Hi everyone! Today is another video request and it's all about [ The Sabbath ]
We got a lot of questions from you guys asking us "Should we still keep the Sabbath?
And if we have to keep the Sabbath - which day is it? Saturday or Sunday?"
A lot of Christians argue about the Sabbath
And to be honest I'm so tired, I'm so tired of Christians arguing in the flesh not in the Spirit -
not talking about it in love, not building each other up, not being gentle...but arguing about things
because "I want to be right, that woman is wrong, this man is wrong" (they want to win the argument).
These kinds of judgmental Christians that judge other Christians in the flesh
instead of talking about it in the Spirit...
Did you know that all the laws in the Bible hang on one thing:
LOVE
- love God and love your neighbor.
Of course we should talk about these things, it's important,
but we should do it by building each other up in gentleness, helping one another -
not breaking each other down.
Jesus says in [Matthew 22: 37-40]:
All right so now hopefully you will look at this video with an open and loving attitude.
Of course it is okay to sometimes disagree and to talk about these things
but we need to do it in love, not in a legalistic way of 'I am right and you are wrong',
that's the sin of pride talking.
Instead, be humble and love one another.
[Titus 3: 9] says:
Let me say it again;
"...and quarrels about the law, for they are unprofitable and worthless."
Now with that being said, let's take a look at what God's Word really says about the Sabbath!
Let's get to it!
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Now; should we as Christians still keep the Sabbath?
Even today some say, "Well yes of course because God says so in the old testament."
[Exodus 20: 8-11]
Then another group says, "No we don't have to keep the Sabbath anymore, that was in the old testament,
it was an example of our rest that is now in Jesus (in the new testament)".
But before I go into this, let me tackle the first issue that a lot of people have with the Sabbath;
"Does the Sabbath day command say that we have to go to church on the Sabbath?
Or does it say that we have to rest on the Sabbath day?"
There are some people, those who say that we have to keep the Sabbath, a lot of them also say
"Yes we have to go to church on the Sabbath day because it is God's day, and that is a Saturday"
But the problem is in the Bible when we read it,
the Sabbath day was never created just for a day that we have to go to church to worship God.
No, it was created so that we should rest.
In the old testament you were not even allowed to make a fire or to leave your house (on the Sabbath).
[Exodus 16:29]
And [Exodus 35:3]
Now some groups like the seventh-day Adventists, they say that we have to go and worship god on the Saturday,
but that was not what the Sabbath was created for and that's not the command of the Bible, of the old testament.
The command was to REST - not even to leave your house.
So now if you go to church, what are you doing? You're causing your pastor even to work
because he's got to prepare, he's got to do his sermon, and afterwards he's got to talk to a few people as well - that's his work.
The real intention of the Sabbath was to stay at home and to rest.
Remember [Exodus 20:10]
So now the question is;
"When should we go to church?"
Saturday? Sunday? Or some other day of the week?
Well we are not under the old law of sin and death anymore, we are now under the new covenant under Jesus, under the law of the Spirit,
and so we need to look at the example of the new testament.
When did the early Christians come together to worship God?
[Acts 2: 46-47]
So did you get that? It means EVERY DAY, day-by-day.
So you can do it on the Saturday, Sunday, every day of the week -
In fact you should worship God every day of your life!
Do you remember what Jesus said to the lady at the well?
That there will be a day where people don't just go to the temple and try to worship God, or this mountain, or that mountain,
but we now ARE the temple of God - we have the Holy Spirit in us,
so daily now we live with God and we worship Him.
Now if there were a day that the early Christians met together MORE, it was on the first day of the week (Sunday).
[Acts 20: 7]
It says on the first day of the week.
Here's another example: [1 Corinthians 16: 1-2]
So the first day of the week is on a Sunday, most of you know this already.
They came together to worship God on the Sunday, the first day of the week, not on the Sabbath, because that day was for rest.
They did it on the first day to honor the resurrection of Christ
because after the resurrection when Jesus appeared to other people in his bodily form, and the day was mentioned,
it was always on the first day of the week.
For example [Mark 16:9]
Now what you need to understand is the difference between the 'old covenant' and the 'new covenant'.
There will always be quarrels, disagreements between Christians, if they don't understand this,
if they don't understand how the new law works under the Holy Spirit -
that we are not under the old law of sin and death anymore, we have been made free.
If they don't understand this there will always be disagreements, regarding foods like
pork (bacon)
feasts
tattoos
cutting your beard or your hair
the Sabbath
...and so forth.
There were laws specifically for the nation of Israel -for that time.
And now when we turn to the new testament, we see now that Jesus has come, that He is here, the Messiah is here.
