When God Said Remember Part 1

One of the most perplexing questions facing the religious world today is being deliberately stifled by many leading churchmen. The sincere inquiries of laymen and Bible students are being turned aside by those in authority. Yet the question demands attention and requires an answer. It is the question of the Sabbath. The reason it looms so large in the minds of so many is that it's a part of the Ten Commandments, which God wrote with His own hand and delivered to the world. It is found in the very heart of the Ten Commandments and is the longest and most detailed of them. Furthermore, God distinguished this commandment by urgent wording found nowhere else in the Decalogue. It is introduced by the ommand, "Remember." Yet I submit to you that the world has largely forgotten what God said to remember. Not even the latest memory pills will bring the human race to remember what God wrote in the middle of His great moral law.

The world may have forgotten to remember but Chritians, who are genuine followers of Jesus Christ have never forgotten to keep the Sabbath Day Holy, what they have done; they have kept the day holy and also kept all the days of the Week holy because of Christ Jesus who enables them. They are in the Lord of the Sabbath and by that virtue, they are obeying the commandment. 1. The Israelites obeyed and kept the Sabbath holy to the letter but this was not sufficient, God still required that the sin of the world must be atoned for and that is why Christ dies for you and for me.
Specifically, what did God command us to remember? Let's read the commandment itself in Exodus 20:8-11. "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it." Now, this raises an interesting question, friends. Why do millions keep Sunday, the first day of the week, instead of Saturday, the seventh day as the commandment specifies? Why do they not keep the day God said to remember?
In your question (s) above, you make a very blunt assumption that you have caught Christians napping; Christians (millions) do not keep Sunday the first day of the week. Who told that? Christians only gather on Sunday to worship and fellowship as they were commanded by Jesus to love one another and break bread in remembrance of Him. The Bible does not show us that remembering to keep the Sabbath holy is the same as going to church and worshipping God. All the Seventh Day Adventists do not keep the Sabbath holy by not working. They go to Church to worship and fellowship. Where did God require us to worship and fellowship on the Sabbath?  The SDA church has two broadcasting stations in the USA which broadcast 24/7 including Saturday. Why don’t they shut down the stations and obey the entire law? It says  But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: is operating the TV stations, Hospitals etc work? Is there an exception when it comes to these?
Right now, let's look at the Bible reasons for keeping the day God commanded. Everyone really should have a Bible reason for his religious practices. Listen to this text in 1 Peter 3:15: "But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear." There it is. The Bible forever settles it. Every Christian ought to have an answer from the scriptures for everything he believes. So you say to me, "Well, why DO you keep Saturday as the Sabbath when nearly everybody else keeps Sunday?" With God's Word in hand we are going to answer that question today. That's why I trust you will listen very, very carefully and prayerfully to this broadcast.
The first Bible reason for keeping the seventh day Sabbath is that Jesus kept the seventh day holy and asked all His followers to do the same. Here's the scripture to prove that Jesus kept the Sabbath. "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read." Luke 4:16. This verse of scripture is too plain for anyone to misunderstand or misconstrue. It plainly says that Jesus habitually kept the Sabbath. That was His custom.

My friend, in the paragraph above, you have eisegeted (read into) the scripture. Jesus going into the Synagogue on the Sabbath day and reading the bible does not amount to Jesus asking his followers to do so. There are very many things Jesus did and we never are required to do them physically, e.g forgiving sinners, dying on the cross, sweating blood, carrying the cross, driving out merchants from the Temple, etc. Jesus going into the SYNAGOGUE as was His custom, point out to the fact that He was following the Religion of His ancestors and His people. It also shows that He did not come to destroy the Religion practiced by His people but He came to show them the most excellent way of doing things on the Sabbath. What Jesus was doing here, made many people wonder and in fact it also brought hreat opposition because He was healing people even on the Sabbath and what does Jesus answer? , "My Father works on all days to do good to men, and I work also." Then Jesus said to them, “I will ask you one thing: Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy? ~Luke 6:9
Matthew 12:1-14 ; Mark 2:23- 3:6 ; Luke 6:1-11 ; John 5:1-18

  To Jesus, it did not matter what day it was, whether it was a Sabbath or not, He just did work. That is how Christians should look and keep the Sabbath day holy, by working all days-i.e. keeping all days holy because they are in the Lord of the Sabbath. Read on and see what the religious leaders accused Jesus of;

 The man went away from the Temple, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. The Jews were very angry at Jesus because he had cured this man on the Sabbath. But Jesus said to them, "My Father works on all days to do good to men, and I work also."

