Man, the title of my sermon this morning is the Old Testament Sabbath.
The Old Testament Sabbath.
Now we do not observe the seventh day Sabbath in the New Testament.
We don't observe any day of the week today as the Sabbath day where we don't
do any work or have a solemn assembly on that day.
We have church on Sunday which is the first day of the week and I'm going to preach
to you about why that is in this sermon.
Now there are people out there who want to get us to observe the Sabbath and what this
is is the gateway drug into a whole slew of things, observing the Torah, Hebrew roots,
and eating kosher food, and going down this whole long list until eventually you
reach the destination at the end of that dark path and the destination is Judaism.
And you'll find that a lot of people who are mixed up in this Hebrew roots movement end
up going all the way to Judaism, rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ as the Messiah.
That is the end game.
And one of the things that comes up over and over again if you're reading the New
Testament is that Paul's epistles are warning us about the Judaizers and we're
going to get into some of that later in the sermon.
And it was going on back then.
It's going on now.
It's something that we need to beware of, people trying to bring us back under the
law, Judaize us, whether they call it Hebrew roots or Seventh-day Adventist or Seventh-day
Baptist or whatever they call it, typically the first thing that they come at you with
is the Sabbath day.
And the reason that they hit you with that first is because of the fact that they
have a strong argument for it by saying, well, it's in the Ten Commandments.
But I'm going to show you this morning that that argument does not hold water at all.
Here's how the argument goes and then I'm going to show you how it's not biblical.
They'll say this, well, sure, there are things in the Old Testament that are done
away in Christ.
Obviously, we aren't doing animal sacrifices anymore.
Jesus Christ is the lamb slain and that's all finished once for all.
But come on, I mean the Ten Commandments.
Of course, the Ten Commandments are still something that we would do in the New Testament.
And so by overemphasizing the Ten Commandments or acting like the Ten Commandments have
a special New Testament significance, this is how they get you on the Sabbath day because
of course the fourth commandment, and if you would, keep your finger in Exodus 34.
Just flip back a few pages to Exodus chapter 20 and because it's in the Ten Commandments,
they want to say that it has a special New Testament significance.
I'm going to show you that nothing could be further from the truth.
Look if you would at verse number 8, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.
Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath
of the Lord thy God.
In it, thou shalt not do any work, thou nor thy son nor thy daughter, thy manservant
nor thy maidservant nor thy cattle nor thy stranger that is within thy gates.
For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth and the sea and all that in them is
and rested the seventh day, wherefore God blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.
And then he gets into the rest, honor thy father and mother of course, thou shalt
not kill, thou shalt not commit adultery, etc.
And people will often sometimes say, see, it's in the Ten Commandments, and not only
that, the Ten Commandments are written in stone.
And so because they're written in stone, that shows the permanence and how it's not
done away in the New Testament.
Let's see if that's true.
Look if you would at Exodus chapter 34, and I'm going to show you the true nature of
the Ten Commandments.
What is the significance of the Ten Commandments?
Well that phrase, Ten Commandments, is used three times all in the Old Testament.
So nowhere does the New Testament refer to the Ten Commandments, but the Old Testament
calls it by that name, the Ten Commandments.
Now look at the first time it's mentioned in Exodus 34, 28.
And he was there with the Lord, 40 days and 40 nights, he did neither eat bread nor
drink water, and he wrote upon the tables, watch this, the words of the covenant,
comma, the Ten Commandments.
Now that's called an appositive, okay, when you restate something after a comma
like that, he says, he wrote the words of the covenant, comma, the Ten Commandments.
You know what that means?
That means the words of the covenant are the Ten Commandments, and the Ten Commandments
are the words of the covenant.
Which covenant?
Is this the New Covenant?
Is this the New Testament?
This is the Old Covenant.
This is the Old Testament.
Let me tell you something, the Ten Commandments are the Old Covenant.
They are the Old Covenant.
That's what the Bible teaches.
Now I'll explain that a little bit further in a moment, but if you would go to Deuteronomy
chapter 4, Deuteronomy chapter 4, we're going to look up all three mentions of this term,
the Ten Commandments.
It's mentioned three times in the Old Testament.
The first was in Exodus 34, the next one's in Deuteronomy 4, 13.
The Bible reads, and he declared unto you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform
even Ten Commandments.
So he said, even there is a restatement.
He declared the covenant even Ten Commandments, and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
Go to Deuteronomy 10.4.
This is always an easy one to find, because I always just think of what you say on walkie
talkies when you understand someone, you say 10.4.
So Deuteronomy 10.4, and he wrote on the tables, according to the first writing,
the Ten Commandments, which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst
of the fire in the day of the assembly, and the Lord gave them unto me.
Now, go to 2 Corinthians 3.
So the first point that I want to make here that's crystal clear is that the Ten Commandments
are the Old Covenant.
They are the tables of the covenant.
The two are interchangeable.
2 Corinthians 3, verse 6, watch this.
Who also hath made us able ministers of the New Testament, not of the letter, but
of the Spirit.
For the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.
But if the ministration of death, watch this, written and engraven in stones was
glorious.
Let me ask you something.
What was it that was written engraven in stones?
The whole book of Genesis?
The whole book of Exodus?
Nope.
Was the whole book of Leviticus engraven in stone?
What was engraven in that stone?
The Ten Commandments.
And he says that the ministration of death was written and engraven in stones.
And it says it was glorious, we're in verse 7.
So that the children of Israel could not steadfastly behold the face of Moses, for
the glory of his countenance, watch this, which glory was to be done away.
Verse 8, how shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?
For if the ministration of condemnation be glory, much more that the ministration
of righteousness exceed in glory.
Look, the Old Covenant, the Old Testament, the Ten Commandments is known as the ministration
of death and the ministration of condemnation.