A lot of Israel followed Him, many of them (followed Him),
but then there were these other nations, like the Romans, that also believed in Jesus Christ.
And there were some of the Israelites who said 'No they have to follow all our old testament laws, over 600 laws.
They have to be circumcised, they have to do this and this and this and this.'
So there was an issue between the old Israel and the new covenant people from all nations who wanted to worship God.
And there were traditions that stood in the middle, there was conflict,
and so the disciples came together and they talked about it and they discussed how they should handle this,
from everything they've learned from Jesus Christ.
'How should the gentiles now live under Christ to fully worship Him?'
They agreed that they should not force them to obey all those old testament laws;
they shouldn't force them to be circumcised.
Listen carefully to what Paul says: [Colossians 2:16-17]
"...or a sabbath". I'm gonna read it again, please listen to the Word of God:
He explains that now everything has been fulfilled in Christ.
Listen to this;
So these things were but a shadow of the things that would come,
but the substance is Jesus Christ - it is all about Jesus.
The old law did not really change, it just pointed to Christ, to the Messiah.
The old testament was a tutor, it pointed to Jesus who would be the final sacrifice for sins.
So when these people from other cultures, the gentiles, started to believe in Jesus Christ,
the nation of Israel, the old Jews had an issue.
They had to talk about what aspects of the Mosaic law, and the Jewish traditions, the gentiles had to follow.
That's why the apostles came together and they discussed this issue this problem in the Jerusalem council.
You can read about it in [Acts 15].
This was their decision: [Acts 15: 19-20]
So here, led by the Holy Spirit, they decided not to include the Sabbath.
It's strange to think how people still now in the new testament, gentiles, who want to keep the Sabbath.
I mean if the Holy Spirit leads you to do it, that's fine because you are now under the law of the Holy Spirit,
but if it was important for the Holy Spirit to lead the apostles to write about the Sabbath in the new testament, they would have done so,
they would have included it here, but they didn't.
Now listen to this: [Romans 14: 5]
This is very clear. This is what scripture says,
so let us follow scripture - the new testament.
Let us not argue about this.
This is very CLEAR so let us follow SCRIPTURE.
And scripture says 'let us not judge each other on the Sabbath,
each one should be fully convinced in his own mind'.
The Holy Spirit should lead you.
To help you more with this go and read the whole book of [Hebrews] to understand the new covenant;
What does it mean that we are free from the old law
and that we now under the new covenant, under Jesus, under the law of the Spirit?
The Sabbath day was there for people to rest
and it pointed to Jesus, who would be our eternal rest,
just like all the sacrifices pointed to Jesus who would be our final eternal sacrifice for sins.
Listen to this: [Hebrews 4:1-7]
Do you get it? Scripture doesn't just say 'just on Saturday' or 'just on Sunday', it says TODAY.
That means EVERY DAY enter His rest, when you hear His call every day use it to worship God.
If you are a Christian, and even if you're not yet a Christian, turn to Him TODAY.
[Hebrews 4: 8-11]
Do you get it?
The 'old Sabbath' just pointed us to Jesus Christ Himself, who is now our rest - our eternal rest,
because Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.
Do you remember when the Jews judged Jesus and His disciples on the Sabbath?
What did Jesus say?
[Mark 12: 1-8]
You know, if you always want to judge other people about the Sabbath or these old testament laws...
if Jesus was here He would correct you just like He did with these Pharisees.
And if you do it you are just like these Pharisees who just want to judge people.
That's legalism and you don't understand what Jesus really did,
what it meant that He came to die for our sins, that He fulfilled the old testament
and with the new testament He brought a new covenant - a new law under the Holy Spirit.
If you don't understand this and you keep on judging people in your fleshly nature, you are just like the Pharisees.
They even judged Jesus for healing on the Sabbath.
[John 5: 8-9]
[John 5: 16-17]
Please understand; Jesus was not breaking the old law,
what He was doing is actually just explaining it better - what it really means.
He was against their "interpretation" of the law; they did not understand what the rules stood for.
Jesus said in [Mark 2: 27]
Jesus was saving people.
He brought them into eternal sabbath rest,
into eternal rest, because He is the Lord of the Sabbath - He created it
and He is the sabbath rest - in the flesh.
He did not abolish the old law, He fulfilled it all - EVERYTHING -
It's all just a shadow of the things that would come, but the SUBSTANCE is Christ.
It all points to Him.
Jesus says in [Matthew 5: 17]
Even today most people do not understand what this means; that Jesus came to FULFILL the law,
because they don't read their bibles anymore - SCRIPTURE.
