• When was the Sabbath established by God?
• Did Jesus do away with the Sabbath?
• Was the Law, nailed to the Cross?
• Does the Sabbath rest remain for New Testament Christians?
• Should a Christian eat out on the Sabbath?
• Should a Christian be attending Church services on the Sabbath?
• Can someone worship God in vain?

Genesis 2:1-3; Exodus 20:8-11;

Genesis 2:1-3 ¹The heavens and the earth were finished, and all their vast array. ²On the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. ³God blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, because he rested in it from all his work which he had created and made.

Some may claim that the Sabbath was not kept until God gave them to Moses. This is not true, because God kept the Sabbath even from the beginning of creation. We should be following God's example and instruction to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it Holy.

Exodus 20:8-11 ⁸"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹You shall labor six days, and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; ¹¹for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.

Traditional Christianity teaches you to forget the Sabbath day and instead keep Sunday which is a tradition of men.

Matthew 12:1-14; Mark 2:23-28; Matthew 7:13-23;

Traditional Christianity teaches that the death of Jesus Christ did away with the Sabbath day, but scripture does not agree with this false tradition as we shall see. Jesus never said that when he died the Sabbath day would be done away, instead Jesus instructed how to keep the Sabbath properly.

Matthew 12:1-14 ¹At that time, Jesus went on the Sabbath day through the grain fields. His disciples were hungry and began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. ²But the Pharisees, when they saw it, said to him, "Behold, your disciples do what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath." ³But he said to them, "Haven't you read what David did, when he was hungry, and those who were with him; ⁴how he entered into the house of God, and ate the show bread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for those who were with him, but only for the priests? ⁵Or have you not read in the law, that on the Sabbath day, the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are guiltless? ⁶But I tell you that one greater than the temple is here. ⁷But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless. ⁸ For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath." ⁹He departed there, and went into their synagogue. ¹⁰And behold there was a man with a withered hand. They asked him, "Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath day?" that they might accuse him. ¹¹He said to them, "What man is there among you, who has one sheep, and if this one falls into a pit on the Sabbath day, won't he grab on to it, and lift it out? ¹²Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep! Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath day." ¹³Then he told the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out; and it was restored whole, just like the other. ¹⁴But the Pharisees went out, and conspired against him, how they might destroy him.

Mark 2:23-28 ²³It happened that he was going on the Sabbath day through the grain fields, and his disciples began, as they went, to pluck the ears of grain. ²⁴The Pharisees said to him, "Behold, why do they do that which is not lawful on the Sabbath day?" ²⁵He said to them, "Did you never read what David did, when he had need, and was hungry--he, and those who were with him? ²⁶How he entered into the house of God when Abiathar was high priest, and ate the show bread, which is not lawful to eat except for the priests, and gave also to those who were with him?" ²⁷He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. ²⁸Therefore the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath."

Did you catch that? Jesus did not say, when I die the Sabbath is done away. Jesus said that the Sabbath was made FOR man and that HE was LORD of the Sabbath. Jesus Christ rested with the Father on the first Sabbath day. Jesus gave this command to Moses. Jesus kept this commandment when he was here as a human and Jesus will teach the Sabbath command when he returns to rule the earth. And those who falsely teach that Jesus Christ did away with this commandment are going to be in for a rude awakening. They will come to him and say, Oh sweet Jesus, Lord, Lord, we have prophesied in you name, we cast out demons in your name, we did great wonders in your name. And Jesus is going to look at them and say: "I never knew you, get away from me, you who work lawlessness."

Matthew 7:13-23 ¹³"Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it. ¹⁴How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who find it. ¹⁵"Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. ¹⁶By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Even so, every good tree produces good fruit; but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit. ¹⁸A good tree can't produce evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that doesn't grow good fruit is cut down, and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Therefore, by their fruits you will know them. ²¹Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²² Many will tell me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name, in your name cast out demons, and in your name do many mighty works?' ²³Then I will tell them, 'I never knew you. Depart from me, you who work iniquity.'

