 Instead of worrying about when is the Sabbath, maybe we ought to worry about if the Sabbath is for us after all. Different groups who claim to place their faith in the Bible in the words of God have this big issue with the Sabbath. One, when is the Sabbath? What is the Sabbath? What is it for? And then two, more importantly, should we keep the Sabbath? So let's deal with the first question, the easy question. This word Sabbath means seven. It's part of the root word for seven and it literally refers to the seventh day of the week. That is Saturday for our calendar. It's not a Sunday. It's not a Friday. It is Saturday. So that part we shouldn't even have a big issue with. The question is though, is the Sabbath made for us? Who is the Sabbath made for? What should we do with the Sabbath? But even more to the point, what has God done with the Sabbath? So before we get going, let's go and look at the Bible. In Exodus 28, we see, remember the Sabbath. This is God giving 10 commandments. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Now notice it's called the Sabbath day, which is the day of the Sabbath, the seventh day to keep it holy. What does he say? Well, first of all, what does it even mean when he says to keep it holy? Well, he's actually giving us the meaning of keeping it holy. He says, six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Lord, your God. In it, you shall not do any work you or your sons or your daughters or your male or your female servants or your cattle or your sojourners who stays with you. For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the seas and all that's in them, and he rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. What does that mean? Well, the only thing that we can glean from here is that he's saying, holy, it's separated to do what? To rest. What did God do on the seventh day? He rest. He ceased from his work. And on the seventh day, what did he command his people to do? To rest, cease from their work. Notice it didn't say to observe or to do certain things on it. It just says what not to do. So if someone were to say, well, you must go to worship the Lord on that day, well, that might be fine. But again, it's not a command to do so. What it just simply says is to not do something which is to work, rest. And the point of all of this is that the people of God would honor the Lord for what he's done. Now, interestingly enough, there's also not just a Sabbath rest for the people. There's also a Sabbath rest for the land. Let's look at Leviticus 25 forward. Notice what he says. But during the seventh year, the land shall have a Sabbath rest. So in this case, even the land gets a rest. Now, there's punishment for the people not adhering to the Sabbath, and there's also punishment for the people not adhering to the land Sabbath. Now, we need to remember what this is under. This is under what we call the Mosaic covenant, the old covenant. God has made a covenant with Israel, and that's important, a covenant with Israel. And it is a conditional covenant. If then, if you do this, then I'll do that. If you don't do this, then I will also repay that with punishment. Now, before we go any further, it is vitally important to understand this principle of primary and secondary application. The primary application in some of these texts are going to be for Israel and Israel only. Let me give you an example of a text that we use that is only for Israel, but sometimes we might use for ourselves. Now, could there be a secondary application of this text? Yes, there could be, but not a primary application. Here's what I mean. In 2 Chronicles 714, notice it says, if we would use sometimes if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven will forgive their sin and heal their land. Well, the question is, is that for us or is that for Israel? Well, this passage is clearly for Israel. How do we know? Because look at what the punishment is for not obeying God. Starting off in verse 17, he says, as for you, if you walk before me as your father, David, walk even to do according to all that I have commanded you and will keep my statues in my ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne as I coveted with your father, David, saying you shall not lack a man to be ruler in Israel. So clearly here he's speaking about Israel. He's not speaking about mankind in general. And then here is the punishment that is certainly specific for Israel. Verse 19, but if you turn away and forsake my statues and my commandments, which I have set before you and go and serve other guys and worship them, then I will uproot you from my land, which I have given you. Well, the question is, is that referring to us as Gentiles or the Jews? The Gentiles, there is no land that he's referring to. Remember this very same land that God has promised them that if they obey him, that he'll make that land flourish. But if they disobeyed him, then they will be removed from this land with their idolatry. And then even remembering the land Sabbath, after seven years on the seventh year, the land is to be resting. In other words, no crops, nothing. Let the land rest. If you violate this, there's going to be a punishment. What was the punishment? Well, Israel violated this land Sabbath 70 times. So for 70 times plus seven years, they were exiled for 70 years. I won't go into that part, but then also, there's a there's a prophecy that comes about that speaks of 70 times 70. Seventy sevens or 70 weeks will be decreed for Israel. I won't go into that, but God is clearly demonstrating that that particular word in regards to this is for Israel. And before we get to the question as to whether the Sabbath applies to Gentiles, let's look at what God has decided to do with the Sabbath as it relates to Israel. Because of their sin, Isaiah himself gives a word of the Lord and he's calling Israel Sodom. He's calling them Gomorrah. He calls them you rulers of Sodom, you rules of rules of Gomorrah, because he just got through referencing Sodom and Gomorrah. He's making