Why A Sabbath

Wayne Matthews

April 20, 2023

Welcome, brethren, to this seventh-day Sabbath.

We understand that only three basic truths remained in God’s Church at the end of the Sardis era, and in the late 1920’s Mr. Armstrong, Herbert Armstrong, was called by God to become His apostle for the next era, which was the Philadelphian era. Now, some of us have lived through that.

The very first truth was the seventh-day Sabbath. The weekly Sabbath has remained one of the most basic signs. God’s true Church and God’s people have always obeyed the seventh-day Sabbath. So, we understand that the Sabbath sets us apart, makes us different.

Now, God created the seventh-day Sabbath for a physical and spiritual purpose. Now, unless a person is called they will never understand the spiritual purpose. There are people now that keep a seventh-day Sabbath, but it is physical. They keep it on a physical level. But the real purpose of the Sabbath isn’t just a physical matter.

It helps. Yes, resting physically on the seventh day is obedience to God. But the greater purpose of the seventh day Sabbath, people don’t understand. But we understand it. Now, we understand the Sabbath is a 24-hour period. It starts on a Friday evening, sunset to sunset. So, it’s an evening and the next day, the daylight portion, makes a Sabbath. So, it’s a period of time that we understand.

That purpose, which is the creation of the Sabbath, was for a physical and spiritual benefit to mankind. It was made for mankind. The word “Sabbath” means “rest.” There is a rest period that we undertake, which is a physical component, which God requires us to obey on a physical level, but there is a much more important aspect of the Sabbath.

Only a person that has been called and has God’s holy spirit can benefit spiritually from a seventh-day Sabbath. So, it’s a spiritual matter, and that’s the difference. It requires God’s holy spirit. Now, without God’s holy spirit, it simply is another day; it’s a day of rest. But the spiritual component of it is the far greater aspect.

The reason that is, is because God’s purpose is the creation of a Family. So, it’s about Elohim. Everything God has done is about one thing, the creation of a spirit family, spirit beings from mankind. That’s why the Sabbath was made for man, which we’ll get to.

If you’d like to turn to Mark 2:27. Now, people would overread this quickly and it just sounds like a simple statement. But this is a very profound statement.

Mark 2:27, which is Joshua speaking here. And he, Joshua, said to them, The Sabbath was made for man. Now, how many people really believe that? People don’t know what the seventh-day Sabbath really is, the Sabbath, when it is. People worship their god on a Sunday.

So, this here is Joshua saying, “The Sabbath was made,” in other words, it was made for a period of time, “for man.” So, it’s not about other spirit beings. It’s for man, physical man. That’s why the Sabbath exists – for physical man.

…and not man for the Sabbath. Now, that’s been the problem with mankind. There is a group of people that do the second part “and not man for the Sabbath,” because what they put forward as the greatest thing is their rituals and other things. But God says here that the Sabbath was made for man. It’s to benefit us. There’s a spiritual benefit; not just a physical one, a spiritual one.

We understand that God has given us the knowledge of His great plan for mankind by revealing seven annual Holy Days. Well, what are seven annual Holy Days? Seven annual Sabbaths. Because a Holy Day is a Sabbath. It’s a time of rest. Stop work and rest.

Well, why are we stopping and resting? What’s the purpose?

The title of today’s sermon is Why A Sabbath. The purpose of the sermon is to look at the spiritual benefit of a Sabbath.

19 (16) The annual festivals. The plan of God, as shown through the Holy Days…

Which are annual Sabbaths. So, God’s plan is revealed to us through the annual seven Sabbaths, Holy Days, annual times.

…was revealed to the Church of God only through Herbert W. Armstrong. The [Sabbath], Passover [which is not a Holy Day], and the Holy Days picture God’s plan of salvation for mankind.

So, these days are a benefit if we look at them on a spiritual level, not just a physical level.

I want to quote something from the book, The Fall of the United States: “A true and right relationship with the One Eternal Self-Existing Almighty God can only begin”—begin—"as a person comes to the point that they will humble themselves before Him [before God] and observe the true weekly Sabbath that He commanded.”[1]

Now, one of the things that when a person is first called the ministry looks at—there are a couple of things—but one of them is whether or not the person is keeping the Sabbath. Normally a person is not invited into any level of fellowship unless they can clearly demonstrate that they have kept the seventh-day Sabbath for a period of time.

Now, there is an odd time, depending on the person, but that’s what generally would happen. The person has to demonstrate that. So, let’s just jump forward. At the very moment, there are very few keeping the Sabbath on a spiritual level. There are a few keeping it on a physical level. We know that nation. But on a spiritual level there are very few that do that, actually, keep it on a spiritual level. Because this is not just about resting. This is about something else.

So, “No one can have a true relationship with God unless they observe and worship Him [God] at the times that He has revealed they should.” Isn’t that profound? So, anybody who says they know God and doesn’t keep the seventh day Sabbath is a liar. They’re deluded. They’re deluded. They’re self-deceived. They’re deceived.

So, it requires the observance of a Sabbath to begin this relationship with God. This relationship we have started when we began to obey Him, which is to keep the seventh-day Sabbath. We started with that.

Now, what is the importance of keeping that (which we’ll get to)? Everything else outside of Sabbath keeping, like those who worship God on a Friday, they say they worship God, but their god. A Sunday, a Monday, well, that’s all disobedience and blasphemy against God. It’s incredible, but that’s what’s going on. Because man in his own wisdom thinks, “Oh, well, I can worship God at any time.” That’s not what God says.

You know, we are to worship God all the time, but there is one particular day that He has set aside, called the Sabbath, for a spiritual reason for us. Only us with God’s holy spirit can keep that. Therefore, the Sabbath to us is something special, it’s unique. Without the Sabbath we’re going to fall apart and go back to self.