Is everybody looking at your Bible and seeing that?
The New Testament is the ministration of righteousness, the ministration of the Spirit,
the ministration of glory.
It exceeds in glory.
Look at verse 10.
For even that which was made glorious had no glory in this respect by reason of the
glory that excelleth.
For if that which is done away, if that which is done away was glorious, much more
that which remaineth is glorious, the New Covenant.
That which is done away, the Old Covenant, that which is remaining, the New Covenant.
Now listen to me, the Bible couldn't be clearer in this passage, folks.
The Ten Commandments are the Old Covenant.
What's graven in stones is that which was going to be done away.
So how can we sit there and say, well, sure, I mean, there are things in the Old
Covenant that are done away, but not the Ten Commandments.
I mean, the Ten Commandments are written in stone.
That's got to be permanent.
Really?
Is that what the Bible teaches?
No.
Now you say, well, how are the Ten Commandments equivalent to the Old Covenant?
Let me explain to you how.
The Old Covenant, a covenant is an agreement or a contract.
The Old Covenant was a contract or an agreement between God and the nation of Israel that
said if you follow my laws, if you keep my commandments, if you follow my statutes,
you will be my chosen people.
You'll be a peculiar people.
You'll be a chosen generation.
I'll be your God and you'll be my people.
That's the deal.
That's the covenant.
That's the agreement.
Now, because they broke that agreement, because they continued not in the covenant, he regarded
them not as his people.
And then you have the New Covenant that comes in.
What is the New Covenant?
The New Covenant says that if you believe on Jesus Christ as your savior, if you are
a Christian, then you are God's chosen people, whether or not you keep God's commandments,
whether or not you do the works and keep the statutes.
If you believe on Christ, you are his chosen people.
Now that's not to say that salvation was by works in the Old Testament, because if salvation
were by works in the Old Testament, then everybody went to hell.
Everybody went to hell then.
I mean, if you had to keep the law to go to heaven in the Old Testament, then every
single person must have gone to hell then, because guess what?
Everybody broke the law.
That's why the Old Covenant is known as what?
The administration of death, the administration of condemnation.
See, the Old Testament condemns, because it says, do these laws and I'll receive you.
No one can do them.
No one can live up to it.
Everyone's condemned, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Then the New Testament comes along and gives us something that we can do.
Amen?
Believe.
Believe on Jesus.
Now, people in the Old Testament, as far as their personal salvation, as long as they
believed in the Lord and trust in the Lord and called upon the name of the Lord, they
went to heaven.
Otherwise, nobody'd be up there, you know, by the time Christ came along on the scene.
But no, they actually believed on the Lord.
The Bible says all the way back in Genesis chapter 4 that men began to call upon the
name of the Lord.
The Old Covenant was never a way of salvation, folks.
It was only something that condemned and killed.
It was not a way of salvation.
There only ever has been one way of salvation, and that's through Jesus.
Jesus is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Okay, even Adam and Eve were putting their faith in Jesus when they put on the coats
of a skin.
When they sacrificed an animal, they're showing, hey, we need a sacrifice.
Our sins have to be forgiven by the blood.
It's going to have to be through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.
It's going to be the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.
That's always been the way of salvation.
The Old Covenant was a covenant between God and the nation of Israel that if they obeyed
they would be his people.
If they obeyed, he would be their God and they would be a chosen people and a royal
priesthood, et cetera.
So we see that the Sabbath day is clearly part of the Old Covenant.
There's no way around it.
And in fact, the Ten Commandments are the Old Covenant.
Now obviously the Ten Commandments are one side of the deal, right?
Because what the Ten Commandments represent is man's side of the deal.
Because the covenant is do these commandments and then God has his side of the deal.
He would be their people, they'd be a chosen nation, a special generation, et cetera.
So the Ten Commandments are a microcosm of the entire law because you say, well,
isn't there more to the Old Covenant than just the Ten Commandments?
Here's how it works.
You've got the whole law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, right?
Hundreds and hundreds of commandments.
But what you have with the Ten Commandments is sort of a cliff's notes of the commandments.
It's an abbreviated form.
It's the basics of what people need to do.
So over here you have the whole thing giving every detail, right?
The giant books of the law, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy.
Then what you have is an abbreviated form just telling you, look, don't have any other
gods before him, don't make any graven image, don't take God's name in vain, remember
the Sabbath to keep it holy, honor your father and mother, thou shalt not kill, thou
shalt not...
He's giving you the basics.
But here's the thing.
You can get an even further abbreviated form in love the Lord thy God and love thy neighbor
as thyself.
So you keep getting more abbreviated.
You have the long version, Genesis through Deuteronomy.
Then you have the short version, the Ten Commandments, and then you have the really
short version, love God, love your neighbor.
But all of that is getting at the same thing.
And if you remember my sermon a few months ago, I showed how the Ten Commandments teach
a lot more than you think because when you expand on the Ten Commandments as Christ
did in Matthew 5, there's a lot of teaching packed in.
The whole law is kind of summed up in those Ten Commandments just like the whole law
is summed up in love the Lord thy God and love thy neighbor as thyself.
If you would go to Jeremiah chapter 3, let's talk more about the Ten Commandments.
This is an important subject.
What are the Ten Commandments?
Well, the Bible says the Ten Commandments are the covenant.
The Ten Commandments were written in engraving in stones.
The Ten Commandments are the basics of what God expects from mankind and what He
expected from them at that time under that old covenant.
Now let me explain this too.
Oh, they're written in stone.
It's permanent.
Well I guess you forgot the part where Moses took the stone tablets and he broke them.
He literally took those permanent Ten Commandments and he threw them on the ground and shattered
them.
