Do Christians have liberty to esteem one day above the other?
The Bible says, “Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty” (2 Cor 3:17).
Please join Pastor John E. Coleman as he teaches on this subject.
Pt 1
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P 2
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P 3
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2 Responses to Should Christians Keep The Sabbath?
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January 11th, 2009 at 3:56 am
When we look at 2Corinthians 3 above, we think of the great and true liberty the indwelling Spirit of Yeshua Messiah/Jesus Christ brings to the soul, but nowhere is this wondrous liberty spoken about so clearly [if you are understanding him], as by the half-brother of the Lord Jesus himself, James!
In Chapter 2, James identifies the Decalogue [or if you will, the Ten Commandments], which is/are found twice in the Scriptures, in Exodus 20 when they were given unto Moses at Sinai, and once in Deuteronomy 5, at a time just before the Angel of Yahweh put Moses to rest rather than allow him to enter into the Land of Canaan [something he had looked forward to for forty years], because he had taken the glory which was to be given to God, to himself at the Rock [see Numbers 20: 7-11 for Moses disobedience]. That which happened to Moses in losing his temper with the Israelites at the rock, might be thought of as normal to us, for all he had to go through for 40 years in the desert, but remember, our thoughts are not God’s thoughts, and not only is He a God of love, but He is also a God of justice, and we must remember that, when we feel like God’s Sabbath cannot be that important, that we might lose our salvation for not giving heed to all of it; for choosing a day, other than the day He set aside for fellowship with His people on planet Earth, and shall do forever together with them [see Isaiah 66: 23]!
Here is that place where James identifies the Decalogue as the Law of Liberty:
“But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed” (James 1: 25, KJV); and
“So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2: 12, KJV). [b] You can see in Chapter 2, because James speaks of two of the commandments of the Decalogue in verse 11, he identified that Law of Ten Commandments as the Law of Liberty[/b], and as we look upon the literal wording of the Decalogue, as well as the spiritual aspects of that law as explained by Jesus in the Beatitudes, we know [b]God desires even our minds to be constantly free from sinful thoughts, AND, if we walk “in the Spirit,” and not “in the flesh,” the indwelling Spirit of Christ enables our sinful flesh to walk in righteousness, even as did Jesus when He pioneered the victorious life as he walked upon this Earth in sinful flesh, WITHOUT sinning! This was why Paul identified Jesus’ flesh in this manner: “God sending his own Son [b]in the likeness of sinful flesh[/b], and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh” (Romans 8: 3b, KJV). There was but one fashion Jesus/Yeshua was not exactly in our sinful flesh, and that is He did not sin, although in sinful flesh! Every individual who would ever live on planet Earth, were put into Jesus when He was put into the womb of Mary, and so we can say, His sinful flesh, was all of mankind, dwelling “in Him,” wanting to sin through Him, but for 33 and one half years, Yeshua/Jesus refused to allow that sinful flesh to win over His desire to save us! Had He sinned once, not only would “the Man” Jesus have failed His task, but He would have never come forth from the grave! That’s deep, and we can do that some time later!
It is therefore, our walking in the Decalogue as Jesus did, that enables us to see clearly what it is that makes the Ten Commandment Law, The Law of Liberty ["If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine" (John 7: 17, KJV)!] If all walk in it perfectly, then all are at perfect liberty, together with both God and man! James also calls the Two Great Commandments which Jesus spoke of in Matthew 22, another Law:
“[b]Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38: This is the first and great commandment. 39: And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40: On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets[/b]” (Matthew 22: 37-40, KJV, emphasis mine)!