If you don't know what the word iniquity means, you might want to look it up. It means lawlessness or not doing the commandments of God. I don't want to be one of those Many people that come up to Jesus and I know who he is, but he doesn't know who I am, because I didn't even try to live by his commandments. I want to hear from the Messiah, "This is one of my Father's sons, whom he is well pleased, because he strove to keep his commandments. He repented and changed from his wicked evil ways and began living by my commandments. My blood covers his past sins, come inherit eternal life and rejoice in my kingdom." That's what I'm striving for as a Christian, aren't you?

Colossians 2:1-23;

Let's read Colosians 2:14 and see what it really says. Some claim this means the law was nailed to the cross and we are no longer obligated to keep the law.

Colossians 2:14 ¹⁴wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross;

Part of the problem is not carefully reading the scripture. Another problem is not understanding a crucifiction, which Paul no doubt witnessed and understood. And yet another problem is taking this verse out of context. Let's clarify this scripture by taking a closer look.

First, it was not the handwriting of ordinances that was nailed to the cross, it was the handwriting of orinances which was against us. It was laws we were guilty of breaking or charges against us or sin that was symbolically nailed to the cross.

Secondly, when you understand what takes place at a crucifiction, you understand what Paul is actually saying. Something was literally nailed on the cross of Jesus. Pilate had an inscription nailed to it stating this is the King of the Jews, because that is what Jesus was being charged with and crucified for. During a crucifiction the charges of the criminal would sometimes be nailed to the cross, so all who passed by would know why they were being killed. Paul was showing that symbollically our transgressions of the law or our SINS were nailed to the cross. Jesus died for our sins to wipe them away, so we can repent and start living a righteous life obeying the law.

Let's get the context of the scripture by reading the whole chapter.

Colossians 2:1-23 ¹For I desire to have you know how greatly I struggle for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; ²that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, ³in whom are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden. ⁴Now this I say that no one may delude you with persuasiveness of speech. ⁵For though I am absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, rejoicing and seeing your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ. ⁶As therefore you received Christ Jesus, the Lord, walk in him, ⁷rooted and built up in him, and established in the faith, even as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving. ⁸Be careful that you don't let anyone rob you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the elements of the world, and not after Christ. ⁹For in him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily, ¹⁰and in him you are made full, who is the head of all principality and power; ¹¹in whom you were also circumcised with a circumcision not made with hands, in the putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ; ¹²having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. ¹³You were dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh. He made you alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, ¹⁴wiping out the handwriting in ordinances which was against us; and he has taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; ¹⁵having stripped the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. ¹⁶Let no one therefore judge you in eating, or in drinking, or with respect to a feast day or a new moon or a Sabbath day, ¹⁷ which are a shadow of the things to come; but the body is Christ's. ¹⁸Let no one rob you of your prize by a voluntary humility and worshipping of the angels, dwelling in the things which he has not seen, vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind, ¹⁹and not holding firmly to the Head, from whom all the body, being supplied and knit together through the joints and ligaments, grows with God's growth. ²⁰If you died with Christ from the elements of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to ordinances, ²¹"Don't handle, nor taste, nor touch" ²²(all of which perish with use), according to the precepts and doctrines of men? ²³Which things indeed appear like wisdom in self-imposed worship, and humility, and severity to the body; but aren't of any value against the indulgence of the flesh.

Now some would tell you that verse 16 is saying we no longer need to keep the Sabbath or Holy Days, but once again, because people don't understand the culture of the time, they don't understand what Paul is addressing.

The Colossians had been significantly influenced by pagan philosophies that taught that perfection could be achieved through self-denial and abstinence from pleasure. As a result, Colossae tended to be an ascetic community which adhered to a religion of severity, and its citizens thought anyone who was religious should behave as they did. Many of the people who had come into the church had brought their pagan philosophies with them, and they soon began to have an adverse influence on the entire congregation at Colossae. Paul corrects the people in the church who were doing this in Colossians 2:20-23: Therefore, if you died with Christ from the basic principles of the world, why, as though living in the world, do you subject yourselves to regulations—"Do not touch, do not taste, do not handle," which all concern things which perish with the using—according to the commandments and doctrines of men? These things indeed have an appearance of wisdom in self-imposed religion, false humility, and neglect of the body, but are of no value against the indulgence of the flesh. Because the converted Colossians were learning how to enjoy life as God intended, the people in the community began to look down on them and condemn them. In addressing these problems, Paul reminds the Colossians that they are complete in Jesus Christ; they have no need for the pagan philosophies of this world. "For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power" (Colossians 2:9-10).