You know what that pictures?
It pictures that the best man, who was the best guy in Exodus?
The best guy broke the Ten Commandments.
That's what he's showing you, right?
I mean the best person, find me the best person in the world and I promise you that
that person has broken the Ten Commandments.
Moses was the best man in the whole world and he broke the Ten Commandments.
Then we take those Ten Commandments and we put them in a box or a chest and that
is called the Ark of the Covenant.
And what do you put on top of the Ark of the Covenant?
What's the lid of the Ark of the Covenant called?
The mercy seat.
So we see how God's mercy covers our broken commandments here.
The commandments that we broke, that's where we need the mercy seat.
And then the blood of the lamb is sprinkled on the mercy seat, right?
And that is how we're saved, folks.
And that's already being pictured all throughout the Old Testament.
That's what the Bible actually teaches.
But you say, well that's Sabbath day, I mean it's part of the Ten Commandments.
Look, if the law is changed in the New Testament, which the Bible says the priesthood
being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law, then guess what?
Nothing about the Ten Commandments is going to change, too.
We do not keep the literal Sabbath day where we work six days and then take a day of rest.
We don't do it.
That's Old Testament, Old Covenant, and that is not commanded in the New Testament.
In fact, it's specifically told unto us in the New Testament that we don't need to observe
that.
You say, no, it's permanent.
Okay, look at Jeremiah 3.16.
Here's an interesting verse about the Ark of the Covenant.
And it shall come to pass when ye be multiplied and increased in the land in those days, saith
the Lord, they shall say no more the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, neither shall
it come to mind, neither shall they remember it, neither shall they visit it, neither shall
that be done any more.
Jeremiah 3.16 is prophesying a future time, if you get the context, we're talking about
the millennial reign of Christ, he's prophesying a future time in the millennial reign
of Christ where the Ark of the Covenant is not a thing.
Does everybody see that?
Nobody's going to talk about it.
It's not going to be done anymore.
It's just not a thing anymore.
Why?
Because we're not in the Old Testament.
In the New Testament, in the New Testament, the Ark of the Covenant is not a thing.
And I know that there are all kinds of people out there hunting and trying to find
the Ark of the Covenant.
It's being hidden away in Jerusalem.
It's hidden in Ethiopia.
It's hidden in Iraq.
You know, they've got all these theories and people finding it.
Let me tell you something.
If somebody pulls out an Ark of the Covenant sometime in the future and says, we found
the Ark, let me tell you something, that's not of God.
Because God specifically told us that in the millennium, the Ark of the Covenant's
not going to be a thing.
So if somebody pulls it out and says, we found the Ark and let's rebuild the temple
in Jerusalem and we're going to reinstitute the Levitical priesthoods, that's all of
the devil, that's of the antichrist, God's not going to do that.
God's saying, look, the Ark of the Covenant ceases to be a thing.
Why?
Because it's the Ark of the Covenant, the old covenant.
Now there is an Ark of the Covenant in heaven that is eternal.
Okay?
Because we're talking about the physical earth, the Ark of the Covenant.
There is an Ark of the Covenant in heaven that is eternal.
And we see that even in the Book of Revelation, that Ark of the Testament in heaven is up
there.
It's permanent.
Obviously, God's word abides forever.
The old covenant is there.
The mercy seat's there.
The blood's there because that's all there to picture salvation through God's mercy
covering man's sinful condition of breaking the Ten Commandments.
Now if you would go to Colossians 2.
So we've seen through those scriptures that the fact that the Sabbath is part of the
Ten Commandments does not put it in some special category of, well, okay, in the New
Testament, though, we still do the Ten Commandments.
Show me a verse in the New Testament that says, hey, don't forget about the Ten Commandments.
Do the Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments are special.
You know, I found a verse on the Ten Commandments, 2 Corinthians 3.
Yeah, they're written on stone to be done away.
Why?
Because the Bible says, in that he saith a new covenant, he hath made the first old,
now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
The reason he said it's ready to vanish away is because at the time that that was
being written, there were still some people alive who were grandfathered in under the
old covenant.
You know, people that were born before Christ died on the cross and maybe they
got saved and their old covenant and they're kind of grandfathered in as the word about
Jesus Christ is getting out throughout the world and people are hearing about it.
But after that generation was gone, now there's none other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved.
So there's nobody grandfathered in who was already saved before Christ died on the
cross just through their faith in the Lord, calling on the Lord, etc.
Look, it has vanished away.
And this is what we call replacement theology because the new covenant replaces the old
covenant.
And the false doctrine says, oh, well, there's the old covenant and the new covenant both
kind of just side by side.
They're both going on.
God has these two programs going on.
He's got a program for Israel and he's got a program for the Gentiles and this is the
church program and you've got New Testament and Old Testament side by side.
Wrong.
New Testament replaces Old Testament.
Also here's another way of putting it.
New Testament supersedes Old Testament.
So this doctrine is sometimes known as supersessionism or replacement theology because we don't
believe that they can both go on.
Now John Hagee, he'll get up and say this.
He'll say, well, the Jews can be saved without believing in Jesus because they just go through
the old covenant.
Wrong.
No man cometh unto the Father but by me, Jesus said.
And the old covenant has vanished away.
That ship has sailed.
Okay.
It's too late to try to, you know, follow God's Old Testament laws and just say, well,
I'm just going to do with that.
Wrong.
We're in the New Testament now, buddy.
You better get in or you're out.
Okay.
Not only are the Ten Commandments not a special classification in the New Testament, not only
are they equivalent to the old covenant which is done away in Christ, but the Bible
even specifically tells us in multiple places that we do not need to keep the Sabbath
day.