a comparison. He says, hear the word of the Lord, you rules of Sodom, give ear to the instruction of your God of our God. I'm sorry, you people of Gomorrah, what are multiplied sacrifices to me? Says the Lord, I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of fed cattle, and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs, or ghosts. That's important guys, because he's stating the thing that they were supposed to do these offerings and so forth. I have no pleasure in them whatsoever. I don't want them. Don't need them. Notice what he continues to say, verse 12, when you come to appear before me, who requires of you this trampling of my court? So notice what he's saying. Who's asking you to come before me? Well, God didn't you? Well, I did, but you didn't do it the right way. You defiled my statues, you profaned my days, and so I'm not requiring of you to come anymore. Verse 13, bring your worthless offerings no longer. Incense is an abomination to me. New moon, and here it is, and it's Sabbath, the calling of assemblies. I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly. I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts. Well remember, it was God that gave them those two. So it's not necessarily the days, it's them and what they've done with it. He says, they have become a burden to me. I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you. Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. So here it seems to indicate that God is through with their offerings and their sacrifices and their feasts and their days, including the Sabbath. Other passage that they seem to bear this out is, Hosea 211, he says, I will also put an end to all her gaity, her feasts, her new moons and her Sabbaths and all her festival assemblies. I will destroy her vines and her fig trees, of which she said, these are my wages, which my lovers have given me and I will make them a force and the beast of the field will devour them. In other words, he is punishing them for their idolatry, for all of their sacrifices to the other gods. He is punishing them for their disobedience. He says, I will have no more pleasure in your new moons and your feasts and your Sabbaths. Laventations 2 verse 6, he says, and he has violently treated his tabernacles like a garden boot. He has destroyed his appointed meeting places. The Lord has caused to be forgotten the appointed feasts and Sabbath inside. He has despised king and priest in the indignation of anger. God is angry with them with how they have handled his Sabbaths, how they have handled his feasts and so forth. So what is God saying? I'm causing to be forgotten. I am no longer in him. Now you can bring him if you want to, but you will notice that I will not be involved. And so consequently we're going to say a couple things. Israel is put out of the land. They're going to be brought back into the land according to the prophecy, but there's going to be a famine of God's work. Why? Because God is going to do what he stated all along. Remember, God has told them to fix their heart. They never will. They never do. And so God has decided that he will circumcise their hearts and he's going to cause Israel to be made jealous because since they went after other gods, God is going to cause Israel to be jealous with another people, people that is not his people, people who he's not called beloved. He will call beloved and force Israel to be jealous and bring them back. And so the reason why this is important is because what he commanded Israel to do, he's no longer involved in including the Sabbaths. Now, why is all of that important? Because there's arguing that we have back and forth as to which day is the Sabbath. It might not be that important. Clearly the Sabbath, the seventh day is the Saturday, but is that a day that we are supposed to go and let's say worship the Lord on that day? Well, remember the original Sabbath didn't tell us what to do. It just told them what not to do and to kind of back this up. As the church is being formed, remember there is no command and I think this needs to be spelled out and need to be heard vividly because it's going to be one that's going to be somebody that's going to want to push back and say you're telling people to disobey the command of the Lord, but you're going to have to give a command of the Lord for the church. There is no command in scripture to tell the church to observe the Sabbath. There is no command to tell the Christians, the new believers, the Gentile believers, to observe the Sabbath. In other words, to do something or not do something on the seventh day. As a matter of fact, what we do see are these Jewish apostles who are now leaving the church. What are they doing on the seventh day and the first day of the week? Let's go to Acts 27 says on the first day of the week, when we gathered together to the breaking of bread, Paul began talking to them, intending to leave the next day he prolonged his messes until midnight. So we see this beginning of them gathering on the first day of the week. What does that have to do with the Sabbath? Nothing really except to say that that's kind of where we see the tradition of coming together on the first day of the week. Do you have to come together on the first day of the week on Sunday? No, you do not. As a matter of fact, we're going to find out that according to Paul, I'm sorry according to Acts, every day should be esteemed or could be esteemed like every other day. Chapter two, verse 46, and they continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house did eat their meat with gladness and sinless of heart. Now notice what he says, and they continuing daily. Kaath Hemeron, which is day to day, some verses might translate this. So every day is what they had in common the day they were coming together, worshiping the Lord, praising, breaking bread and being a true body. This was an everyday thing. But yes, someone will say, but don't we see sometimes the Apostle Paul and others in the synagogue? Well, again, they were