If you think we are no longer under any obligation to keep the law of God, then what is to keep Satan out of the Kingdom? He is a lying thiefing murderer and is going to be cast out of the Kingdom. And he wants you to believe you are under no obligation to follow the law of God and the world is mostly falling for his lies.

Hebrews 4:1-12; James 2:8-26; 1 John 2:1-6

Hebrews 4:1-12 ¹Let us fear therefore, lest perhaps anyone of you should seem to have come short of a promise of entering into his rest. ²For indeed we have had good news preached to us, even as they also did, but the word they heard didn't profit them, because it wasn't mixed with faith by those who heard. ³For we who have believed do enter into that rest, even as he has said, "As I swore in my wrath, they will not enter into my rest; although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. ⁴For he has said this somewhere about the seventh day, "God rested on the seventh day from all his works;" ⁵and in this place again, "They will not enter into my rest." ⁶Seeing therefore it remains that some should enter therein, and they to whom the good news was before preached failed to enter in because of disobedience, ⁷he again defines a certain day, today, saying through David so long a time afterward (just as has been said), "Today if you will hear his voice, don't harden your hearts." ⁸For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. ⁹There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. ¹⁰For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. ¹¹Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. ¹²For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

You might be sitting there saying, wait a minute, I have a King James Bible and it doesn't have "Sabbath rest", it just has the word "rest", why is that? That's because the Protestant translators who didn't keep the Sabbath, didn't want that in the bible. But in the Greek, it is in there.

From the Website: http://www.apostolic-churches.net/bible/strongs.html, however you can also get this out of your Strongs Concordance.

Strong's Greek Definition for # 4520
4520 // sabbatismov // sabbatismos // sab-bat-is-mos' //
from a derivative of 4521
AV - rest 1; 1
1) a keeping sabbath
2) the blessed rest from toils and troubles looked for in the age to come by the true worshippers of God and true Christians

Strong's Greek Definition for # 4521
4521 // sabbaton // sabbaton // sab'-bat-on //
of Hebrew origin 07676 // tbv //
AV - sabbath day 37, sabbath 22, week 9; 68
1) the seventh day of each week which was a sacred festival on which the Israelites were required to abstain from all work
1a) the institution of the sabbath, the law for keeping holy every seventh day of the week
1b) a single sabbath, sabbath day
2) seven days, a week

It is also interesting that this term is used in other Greek literature of the time, and from this it clearly should be translated Keeping of Sabbath Rest, but the translators chose to ignore this. Why?, because they refuse to keep or teach the Sabbath. False teachers also claim that since works don't save us that none are required.

James 2:8-26 ⁸However, if you fulfill the royal law, according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well. ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin, being convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law, and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all. ¹¹For he who said, "Do not commit adultery," also said, "Do not commit murder." Now if you do not commit adultery, but murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹² So speak, and so do, as men who are to be judged by a law of freedom. ¹³For judgment is without mercy to him who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment. ¹⁴What good is it, my brothers, if a man says he has faith, but has no works? Can faith save him? ¹⁵And if a brother or sister is naked and in lack of daily food, ¹⁶and one of you tells them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled;" and yet you didn't give them the things the body needs, what good is it? ¹⁷Even so faith, if it has no works, is dead in itself. ¹⁸Yes, a man will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without works, and I by my works will show you my faith. ¹⁹You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. ²⁰But do you want to know, vain man, that faith apart from works is dead? ²¹Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works, in that he offered up Isaac his son on the altar? ²²You see that faith worked with his works, and by works faith was perfected; ²³and the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him as righteousness;" and he was called the friend of God. ²⁴You see then that by works, a man is justified, and not only by faith. ²⁵In the same way, wasn't Rahab the prostitute also justified by works, in that she received the messengers, and sent them out another way? ²⁶For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.