Now, we would expect if the Seventh-day Adventists are right, Seventh-day Baptists,
Hebrew roots, types, if they were correct, wouldn't we expect to find at least one verse
in the New Testament commanding us, keep the Sabbath?
Wouldn't you expect to find at least one verse in Romans, one verse in 1 and 2 Corinthians,
Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 and 2 Thessalonians, 1 and 2 Timothy,
Titus, Philemon, Hebrews for crying out loud, right, James, 1 and 2 Peter.
I mean, wouldn't you expect to find one verse that says, hey, keep the Sabbath?
Keep the Sabbath, people.
Can we find verses telling us not to kill?
Oh, yeah, lots, right?
Can we find verses speaking against murder, stealing, covetousness, adultery?
Can we find verses against blasphemy, idolatry, worshiping other gods?
I mean, look, there's plenty of stuff reiterating the other Nine Commandments.
So why isn't there a single verse in the New Testament commanding us, thou shalt keep
the Sabbath, remember the Sabbath to keep it holy.
Nowhere does the New Testament, after Jesus Christ has died and been buried and risen
again and implemented the New Testament in his own blood, nowhere do you find a command
to keep the Sabbath.
And on the contrary, you find multiple places telling you don't worry about it.
Now, it's obvious.
Look at Colossians chapter 2, verse 10, and ye are complete in him, which is the head
of all principality and power.
This is talking about Jesus, okay?
Now, before we read this, let's jump down to the relevant verse, then we're going to
get to context.
Here's the relevant verse in verse 16, 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.
Now, here's how Christians have always interpreted this throughout the years.
When it says, hey, don't let anybody judge you in meat, drink, holiday, new moon, what
it's saying is don't let anybody try to impose on you that you need to do this
eating, drinking, holiday, new moon, Sabbath business.
You don't have to follow that stuff.
That part of the law is a shadow of things to come.
That was things that were symbolic, pointing us to Christ.
Don't let anybody trouble you to doing these things.
That's the normal interpretation that 99% of Christianity preaches, okay?
But here's how the Hebrew roots crowd will interpret this verse, because you wonder
what do they do with this verse?
It just flat out says, don't let anybody trouble you about doing these.
Here's what they'll read it as, let no man therefore judge you in meat or drink
or in respect of a holiday or of the new moon or of the Sabbath days.
They'll say, don't let people judge you and tell you not to do these things.
So they'll take the exact opposite.
I've talked to many of them and that's what every single person that I've talked
to about this verse, that's what they said.
They said, well, it's the opposite.
He's telling you don't let anybody give you any guff because you are doing the meats
and the drinks and the holidays and the new moons and the Sabbath.
Okay, now let's get the context and see who's right, shall we?
Let's back up and get the context.
Because we don't want to take a verse out of context, folks.
What's the context?
Look at Colossians 2 verse 10.
And ye are complete in him, Christ, which is the head of all principality and power,
in whom also ye are circumcised, with the circumcision made without hands, in putting
off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ.
Let me ask them, does it seem in that verse like we're reiterating the Old Testament
and saying, hey, you better keep all those commandments.
You better get your flesh circumcised.
What's he teaching in the chapter?
He's telling them, look, you're circumcised with a circumcision made without hands.
You know, elsewhere he said, neither circumcision availeth anything nor uncircumcision.
So this is a passage that is specifically telling us that we don't have to be physically
circumcised but that it's a spiritual circumcision.
So what's the point that he's getting at?
Is he telling us do more Old Covenant or is he telling us to do less Old Covenant in
verses 10 and 11?
That's the context.
Buried with him in baptism, verse 12, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith
of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead, and you being dead in
your sins, and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with him,
having forgiven you all trespasses, 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.
So what is he saying here?
Look, the ordinances which have to do with the meats, the drinks, the divers' washings,
the carnal ordinances, that's what the Bible calls it in Hebrews 9-10.
He says that those things were against us, they condemned us, but because Christ has
forgiven us, he's blotted 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 the holy day,
or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath days, which are a shadow of things to come but
the bodies of Christ.
Now think about this.
So he's going to sit there and say, hey, you know, we're circumcised with the circumcision
made without hands.
And you know, Christ came, and he died for all our sins, he nailed the ordinances to
his cross, he spoiled principalities and powers, that's why keep on doing those
meats, drinks, and washings, and keep on doing those Sabbaths and holy days and
new moons.
So just keep doing what you were doing, folks.
Does that make any sense?
It doesn't fit the context.
Not only that, it doesn't fit the context of the rest of the New Testament that is constantly
warning us about Judaizers.
Look at Acts 15.
They're coming in, trying to tell them they have to be circumcised, right?
Now if you would, go to Galatians 4.
Look, let's compare that.
You go to Galatians 4, I'm going to read for you from Hebrews 9.
Hebrews 9 says this, which was a figure, figure means it's symbolic, figurative,
which was a figure for the time then present, and which were offered both gifts and sacrifices
that could not make him that did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience, which
stood only in meats and drinks and divers' washings and carnal ordinances imposed
on them until the time of reformation.
But Christ being come, and high priest of good things to come, they're not imposed
on us anymore, folks.
Listen to the word of God.
Hebrews 9 says that these things were imposed on them until Christ came.
So until Christ came, what was imposed?
Meat, drinks, carnal ordinances, divers' washings.
Let's compare that to Colossians 2.
What was it that we weren't supposed to let anybody trouble us about?
Meats, drinks, new moons, holy days, Sabbath days.
It's some of the same things on the list, folks.
So in one place, he's not going to tell us, yeah, you better do those meats and drinks,
but then over here, he's telling them, don't worry about the meats and drinks, because
guess what?
Both places is telling you, don't worry about the meats and drinks.
Now you say, what's a drink about?
What's this drink?
Is there a drink that's not kosher?
