Judges
chapter 12.
And so we see that that whole term of, oh we must call him Yeshua, is a fraud.
His name is Jesus, the New Testament never calls him Yeshua, it always calls him Jesus,
the Greek would be Jesus, not anything near Yeshua.
We talked about the fact that observing the Torah is a fraud.
Exalting the Old Testament above the New Testament is a fraud.
We talked about the fact that every rabbi is a false teacher because otherwise he would
obey Christ when he said never to be called or to call anyone rabbi except him.
He's the only rabbi.
We saw that the Sabbath day is something that God specifically tells us, done away in Christ,
fulfilled by Christ.
We saw that circumcision, not a New Testament practice, and today this trend of everything
being all Jewish and we're all going to do this, there are literally today Christians
who are having their children circumcised by rabbis on the 8th day.
Now I remember I confronted my mother about this, maybe this is too much information,
but I confronted my mother about this and I said, Mom, why was I circumcised as a child?
This is not the New Testament.
You've gone against the Bible here.
And she said, well Stephen, she said you were not circumcised on the 8th day.
So we were not doing it for a religious reason.
We weren't trying to be under the Old Covenant.
We just did it because I guess everybody was doing it, I don't know why.
I always like to say I still have all my wisdom teeth, I've still got my tonsils, I've got
my appendix, the only part of my body that was removed was before I was old enough to
have anything to say about it, and I screamed and cried and they didn't listen.
But anyway, look at Genesis chapter 9, and it says in Genesis chapter 9 verse number
1, because I want to talk about the last thing that those that want to bring us back under
New Testament, or Old Testament ordinances that were specifically done away with and
tried to make us live as do the Jews, and they somehow think that they're more spiritual
if they act Jewish.
I mean literally, I got a thing in the mail the other day from a Christian ministry telling
me I need to order this Jewish prayer shawl, and it shows this guy, this Jewish guy with
this over his head, and he's praying, and it's like, oh man, it said when you put this
thing on you're going to feel the power of God.
It said like, this thing is made in Jerusalem, I mean it's made from the same sheep when
Jesus said I'm the good shepherd, I mean, this thing is, you know, and you put on this
shawl, and I mean you're going to feel the power, and it's just like Jews have been praying
with this thing for hundreds of years, man.
But why would that make me want to put that thing on when that's not biblical?
But it's just, oh, let's just be, it's just cool.
It's like the cool thing.
It's like kids at school that get on these trends, you know, where they're all going
to dress this cool new way.
When I was a kid there was this trend, this is going to sound ridiculous, but those that
are my exact age will remember this, what about when people wore their clothes to school
backwards?
Remember Criss Cross?
That lasted for what, a month?
It was short lived, but man, for like a month it was like all the cool kids, man, they put
their, because there was some rap group of like these 12 year olds called Criss Cross,
and they'd wear their pants backwards, and kids would come to school real baggy, and
it was all backwards, and it was like Criss Cross, you know, all this stuff.
That's like, right now, this is like the Christian equivalent.
Yeah, we're going to put it on the shawl, we're going to wear the Star of David around
our neck, and we're going to like, you know, celebrate Yom Kippur, and we're going to even
know what that means, and it's going to be great.
They're getting on this bandwagon.
It's nothing biblical, and in fact, Paul rebukes it harshly, and says, he literally
says, when he talks about them observing the moons and different things, like for example
in Galatians 4, he says, you observe days and months and times and years, he said, I'm
afraid of you, lest I bestow labor on you in vain.
He's sitting there saying in Galatians, I'm hearing about you getting circumcised, you're
celebrating the new moon, he's like, I'm afraid of you.
I feel like I waste my time with you.
Why are you going back into bondage?
Why are you trying to keep the Mosaic law customs that were done away in Christ?
Do you even understand the Gospel?
Okay, so this is not something that we need to have a part in.
You see Christians wearing those little hats on the back of their head, and you see them
putting on the prayer shawl, and then you see Christians, and I thought this was interesting.
Somebody showed me a picture where these Christians are going and praying in Jerusalem
at the Wailing Wall, and you know, they're praying, and they got the hat on, and you
know, this is, but here's the thing though.
You know, Sean Barnish brought up an interesting point, you know, the Bible said that when
Jesus looked at the temple, he said not one stone would be left upon another that would
not be thrown down.
And yet I've heard so many people say, oh that Wailing Wall, that's part of the original
temple from Jesus' day.