These words made the Jews ready to kill Jesus, not only because, as they said, he had broken the Sabbath, but because he had spoken of God as his Father, as though he were the Son of God. He was indeed the Son of God, although they would not believe it.

Question: Did Jesus break the Sabbath here by working on the Sabbath? Did He keep it Holy by Working? What does it mean God working all Days? Please respond to these Questions.
Now let's read a scripture or two that tells us we should follow His example. We all believe it, but let's read it from the Bible so we can be sure. John 12:26: "If any man,", notice that expression, "If any man serve me, let him follow me." A great many people think they are serving the Lord who are not actually serving Him, because the Lord said if any man serve Me, then let him follow Me. It doesn't make any difference what a person's persuasion, color, or background may be, this statement refers to everybody. The Lord removed all doubt when He said "any man." That plainly means every individual who is listening to this broadcast, because the word "man" is a collective noun meaning mankind, everyone. If any man, woman, or child will serve Me, let him follow Me. Those are Christ's own words. To serve Him, we must follow Him.
Serving and following Jesus are two different but important things and they do not mean following his example. First, serving Jesus means working for him and doing service for mankind on Jesus’ behalf while following Jesus means believing in Jesus and taking Him as savior and Lord putting all your trust in Him and living for Him. That is to say, we should lead lives that glorify him. The examples that our Lord showed us and gave us are numerous and keeping the Sabbath day Holy is not one of them. Washing other people’s feet, breaking bread, paying tax etc are some of the examples that Jesus did to demonstrate how we ought to live. Therefore Jesus keeping the Sabbath does set precedence or a precept for us to follow.
 Now let's read the word of the apostle Peter in1 Peter 2:21. "For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps." That again is a scripture too plain for anybody to misconstrue. The scripture simply makes it clear that if I'm going to be a Christian, I must follow Him. And if I'm going to follow Him, then I must keep the Sabbath, because Jesus kept the Sabbath.
The Scripture in I Peter 2:21 does not in any way point at keeping the Sabbath. A simple application of sound hermeneutics dictates that you must interpret scripture literary, grammatically and geographically. I hope you understand what I mean. The example that Peter is referring to here, is suffering for the sake of Christ. The Christians in the first century were being persecuted for their faith and many were killed. Peter was therefore telling them to endure suffering because Jesus suffered too and showed us the best example of how we ought to conduct ourselves in suffering. This verse has nothing to do with the keeping of the Sabbath.
Right here a great many folks will say, "Now, wait a minute. I don't feel that the Sabbath is binding today. The Book of Revelation speaks of the Lord's Day. I worship on the Lord's Day. I have nothing at all to do with the Sabbath." Well, let's turn to that Book of Revelation and read this passage that's so often mentioned. It's found in Revelation 1:10. "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet." Now let's analyze this scripture a little bit. It's often used as a proof-text to prove that we ought to worship on the first day of the week. You've just heard that scripture read, friends. Does the verse say that the Lord's Day is the first day of the week? Of course not; absolutely not. Does the verse say that the Lord's Day is the Sabbath Day? No, it doesn't say that, either. Sabbath keepers couldn't use this verse to prove that the Lord's day is the Sabbath, neither could Sunday keepers use it to prove that the Lord's day is Sunday. All this verse states is that the Lord has a special day called the Lord's day. That's all Revelation 1:10 could ever prove.
There is no one claiming that worship on the First –Sunday- is done because it is the Lord’s Day. In fact, Christians as we have said and we say again, is, Christians worship the Lord everyday just as Jesus and God the Father work on all days. As you have rightly observed that the Lord’s Day does not refer to the SABBATH day or to Sunday, could you please tell us if this would refer to the day our Lord rose from the dead? Did Jesus rise on the First day of the Week? Which day did Jesus appear to His disciples after he rose from the dead? Which day did the apostle Paul ask Christians at Corinth to congregate and collect an offering for him? Could this be the First day? Could a day that our Lord rose from the dead be rightly referred to as the Lord’s Day?
Our last question is this: If He has a day, then which day is the Lord's day? Can we find the answer to this question from the Bible without seeking the theories of men? The answer is, Yes. We can find the answer right in the Book of God. Let's take a New Testament scripture first, and an Old Testament scripture along with it. The New Testament scripture is Matthew 12:8. "Therefore the Son of Man is Lord also of the Sabbath day." Now, friends, if the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath day, then the Sabbath surely is the Lord's Day. That's the New Testament scripture. The Bible actually refers to the Sabbath as His day. God claims only one holy day, the Sabbath.
You may be reasoning like this: "How do we know that the ‘Sabbath' and the ‘Lord's day' are not simply other ways of saying ‘the first day of the week'? I bring this up because many people have actually made that claim. I've heard the argument quite recently. But let's see what God says. Turn now to the Old Testament text in Exodus 20, and I'm going to read beginning with verse 10. Listen carefully now, because God settles the matter right here once and for all. "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God." Did you get that, friends? Now tell me, you folk who have calendars hanging right there on the wall, what day of the week is the seventh day? Why, Saturday, of course. You can't get away from it. It's right there witnessing from your calendar on the wall. The seventh day is the Sabbath. So, on the authority of God's eternal Word, the seventh day, the Sabbath, the Lord's Day, all mean the same thing and all refer to the day that we now call Saturday. So if we're going to follow Jesus, and He kept that day, then we must likewise observe Saturday as the holy Sabbath.