It is true that works do not save us, but it is not true that God does not expect works from his people. Some falsely claim we no longer need to keep the law. Did the Apostle John believe and teach such nonsense?

1 John 2:1-6 ¹My little children, I write these things to you so that you may not sin. If anyone sins, we have a Counselor with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. ²And he is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the whole world. ³This is how we know that we know him: if we keep his commandments. ⁴One who says, "I know him," and doesn't keep his commandments, is a liar, and the truth isn't in him. ⁵But whoever keeps his word, God's love has most certainly been perfected in him. This is how we know that we are in him: ⁶he who says he remains in him ought himself also to walk just like he walked.

Jesus Christ kept the 10 commandments as an example for us to follow. He didn't just keep 9 of them, or 8 of them, no, he kept ALL 10 of them and the Sabbath is one of them.

Exodus 20:8-11; Nehemiah 10:28-31; Nehemiah 13:14-22;

Exodus 20:8-11 ⁸"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. ⁹You shall labor six days, and do all your work, ¹⁰but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Yahweh your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates; ¹¹for in six days Yahweh made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Yahweh blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.

The Sabbath commandment is not just for us, it is also for our children, and for our servants, and for our animals. Mr. Herbert W. Armstrong decided that it was OK for Christians to eat out on the Sabbath and many are following this teaching. I also followed this teaching and would at times eat out on the Sabbath and would often eat out on the Holy Days. In fact, one week I went out to eat here in Somerset at Sonnies Resteraunt a long time ago. I was stunned when I saw one of the leading men at church that had a minor daughter and she was working in the resteraunt on the Sabbath. I thought why would he let his minor child work on the Sabbath? It gets worse. We were seated and guess who was our waitress. Yeah, the Sabbath keepers daughter. I was even more shaken, because now she was breaking the Sabbath serving me, and I was paying her to do it. Now, who sinned worse that day? Her, that did not claim to be keeping the Sabbath and served me for money, or ME, who claimed to keep the Sabbath, and paid her to serve me. I was the bigger sinner brethren, because I claimed to keep the Sabbath, I but didn't. I was a hypocrite and I'm ashamed of it, as I should be. I needed to repent and change my ways. Was this specific issue ever brought up in the Bible?

Nehemiah 10:28-31 ²⁸The rest of the people, the priests, the Levites, the porters, the singers, the Nethinim, and all those who had separated themselves from the peoples of the lands to the law of God, their wives, their sons, and their daughters, everyone who had knowledge, and understanding-- ²⁹they joined with their brothers, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God's law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of Yahweh our Lord, and his ordinances and his statutes; ³⁰and that we would not give our daughters to the peoples of the land, nor take their daughters for our sons; ³¹and if the peoples of the land bring wares or any grain on the Sabbath day to sell, that we would not buy of them on the Sabbath, or on a holy day; and that we would forego the seventh year, and the exaction of every debt.

Can it be more clear than that? Well, actually it can and is clarified even more.

Nehemiah 13:14-22 ¹⁴Remember me, my God, concerning this, and don't wipe out my good deeds that I have done for the house of my God, and for its observances. ¹⁵In those days saw I in Judah some men treading winepresses on the Sabbath, and bringing in sheaves, and loading donkeys; as also wine, grapes, and figs, and all kinds of burdens, which they brought into Jerusalem on the Sabbath day: and I testified against them in the day in which they sold food. ¹⁶There lived men of Tyre also therein, who brought in fish, and all kinds of wares, and sold on the Sabbath to the children of Judah, and in Jerusalem. ¹⁷Then I contended with the nobles of Judah, and said to them, "What evil thing is this that you do, and profane the Sabbath day? ¹⁸Didn't your fathers do thus, and didn't our God bring all this evil on us, and on this city? Yet you bring more wrath on Israel by profaning the Sabbath." ¹⁹It came to pass that, when the gates of Jerusalem began to be dark before the Sabbath, I commanded that the doors should be shut, and commanded that they should not be opened until after the Sabbath. I set some of my servants over the gates, that no burden should be brought in on the Sabbath day. ²⁰So the merchants and sellers of all kinds of wares lodged outside of Jerusalem once or twice. ²¹ Then I testified against them, and said to them, "Why do you stay around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you." From that time on, they didn't come on the Sabbath. ²²I commanded the Levites that they should purify themselves, and that they should come and keep the gates, to sanctify the Sabbath day. Remember to me, my God, this also, and spare me according to the greatness of your loving kindness.