Mankind has created its own times to worship God, but these are not the times God has established. So, when you look at Christmas and Easter, all those things, it’s just rubbish. God’s not involved in any of that. But God is involved in the Sabbath, the seventh-day Sabbath, and the annual Holy Days for a reason because it goes back to His purpose.

A person cannot enter Elohim ever unless they’re Sabbath keepers worshipping God on the right day and observe the seven annual Sabbaths, annual Holy Days. It’s absolutely impossible. They’re not going to do it. It’s not going to happen.

We understand that God established a Church, and in 31 AD when that Church was established in Pentecost they became a structure. There’s a reason for that structure and it’s about God. It’s all about God.

God desires that His creation, mankind, listen to Him and worship Him truthfully just as Christ did. Now, the most important part there is “listen to Him.” So, a person who doesn’t keep the Sabbath doesn’t listen to God. Absolutely impossible. It requires God’s holy spirit.

So, the Sabbath is about listening to God. So the reason we are here today – we’ve been commanded to – but we’re here to listen to what God says. Now, there are aspects of that. A person can come to Sabbath services and listen to what God has said through the ministry, but the choice that the person has is do they implement it into their life? That’s the next part.

Now, a person comes and listens to God and goes, “I’m not going to do that,” obvious answer. Might listen to God but doesn’t mean to say a person is obedient to God.

John 4:23—But the hour is coming, and now is, when true worshipers… A person has to be called and receive the gift of God’s holy spirit to become a true worshiper. We are the true worshipers because we’ve been called, and we have God’s holy spirit.

The hour is coming—look at this time—because remember that the holy spirit hadn’t been given until Pentecost, the establishment of the Church. So, the hour was still coming when Christ said this. …and now is, because he was filled with God’s holy spirit, when true worshipers, those called to it, will worship the Father. Not everything else, Marys and statues, no, worship the Father, the Creator of all things who desires a family from mankind, in spirit and truth.

So, “in spirit,” which means the attitude behind what we’re doing, “and in truth.” Well, what’s the truth? Annual Sabbath, weekly Sabbath, seventh day. Not any other day. This day to listen to God.

…for the Father seeks such to worship Him. So, by keeping the Sabbath, by listening to what God is saying, we are demonstrating that we are worshiping God the Father. That’s the demonstration. So, anybody who says they’re worshipping God the Father and does not keep the seventh-day Sabbath is a liar.

Verse 24—God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth, which requires the gift of God’s holy spirit to be able to do that.

There is no other way to worship God. God requires it to be done in truth. Now, we understand the truth. The Sabbath is the truth. We understand we have 57 Truths. We understand the annual Holy Days. We understand Passover. So, we are demonstrating that we desire this relationship with God.

Christmas, Easter, Friday worship, Sunday worship, Monday worship are man’s times of worshipping their god, but not the true God, therefore, they are living a lie and they don’t know it. They are not living the truth. They can’t. They haven’t been called to it.

There is a time coming that the world will begin to practice worshipping God in truth. Now, just look at that from a point of view. We have all these religions. We understand Christ will return with 144,000 and millions will die, millions. Now, the only way that they can have a relationship with God is to start to keep the seventh-day Sabbath.

So, if you look at a place like India, if you take any other places in Pakistan, in those places, how long before they decide to worship God on the Sabbath? So, it’s not going to be instant. This is going to take a bit of time to get organized. Then people are scattered and then they start to hear. Because the majority of people know very little – the majority of people know very little or nothing about a seventh-day Sabbath. It has to be taught.

How were we taught about the seventh-day Sabbath? Well, firstly, we were called. Then we started to realize, “Oh.” God puts it in our mind we’re to keep the seventh-day Sabbath, to worship Him in spirit and in truth. Now that took time. It didn’t happen the very first week. Might for some. But the majority, they’re going to hear it. Now, will they accept it? Will everyone accept it?

Well, the scripture, we’ll look at it. How do we think a lot of mankind will react when they hear that the only way to worship God in spirit and truth is you’ve got to keep the seventh-day Sabbath? They’ll say, “Well, you’re a Jew!” Because that’s what “goes” with the Sabbath. Jew equals seventh-day Sabbath. Not Church of God. “The Church of what?” They know nothing about it. The majority know nothing about it.

Even in the western world, very few know about the seventh-day Sabbath. Very, very few. Let alone Church of God.

Let’s have a look, Zechariah 14:16. Now, this is an example. We’ll look at it on a physical level, but as we go through it there is a big spiritual component to this as well and it’s looking at the Millennial period.

Zechariah 14:16. This is an example that it’s going to take time in the Millennium for people to begin to worship God in spirit and truth. And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of hosts—Yahweh Elohim is the one we worship, the Eternal—and keep the Feast of Tabernacles.

So, there is going to be some that are going to do that, but there are some that are not. So, it’s not different than the weekly Sabbath. There are some going to do it, but some are not because they might not have heard about it, they might still have different views about things. It’s not a magic wand that instantly everyone knows about the seventh-day Sabbath.

Verse 19—This shall be the punishment of Egypt, the punishment of mankind, and the punishment of all the nations that do not come up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, we can apply that same principle to the weekly Sabbath.

Because when you really stop and think about it, if a person doesn’t keep the seventh-day Sabbath they are demonstrating they do not want to listen to God. Because this is about listening to God. Because God communicates His plan of salvation through the weekly Sabbath. Outside of that people won’t know about salvation because it’s through the ministry that God then gives the information that’s required—through an apostle—that a person goes, “Ah, that’s what needs to change.”

Well, if you walk up to a carnally minded person now and said, “Oh, you need to change,” and they don’t have God’s holy spirit, it’ll go down really well. It’s not going to happen.

God reveals the importance of the weekly Sabbath day and how it became established. It has everything to do with the very purpose of why mankind was created. The Sabbath and mankind’s creation go together because the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath. It was done out of love. It’s an incredible thing when you look at the depth of this.

