The Sabbath is a hotly debated topic among Christians. Does the Bible really teach that we should keep the Seventh-day Sabbath? Does it really matter which day we keep? Watch and listen as Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Mark Finley dives into the word of God to discover the Bible truth about the Sabbath. 

<p>The Sabbath is a hotly debated topic among Christians. Does the Bible really teach that we should keep the Seventh-day Sabbath? Does it really matter which day we keep? Watch and listen as Seventh-day Adventist Pastor Mark Finley dives into the word of God to discover the Bible truth about the Sabbath. </p>

<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

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Mark Finley

Every Non-Sabbath Keeper Needs to Watch This: Your Sabbath Arguments Answered

Now you say, Pastor Mark, why make an issue of this?

Did a tree make a difference in the Garden of Eden?

When Eve partook of the tree in the Garden of Eden, The issue was not simply the taking of the fruit.

And the tree made all the difference in the world because Eve stepped out of God's will.

The issue is more than a matter of days, just like the issue in the Garden of Eden was more than a matter of trees.

The issue is a matter of willingness to do God's will.

The Sabbath is a hot issue of contention among many people.

The Bible is abundantly clear on the question of the Bible Sabbath.

And during this presentation, we're going to take a look at the subject of the Sabbath from Scripture.

But most of the time I will focus on questions that are asked about the Bible Sabbath.

For example, isn't the Sabbath a Jewish institution?

Can you really tell which day the seventh day of the week is?

Didn't Jesus come to do away with the law and institute salvation by grace?

If you keep the Sabbath, is that really salvation by works?

Doesn't the New Testament teach that we're to keep the first day of the week and not the seventh?

We're going to look at some of those questions.

Some of the common questions are as well that I've heard very often in my 50 years of ministry is doesn't the Bible say let no man judge you on the Sabbath?

Or another passage, doesn't it say that let everybody be persuaded in their own mind.

If you wanna keep 1 day and another person keeps another day, What difference does it really make?

We're going to take a look at those questions.

We're going to delve deeply into them and ask the questions in the light of Bible scripture.

But let's get a little background of the Sabbath.

The Sabbath was given in the Garden of Eden.

After the 6 days of creation, the Bible says that on the seventh day, Genesis chapter 2, and on the seventh day, God ended his work that he had done.

And he rested on the seventh day from all his work, which he had done.

Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it he rested from all his work, which God had created and made." So here at Genesis, before the existence of the Jewish race, You remember the Jews, you have Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the 12 sons of Jacob become the 12 tribes of Israel.

Abraham lived in about the 18th century BC before Christ.

And so you have at least a 2, 600 year gap between Genesis and the existence of the Jewish race.

So here, God at creation, let me make it plain, 2, 600 years before the Jewish race existed, says that he blessed the seventh day.

A blessing is the institution of divine favor.

The blessing is God's benediction on something for our happiness.

So God places the blessing or the gift or the benediction of his own divine favor in the Sabbath so that we could in worshiping on the Sabbath be blessed and joyous and happy and content and satisfied.

He blessed the first or the third or the fourth.

Notice it says, as well, he sanctified it.

It means to set apart for holy use, as 1 woman is set apart in marriage for 1 man.

So as we rest on the Bible Sabbath, we rest in satisfaction of the completed work of Jesus Christ at creation, in the completed work of Jesus Christ in the cross of redemption.

Now, is there evidence that the Sabbath was given before the 10 Commandment law?

In 2 places in the book of Exodus, at least.

In Exodus chapter 5, the Israelites are working indefatigably.

They're working with the sweat of their brow.

And as these Israelites work in Egypt, captive there, Moses comes to Pharaoh and says, let my people go.

And Pharaoh says in Exodus 5, verse 5, and Pharaoh said, look, the people of the land are many now and you make them, notice the word, rest from their labor.

You're causing the people to keep the Sabbath.

So even among the pagan cultures of Egypt there were those Jews that were keeping the Sabbath and they were resting and they weren't laboring on that day and as the result of that Pharaoh was upset.

It is before the giving of the 10 Commandment law.

In Exodus, the 16th chapter, we have the miracle of the falling of the manna.

There's a triple miracle in that story that helps to highlight the importance and significance of the Sabbath.

Manna fell each day of the week, but miracle number 1, no manna fell on the Sabbath.

Miracle number 2, if the Israelites would gather more manna than they needed any other day, it would spoil.

But on Friday, sixth day rather, they could gather twice as much manna, twice as much fell on that day.

And third miracle is that it didn't spoil over the Sabbath.

As God spoke to Israel, Some of them went out on the Sabbath to gather manna.

And this is what God's word says in Exodus 16, verse 28.

And the Lord said to Moses, "'How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws.

Now the significance of that is the 10 Commandment law is not given until Exodus 20.

How did Cain know it was sinful, wrong to murder Abel?

When God created Adam and Eve, they were personally instructed in the principles of heaven and the law of God was written upon their hearts.

Cain knew that it was wrong to kill Abel because God had instructed them in the fact that killing is wrong.

And the law of love was written in their hearts, so they spontaneously wanted to love.

Likewise, the principle of the Sabbath had been kept down through the ages, and as the result of that, they knew the Sabbath before the 10 Commandment law.

But as they came out of Egypt, they were so immersed in pagan culture and the worship of idols, immorality, and so forth, God spelled out the 10 Commandment law, wrote it with his own finger on tables of stone.

Now, if God wrote something with his own finger on tables of stone, don't you think that was quite important?

In fact, 1 of the commandments says, remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

6 days, shout the labor, do all thy work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God.

Would God say remember if it wasn't significant?

It's almost as if God knew that the human race would forget the Sabbath.

Wouldn't it be the height of blasphemy to think that 1 could change the very law of God written with his own finger on tables of stone?

The Sabbath was given not as a legalistic requirement, but as a blessing to you and to me to come to rest in the loving creator, to recognize that he had created the heavens and the earth, and to recognize that he would remake the heavens and the earth in the future, to rest in his love, rest in his care, rest from stress and tension and anxiety.

That's why in Ezekiel chapter 20 verse 12, God said the Sabbath is a sign between he and his people.

In the New Testament Jesus of course kept the Sabbath.

Luke chapter 4 verse 16 the Bible says it's Christ's custom was.

Somebody's will in testament is not formed after their death, it's formed before they die.

Jesus left a positive legacy and a will in Testament.

In Luke, chapter 4, verse 16, he said, as his custom was, he kept the Sabbath.

And then, of course, in Matthew, chapter 5, verse 16 and 17, Jesus says, Don't think I've come to destroy the law of the prophets.

I've come not to destroy, but to fulfill.

And you remember where were the first Christians called Christians?

Here in the place where the first Christians were called Christians, Paul established a Sabbath keeping church.

So it was established right after these first Christians were called Christians.

We find that, for example, in the book of Acts, in the 13th chapter of the book of Acts, verses 42 to 44.

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Every Non-Sabbath Keeper Needs to Watch This: Your Sabbath Arguments Answered

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