No it's not, okay, because guess what?
Every single stone upon another was thrown down in Jesus' day.
I mean, right shortly after Jesus lived, in the same century, 1st century AD.
That wall is just some wall that was near the temple or something, but it has nothing
to do with the temple itself, but they think, oh man, if I can just put my hand here, and
then they get all sad about that mosque being there.
Oh man, we need to get the temple back there.
Look, let me tell you something, that temple was destroyed for a reason.
Jesus pronounced its destruction, okay, it wasn't just all the Muslims came and built
that.
No, Jesus said, this temple's going to be destroyed, because I said so.
That was his will that that thing be destroyed.
And you know what, in the New Testament, we don't go to some temple, our body's the temple.
The house of God is the church of the living God today.
We don't worship in a temple made with hands.
The Old Testament temple was destroyed on purpose by God.
He used the Romans to destroy it, to fulfill his judgment upon Christ rejecting Israel.
That's what happened.
Okay, but anyway, the last thing that I want to cover tonight in this two-part sermon is
this trying to bring the New Testament believer under Old Testament dietary laws.
And this is a big one, right?
You know, the abstaining from pork, abstaining from shrimp, you know, trying to basically
bring us into conformity with a kosher diet in the New Testament, okay.
Well if you would, look at Genesis chapter 9.
The first thing that I want to show you in regard to this is that before Moses came on
the scene, all meats were allowed to be eaten, okay, not just the ones that were on the clean
list of the Mosaic law.
The Bible reads in verse number 1, God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, be fruitful
and multiply and replenish the earth and the fear of you and the dread of you shall be
upon every beast of the earth and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth upon
the earth and upon all the fishes of the sea, into your hands are they delivered.
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you.
Now isn't that a pretty clear statement?
Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you.
Again as the green herb have I given you all things, but flesh with the life thereof
which is the blood thereof shall you not eat.
So some people will try to teach that it's always been wrong to eat pork, it's always
been wrong to eat shrimp, it's always been wrong to eat rabbits, okay, but it really
hasn't.
Because when Noah got off the ark, he was told to eat every moving thing that liveth.
Does it move?
Is it alive?
Let's eat it, okay.
So it wasn't until thousands of years later with the Mosaic law that certain foods were
put off limits and there was a symbolic meaning there.
It was a temporary thing.
Now again, go if you would to 1 Timothy chapter 4.
And the reason I show you that is because all of the things that were done away in Christ,
the carnal ordinances, the meats, drinks, the washings, the ceremonies, circumcision,
or the Sabbath day, all of the things that were done away in Christ, they're all things
that are not intrinsically wrong.
Like for example, isn't it just wrong to steal?
I mean it's just wrong to steal, isn't it just wrong to kill somebody?
Isn't it just wrong to lie?
Isn't it just wrong to commit adultery?
These are things that are just wrong.
They've always been wrong and they always will be wrong, right?
No question about that.
And you know when the Bible talks about things like, you know in the Old Testament like homosexuality,
I mean that's just wrong.
That's always been wrong.
It's always been filthy, it's always been perverted, it's always been wicked.
You know when the Bible talks about cross-dressing, men dressing like women would, it's always
been wrong.
Always been wicked, okay.
But here's the thing, eating pork isn't in that category.
There's nothing intrinsically wrong with eating pork because if there were something wrong
with eating pork, God wouldn't have told Noah to eat pork.
He's not going to tell him, you know, Noah it's okay for you to lust after women that
you're not married to.
And then later on say, oh in the New Testament that's wrong now.
That's always been wrong.
Because even in Proverbs it commands us not to lust after women.
And then in Matthew Jesus reiterated that when he said, whosoever looketh on a woman
to lust after hath committed adultery within her heart.
Those are issues of morality.
Those are issues of right and wrong.
Those are issues of just they're always wrong, they've always been wrong, they always will
be wrong, right?
Not resting on a certain day is not in that category.
Eating pork is not in that category.
Not being circumcised is not in that category.
You see how there are things that are more of a symbolic nature, a ceremonial nature,
and then there are things that are just wrong, sinful, bad things?
Two different things.
So if the Old Testament tells us not to do something that's sinful and bad, we shouldn't
do it in the New Testament either.
Because, you know, what's right has always been right and what's wrong has always been
wrong.
But when it comes to these other specific ceremonial things, these are the things that
were only temporary, okay?
Because there's really nothing sinful about eating pork in the first place.