The weekly Sabbath is to remind everybody of the very creation week in which mankind was created and that He is our Creator. So we keep the Sabbath, and we remember God’s plan. We understand it’s 7,000 years. We understand 6,000 years of mankind. We understand six days. Then we understand the seventh day, a day of rest, which is what the Millennium is being pointed to on the Sabbath.

For God’s called out ones (us), the Sabbath is a day we can be taught by God through the power of His holy spirit. So that’s the real spiritual purpose of the Sabbath. It’s about a spiritual education. That’s why we listen, and we implement. Not just listen.

Genesis 1:26. Now, this outlines the purpose of the creation of mankind and then the benefit of a Sabbath. Genesis 1:26—Then God (Elohim) said, Let’s make man in Elohim image according to the likeness, which is a resemble or a sample or an example or a shape of something. Let us or Let them (mankind) have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.

Now, what’s happened is mankind, although mankind has dominion, it’s not a loving dominion, is it? It’s the opposite. It’s brutality. It’s selfishness. But man was supposed to have rule over the creation. It was given to mankind. But not to abuse and to treat badly. We’re supposed to look after it, which it hasn’t done.

So God (Elohim) created man in His image. In the image of God He (God) created him (mankind). Male and female He created them. So, there is a physical creation going on here, but this physical creation was for a spiritual purpose.

Verse 28—Then God blessed them. Then God said to them, Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over every living thing that moves on the earth. We were to care for the creation. Because mankind is the most important thing. The animal world, the animal kingdom is temporary. It will pass. Mankind has the potential of a future, an incredible future.

Drop down to verse 31—Then God saw everything, the physical creation, that He had made and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning of the sixth day. So, we understand mankind was made on the sixth day. Thus the heavens and the earth and all the host of them were finished. So everything was established, ready for this goal that God had about the creation of Elohim through mankind.

And on the seventh day, God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day Sabbath, the seventh day, because we understand it’s a day of rest, and sanctified it, set it aside for holy use and purpose.

That’s why we’re here today. We’re setting aside, like God did, for holy use and purpose. Today is the day that God will communicate to His called-out ones for a spiritual benefit. It’s up to them to whether or not they want to implement it into their life by setting this day aside and many other instructions that are given.

…because in it He rested from all His work which God created and had made. God created the seventh-day Sabbath by resting. Part of that is not the fact that He was tired. He rested because He was seeing what great potential there was now. It’s the beginning of the creation of a family which He has waited a long time for. This is incredible.

It’d be like anything. You get to a point where now you’re here and you go, whew, this is exciting because now we’re getting into something that has a great outcome, the creation of Elohim.

The real purpose of the Sabbath and the seven annual Holy Days is spiritual. These days are when people, His people, would stop and listen to Him and be reminded He is the creator of all things.

So, God created all things for a purpose. Everything has been created for a purpose, and we’re part of that purpose. We see the potential, but mankind can’t.

The seventh-day Sabbath would be a day that God would directly communicate with His people by the power of His holy spirit. Now, that is done through Church government. That’s how God communicates. God communicates to us brethren through a ministry that’s been established. So when the ministry speaks, like when Ron speaks as an apostle, we should be attentive and listen. But you know, more importantly out of all of that, implement it into our life. That’s why God gave it.

Because God’s been communicating with mankind in lots of ways, true? And what have they done? What has mankind generally done? Well, generally they’ve killed the apostles because they didn’t like what they were going to say. They killed the prophets. They didn’t like what they were going to say. Anybody who stood up and talked about God’s way, mankind didn’t want to hear it. They don’t want to listen. They do not want to listen.

Now, we’ve been called to listen. But not only listen but implement. Because that’s the challenge, implement. What will happen when we implement it? We’ll be loved by everybody. It’s going to be the complete opposite. When we implement what God is giving us it puts a distance between us, and we can understand why.

On one side, you see Satan and selfishness, and on the other side, you see God’s love. Once we’ve been called out of selfishness into God’s love what happens? The two are poles apart. You can’t join them together at all. They’re just separate. Therefore, what will happen? The selfishness will hate the love. It’s almost the complete opposite.

There’s also a quote from the book: “If one cannot grasp or believe that God created us, then why listen to anything He says…” If you don’t believe that God created you, what’s the point of listening to your Creator? That’s where mankind is at. “…but if He is our Creator,” which He is, “then indeed we had better listen closely.” We’d better stop and really think.

Because we understand God’s plan of salvation and it’s just an incredible thing. We realize it is about mankind. It’s His plan to create Elohim from mankind.

Before the Ten Commandments were given in writing, God pointed to the seventh-day Sabbath for mankind to understand. So, this is the physical now. We’re going to look at it and think, well, what’s the spiritual lessons from this?

Exodus 16. We’re going to go back. We’ve looked at it before, but we’re going to go back and look at manna and what it was really pointing to. We understand manna is about spiritual food. It’s not just the physical food, it’s spiritual food. But there is another component to this, what manna was really pointing to. We understand the physical manna pointed to the word of God, the bread of life, bread from heaven, God’s word. Christ was the bread of life, the Word made flesh. He had the thinking of God. So, everything Christ said was food for us if we were to take it on board but then implement it, do what he said.

Exodus 16:13—So it was that quail came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. So when the children of Israel saw it, they said to one another, What is it? For they did not know what it was.

Now, we understand that when we hear sermons it’s the manna, and we see it. We shouldn’t be saying, “What is it?” It’s the word of God being revealed to us.

This is the bread which the Eternal has given you to eat. Today, it’s the word of God, the true spiritual food that will keep us alive. Because bread is about life. So, if a person comes to a seventh-day Sabbath and doesn’t hear – even if they listen and don’t implement it, there’s an outcome. It’s called death, but it’s a spiritual death. We need physical food. We need spiritual food.

Verse 16—This is the thing which the Eternal has commanded: Let every man keep it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of persons; let each man take for those who are in his tent. Then the children of Israel did so and gathered, some more, and some less. Depending on the amount in the house.