Now I want you to look again at Exodus 20 for a few moments, because this is the chapter where the Ten Commandments are recorded. I've been much amazed to discover that there are many people, church people even, who do not realize that one of the Ten Commandments has to do with the Sabbath. People learn the Ten Commandments and study them and yet some do not know that one of them has to do with the Sabbath we're talking about today. It's the fourth commandment of God's law. We read it at the beginning of this broadcast. "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God." Now, remember friends, this is a part of the Ten Commandments. Why is it that people the world over, who are the best of Christians, have lost sight of that? I call your attention to the fact that it's one of the Ten Commandments because God says that the Ten cannot be changed. I want to read two verses to prove this. The first is Psalm 89:34 where the Lord says, "I will not alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.'' And then in Exodus 20, the chapter containing the Ten Commandments, we read in verse 1, "And God spake all these words.'' So the Lord said it and He can't change it once it has been said. His words cannot be changed. That's what the Old Testament proves.
We who congregate on Sundays to fellowship and worship God agree with you that the Ten Commandments can not be changed and have never been changed except for one denomination that removed the second commandment and divided the one that warns against Covetousness. The Sabbath day as it was instituted by God is being kept holy by the people who were given the Law. Jesus and the Apostles practiced this religion perfectly. If you are a Jew by Religion, you must keep this. If you are a Christian and would like to worship on Saturday, well and good but God did not command us to worship him only on the Sabbath. In fact I say again, keeping the Sabbath day holy does not mean worshipping but ceasing to work.
Here's the New Testament verse: Luke 16:17. "It is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Now a tittle is a little tiny marking in the Hebrew alphabet likened to the crossing of a "t" or the dotting of an "i." God's law cannot be changed even as little as that; it's just impossible. That's another reason why I keep the seventh day Sabbath, God's unchangeable law commands it. It's the fourth commandment, and I hope every person listening will see that it's just as serious to break the commandment that says, "Remember the sabbath day" as it is to break the commandments that say "Thou shalt not steal" and "Thou shalt not kill." They are all in the same law, written by the same God. It's God's idea, friends, not mine or yours. Here's a question that has disturbed me for many years: How can any man, woman, or child feel free to ignore any commandment that the eternal God gives? That's a question we ought to study and analyze very seriously today, friends.
Now to respond to the above, I agree with you that if we break one commandment, we break all and we can not ignore any of them. Christians never ignore any commandment. They keep all the seven Days of the week holy and only congregate on Sunday to worship and fellowship as the SDA members congregate on Saturday to do the same. Meeting on the Sabbath day to worship is not synonymous to keeping it holy, keeping holy means not working at all on that day.
A certain Protestant Christian had a good job working in the office of a shipping firm. One day while he was out in the shipping department, one of the workmen there somehow suffered a minor accident as he went about his business. Holding the bruised finger, the man swore violently, taking the Lord's name in vain. This Christian felt badly about it and thought maybe he should do something, so he went over to him and said, ‘'Friend, we really ought to be careful about our speech, shouldn't we? When you talk like that you are breaking one of God's Ten Commandments, the one that says, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. That's commandment #3." The man, of course, was considerably taken aback. He put his head down sheepishly and said, "Yes, that's right. I'm awfully sorry I slipped. I want you to know that I appreciate your saying something to me about it, and I'll try to be more careful about it in the future."
So this Christian gentleman started back to his office feeling very good and patting himself on the back for teaching somebody that it was very important to keep the Ten Commandments. As he walked along, however, a voice seemed to say to him, "But you are breaking the fourth." That man stopped in his tracks as if frozen, and his heart began to pound. Perspiration broke out on his forehead. He stood there for one awful moment and then, heartbroken, he made his decision to follow God and keep the fourth commandment. You see, the Sabbath truth had come to him before. He had known about it, studied it, analyzed it and even believed it; but, he tried to get away from it. He thought of what his friends at church and at work might think, and he was afraid he might even lose his job if he decided never to work on Saturday again. But as he stood there for that long moment he thought, "Here I am, telling somebody else how awful it is to break the commandments and I'm breaking them myself." He turned, went into his office and shut the door. He got down on his knees and confessed his sins, and from that moment on he kept the Sabbath.
Now listen, friends. When the great God of heaven commands us to do something, what is there to do but obey? May the Lord burn that into every heart today. I know that you're wondering about the folks who don't know these truths. Perhaps you are thinking this is a hard, unreasonable message. And what about my grandmother, one of the greatest saints that ever lived? Certainly she will be saved, and yet she never knew about the Sabbath.