Here's what it comes down to.
We talk about in the Old Testament, the meat offering and the drink offering.
This is talking about the drink offering, because in the Old Testament, they would do
a meat offering, and they would do a drink offering.
I don't have time to go through and explain all those offerings, but these are part of
the Old Testament system of sacrifice and worship of the Lord.
So we don't do the meat offering.
We don't do the drink offering.
We don't blow a trumpet on the new moon.
We do not observe the holidays, and we do not observe the Sabbath, because those things
are a shadow of things to come, and they were imposed on them until the time of
Reformation, which is defined as Christ being come in the next verse, Hebrews 9-11.
Not only that, but right after that, in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 1, it says, for
the law having a shadow of good things to come, and then in Colossians chapter 2,
it said in verse 17, which are a shadow of things to come.
So these are parallel passages, friend.
Hebrews 9 verses 8 through chapter 10 verse 4 are parallel with Colossians chapter 2 verses
16 and 17.
Same stuff, same author.
Go look at the 1611 edition of the King James Version back there on display, and
it says the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews.
And of course, it's been proven six ways to Sunday that the Apostle Paul wrote the
book of Hebrews, and even linguistic scholars have gone through and just looked at the
choice of words, because all of the New Testament authors have their own style.
Matthew has a different style than Mark.
Mark has a different style than Luke.
Luke has a different style than John.
They use totally different words.
They use completely different vocabulary, okay?
Because God used man to write the Bible.
Even though it's God's word, he used man, so it has a human element.
It's divine and human, just like Jesus Christ was both divine and human.
The Bible's divine and human.
And so we see here that the Apostle Paul in Colossians 2 and Hebrews 9 and 10 is making
the same point.
It's just in Hebrews 9 and 10, he goes into more detail because he's writing to
the Hebrews.
So he's got to go into a lot more detail.
The Colossians, he touches on it, okay?
Colossians 2, 16 completely destroys this idea that we're supposed to be following
the Hebrew calendar, new moons, holidays, and Sabbaths.
It's not a thing in the New Testament.
Okay, where did I have you turn?
Okay, let's look at Galatians 4.
Here's another one that they will completely rip out of context, okay?
Let's read the pertinent scripture and then let's get the context, okay?
Here's the scripture, Galatians 4, 8.
How be it then when you knew not God, you did service unto them which by nature
are no gods.
Now, let's stop for a second.
He's talking to the Galatians.
The Galatians are in the Greek-speaking world.
They are in the Hellenic world.
They are in Galatia, right, Asia Minor, and these churches of Galatia in the Greek-speaking
world, before they got saved, what kind of religion do you think they were involved
in since they're in Asia Minor, the Greek-speaking world?
What kind of religion do you think they were into?
Polytheism, paganism, you know, Zeus, and all that kind of stuff, right?
That's what they were into before that.
So they did service unto them which by nature are no gods, right?
So they were worshiping idols, they were worshiping devils, the Bible says.
They were worshiping false gods.
But now, everybody following, verse 9.
But now, after that you've known God, or rather are known of God, it's more important
that he knows you than you know him, amen?
You know what I'm saying?
Depart from me, I never knew you.
But now, after that you've known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again
to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage, ye observe
days and months and times and years, I'm afraid of you lest I bestow upon you labor
in vain.
Okay.
Now, let me give you their false interpretation of this scripture.
Their false interpretation is, oh, well, the people of Galatia, you know, they used to
be these pagans talking about Zeus and Aphrodite and all that, but now they're saved and
now they're starting to go back to pagan gods.
Now they're getting back into horoscopes and they're getting into Zeus and they're
getting into paganism.
Okay, but wait a minute, that's not what the context teaches.
That's not what this is about.
Let me give you my interpretation and then we're going to look and see who's right.
We're going to get the context, right, because context is king, all right.
So they're saying, oh, he's warning them that they're going back into their old
pagan Zeus-loving ways, okay, and they're getting into the horoscopes and the zodiac
and whatever.
Okay.
I say that he's warning them about getting into the Hebrew roots where they're on
a Hebrew calendar, Sabbaths, new moons, feast days, and they're observing times
and days and months and years of the Jewish fables and those things that have got them
now thinking that they're under the old covenant and they're going back to the
Old Testament calendar and trying to follow the days, the months, the years, et cetera
because of Jewish fables being told to them by unsaved brethren crept in unawares
pretending to be brethren, bringing in a bunch of Jewish fables, bringing in Talmudic-type
teachings and saying, nope, we're still under the old covenant and so, therefore, you
need to do these months and years and Abib and all these different, Adar and all these
different things, right.
Let's see who's right.
What's the book of Galatians about, folks?
What's the book of Galatians about?
I mean, if you actually read the context, there is not one thing in Galatians telling
these people, man, I can't believe that you guys have gone back to paganism.
I can't believe you're still going to the Oracle of Delphi.
You know, I can't believe that you're over there and you're worshipping these false
gods.
No, that's not what the book's about, folks.
So what they're doing is they're taking this thing and ripping it out of context
and they're missing the whole point.
Let's see what the book of Galatians is about.
The Bible says in chapter one, let's just look at just a quick view of each chapter.
Chapter one, it says in verse six, I marvel that you're so soon removed from him that
called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel, which is not another, but
there be some that trouble you and would pervert the gospel of Christ.
So we see here that the problem is people twisting the gospel of Christ.
They're not bringing them back into the paganism of Greek mythology, but they are
rather twisting the gospel of Christ, okay.
He talks about excelling in the Jews' religion.
Verse 13, you've heard of my conversation in time past in the Jews' religion, how that
beyond measure I persecuted the church of God in ways that and profited in the
Jews' religion, okay.