Now it was a sin when God said don't do it.
You know, I mean if God said don't drink milk then that would make drinking milk a sin.
You know, just because obviously if God says don't do it, don't do it.
But he only said it for that specific time.
Now look when we get into the New Testament.
So keep in mind, for the vast majority of human history, eating pigs was fine.
Because all the way up to Moses, thousands of years, and thousands of years since Christ
it's been okay.
It was only like a period of I believe, what, 16, 1700 years or whatever, I don't have the
numbers in front of me right now, where you weren't allowed to eat it.
You know, from the time of Moses to the time of Christ, whatever time period that is, less
than 2000 years.
But anyway, if you would, look at, where did I have you turn, 1 Timothy?
Look at 1 Timothy chapter 4.
The Bible says in verse 1, Now the Spirit speaketh expressly in the latter times, and
are we living in the latter times?
Some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils,
speaking lies in hypocrisy, having their conscience seared with a hot iron, forbidding to marry,
and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving
of them which believe and know the truth.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving,
for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
If thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, thou shalt be a good minister
of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine.
Now he uses some funny kind of plays on words here.
He says, you know, he says first of all, they're commanded to abstain from meats.
Meat is a word that's always referring to food in the Bible, isn't it, always.
So he's talking about food specifically, saying in the latter times there's going to be these
evil, lying people who depart from the faith that are going to command you to abstain from
meats, but let me tell you right now that every creature of God is good, and nothing
to be refused if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and
prayer.
He says if thou put the brethren in remembrance of these things, he says look, there's something
that needs to be preached.
This isn't just something where, oh, well let's, you know, if people don't want to eat
pork then whatever.
He says, no, we need to put the brethren in remembrance of these things if we're going
to be a good minister of Jesus Christ.
And then it's funny you use the word, nourished, you know, which is an eating word, you know.
Nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto thou hast attained.
And then the next word he says, but refuse profane and old wise fabled.
He's saying don't refuse pork, don't refuse shrimp, refuse profane and old wise fabled.
Be nourished up in the words of sound doctrine and all meats are good as long as you say
the blessing for it and thank God for it.
If you pray and thank God for your food, it'll be just fine.
Now that doesn't mean that your Twinkies and Ho-Hos and McDonald's is going to be just
fine if you just pray about it.
Because guess what?
McDonald's is not a creature of God.
See I've heard people look at this, I've heard people look at this and, you know, you try
to tell people about healthy eating, and you try to tell them, man, you need to eat healthy,
you know, you need to stay away from all this, you know, garbage, this chemical process.
And they'll say, well the Bible says every creature of God is good, nothing to be refused
to be received with Thanksgiving.
They'll say, it's sanctified by the word of God in prayer.
Who's saying amen to that?
But anyway, but here's why.
But here's the thing, it's true, everything that God made is good.
All the fruits and vegetables, I mean if anybody told me that a certain fruit or vegetable,
oh don't eat that, that's bad for you, I'm not going to listen to that.
God created it.
And God created the animals to be eaten and God, I mean that's what they were made for.
He said, I've created them to be meat for you, okay?
And he's saying, look, the fruits and vegetables that I made, the meat that I give you, it's
all good for you, and he says, just pray and thank me for it and it's sanctified, it's
clean at that point.
But here's the thing, God did not create partially hydrogenated soybean oil.
And God did not create genetically modified soy lecithin.
God did not create sodium benzoate.
God did not create the Happy Meal, because this stuff is so processed.
And I think that a good rule of thumb for healthy eating is to eat your food as close
to what God made it.
The closer we are to what God made, the healthier the food we're eating.
And the more that we do to alter it or process it, we're getting away from what God created
and we're getting into unsanctified possible territory, you know, as far as the food that
we're eating.
Okay, now look, I'm not saying, and I didn't say everything needs to be raw, because God
created these foods and he specifically teaches us to cook food.
He specifically talks about boiling food, he talks about roasting food, you know, it'd
be like the barbecue, right?
He specifically tells us to cook meat and not to eat the meat raw, but that we should
cook the meat.
So I'm not saying we should eat it, you know, as close to what God made, let's just eat
raw meat, you know.
No, no, no, and there are people, believe me, that eat raw meat.
Yes there are.
There are people who feast on like just a raw steak and they go, oh this is healthy,
you know, raw food diet.
Now if you buy the meat at the grocery store and do that, you'll die.
No, I'm not kidding.