So, when they measured it out by omer, he who gathered much had nothing left over, and he who had gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each one’s need. When a sermon is given by God’s apostle each person will take a certain amount of that spiritual food. It depends on the level how much is required and what God is achieving in that person’s life. Therefore, not everybody in God’s Church is at the same level spiritually. They’re just not.

A newer person may not necessarily be as spiritually mature as a person that’s been around a bit longer. A person who’s been around a bit longer may not be as spiritually mature as someone who’s been around a year depending on what God is doing in that person’s life. Different goals God has in each individual person’s life.

Verse 19—And Moses said, Let no one leave any until the morning. In other words, consume it. Well, we’re the same. When we hear a sermon we should consume it. What does it mean to take it in? It means take it in. Don’t just listen. Don’t just look at it. Take it in and implement it. That’s the secret, implementation into our life.

Verse 20—Notwithstanding they did not heed… I love that. I laugh every time because that’s typical mankind. Notwithstanding they did not heed Moses. You can hear, but you don’t heed it. So, you can hear what’s being said but doing it is totally different, totally different thing. They didn’t listen to God’s instructions. They didn’t do it, in other words.

But some of them left part until the morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was angry with them. That’s typical, you know, “I’ll do it my way because I think I know better.”

Verse 21—So they gathered it every morning, and every man according to his need. And when the sun came up hot, it melted. So there is a time we are in God’s Church now where we have access to God’s word through the power of His holy spirit. Will that last forever? Well, things change, as we know. People make decisions that they leave God’s Church. So, we’ve got access to it now. We better make sure we’re putting it into our life now, implementing it.

Verse 22—And so it was, on the sixth day, that they gathered twice as much bread. Twice as much. So, here we are, this is called “preparation day.” We know the sixth day. But we know the importance of the seventh day because it’s spiritual. …two omers of each.

And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. Verse 23—Then he said to them, This is what the Eternal has said: Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest. So, we can see now that the manna being provided on a physical level was pointing to something, was teaching them about the seventh-day Sabbath. Now, this is before the Ten Commandments. It’s being taught this is a day of rest; you need to rest, because it’s not in codified law yet.

Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Eternal. Bake what you will today, and boil what you will today, and lay up for yourselves all that remains, and keep until the morning, which is the preparation day. Today it’s about spiritual preparation.

So, we’d say, well, how do we prepare spiritually about a Sabbath? Well, the day before we would be praying that we hear what God has and that through the power of the holy spirit we’ll make the choice to implement what we hear into our life. So, that’s our preparation day. We’re preparing for the Sabbath.

We can do all the physical things, but the more important things are the spiritual component that we are prepared to come to listen to God and then implement it into our life. So, we pray about the spiritual food that’s going to be given.

Verse 24—So they laid it up until morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were any worms in it. So, here we have it’s pointing at something physical there, but it’s pointing to something spiritual that we’re going to receive.

Then Moses said, Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Eternal; today you will not find it in the field. God’s word is not out there in the world. This is where God’s word is. This is where through the power of the holy spirit we can hear God. But it’s not out in the field. You can go out there and look around and all the different religions. God is not out there. This is where God is – in His Sabbath which He commanded for our benefit, spiritual benefit.

You will only find the truth in God’s Church. There is no truth in the world. There is only deception. There is a motive behind everything that is said, everything that is given.

It’s rather interesting when you look at world news and an article will be written about world news. The bias in it is difficult to work out. But people are saying things for a reason. How much truth is in it? Sometimes there’s going to be a lot of truth. Sometimes there is not; there is a lot of deception. So we have to be very careful about it because mankind is selfish, mankind is carnal, therefore, what are they basing everything on? Selfishness and deception. Everything is based on it.

I remember pulling out the packet of cereal and I said to my wife, “You pull out the packet, and the box is big; you pull out the packet of cereal and there isn’t that much in it.” You find the chocolate bars that used to be like 75 grams went down to 55. I think they’re 35 now, but the packet is the same size! But the bar is that big!

It’s just all about deception. It’s about making sure that they keep in business. There’s a motive behind it. Not that there is anything wrong with staying in business, but deception is behind everything that’s done.

Verse 26—Six days you shall gather it, and on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none. Physically. But God provides on this day something spiritual for us. It’s an incredible day.

So, when people walk away from the seventh-day Sabbath and listening to God’s word coming through the ministry you can see what’s going to happen. It’s called spiritual death. That’s the outcome. A person will die. Might take a while but they will die.

Now it happens that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather. They found none. So, that’s rebellion. That’s disobedience. Looking somewhere else. Going out and looking for it. Well, it’s like us going out in the world looking for some level of truth. How can you know? Truth is in God’s Church.

Verse 28—And the Eternal said to Moses, How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? How long do we have to be in God’s Church where we don’t follow instructions given by God? How long is God going to tolerate it?

See! For the Eternal has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So, in other words, don’t do any physical work. Don’t go out and try to earn a living on a seventh day.

So the people rested on the seventh day. The house of Israel called its name Manna. And it was like white coriander seed.

Drop down to verse 35—And the children of Israel ate manna forty years. Well, we don’t know how long we’re going to be in the Church being able to have spiritual manna, food provided to us. We don’t know how long that’s going to take. …until they came to the inhabited land; and ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan. So, we are to consume the word of God until we enter the spiritual promised land, until we are changed.

We will always. If we die and are resurrected in the hundred years we will still have a hundred years of opportunity to listen to God—because the Sabbath will be enforced. At some point, it’s like the Millennium, at some point it’s going to be enforced and people are going to wake up and “Ah, I think I better listen to God. I think I better start keeping the seventh-day Sabbath.” Because if you don’t, guess what happens. Leads to death.

Well, same for us. If we reject the seventh-day Sabbath or the annual Holy Days it leads to death, only it’s a spiritual one. Same thing.