And then he talks about how that's all vain.
Jump down to chapter two.
I'm just going to hit the highlights quickly.
It says in verse three of chapter two, but neither Titus who was with me being a Greek
was compelled to be circumcised 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.
So in what way are they trying to bring them into bondage, circumcision?
They're bringing in circumcision to bring them into what?
Bondage.
Okay.
Folks, look at the pertinent passage again in Galatians 4.
Verse 8, it says, howbeit then when you knew not God, you did service unto them
which by nature are no gods, but now after that you've known God, or rather are known
of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements whereunto ye desire
again to be in bondage.
What's the bondage, folks?
The bondage is workspace salvation.
The bondage is being under the law.
The bondage is get circumcised.
Okay, let's continue in chapter two.
Okay.
He talks about the circumcision, uncircumcision, circumcision, uncircumcision all throughout
the passage.
Verse 16, knowing that a man, 2.16, knowing that a man is not justified by the works
of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ
that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law,
for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.
Look at verse 21, I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness come by
the law, then Christ is dead in vain.
Verse one of chapter three, oh foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you that you
should not obey the truth.
And look at verse two, this only would I learn of you, receive you the spirit by
the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith.
Talks about how Abraham believed God and it was counted in righteousness.
Verse 17, this I say that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ,
the law which was 430 years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise
of none effect.
Jump down to chapter four, verse number five, to redeem them that were under the law,
that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Look if you would at verse 20 of chapter four, I desire to be present with you now
and to change my voice, for I stand in doubt of you, tell me ye that desire to be under
the law.
Do you not hear the law?
Why is he a doubt of them?
Why is he saying I doubt you?
Why does he doubt them?
Because they want to be under the law.
You guys want to be under the law, I doubt you.
Okay, now let's go back to the pertinent passage, Galatians 4-8, howbeit then when
you knew not God, you did service unto them which by nature are no gods, but now after
that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and
beggarly elements wherein ye desire are going to be in bondage, ye observe days and months
and times and years, I'm afraid of you.
I stand in doubt of you.
I'm worried about you.
Why?
Because you're desiring to be under the law, because you're trying to be justified
by the law.
Chapter one, chapter two, chapter three, chapter four, let's go to chapter five.
Verse one, stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be
not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.
Behold I, Paul, saying to you that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.
For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he's a debtor to do the
whole law.
I mean, look, we can read that whole chapter, but what's the bondage?
What's the bondage in verse one?
The bondage is going back under the law, right?
Is it going to Zeus?
Is it going to Apollo?
Is it going to Aphrodite?
Is that what the bondage is?
Is the bondage your horoscope and your zodiac?
Is the bondage a lightning thunder god?
No, the bondage is the Jewish law.
The Jews' religion is the bondage that he talks about.
Hagar isn't Zeus, it's the Jews, okay?
And then chapter six, of course, verse 13, he says,
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you
circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.
But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse 15, For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision,
but a new creature.
But I'm supposed to believe that in a book that is consistent.
Chapter one, two, three, four, five, six, saying the same thing.
Don't go back under the law.
We're under grace.
We're justified by faith.
We're not saved by works.
Don't get circumcised.
I'm supposed to believe in the middle of it.
Oh, by the way, about that zodiac, about that oracle of Delphi, about those Greek
practices, your false gods.
That's garbage, folks.
That's a stupid way to read the Bible, friend.
But you know what it is?
It's a deceptive thing where they just want to take a verse out of context and they deceive
the minds of the simple through a YouTube video because they don't think you're going
to read the whole book.
You're just going to watch the video and just eat it up with fork and spoon.
New to Torah, right?
You're going to watch the Torah observing and HaChflem and all the Yeshua, Yahweh,
Yahoshua, and you're going to put a blanket over your head and pray like this and do
all this kind of stuff.
Look, you know what it is?
It's a bunch of cosplay.
It's like a Star Trek convention.
Hebrew Roots is a Star Trek convention.
People like to dress up in funny outfits, friend.
Otherwise, explain the Star Trek convention.
People, that's, look, to these people learning a few words and phrases in Hebrew
is like learning a few phrases in Klingon.
I'm serious.
Now look, I'm not saying it's bad to learn Hebrew if you're actually going to learn the
Hebrew and read the Bible in Hebrew.
These people can't speak Hebrew.
You walk up to them and say something in Hebrew.
You could say like the most basic thing like, do you speak Hebrew?
Like, you know, like you say like, Sprechen Sie Deutsch.
Who knows what that means?
Sprechen Sie Deutsch.
Is that hard?
Who here doesn't speak German, but you still know what Sprechen Sie Deutsch means, right?
Yeah, you know that, right?
Guess what?
Everybody knows that.
You walk up to one of these Hebrew roots people and say, Atame Vini Vrit, and they're like,
whoa, buddy, oh, man, that's really advanced.
I don't know what it's at that level.
Dude, I just said to you the most basic sentence in the language.
Do you understand Hebrew?
And there's whoa, man.
But they can tell you, well, if you actually go back to the Hebrew, I mean, you know.
So the point is these people are a bunch of cosplaying Star Trek, Klingon-speaking types,
but they're just looking for this fun little dress-up.
It's cool, it's trendy, and they feel like, yeah, we know something that other people
don't know.
We got this.
Folks, it's pride that leads people into this.
Is that what Galatians teaches?
Now let's go to the pertinent passage of Galatians and let's see what it's actually
teaching now that there's no shadow of a doubt that it's not teaching the craziness
that they're saying.
Here's what God's actually saying here.
He's saying in verse 8, Howbeit then when you knew not God, you did service unto them
which by nature are no gods.
Who are those people that were no gods?
It's all those Greek gods, right?
The pantheon of Greek gods.