James calls THIS LAW of TWO, [b]The Royal Law[/b], as in James 2: 8, KJV! Once mankind is able to differentiate between the Royal Law, from which Jesus tells us in Matthew 22, hang all of the torah {5 instructional/historic Books of Moses, Genesis to Deuteronomy inclusive} and the prophets {all the rest of the Bible}, and the Law of Liberty [which when kept spiritually according to the laws within the Five Books of Moses, which were explained in an all-inclusive manner by Jesus when He preached the Beatitudes in the New Testament, His teaching concerning the spiritual mentality all those of God should have, when indwelt by the Holy Spirit], we see that Moses’ Torah and Jesus’ Beatitudes are to be lived by all the followers of Jesus/Yeshua the Messiah, for they, because of the indwelling Spirit, are able to see that together torah and Beatitudes are the same instruction {for Moses speaks of all that must be done and not done, to a people who had just come from out a Pagan culture. He therefore needed all the additional information in torah,[b][i]to help the very literal Israelites to understand[/i][/b] what God’s love really meant in detail, in one person dealing with another. We who have spent real time in the Sacred Scriptures are able to see with much prayer and much study, that all in torah is brought together in the spiritual words of Jesus/Yeshua in the Beatitudes, so that God is able to tell by seeing what is in our hearts [which only He can see], and in our actions [it is how we treat mankind, that we show Him how much we love [b]Him in His creation,[/b] regardless that creation is as we might say, either good or bad [as to the Scriptural definition of these otherwise nebulous terms], for they are free to choose, yet we are to love all, all the same!
Now that we having studied and prayed our way through God’s Biblical Instructions, which takes time, patience, all of the fruit of the Spirit [see Galatians 5: 22, 23, KJV] to understand properly, and also after time, all this fruit is to be seen constantly in the lives of believers, THEN, it will also be seen the seventh-day Sabbath is neither our Sabbath, nor the Jewish Sabbath, BUT this one particular day per week, is actually YHVH’s Sabbath according to the commandment [see Exodus 20: 8-11], and of course is as well, Jesus’/Yehshua’s Sabbath, for He says this in Mark 2: 27, 28:
“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: 28: [b]Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath.”[/b] Clearly then, although it is not easily seen and understood for a person to learn this truth, which might be contrary to what s/he has learned all his/her life, when you go back and reread these few words slowly, and even a few times more than this first read, it will become clear, and here’s the summary:
1/ The seventh-day Sabbath, is Yahweh’s Sabbath, whereby HE invites US to keep it together with Him, and His Son. If we say we shall choose another day for the same purpose, or not choose any day, but leave out the Fourth Commandment altogether, we are sinning against God;
2/ The Sabbath is a sign that we rest in the righteousness of His Son, Yeshua the Messiah, and our resting in any other day than HIS rest day, would be a sign of self-righteousness, rather than Christ’s righteousness, thus annulling the everlasting gospel, and literally for those who are able to see this truth, and yet choose to disobey, deprives you of eternal life promised “in Christ,” to all who “overcome” [see Revelation 3: 5], that is, overcome sin as a constant way of life! Now we come to the final Scriptural analysis, which discloses this reasoning to be the truth:
3/ What is sin, so that we can know not to live in it? “Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: [b]for sin is the transgression of the law[/b]” (1John 4: 8, KJV). To fail of walking according to the Law of Liberty, for “if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” (Romans 8: 9, KJV), and anyone having the indwelling Spirit shall indeed walk according to the Law of Liberty on this Earth, for such an one is walking according to ANOTHER LAW:
“There is therefore now NO CONDEMNATION to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 2: For the [b]law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus[/b] [you see! This is another law, and when you walk in this law, you have the Spirit of Christ indwelling you, so 'self' is dead, and when self is dead, we do not sin, for the Spirit of Christ shall never sin, and He is in charge of the indwelt individual:] hath made me free from the [b]law of sin and death[/b] [which is another law, which can be said in this way: if you walk in sin, you die, forever! The only way not to die forever, is to walk in the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus].”
Before the Second Coming, we KNOW that Yahweh’s desire is that we walk with Him on His Sabbath Day, every seventh-day, from sundown Friday night, to sundown Saturday night, the manner of Jesus/Yeshua, and the Jews for millennia!
Remember, reread, pray over this, and be blessed! You must not stand OUTSIDE a commandment, and try to comprehend it! That’s what happened at the Tree, just before the Fall. There is another Law above, and I will give it to you once more — but, always remember it, OK? Remembering it, shall keep you out of much spiritual trouble:
“If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine” (John 7: 17a)!
Agape
April 12th, 2009 at 4:16 am
Why did they/we start having Sabbath on Sunday?
Thanks,
Randy