Nehemiah makes this issue very clear. Not only should we not be eating out on the Sabbath, we should not even being buying groceries on the Sabbath. We should give people the same opportunity we expect, to have the day off to rest and worship God.

Leviticus 23:1-3; Hebrews 10:1-39;

Leviticus 23:1-3 ¹Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ²"Speak to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The set feasts of Yahweh, which you shall proclaim to be holy convocations, even these are my set feasts. ³"'Six days shall work be done: but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation; you shall do no kind of work. It is a Sabbath to Yahweh in all your dwellings.

It is a commanded assembly. If you are sick with something contagious you should not be going to church spreading it around. The Bible also instructs us on the laws of quarintine for contagious diseases. If you are not sick then we should make every effort to attend services. Sadly, I see many today forsaking the assembling of ourselves and scriptures clearly shows we should not be doing this.

Hebrews 10:1-39 ¹For the law, having a shadow of the good to come, not the very image of the things, can never with the same sacrifices year by year, which they offer continually, make perfect those who draw near. ²Or else wouldn't they have ceased to be offered, because the worshippers, having been once cleansed, would have had no more consciousness of sins? ³But in those sacrifices there is a yearly reminder of sins. ⁴For it is impossible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sins. ⁵Therefore when he comes into the world, he says, "Sacrifice and offering you didn't desire, but you prepared a body for me; ⁶You had no pleasure in whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin. ⁷Then I said, 'Behold, I have come (in the scroll of the book it is written of me) to do your will, O God.'" ⁸Previously saying, "Sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin you didn't desire, neither had pleasure in them" (those which are offered according to the law), ⁹then he has said, "Behold, I have come to do your will." He takes away the first, that he may establish the second, ¹⁰by which will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. ¹¹Every priest indeed stands day by day serving and often offering the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins, ¹²but he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God; ¹³from that time waiting until his enemies are made the footstool of his feet. ¹⁴ For by one offering he has perfected forever those who are being sanctified. ¹⁵The Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, ¹⁶"This is the covenant that I will make with them: 'After those days,' says the Lord, 'I will put my laws on their heart, I will also write them on their mind;'" then he says, ¹⁷"I will remember their sins and their iniquities no more." ¹⁸Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin. ¹⁹Having therefore, brothers, boldness to enter into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the way which he dedicated for us, a new and living way, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; ²¹and having a great priest over the house of God, ²² let's draw near with a true heart in fullness of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and having our body washed with pure water, ²³let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful. ²⁴Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, ²⁵not forsaking our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as you see the Day approaching. ²⁶For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, ²⁷but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and a fierceness of fire which will devour the adversaries. ²⁸A man who disregards Moses' law dies without compassion on the word of two or three witnesses. ²⁹How much worse punishment, do you think, will he be judged worthy of, who has trodden under foot the Son of God, and has counted the blood of the covenant with which he was sanctified an unholy thing, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? ³⁰For we know him who said, "Vengeance belongs to me," says the Lord, "I will repay." Again, "The Lord will judge his people." ³¹It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. ³²But remember the former days, in which, after you were enlightened, you endured a great struggle with sufferings; ³³partly, being exposed to both reproaches and oppressions; and partly, becoming partakers with those who were treated so. ³⁴For you both had compassion on me in my chains, and joyfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an enduring one in the heavens. ³⁵Therefore don't throw away your boldness, which has a great reward. ³⁶For you need endurance so that, having done the will of God, you may receive the promise. ³⁷"In a very little while, he who comes will come, and will not wait. ³⁸But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." ³⁹But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the saving of the soul.