Well, here's the thing about worshiping those Greek gods.
Guess what they had with those?
They had a drink offering.
They take their wine and they pour out a libation unto their false god.
Guess what they had?
Animal sacrifices to their false gods.
Is everybody listening?
Guess what they had?
Holidays for their false gods.
A special calendar for their false gods.
And here's what he's saying.
Look, you worshiped idols.
You got mixed up in all that stuff.
Now you're saved in worshiping the true god.
Now it's like you want to go back and do stuff that's similar to your pagan roots
by observing times and days and months and weeks and years.
That actually fits the context.
That actually makes sense.
He says you want to be, verse number 9, but now after that you've known god or rather
known of god how to turn you again to the weak and beggarly elements wherein you desire
again to be in bondage.
What is he talking about?
You observe days and months and times and years.
Here's what they're observing.
Sabbath days, blowing a trumpet on the new moon.
They're looking at the times and the years and they're basically doing the Passover
and they're doing the Feast of Tabernacles.
They're doing the Feast of Weeks.
They're doing all these things.
God is saying, I'm afraid of you.
You know what I say to anybody who's mixed up in this Hebrew roots movement?
I'm afraid of you.
It makes me think you're not even saved is what he's basically saying because why
do you want to go back under bondage?
Why don't you understand the gospel?
Why don't you understand that the New Testament replaces the Old Testament?
I got to hurry because I'm running out of time so let me just go to the main thing
which is Hebrews 4.
I don't believe how fast the time goes here.
Time flies when you're destroying false doctrine.
But in John chapter 5, I'm just going to read you a couple of passages that are in
my notes because I'm almost out of time.
But in John chapter 5, it says in verse 16,
Therefore did the Jews persecute Jesus and sought to slay him because he had done
these things on the Sabbath day.
But Jesus answered them, My father worketh hitherto and I work.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, this is the narrator of the book speaking.
The Jews sought 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 that's the narrator speaking.
Let me give you a principle of Bible interpretation.
When the narrator is speaking, the narrator is always right.
Now the Bible will sometimes record characters who make a wrong statement.
I mean the Bible records what the devil says.
The Bible records what Job's three friends say.
The Bible records people saying things that are wrong or lying.
But when the narrator of the Bible is speaking, that's the Holy Ghost narrating
the Bible to us, we know that his record is true.
The narrator says in John 5, 18,
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.
Jesus said to them, My father worketh hitherto, and I work.
I work.
Now why did he say that?
Now let me explain it to you and we're going to see this in Hebrews 4 very clearly.
Because of the fact that the Sabbath pictures the fact that Christ does all the work for
salvation and we just rest in the finished work of Christ.
He does the work and we rest in his finished work.
That's why when Jesus Christ died on the cross, he was dead for three days and three
nights.
Guess what those three days were?
The first day he was dead was the 14th day of the month Abib, the Passover.
Guess what happens on the Passover?
You're not supposed to do any work.
The second day that Jesus was dead was the 15th day of the month Abib.
Guess what that is?
The Feast of Unleavened Bread.
And guess what?
You're not supposed to do any work on that day either.
The third day that Jesus was dead was the Saturday or the regular Sabbath day, the seventh
day.
And guess what you're not supposed to do on the Sabbath in the Old Testament?
You're not supposed to do any work.
So the first day that Jesus was dead, you don't do any work.
The second day that Jesus is dead, don't do any work.
Third day that Jesus is dead, don't do any work.
Why?
Because Jesus' death and burial and resurrection, he did all the work.
You just sit back and rest as Christ saves you.
Christ does it all.
We don't work our way to heaven.
We trust in and rest on the finished work of Jesus Christ.
That's why Jesus said, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath.
Now look, if I would have been around in Jesus' day and I started working on the
Sabbath, that would be a sin, wouldn't it?
Because back in the Old Covenant, they were told, do not work on the Sabbath.
So if you were in the Old Covenant and you worked on the Sabbath, wouldn't that be a sin?
But why was it not a sin for Jesus to work on the Sabbath?
Because Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.
And guess what?
He doesn't need to picture like, oh, well, I'm supposed to rest in someone else's
work.
He's the worker.
He didn't rest.
You think he was resting in peace for those three days and three nights?
No.
He was paying for our sins.
He was dead for three days and three nights.
And he rose again with the keys of hell and of death.
And he wasn't relaxing down there, friend.
He was doing the work that gets us to heaven.
Jesus did the work to get us to heaven.
We rest in the work.
That's what the Sabbath represents, resting in the finished work of Christ.
With that in mind, let's read Hebrews 4.
Hebrews 4, I'm almost done.
Hebrews 4, 1.
Let us therefore fear, lest a promise being left us of entering into his rest, any of
you should seem to come short of it.
For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them.
But the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that hurt
it.
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 remaineth that some must enter therein, and they to
whom it was first preached enter not in because of unbelief, again he limited a certain
day, saying in David, Today, after so long a time, as it is said, Today, if ye will
hear his voice, harden not your hearts.
For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another
day.
Now stop and think about this.
He says, look, if you believe in Jesus, you enter into rest.
If you don't believe in Jesus, you have not entered into rest.
Does everybody get that?
And the Bible says that if Jesus had given them rest, they would not afterward have
spoken of another day.
Once you have the rest in Jesus, once Jesus has given you rest, once Jesus Christ came
and worked through those three back-to-back Sabbaths, he worked through those three rest days
and worked for our salvation so that we could just rest in him and believe in him.
Guess what?
We don't need the Sabbath day anymore.
There's no need for another rest day.
That's fulfilled.
Just look, we don't need a rest day in the New Testament any more than we need
to go sacrifice a lamb out in the parking lot.