The Holy Days are to remind everyone of God’s plan of salvation for mankind. So, the Sabbath was created for man, not man for the Sabbath. In the Millennium and the Last Great Day people will have the choice to listen to God on His Sabbaths. It’s going to be a choice just like it is here. We can listen but we still have to implement. So we can listen—choice—but implementing something that we hear is still a personal choice.

Exodus 20:8. God then provided Israel with a codified law. So, prior to that they’d been pointed to the Sabbath. They are to keep the Sabbath by not going out and picking the manna because there wasn’t any. But some still did, just like in today’s environment where people, part of God’s Church, will still go out to look for something else.

Exodus 20:8—Remember the Sabbath day; keep it holy. Keep it separate. So, this day is separate to us because we’ve chosen to keep it separate. It’s our choice.

Six days you shall labor and do all your work. So, do the physical things, and on that sixth day, preparation day, we would prepare ourselves to receive the sermon, the information God is going to give us on the Sabbath.

But the seventh day is a Sabbath of the Eternal your God. God created it for us; therefore, we don’t want to go messing around by rejecting anything on this particular day, listening to God.

I know at times people have said they’re unable to come to certain things and there’s other things happening. What’s the most important thing? We have been told and instructed the most important thing is to listen to God. It’s the sermon. That’s the most important thing. Whether it’s Friday night, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon, the most important thing we can do is listen to God, which is hear the sermon. That’s the most important thing.

Like if a person went the whole time and didn’t listen to God, didn’t pick up their Bible. There is going to come a time when we probably won’t be able to hear sermons. The laptop is going to go dead because, after two or three days without power, your laptop goes. There will be no broadcast. There will be no ministry, necessarily, to contact, times we’re heading into, so what does a person do on a seventh-day Sabbath? They listen to God by the power of God’s holy spirit. What do we do? Can’t hear anything from a ministry. What would we do? Well, we can go over old notes, we can pick up the word of God and read it. Not looking for new truth but reconfirming the truth we’ve already been given by God.

So we take our Bibles, and we would set some time aside. Doesn’t have to be an hour and twenty minutes or an hour and a half. That’s a tradition. We’ve sermons this long now. Tradition. Sometimes sermons used to last an hour. Sometimes, I remember there are parts in the Bible where the apostle, Paul, would speak for five or six hours. So it depends on the individual, your environment, the situation. But there is going to come a time when all that communication is gone, and we will be by ourselves with God. That’s where we’re heading. We won’t have that fellowship necessarily. So, today is about stopping and listening to God.

Verse 11—For in six days the Eternal made… Now, this is because the world had been created. So, all the physical creation has been put in place, but here God is making something. It’s called the seventh-day Sabbath. Because time had got to this point. So, it’s not about creation, it’s made, which is something to be performed. This is something God did for a purpose spiritually.

The heavens and the earth had been created, and then, of course, they were redone, reorganized, and reestablished because of Satan’s rebellion.

…and He rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Eternal blessed the seventh-day Sabbath, the Sabbath day, the rest day, and hallowed it, set it aside for holy use and purpose. So, we now are doing that. We’re setting this day aside for holy use and purpose. Holy use is about God. Only God is holy, God’s holy spirit. We set this day aside, we listen to what God is saying, and then we choose to go out and implement it.

1 John 2:3—Now by this we know that we know Him. So we can say, well, we know Him, we know God, we know who God is. Nobody else out there knows who God is, but we do. Why? …if we keep His commandments. The intent, the spirit of the law. In other words, we’re monitoring our thinking, we’re monitoring our behavior, therefore, we can say we do know God because we keep His commandments.

So, everybody out there who says that they know God and has a relationship with God it’s not true. It’s impossible, absolutely impossible because they don’t keep what we just read, the fourth commandment, “Keep holy the seventh-day Sabbath.” So, if you don’t do that a person can’t worship God or know God.

He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His commandments, which is keep His word, includes the Sabbath and Holy Days, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. Now, that’s not, you know, thinking we’re any way better. We’ve been called to this, they haven’t.

So if anyone has turned around and said, “Oh, I know God and I know this,” and hasn’t been keeping the Sabbath and listening to God’s ministry, why would you listen? They can’t live in the truth because of selfishness. Their nature is one of a lie. They are self-deceived. They don’t know it.

Verse 5—But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is being perfected in him. It’s a process. By this, we know that we are in Him. So, we’re in Him because of obedience. God is in us so that we can enter Elohim. That’s what the purpose of life is about, the opportunity God has given us to enter Elohim.

Exodus 31:12. Now, the Sabbaths are a sign for us. This is the identifying mark that we have that other people haven’t had the opportunity to have. Now, when we’re going through this it’s important to remember what the Millennium is going to be like, how it starts, and then what it ends up being like. So that you start off where nobody knows much about the Sabbath but in the end people will know about the Sabbath. Then when you go into the Last Great Day you’ve got all these people that have been resurrected have to learn about the seventh-day Sabbath. But it’s going to be much easier because they’ve been resurrected into a world where the Sabbath and Holy Days are being kept and there is no other confusion.

You know, you think Sunday worship, Monday… no, that’s not even talked about really. It’s just God’s way and that’s it. You’re resurrected to that, and people will, first of all, conform to that. They’ll go, “Ah, okay,” and go and listen to God. By the power of God’s holy spirit that is given an opportunity to them, God willing the majority will listen.

There’s a lot that won’t. Hard to see that, but as it says, ones that are in rebellion are as the sands of the sea. It’s staggering that a person won’t listen to God. Just listening is not enough, of course. Listening and implementing are two different things.

1 John 2:5—And whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is being perfected in him. By this we know that we know Him.

So we’re going to go now to Exodus 31:12.

Exodus 31:12—And the Eternal said to Moses, Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign… Now, we know what a sign is. It’s obvious that you see it. This is the sign. So, this is how we know. It’s a sign between Me, talking about God, Yahweh Elohim, and you throughout your generations.