Can someone worship God in vain?

Mark 7:6-13; Matthew 23:16-22; Matthew 23:15;

Mark 7:6-13 ⁶He answered them, "Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. ⁷But in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.' ⁸"For you set aside the commandment of God, and hold tightly to the tradition of men--the washing of pitchers and cups, and you do many other such things." ⁹He said to them, "Full well do you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. ¹⁰For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother;' and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.' ¹¹But you say, 'If a man tells his father or his mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban, that is to say, given to God;"' ¹²then you no longer allow him to do anything for his father or his mother, ¹³making void the word of God by your tradition, which you have handed down. You do many things like this."

Traditional Christianity honors God with their lips, but they do not teach and follow his commandments. If they did, they would be keeping the Sabbath day Holy. Some are under the false impression that the Jewish leaders of Jesus day were teaching and keeping the commandments. They were claiming to be teaching the commandments, just as tradditional Christianity may claim they keep the commandments, but they really didn't. They are hypocrites and Jesus clearly showed it. Don't forget Jesus said, "You do many things like this." Let's look at another.

Matthew 23:16-22 ¹⁶"Woe to you, you blind guides, who say, 'Whoever swears by the temple, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gold of the temple, he is obligated.' ¹⁷You blind fools! For which is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold? ¹⁸ 'Whoever swears by the altar, it is nothing; but whoever swears by the gift that is on it, he is obligated?' ¹⁹You blind fools! For which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift? ²⁰He therefore who swears by the altar, swears by it, and by everything on it. ²¹He who swears by the temple, swears by it, and by him who was living in it. ²²He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him who sits on it.

Let me ask you something. If you swear to do something and then don't do it, what have you done? You have lied and the Pharisees were teaching under certain circumstances you could lie. That is not teaching the keeping of God's commandments. That is teaching tradition that is above the commandments. Let's go up one verse, which is interesting.

Matthew 23:15 ¹⁵Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel around by sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much of a son of Gehenna as yourselves.

Ironically, Traditional Christianity is the same today. They will travel over land and sea to get a convert to Christ and then what do they do with that convert? They teach them lies, vain traditions of men to replace the commandments of God.

Examples of traditions of men replacing the truths of God:
1. They teach the false tradition that God is a trinity, instead of the biblical teaching of God is a family.
2. They teach the false tradition that Sunday replaces the Sabbath, instead of the biblical teaching of remembering and keeping the Sabbath day Holy.
3. They teach the false tradition that you go straight to heaven or hell when you die, instead of the biblical teaching of the resurrections.
4. They teach keeping traditional holidays of Easter and Christmas, instead of God's biblical annual Holy Days.
5. They teach that Jesus kept the commandments for us and then did away with them, so we don't have to keep them, instead of the biblical teaching that Jesus Christ kept the commandments as an example for us to follow.

And brethren, I'll tell you, they make their converts twice as much a son of hell, as they are themselves. And if you don't think Jesus Christ would be so condemning of anyone, you might want to read the whole chapter of Matthew 23. It might well open your eyes to the real Jesus Christ and what he believed and taught.

Summary

1. If you don't keep the Sabbath, you don't keep the commandments. (Exodus 20:8-11)
2. If you are guilty of breaking one of the commandments, you are guilty of all. (James 2:9-12)
3. If you don't keep the commandments and claim to know God, you are a liar. (1 John 2:3-6)
4. It is not the hearers of the law, but the doers of the law that are justified before God. (Romans 2:12-15)
5. For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more a sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment. (Hebrews 10:26-27)
6. In vain do they worship God, setting aside the commandment of God, and holding firmly to the tradition of men. (Mark 7:7-8)
7. Jesus Christ will say to them at his return, Get away from me, you who practice lawlessness, for I never knew you. (Matthew 7:22-23)

There are false ministers out there teaching that the Sabbath is done away and we no longer need to rest and assemble on God's Holy Sabbath day. They are ravenous wolves in sheeps clothing seeking whom they may devour. Brethren, don't YOU become one of their victims.