They just follow the old traditions, even here in South Africa;
when you go to some of the churches, it's so stiff and they're full of the old traditions:
'No, it's a sin to get a tattoo.' 'It's a sin to do this.' 'It's a sin to do this.'
...They don't understand what it means to really follow Jesus.
That was the biggest issue for Jesus when He came;
those religious people, very legalistic, that judged Him all the time.
They did not understand what it meant that He now came,
as it was prophesied, the Messiah came to fulfill the old law.
The Sabbath rest was created to relieve man of his labors -
just as Jesus came to relieve us of our own attempts to get salvation through our works,
now we get salvation through faith, real faith in Jesus Christ.
When you read the old testament the nation of Israel failed time and time and time again.
They realized they could not really worship God by just their actions
because they had - all of us humans have - a sinful nature in us.
And we struggle with this daily.
And if God said "You can only go to heaven if you obey all my laws and never ever sin again"...
No one -not one of us- would go to heaven because all of us have sinned.
We fall short of the glory of God.
But Jesus came to die for us,
the final sacrifice for sins,
and now we have the Holy Spirit in us
and the Holy Spirit helps us to overcome sin because we are under the law of the Spirit
and our aim is to be more and more like Jesus.
So it doesn't mean that you can just go on and live in sin, no!
True faith in Jesus Christ means that you obey His law.
Jesus says that if you love Me you will obey My commandments.
Jesus is our rest now from works.
Because we cannot be saved just from our works - we are saved only by faith.
And that is why Jesus now is our rest, our eternal rest.
He is the only way to heaven where we will have rest forever and ever and ever.
Remember [Hebrews 4: 9-11]
Jesus also said in [Matthew 11: 28-30]
I really hope that this is starting to sink in now; that we are not under the old law anymore,
that the old law is still the same law but now it has been fulfilled
and now we don't have to do works all the time to get saved -
We can only be saved through faith in Jesus Christ,
and then good works is the fruit - the sign of a real reborn Christian
And if you are really reborn you have the Holy Spirit in you and He is now the one who guides you.
[Romans 8: 1-4]
The new covenant's focus now is on being a reborn Christian,
receiving the Holy Spirit and then living in the Holy Spirit, walking with the Holy Spirit -
not just on the Sabbath or this or that day, but every day.
This is the covenant God promised.
[Hebrews 8: 10-11]
[Hebrews 8: 13]
I do not understand how it is possible for so many Christians who say that they they love God,
that they are Christians, but they don't understand what the new covenant is...
because this is the new testament - this is our faith.
All of the things; the feasts and the religious stuff in the old testament all pointed to Jesus.
Remember [Colossians 2: 16-22]
Now for you who are so religious, judging other people on these old testament laws, listen to this:
[Colossians 2: 23]
I'll say it again: These things are a shadow of the things to come but the substance is Jesus Christ.
It all points to Him. It's all about Jesus.
He is the truth, the way, and the life.
He is the Lord of the Sabbath,
He gives us eternal rest,
He is the only sacrifice for sin,
He is the only One. He is the eternal High Priest.
There is a change in the law; the old covenant is a shadow of the new.
[Hebrews 7: 12]
And [Hebrews 7: 22]
So is it wrong if you worship God on the Sabbath?
No of course not.
If you're a reborn Christian you have the Spirit in you,
you are under the law of the Spirit and you love God, you want to worship Him every day.
It's not just a Saturday or Sunday thing, it's an EVERYDAY thing now.
Christ is your life and you are under the law of the Spirit.
[Hebrews 4: 7]
Now if you do want to worship Him because you feel
that you 'need' to worship (follow the old testament law) then you need to follow all of it - over 612 laws.
Then you can't eat bacon,
you can't get tattoos,
you can't cut your beard or the side of your hair here,
and you should also go and be circumcised.
It's silly. This happened in the new testament as well
when there were certain Jews that judged other people from other cultures,
they told them they have to go and be circumcised and follow ALL the laws.
This is what Paul said to them: [Galatians 5: 1-15]
You see how serious Paul is about this?
Please listen to me very carefully:
You have been set free of the old law of sin and death, if you are a real reborn Christian.
Do not go back to it again. Do not go back to slavery again,
Jesus set you free through faith. You are under the new covenant, the new law of the Holy Spirit.
[Galatians 3: 23-26]
Now please don't go back under the old law of sin and death anymore, don't be a slave.
You have been set free in Christ Jesus
and you have your eternal rest in Him if you are indeed a reborn Christian.
Now I can go on and on about this but that's enough for now.
If you still struggle to understand the difference between the 'old law' and the 'new law'
then please watch this video here, and I'll see you there!
And remember:
GOD LOVES YOU
and I love you too!
BYE!