Sabbath Thoughts 07

Salvation by adherence to "legalism." Have you ever heard of such a thing? One "Bible expert" daily chooses to call people who obey God "legalists," that when God says "Remember," that anyone who obeys God in that remembering is "adhering to salvation by legalism." It should be readily apparent that this "buzz phrase" doesn't mean anything; it is a glib catch phrase designed to sound as if it means something -- and something wise and significant at that -- to impress ignorant people and new believers in Jesus, while all the time it is just another tactic to separate people from the Truth of God.

It comes down to a choice: do you accept and obey God, or do you follow the tradition of many men, some of these men being very sincere and God-fearing men? If someone says something that vehemently disagrees with what God says in His Word, do you allow wiggle room for the person who disagrees with God? Do you accept the "Bible answers" of such a teacher? Or do you depart from the "teacher" and return to God?

The cock-eyed expression seems to state something like this: at one time you were saved by obeying God, you worked for and earned your own salvation, and thus there was active legalism, and it was a valid and God-prescribed method for getting your little bottom into heaven; now, however, since Christ died for us this same God-prescribed method of "legalism" is antiquated, and so if you obey God from the day after the cross until now, you are in fact attempting to earn salvation by sticking to that old system that once was in place but is no longer.

The fact is, there NEVER was a way to earn your way to heaven. Never was there a time when you could go to the temple and purchase your salvation by cutting the heads off pigeons or slitting the throat of a lamb; never was there a time when you could perform a series of good-work tasks to gain enough brownie points for admittance into heaven. Never was there a time when a person, Gentile or Jew, could "obey their way" into heaven.

In fact, there has always only been ONE WAY into heaven, and that is through accepting what Christ did on the cross. ALWAYS, from Adam until tomorrow, the only way to "get to heaven" is by accepting what Christ did on the cross. The same way and method for the children of Israel standing around Mount Sinai to a TV preacher of today.

But what about the obedience? That was ALWAYS a consequence of salvation. Meaning, you accept your free gift of God and you are changed so that He writes His laws into your mind, upon the tablets of your heart, and the Holy Spirit begins to lead you into obedience. Obedience has always been a FRUIT of salvation, never the root of salvation. It is a product of salvation, not the author of salvation. And the same laws that He wrote on the tables of stone is the same laws He writes upon the tables of your heart.

So when someone attempts to deceive you with the notion of "salvation by adherence to legalism" -- know this: that they are producing a completely false dichotomy -- that something existed at one time and exists no longer, and that people who listen to the Word of God and DO the Word of God are legalists, they are adhering to this old-time way that exists no longer -- whereas the TRUTH is that when God says obey and you obey you are not a legalist, but a follower of Christ. This is how we know we love God, that we follow HIm and obey Him and what He tells us to do is not in fact hard to do at all, but it is natural to us, natural to us in a supernatural way (i.e., only possible by the Holy Spirit). The fact is, the man-made laws that these teachers push are the traditions of men, the same kind of laws and regulations that Jesus was constantly conflicting with during His time as a human man on Earth.

And creating these man-made traditions? It is legalism. Creating your own laws to uphold and uplift what you think is right, what is most important.

Do you feel led to obey God? When you are tempted to use HIs name in vain, is there a still small voice that suggests that perhaps you should not? When you desire to sleep with your neighbor's spouse, don't you feel it is God Himself that convinces you that it is an unwise move, that it is in fact NOT "loving your neighbor as yourself?" When life prompts you to bow down to false gods, isn't it the writing upon your heart that keeps you off your knees? If the Ten Commandments have been destroyed, then we shouldn't honor our parents? Is murder now sanctioned by the tradition of man? Can we shoplift at will? And lust and covet to our little hearts' content? Can we worship Baal and Dagon and Vishnu and Mother Mary and any other god that would look good next to our 52-inch television?

And what about the Sabbath? Did God pluck one out of the ten? Is the Sabbath any less special than the commandment to love our neighbor? Think about it, the first four commandments are all about loving and honoring God -- thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all your heart, and soul, and mind, and spirit, and strength. The second tablet, Commandments 5 through 10, are all about loving your neighbor as yourself.

God never modified nor plucked out one of the ten, and neither should you. Obeying God is NEVER "salvation by adherence to legalsim" -- that is a faulty catch-phrase by faulty men. Through our obedience we show our love for God (Commandments 1 through 4) and our love for other people (Commandments 5 through 10).

Humble yourselves in the sight

of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.

Speak not evil one of another,

brethren. He that speaketh evil of

his brother, and judgeth his brother,

speaketh evil of the law, and

judgeth the law: but if thou judge

the law, thou art not a doer of the

law, but a judge.

James 4:10-11

My little children, these things write

I unto you, that ye sin not. And if

any man sin, we have an advocate

with the Father, Jesus Christ the

righteous: And he is the propitiation

for our sins: and not for ours only,

but also for the sins of the whole

world. And hereby we do know that

we know him, if we keep his

commandments. He that saith, I

know him, and keepeth not his

commandments, is a liar, and the

truth is not in him. But whoso

keepeth his word, in him verily is

the love of God perfected: hereby

know we that we are in him. He that

saith he abideth in him ought

himself also so to walk, even as He

walked. Brethren, I write no new

commandment unto you, but an old

commandment which ye had from

the beginning. The old

commandment is the word which ye

have heard from the beginning.

1 John 2:1-7

Sabbath Thoughts #8

Will the Sabbath Become

an Issue in the End Times?

If ye then,

being evil,

know how

to give

good gifts

unto your

children,

how much

more shall

your Father

which is in

heaven give

good things

to them that

ask him?

Matthew 7:11

God gives us good gifts, He gave us the Sabbath, do you believe Him? Or is the Sabbath a day of dread, instead?

The Sabbath is our gift from God, the first gift in the Garden of Eden!

Do not err,

my beloved

brethren.

Every good

gift and

every

perfect gift

is from above,

and cometh

down from

the Father

of lights, with

whom is no

variableness,

neither shadow

of turning. Of

His own will

begat he us

with the Word

of Truth, that

we should be

a kind of

firstfruits

of His

creatures.

James 1:16-18

Make no mistake about it, God's Sabbath day, a gift to us, is a perfect gift, from the Father of lights, Who does not change, doesn't even hint at turning or changing!

The New Covenant:

For this is the

covenant that I

will make with

the house of

Israel after

those days,

saith the Lord;

I will put my

Laws into their

mind, and write

them in their

hearts:

and I will be to

them a God,

and they shall be

to me a people:

Hebrews 8:10

Are you a part of

the New Covenant?

Has God written

His laws, including

the Fourth Commandment,

in your heart? DId

He put His Sabbath

in your mind?

SABBATH THOUGHTS

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12

13 14 15 16 17

18 19 20 21

Sabbath Resources

For the

Son of

man is

Lord

even

of the

Sabbath

day.

Matthew 12:8

Jesus is Lord of the Sabbath. Do you believe it? It is His own holy day, it is the Lord's day, the Seventh Day, blessed by God at the creation of the world!

And He said

unto them,

"The Sabbath

was made

for man, and

not man for

the Sabbath:

Therefore the

Son of man

is Lord also

of the Sabbath."

Mark 2:27-28

This is Jesus speaking about Himself. Do you believe Him? Did He really make His own holy day a gift for all mankind? Or do you prefer the "traditions of the elders?"