Well, she probably will be saved, friends. The scriptures teach that we are accountable only for the truth we understand. James 4:17 is a very important passage that every Christian should underline in his Bible. Listen: "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin." When we know the truth but don't follow it, we sin. In John 9:41 Jesus said, "If ye were blind, ye should have no sin; but now ye say, We see; therefore your sin remaineth." Yes, friends, God judges us according to the light we have. Many dear people will be in the kingdom of God who never even heard of the Sabbath, but they lived up to all the light they knew, and God honors them for that. He will require of you all the truth that you understand, and now since this great truth of the Sabbath has come to you directly from God's Word, friends, what will you do about it? Tomorrow we will continue this study and give more Bible reasons for keeping the same Sabbath as Jesus kept and commanded us to keep.

To sum up my rebuttal, I would request the guy who wrote this article to respond paragraph to paragraph of what I have already written in my posting as I have done to this and also dissect the following from Colosians 2:

 ¹⁶ Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. ¹⁷ These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ. ¹⁸ Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind. ¹⁹ They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.

 ²⁰ Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: ²¹ “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? ²² These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. ²³ Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence

I will respond to part two if  you respond to the matters I have raised above and to my postings and to the postings by Reuben Kigame. Response to these will show that indeed we are engaging in mature debates that will help us live for Christ as good ambassadors.

God bless

Paul