So, this is the sign that we can say we know God. Because it’s the only way. A person who doesn’t keep the Sabbath, doesn’t keep the annual Holy Days, as instructed, they can’t know God. It’s not possible. Because God communicates through His Sabbath. So to get to know someone you have to have a level of communication backward and forwards, otherwise, you have just two people standing there. Well, God says He communicates on His Sabbaths.

..it’s a sign between Him and us throughout our generations, if we’re Sabbath keepers, that you may know that I the Eternal who sanctifies you. It’s Yahweh Elohim that has set us aside. We’ve been called and we are set aside by God for a purpose, which is to enter His Family. That’s the opportunity we have.

Verse 14—You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death. Now, that’s a physical command. We understand that this is spiritual. The non-keeping of a Sabbath. Once we are called, if we refuse to listen to God on a Sabbath, we refuse to keep the Day of Atonement, if we refuse to keep the seven-day, annual Holy Days, it will lead to death. The flow of God’s spirit will be cut off and it will lead to a spiritual death. We will die spiritually. God in His mercy may give us an opportunity to rectify that, but again, we don’t know the outcome of a lot of people’s decisions.

So, we’re to keep this very day because God has set us aside for this purpose, to listen and put it into our life.

Verse 14—You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it, which is to defile it, shall surely be put to death, for whoever does any work, which is own desires, on it, that person shall be cut off, which is a spiritual thing, not just a physical thing here, spiritual thing, from among his people. Who are our people? Members of the Body of Christ.

So, someone who rejects the Sabbath rejects God, and they will be cut off. Now, they may be disfellowshipped. They may just leave and disfellowship themselves. But they will die a spiritual death because without the flow of God’s holy spirit, the outcome is spiritual death, die, unable to enter Elohim, because a person has to be spiritually alive to enter Elohim.

Verse 15—Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the Eternal. Because it’s God’s purpose for mankind. God created it for us. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath and observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

Verse 17—It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever. It’s a sign for God’s Church. God’s true Church, as we read in one of the truths, God’s true Church has always kept the seventh-day Sabbath because it’s a spiritual matter. It’s not just a physical thing.

…for in six days, the Eternal made the heavens and the earth, which is not about the creation but it’s about a restructure of it for the purpose of the creation of Elohim. That’s why it exists. …made the heavens of the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.

Now, that word “refreshed,” some people read that and think, “Oh, God was tired.” Well, it wasn’t that. This word actually means “to breathe.” It’s like a sigh, excitement about being at a point in time, the point of time of His creation of Elohim. So, how exciting would that be? The potential of your plan, all those years of thinking about it, all the creation, and how long that all took, then to get to the point where God then rested on the seventh day, and He did it for a reason. Because now this is the beginning of the creation of Elohim. It’s so exciting.

You would go, “Whoa. Here we’ve got to this point. Now for the next 7,100 years, there is a potential of My Family being built.” After existing forever, and going that way forever, it’s a little, weeny speck of time.”

So this is, the word “refresh” is really “to breathe.” It’s about excitement about this time that we’ve met, God’s plan is now in place.

Verse 18—And when He had made an end of speaking to him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God. Now, we understand that Moses had the opportunity for God to speak to him directly. Well, we have that very same opportunity. God speaks to us directly on a seventh-day Sabbath and the Holy Days. We, on a Holy Day, we hear about the Holy Day, but it’s all about God’s plan of creation, of Elohim. That’s what it’s all about.

God speaks to us on His Sabbath day. We are to listen so that we can transform our thinking. Now, the only way a transformation takes place is the implementation. So we can hear certain things that are given but hearing them and doing them are totally different.

I wanted to use an example. The truth about women in the Church, women speaking and things like that, we can hear those things and listen, but to change an attitude towards a person, if we had the wrong thinking all the long, is very difficult. It takes work. You have to implement it. You have to pull up your thinking, pull up the words that we say because we will still fall back into our own previous way of thinking.

So, we are to listen and implement what is given into our lives. It’s the implementation that is the struggle for humans. Because we can hear things, but doing it is different.

If a person will not listen to God their thinking cannot be changed, they cannot be transformed, they cannot enter Elohim. So, anybody, even though they might be Sabbath keepers and they hear what is said, unless they’re willing to allow God to help them to transform (by our personal choice), transform the way we think, we cannot enter Elohim because we’re making a different choice. We’re hearing but we’re rejecting what we hear from God.

Romans 12:1—I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. That’s why we were called, to sacrifice self. That’s the purpose why we were called. We’ve got the mercy of God, we’ve got the favor of God in our life by a calling alone, now we are required to be a living sacrifice.

Verse 2—And do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Now, that can only take place, that renewing of the mind, by the power of God’s holy spirit, and it’s what God gives us.

So, we understand there are 57 Truths. Well, we only understand them and know of them because of a calling. Outside of that, a person does not know the truth, and if you went up to them and started talking about the 57 Truths, Truth #1 the Sabbath, people would just reject it. It requires a calling.

We are being transformed. Our minds are being transformed. How? By the truth. It’s by what God gives to us.

…that you may test or prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect, which is desire, will of God. God desires that we are transformed. We understand that the seventh-day Sabbath points to a period of rest from Satan’s ways. The Day of Atonement also reminds us of Satan’s end.

Revelation 20. Part of God’s plan is 6,000 years of man’s self-rule, which we understand. We’re going to enter a period now of 1,000 years where God’s government will be in place. Joshua the Messiah with 144,000 now having a direct impact into this world. What’s that all about? That’s about the opportunity to transform the mind. That’s what it’s about, transforming the mind of all of the people that are left, are left over from what happens.

We also understand that this 1,000-year period, Satan will not be there to influence this already satanic mind that we have.

Revelation 20:1—Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit (symbolic) and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years.