If you eat raw meat from the grocery store, you will die.
You'll get E. coli, or is it E. coli, yeah, E. coli, H.1.57, H.7. or whatever.
You'll get this, yeah, exactly.
You'll get this E. coli, and I remember one time my wife was, when we were first married
she was making like meatloaf or something, and you know, it's mainly raw ground beef,
and she just stuck her finger in and just popped some of that raw ground beef in her
mouth, just to taste it, you know, to taste the seasonings.
I'm like, what are you doing?
You know, you're going to die!
It's because she was from Germany where there's a different standard of the meat.
Because here's the thing, if you took a cow and raised it in a clean environment, and
you know, it's grass fed, and it's butchered properly and everything, you theoretically,
the raw meat's not going to hurt you.
But here's the thing, most meat today at the grocery store, it contains E. coli.
Just all of it.
That's why they are real big on cooking temperatures and saying, look, you've got to heat this
all the way.
With a steak, it's not as important.
The reason why is because a steak, if you think about it, a steak is one piece of beef,
right?
Only the outside of it is exposed to germs.
The inside is protected.
So with a steak, all you have to do is cook the outside, right?
If you cook the outside, you're killing all the germs, because the inside has never been
exposed to the air and the germs and the bacteria.
So with a steak, it's okay to have a steak that's pink in the middle, right?
But with hamburgers, you've got a hamburger that's pink in the middle, you know, you're
on thin ice.
You're in a dangerous situation because of the low quality standards of the meat today
that it could be, almost all of it is a little bit contaminated.
As long as you cook it all the way through, you kill all the germs, you're good to go.
Okay, I don't know what that has to do with the sermon, but this is a cooking lesson from
Pastor Anderson.
Give your steaks a little bit pink in the middle, but make sure that your cheeseburger
is well done all the way through if you don't want to die of E. coli, okay?
So what I'm saying, what am I saying, can somebody help me figure out what I'm talking
about?
What passage are we in?
We're still in 1 Timothy 4 after all this time, huh?
Alright, well yeah, every creature of God's good.
And what I was saying is that we want to eat our food as close to the way God made it as
possible.
The less it's been refined and processed, the better it's going to be for us nutrition-wise.
But we should cook our food, that's what I was saying.
But if you would flip over to Acts chapter number 10, Acts chapter number 10, and verse
9, Acts chapter number 10.
I'm just finishing up here, this is my last point.
But you know, we ought to be careful what we eat though, because there's so much bad
food out there today, and the love of money is the root of all evil, and there are people
out there who are just greedy people, and they just care about making a profit.
And they've got chickens living in their own dung and stacked on top of each other and
filled with disease, and they've got cows that are up to their knees in their own excrement
and they're dirty and filthy, and I mean, they have cows that are, I think the law says
that in order for them to slaughter the cow, it has to be able to walk like five feet or
something.
You know what I mean?
Like they'll bring in the cattle truck and the cow's like ugh, and they're like oh, I
made it, you know, it's healthy, we can eat this.
You know, and the Bible tells us, you know, don't eat things that die by themselves.
The Bible tells us only to eat animals that you slaughtered.
Don't do something that died on its own.
But today, literally, I mean you've seen the videos of it, you know, these exposing inside
the meat industry, and you see these cows that are just, they're having to pick it up
with a forklift because they can't even walk.
You know, and it's just, it's the love of money that's the root of all evil.
Just, you know, just serving tainted meat and just trying to make maximum profit, jamming
everything in, and you know, just trying to produce the cheapest quality that they can
to make money.
And that's what you're putting in your body, and you know, you can have all kinds of health
problems and you know what, I'm all for saving money.
I'm all for, you know, being frugal and living a frugal lifestyle, but you know, one area
that we do not seek to save money in is food.
Because every dime that you save on your food by buying cheap junk food, every dollar, every
dime you save, you're going to spend a dollar at the hospital someday.
You know, when you're filled with disease and when you've got all kinds of, you know,
cancer and diabetes and heart disease, you know, you're going to wish that you would
have sprung for the, you know, the cage free or whatever, you know what I mean?
You would have, you're going to wish that you sprung for the higher quality stuff, you
know.
And I don't believe that God expects us to eat chemicals and genetically modified processed
garbage, so I believe that God can provide my needs to feed me.
I'm not saying I'm going to eat a steak dinner every night, I might have to eat rice and
beans and be poor, but those rice and beans are going to be organic and naturally raised.