in the synagogue. What were they doing on the synagogue? Were they working? Wasn't the command for them to not work, to rest, to seize what they were doing? What had happened was the synagogue became almost a day of work because what did you see in the synagogue? People working, people doing things. Are you saying the breaking of bread, the Word of God is working? Not necessarily, but you see Paul certainly exerting effort doing what? Preaching the Gospel. Just like other disciples, they'd be in the synagogue preaching the Gospel to the Jews and anyone else that could hear the Gospel. What was Paul doing every other day? Preaching the Gospel on Saturday, on Sunday, on Monday, throughout the week, and again on Saturday and Sunday, repeating this as often as he could, even while he was in prison. Now, if a person wants to choose to reverence the Sabbath, that's fine. There is no command to not do. In other words, it's not a sin to have a certain day where you leave it as holy such as the Sabbath and make that your special day. You could do that. There's no problem with that. Just like you could do the same for a Sunday or a same for Monday. The truth is, there's not one day now that we should esteem over any other day. As a matter of fact, going to some of these passages, going to Colossians 2.16, notice what Paul says. Therefore, no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. No one can say if John does not want to adhere to the Sabbath, but instead he wants to have his day to the Lord, maybe on a Sunday or every day. No one is to judge him in accordance with that. There are no Sabbath commands for the Gentile believer. As a matter of fact, Paul even goes one step further in Romans 14.5. He says, one person regards one day above another. Another regards every day alike. Each person must be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day observes it for the Lord and he who eats does so for the Lord. In other words, if you regard this day, then fine. It's up to you. You can do so whereas someone else might not. They have that freedom. They have that liberty. There is no compulsion for them to regard it the same way you do because, again, there is no commandment. And if there were a commandment for someone to observe the Sabbath, well, then we have a problem because the church, the founding of this church, we don't see this command because there's a question as to whether the Gentile believers, should they adhere to the day of Sabbath? Well, in Acts 1519, this question is brought up and says, therefore it is my judgment that we do not trouble those who are going, who are turning to God from among the Gentiles. That's us. We should not trouble those who are among the Gentiles, but what, but rather, we write to them that they should do this, abstain from things contaminated by idols and from fornication and from what is strangled from blood. For Moses from ancient generations has in every city those who preached him since he is read in the synagogues every Sabbath. Now, someone's going to want to notice that the fact that they mentioned Moses being preached in the Sabbath, in the Sabbath, in the synagogues, he's not stating that they should be in the synagogues every Sabbath because that's not a command. He's just referencing what was preached and these are the things that they should adhere to, but never once is a church, the Gentile church, the Gentiles ever told that they ought to keep the Sabbath. If a person wants to adhere to the Sabbath, then fine. If a person does not find what Paul say, he said they should be fully convinced. Now, is there ever going to be a Sabbath that we're going to enjoy? Sure. There's going to be this resting, this eternal rest that all of us Jew and Gentile like are going to find ourselves in. Notice in Hebrews 4-9, he says, so there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God. That will be Jew and Gentile. Now, this particular writing here is for Jewish believers and so it's still going to apply to all of us because we all will find ourselves as people of God. There's going to be a Sabbath's rest for all of the people of God for the one who has entered his rest has himself also rested from his work as God did from his. Therefore, let us be diligent to enter that rest. That's the rest that we want to enter into, not a particular day, but into eternity. Let us be diligent to enter that rest so that no one will fall through following the same example of disobedience. In other words, so that we don't fall in disobedience like they did in terms of them not observing the Sabbath, them not observing the different feasts and so forth and sacrifices so that we don't fall in that. We're not going to regard that the Sabbath that we're going to look to now is going to be this eternal Sabbath, this rest in the Lord. So when someone says that we should keep the Sabbath, well you cannot command or cite a passage stating that we should if a person wants to, that's fine. If you want to do so under the old law, under the covenant, if you want to do it in that regard because it is a command, remember Paul tells us that if you are going to keep one aspect of the law, you have to keep the entirety of the law. The problem is if you do so, he says in Galatians 5-4, you have been cut off. If you are trying to keep the law to maintain your salvation, you have no salvation. If you are trying to be saved by keeping the law, if you're trying to be saved by keeping the Ten Commandments and every other aspect of it, once you violate one, you've lost it all. Do not do that. We have this liberty. We are saved because of the grace of God and there is no compulsion upon us to have a and there is no compulsion among us to have a particular day above another day. If you want to, that's fine but it's not a command whereby you will lose your salvation, whereby you will offend God. Instead, a steam every day high in the Lord, make eternal rest in him, your goal, your aim, and in that way, as the writer of Hebrew says, you will never fall. Amen.