So, this time is a time of rest. It’s a Sabbath. It’s a time of rest, one thousand years. Seventh-day Sabbath points to this. It’s a rest. This day is a rest for us. We stop physically, but we listen to God, and we take in those thoughts and implement them (we should) or we don’t.

So, mankind is going to have a rest for a thousand years from Satan. 1,100, really. And cast him into the bottomless pit and shut him up. So, he’s been restrained. …and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more until the thousand years were finished.

Now, we read that quite quickly but it’s about “Should deceive the nations no more.” So, the nations out there are deceived. Everything that is written is done in deception. It’s often politicians will never tell you what’s really going on. Never. No one will openly admit what’s going on. They will give you stories that cover up the real truth because if you knew the real truth, and people knew the truth, they’d probably react a different way.

But after these things, he must be released for a short while.

So, now we see Christ and the 144,000 ruling. And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the lives of those who were beheaded, which is cut off for their witness to Joshua and the word of God. So, these are the people who have obeyed the truth, and had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark in their foreheads. So, it’s a way people think and it’s about Sunday worship versus worshipping God in spirit and truth on a Sabbath.

…or on their hands, what their actions are. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. But the rest of mankind did not live again until the thousand years were finished.

Then it goes back and refers, This is the first resurrection. So, this is something we’re looking forward to, the return of Christ with 144,000, the first resurrection. Then we’re going to see a new world. And what’s going to be implemented? What we really think is going to be implemented first. Well, the only way to listen to God is through the Sabbath, the ministry, what God gives through the 144,000. Christ and 14,000 are going to teach. And when is it going to happen? On the seventh-day Sabbath and the Holy Days. That’s when it’s going to happen.

So, we can see how it’s going to be implemented, and then all of a sudden people are going to have to start to stop and listen to God. But they’ve still got a choice. Might come to Sabbath services but may not necessarily implement it. They might hear it but may reject it. Personal choice.

Verse 5—The rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years was finished. So, we understand that’s the Last Great Day, that everyone that dies, then they’ll be resurrected. And what will they be resurrected to? They’ll be resurrected into a world of Sabbath keeping and Holy Day keeping. It’s going to be exciting!

I’ve often thought about how is it that that’s going to start in the Millennium. Because remember, the destruction is massive. There is food; there is no Coles and Woolworth (that’s in Australia). You just can’t go down to get milk, to buy milk. How is that going to happen? Something is going to be provided. This is going to be tough. This is not going to be easy. After a week people are going to have to start to get together in smaller groups and then say, “Oh, do you know about the seventh-day Sabbath?” That’s the first thing you’ll talk about. “What do you mean the seventh-day Sabbath?” Those who are alive and 144,000 will be teaching the seventh-day Sabbath is about listening to God. That’s what it’s really about. Then making the choice to implement it into our life. But it is a choice whether we want to keep it or not.

Verse 6—Blessed and holy is he who is part of the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power. In other words, they can’t die. …but they shall be priests of God and Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.

It’s going to be an exciting time and we’re looking forward to it, where we have a world of Sabbath keeping. Can you imagine the fellowship and the discussions and the communications about what was said at the sermon and what we’re to do here and other people saying, “Oh, you were in the Church at that time? What was it like?” It’s going to be so exciting. People are going to be very excited about the future knowing that God through Christ and the 144,000 are reigning and there’s a new government.

I believe the vast majority are going to turn around and when you say, “Yeah, there’s no politicians,” they’re going to go, “No, really! No politicians?!” “No lawyers.” “No lawyers?!” “No people suing everybody.” It’s another world. It’s going to be totally different.

So, let’s look at some basic facts. People reject the Sabbath, generally. But let’s look at some basic facts that are undeniable, really. Not that we go out and talk to people like this, but it’s undeniable really.

Let’s look at Luke 4:16. People turn around and say that “Christ changed from Sabbath to a Sunday.” Well, he died, he was a Sabbath keeper. “So it must have been after that.” We’ll look at that and just see. Man changed it. Man changed it.

Luke 4:16—So he, talking about Christ, came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. So, it was where he was brought up. And as his custom was… So, this is his custom. What is a custom? A custom is something that you do regularly. This is what you do. Well, this is his custom.

He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day. So, Christ was a Sabbath keeper. That’s what he did. His custom was every Sabbath he went to the synagogue and stood up and read. Bit different from now where we have sermons. So, you can see, there is time, things change. What it’ll be like in the future? We’ll have to wait until the future to see how it is organized.

It was his, Joshua the Messiah’s, custom to go to the Sabbath, and at this point, he got up and read from the scriptures, from the Bible. The Sabbath Joshua kept was the same day of the week the Jews observed, which is obvious, for the ministry and congregations were all in the synagogue.

Verse 20. So everyone is there. We’ll look at it. Then he closed the book, and gave it back to the attendant, and sat down. And the eyes of all who were in the synagogue were fixed on him. So they were looking at him from what he had read. So, God is working here; there is something happening.

The Pharisees continually rebuked Joshua for healing on the Sabbath day because they were looking at it physically. It wasn’t about God’s word. “You’re working on the Sabbath!” “If you healed someone you’re working on the Sabbath, obviously.” So, obviously, Christ wasn’t the Messiah.

The Sabbath Joshua kept was the seventh day of the week, the one we’re keeping today. So, Christ was a Sabbath keeper. You can’t deny it. He was a Sabbath keeper.

Let’s look at Acts 13:42 which is about Paul. Now, Christ has died, and here is Paul, an apostle of God. This is in Antioch. Acts 13:42—So when the Jews went out from the synagogue… So here they are, they’re keeping the seventh-day Sabbath. It was the seventh day. …the gentiles, who wouldn’t have been allowed in the synagogue, begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. In other words, what has been said, they wanted to hear it all, because here it is Paul has gone into the synagogue.