I mean, if we're going to rest on the seventh day, we might as well go sacrifice
the lamb in the parking lot.
And that's why I'm telling you the Sabbath keeping is the gateway drug to keeping the
whole law, to getting circumcised and eating kosher food and going down that road, and
then eventually what they're trying to do is abate and switch to get you from messianic
Judaism into just Judaism, synagogue of Satan Judaism.
Let's keep reading.
Verse 10, or let's start in verse 8 again.
I really want to drive this in.
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.
For he that has entered into his rest, Jesus' rest, he also has ceased from his own works
as God did from his.
So we can't work our way to heaven.
We have to cease from our own works and put our faith in what Jesus did.
Let us therefore labor to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example
of unbelief.
Now, what's the play on words there, let's labor to enter into that rest?
It's like when they said, what do we do that we might work the works of God?
Hey, this is the work of God that you believe on him whom God hath said.
What he's telling them, look, you guys want work, hey, you better work on getting saved.
It's a play on words here saying, hey, yeah, that's what you need to labor and
work and strive for to enter into the straight gate.
You need to figure out how to get saved and guess how you do it.
You believe in your heart and you confess with your mouth and you just rest.
You just rest.
And then once you've entered into that rest, and folks, I'm there.
And I know 99% of you out there are there.
You trusted Christ.
You're in that rest.
Hey, at this point, there's no need for that other day.
And that's why I'm going to close on this verse, Romans 14, 5.
One man esteemeth one day above another.
Another esteemeth every day alike.
Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind.
You know what that means?
That means that if I want to decide to treat every day the same, I can be 100% right
with God in doing that.
I can skip Christmas.
I can skip Easter.
I don't even have to regard Sunday as a special day.
I can just go through life treating all seven days the same, treating all the 12
months the same, treating every year the same.
I can just wake up every morning and worship God every day, love God every day, read
the Bible and pray and sing praises every day.
I can open my mouth and preach the gospel whenever I want.
I could have church on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday.
We can have church any time.
We can do any day.
Every day alike, he says, okay, great.
Now other people might say, you know what?
I want Sunday to be a special day for me.
I want to set Sunday aside as a special day and, you know, I'm not going to do
anything else.
I'm not going to do anything carnal.
I'm just going to spend Sunday only on the Lord.
You know what he says that?
Great.
You want to do that?
The Bible says in verse six, it says, he that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto
the Lord.
If somebody says, hey, Sunday is the Lord's day, let's make it a special day.
And he that regardeth not the day to the Lord does he not regard it.
And look, I'll just be honest with you personally where I stand, but you don't have
to be like me because the Bible says you can do it either way.
You can celebrate holidays.
You can celebrate special day of the week.
I'll tell you in my personal life, because this is up to my Christian liberty to decide,
you know, I treat all seven days of the week the same.
I don't do any special thing on Sunday as far as, you know, uh, abstaining from
certain things or fasting.
For me, Sunday is my biggest work day because I'm fasting.
So I need to eat food so that I can work hard.
You know, I don't want to get up and preach and I'm hungry and I preach too much
about food and drink.
So I basically treat Sunday as just a normal day.
I don't do extra Bible reading.
I don't do extra prayer.
I don't do extra anything because I do a lot of Bible reading all the time.
You know, I just, I like to look at all seven days as the same and I enjoy church
just as much on a Friday or Tuesday or Wednesday as I do on Sunday.
To me, the days of the week are meaningless to me.
That's where I'm at.
Now, if you say, well, I'm going to be like a Sunday Sabbatarian where I treat
Sunday special, as long as you don't impose that on other people and as long as you
don't think that's a command of God, if you just want to set aside Sunday,
because some people have rules like, hey, on Sunday we don't read any secular books
or we don't play sports or we don't do, you know what I mean?
They'll just have a day of reflection.
That's okay.
That's not what we do in my house.
You can do that in your house.
That's fine.
Now, and then when it comes to holidays, I do like to celebrate Christmas and Easter,
but if somebody else just says I'm not into Christmas and Easter, they can abstain.
Okay.
Because it doesn't matter.
The Bible says that we can treat every day alike or we can esteem a certain day and
say, hey, I'm going to choose this day to celebrate Christ's birth or I'm going
to celebrate Christ's resurrection or I'm going to go to church on Sundays and I'm
going to have that be a special day the whole day.
Look, I frequently, back when I was doing my fire alarm business, I would go to work
on Sunday afternoon.
I'd go to church on Sunday morning, go to work on Sunday afternoon, go back to church
on Sunday night.
Why?
Because Sunday is not the Sabbath, friend.
Sunday is the first day of the week.
Sunday is the Lord's day, but guess what?
Every single day we can get up and say this is the day that the Lord has made.
We'll rejoice and be glad in it.
Folks, there is no command in the New Testament that says to observe the Sabbath as a New
Testament Christian.
There's nothing special about the Ten Commandments that somehow isolates them from the rest
of the Mosaic law.
They are the Mosaic law.
They are the old covenant.
And I demonstrated that very clearly earlier in the sermon.
And not only that, there are specific verses telling us, don't worry about it, and when
I see you observing it, you make me nervous.
Isn't that what Paul said?
I'm afraid of you, I stand in doubt of you.
This is a clear cut issue.
This is not a gray area, friend.
The Old Testament Sabbath is done away in Christ, we do not observe it in the New
Testament.
Let's bow your heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, thank you so much for your word, Lord.
Thank you for the clarity of the new covenant, and Lord God, we just pray that you
would help us to study, to show ourselves approved unto you, and that we would please
you seven days a week in all that we do, and help us not to be deceived by those
who lie in wait for us with cunning craftiness.
Help us to search the scriptures daily and know whether these things be so, and
in Jesus' name we pray, amen.