I told my wife, I said, honey if we ever get poor, we're not going to buy this junky food,
we're just going to buy like rice and beans organic, you know, good stuff and locally
whatever.
Okay, but anyway, back to the dietary laws, I'm not trying to bring you into bondage now,
I'm just giving you a little advice, eat whatever you want man, you know, pray for that McDonald's,
maybe God can work like a Red Sea miracle and cause that actually to be nutritious for
you.
Hey, is anything too hard for the Lord?
But anyway, He can make a chicken nugget, nourish you, you know?
But anyway, the last thing I wanted to point out is in Acts chapter 10 here, verse 9, it
says, On the morrow as they went on their journey and drew nigh unto the city, Peter
went up upon the housetop to pray about the sixth hour.
And he became very hungry and would have eaten and while they made ready he fell into a trance
and saw heaven open and a certain vessel descending unto him as it had been a great
sheen knit at the four corners and led down to the earth wherein were all manner of four-footed
beasts of the earth and wild beasts and creeping things and foul of the air.
And there came a voice to him, rise Peter, kill and eat.
And Peter said, not so Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.
The voice spake on him again the second time, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou
common.
This was done thrice and the vessel was received up again in heaven.
So three times God tells him, you need to eat these beasts, and he says, whoa, I've
never eaten anything unclean, and he says, what God hath cleansed, that call not thou
common or unclean.
Isn't that exactly what He said in 1 Timothy when He said that the meats, all types of
creatures of God, were sanctified by the word of God in prayer?
So if God has made it clean, if God has made it sanctified, we should not call it unclean.
So all that to say this, the purpose of this morning's sermon and tonight's sermon is so
that you'll not be carried about with every wind of doctrine.
And this is the trendy thing, this is the popular doctrine now of Christians refusing
to eat pork and Christians observing the Sabbath and wearing Jewish clothes and talking about
Yeshua and Yahweh.
These people did not get this teaching from the Bible.
And we need to make sure that we are reading the Bible and that we're getting everything
we believe from the Bible and that we're giving precedence to the New Testament, that we are
reading the New Testament, studying the New Testament, and that it is our final authority.
And if the New Testament becomes our final authority on all subjects, whether it's Bible
prophecy, whether it's dietary laws, whether it has to do with keeping the Sabbath.
If the New Testament is our final authority, we wouldn't be getting mixed up in all this
Jew worship and trendy, I'm going to be like a Jew type of Christianity, this Torah observing
Christianity.
You know, I think between this morning's sermon and tonight, we've shown scripturally that
this stuff just doesn't hold water.
And therefore, you know, we don't need to be messianic Jews.
We need to be a Baptist.
And by the way, these messianic Jews need to join a Baptist church because their movement
is filled with false doctrine and I'm not trying to emulate it.
And I do not feel like just because somebody's a Jew, they just have this magical ability
to understand things in the Old Testament that I don't understand.
Because the same anointing abides on me.
And the same Holy Spirit will teach me all things.
That's all I need.
If I don't care if I'm as gentile as they come, if I've got the Holy Spirit living inside
of me and a King James Bible in my hand, I don't need to hear what any rabbi has to say
to understand the Bible.
Oh, you need to understand the Jewish wedding custom.
No I don't.
I have no interest in that.
Oh, the Bar Mitzvah.
No, not interested.
That is not Christianity and I'm not interested in it.
Judaism is a false pharisaical religion that denies the Lord Jesus.
I don't want anything about my life to resemble it.
I want to be a Bible believing New Testament Christian.
And again, nothing against Jews as long as they believe in Christ and as long as they
reject the teachings of the dietary laws and the circumcision and all this stuff.
If they come in here teaching circumcision, that's false doctrine.
And Paul warned us about it.
And he said, I don't give subjection to these people who come in talking about getting circumcised,
not even for one hour.
I'm not going to put up with it.
He said, I'm afraid of it.
It's false doctrine.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the New Testament, dear God, and we thank you for the Bible.
It's a lot easier for us to understand these things even than it was for Paul because Paul
didn't even have the complete New Testament scripture.
We have the whole New Testament.
It's so easy to read it and see the complete picture.
Help us not to be sucked into these trendy fads and this Hebrew roots movement or sacred
name movement or whatever it calls itself.
Help us to stay away from this stuff and just stick with the New Testament, stick with the
Bible, stick with Christianity, and not get to following Judaism and Jesus.