Now when the congregation had broken up, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. On the next Sabbath… So, here is Paul doing it on a Sabbath. …also the whole city came together to hear the word of God. Paul is preaching on a seventh-day Sabbath. He was a minister of God preaching on the Sabbath. Whether people wanted to listen was their choice. Well, here the gentiles wanted to hear what was being said.

Verse 45—But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy; and contradicting and blaspheming they opposed the things spoken by Paul. Paul is doing this on a Sabbath. Well, the Jews didn’t like it because they could see what the gentiles were doing. Gentiles versus Jews, there’s a lot of hate going on between them. And you can see, they were opposing what Paul said. Paul was an apostle of God speaking the truth.

Then Paul and Barnabas grew bold and said, It is not necessary that the word of God should be spoken to you first; but since you reject it… Now, that’s the issue that we’re talking about today. A person can come to a seventh-day Sabbath, listen to God, what’s said—like they did, they listened to Paul—but reject it. That’s a personal choice that we have.

…and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life. In other words, rejecting the word of God, rejecting what is given we are rejecting God. We are unworthy of the life, the spirit life in Elohim. …behold, we will turn to the gentiles. That’s what they said.

Numbers 15:32. So, there is a penalty for breaking the Sabbath. In the days here we’re looking physical, but there is a spiritual one. We need to look at this on a spiritual level because of the same outcome from something physical to something spiritual.

Numbers 15:32—Now while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day, which they’d been instructed not to, and those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron, and all the congregation. They put him under guard. Now, the reason they did that, of course, was because they didn’t know what the rules really were about, of what do we do with this person who’s been instructed not to gather wood on a Sabbath day? That’s work, to go out physically and do that. What do we do? Well, they put him under guard so that he couldn’t escape because it had not been explained what should be done with him or done to him.

Then the Eternal said to Moses, The man must surely be put to death. Now, if we were to turn around today and say a Sabbath keeper would be put to death for working on a Sabbath people would think you’re insane. You just wouldn’t say that today. But here God is saying, “Well, this is My people. They’re refusing to keep the Sabbath. He’s out working. He’s refusing.” Well, what happens if a person in God’s Church refuses to keep the Sabbath? Well, they’re cut off, they’re disfellowshipped. Which is spiritual death. It’s the same outcome. One is physical. One is spiritual. It’s a spiritual death. But it’s their choice.

So, he was to be made an example of, and it’s for us today. There is an example, this person will not live. So, as the Eternal commanded Moses, all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him with stones, and he died. It’s a physical death, but we need to look at it on a spiritual one. What happens if a person rejects the Sabbath? They will die.

The weekly Sabbath and the annual Sabbaths are to be set apart, are to be kept for holy use and purpose by those who observe them. So, that’s what we’re being commanded to do, and that’s what we’re doing.

That is what is meant when God said, “sanctify His Sabbaths.” We’re to set them apart because they’re for holy use. It’s about the growth, the potential to enter Elohim.

Sabbaths are set aside for people to focus more on God during these days. People are to come together with others in what God describes as holy convocations. So, they’re holy gatherings. It’s God’s people who come together for the purpose of fellowship and listening to God. Then the person goes away to implement it into their life.

This is a time set aside for people to listen to what God’s ministers teach to them during those occasions. It is then that family and friends can spend more time together with others who have been set aside at these particular times. So, we’ve been set aside for holy use and purpose. We’re demonstrating it.

The Sabbath was made for man. Now it means a lot more—it does to me—that it was made for my benefit. God rested for my benefit, that I could have the potential to enter His Family. It was made for me to listen to Him, to go away and think about it, and then implement those changes that He has advised me, into my life. Now, the choice is mine. I can reject it. I can hear it. But I can reject it. That’s happened often.

The seventh-day Sabbath was created for a physical and spiritual purpose. Keeping the Sabbath or Sabbaths are a sign of our relationship with God. So, by being here we’re demonstrating we have a relationship with God. To willfully not keep the seventh-day Sabbath or annual Holy Days leads to spiritual death. By not listening to God on His Sabbaths really is insanity.

When you think about it, God is our Creator. He knows what life is about. We’re still learning what life is about in some ways and we have an opportunity to grow. Well, He knows what He’s doing with us individually. And we wouldn’t listen? That’s incredible. You think, not listening?

Well, what happens when a child doesn’t listen to a parent? Correction. What’s the correction about? It’s to the benefit of the child. So, we’re the same. If we face any type of correction from God’s Church or ministry what is it about? Love. God is correcting out of love. Unfortunately, us humans, we rarely correct out of love because it normally gets to us, and we do it out of our own selfishness often. But if we don’t want to listen to God we’ll be corrected to a point where we might start to listen and think, “Ah, I better listen to God.”

The Sabbaths are the days God pours out His holy spirit so we can hear what He has for us. We can only hear God if we have God’s holy spirit. So, this sermon today would be useless for the majority. Until God calls them and then they’ll realize “Ah, the Sabbath is important.” It’s about listening to God.

The Sabbath was made for the benefit of mankind, and it was made for our spiritual benefit. It’s a way to enable us to enter Elohim. The Sabbaths of God, weekly and annual, are an identification, a sign of God’s people because only His people know them, keep them in spirit and truth as He commands.

Ezekiel 20:20. This is God directing it to us about His Sabbaths and Holy Days. Ezekiel 20:20—Sanctify, which is set apart for holy use. That’s what it really means. …sanctify My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, so that you may know that I am the Eternal your God. So, unless a person keeps the Sabbath and annual Holy Days, seven of them, they cannot know God. Absolutely impossible because they’re not listening to what He’s saying.

A person must begin to observe God’s commanded Sabbaths and listen to God and implement what they hear into their life. It’s the only way. That person has to implement it to become a begotten child of God. We’re begotten, we can listen, but whether we implement it is the challenge. That’s the answer to our life – implementation of what we hear.

[1] The Fall of the United States, Pg 201

1. Chapter 1