10/8/17 - Eph
6:2-3, The Commandment, Pt. 12, The 4th Commandment, Sabbath, Pt. 4. Lesson # 17-107
Grace Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher,
Jim Rickard
The Doctrine of the Ten Commandments Related to the Church Age,
Part XI.
Before we begin study, we should: 1 John 1:9, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to
forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
The
4th Commandment, Ex
20:8-11; Deut 5:12-15. Cf. Ex 16:23-30; 20:8-11; 23:12; 31:13-17;
34:23; 35:2-3; Lev 23:3; 26:2; Neh 13:16-19.
This is the 4th and last of the Ten Commandments that
directly relates to the worship and service of God. It was a mandate by God to
honor the Sabbath Day and make it holy unto the Lord. It was a day during which
the Israelites were to rest from their work, i.e., the normal activities and
labors of the other six days of the week were to be avoided.
New Testament Usage of Sabbath:
1. His healing and resultant opposition, Mat 12:9-13; Luke 13:10-17; 14:1-5; John 5:1-17; 7:22-23; 9:14-16.
2. His teaching, Mark 1:21;
Luke 4:31.
3. His synagogue attendance,
Luke 4:16.
4. His burial, Mark
15:42-47 (cf. 16:1); John 19:31.
5. His resurrection, Mat
28:1.
In these depictions, we see Christ foreshadowing the coming of the
Church Age when the Law, including the Sabbath, would not be a requirement to
be fulfilled. We see that during His time, the Sabbath was to be kept because
they were still under the Age of Israel, the Age of the Law. They were still
under the Mosaic Law.
As we have noted, the observance of the Sabbath is an ordinance
given to the nation of Israel, but not the Church for the Church Age. In fact,
prophecy anticipated the termination of Sabbath observance for a time, Hosea 2:11; cf. 3:4-5.
Hosea
2:11, “I will also put an end to all her gaiety, Her feasts, her new moons, her
Sabbaths and all her festal assemblies.”
Hosea
3:4-5, “For the sons of Israel will remain for many days without king or
prince, without sacrifice or sacred pillar and without ephod or household
idols. 5Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD
their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD and to
His goodness in the last days.” Cf. Mat 24:20; Isa 66:23; Ezek 45:17; 46:1-12.
With the judicial termination of the Mosaic legal system at the
Cross, Col 2:14, Sabbath observance
is not required of Christians, Col 2:16,
and the notion of a “Christian Sabbath” is foreign to NT directions to the
Church.
Some say that the Bible nowhere tells the Church to stop observing
the Sabbath and meet on Sunday. But the Bible also nowhere prescribes which
books should be in the Bible and which should not. That is an argument from
silence, which is not a valid argument. Likewise, the NT nowhere commands the
Church to keep the Sabbath, as it does the other 9 of the 10 Commandments.
Yet, the NT does say we are no longer under the Law, Rom 7:1-6. Therefore, if not stated to
keep it, (as the other 9 Commandments are commanded for the Church Age in the
NT), we are not under obligation to keep it.
In Rom 7:1-6, Paul
taught the Jewish and Gentile Christians in Rome that the Jewish Christian, (as
assumed from the context of verse one), is dead to the Mosaic Law in that it no
longer has any jurisdiction over them. Jewish Christians are not under the
authority of the Mosaic Law because they are identified with Christ in His
death on the Cross, and thus Gentile Christians are not under the authority of
the Mosaic Law as well. Consequently, they are not required to observe the
Sabbath or circumcision or the dietary regulations whose observance was
prescribed under the Mosaic Law.
In Rom 7:2, Paul
presents the principle found in the Mosaic Law that a woman is bound to her
husband as long as he lives, but if he dies, she is discharged from her
marriage contract with him.
Paul teaches in Rom 7:3,
that if a Jewish woman’s husband dies, then she is not an adulteress if she
remarries.
In Rom 7:4, Paul
teaches that in the same way that a Jewish wife is discharged from the marriage
contract with her deceased husband and is now free to marry another, so too has
been the Christian discharged from the Law, including the Decalogue, and was
free to be married to Christ through the baptism of the Holy Spirit. This is
made possible through the completed work of Jesus upon the Cross, i.e., “through the body of Christ.”
Rom
7:5 describes their relationship as unbelievers.
Rom
7:6, describes their present status of having been freed from the
Law, having died to it and now having the capacity to serve in newness of the
Spirit. Jewish Christians have been discharged from their legal and moral
obligations to the Mosaic Law, as a result of being identified with Christ in
His death.
Later, in Rom 9:4-5,
Paul teaches that the Mosaic Law and Sabbath observance were given to the
nation of Israel, and thus were not given to the Gentiles or the Church, cf. Rom 3:2.
Therefore, Sabbath observance is not prescribed for the Church Age
believer. The Church Age believer is not commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ or
by His apostles to observe the Sabbath. As we noted above in Rom 7:1-6, the Church Age believer has
died to the Law. Thus, they are not required to observe the Sabbath which was
prescribed by God for the nation of Israel to observe under the Mosaic Law.
Likewise, we see in Eph 2:12
that the Sabbath has never been given to Gentiles.
Eph 2:12, “Remember that you were at that time separate from
Christ, excluded from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the
covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” Cf. Eph 6:2-3, where the 5th
Commandment is now given to the Church and is “the first with a promise.”
Therefore, it is not for the Church during the Church Age, as
Christ fulfilled and abolished the Law for this Age, Eph 2:15. Therefore, we are not under its authority for salvation
or to live the unique spiritual life of the Church Age.
Eph 2:15, “By
abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained
in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus
establishing peace.”
In regard to this, when the Judaizers were bringing false
doctrines to the early Church, specifically regarding the need to keep the Law
and believe in Christ for salvation and the spiritual life, we find an
interesting response from the early Church leaders in Acts 15:1-31.
Nowhere do they mention the keeping of the Sabbath as a
requirement for salvation or to live the spiritual life. In fact, the few
things they mentioned have nothing to do with salvation, but are to refute the
false pagan god worship of their day.
Thus, the Church Age believer should not allow people who have
been Judaized to criticize them because they do not observe the Sabbath like
they do, Col 2:16-17.
Col 2:16-17, “Therefore
no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a
festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day— 17things which are a mere
shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.”
In fact, when Stephen was stoned to death, he was accused of
something. You can find the answer in Acts
6:11-14; note the word “customs”
in vs. 14. Cf. Acts 15:1; 21:21; 26:3; 28:17. We can assume that these “customs”
had to do with the ceasing of the Law during the Church Age.
If
you have never accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I am here to tell
you that Jesus loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His life for you.
God the Father also loves you. He loves you so much that He gave His only Son
for you by sending Him to the Cross. At the Cross Jesus died in your place.
Taking upon Himself all of your sins and all of my sins. He was judged for our
sins and paid the price for our sins. Therefore, our sins will never be held
against us.
Right
where you are, you now have the opportunity to make the greatest decision in
your life. To accept the free gift of salvation and eternal life by truly
believing that Jesus Christ died for your sins and was raised on the third day
as the proof of the promise of eternal life. So right now, you can pause and
reflect on what Christ has done for you and say to the Father:
"Yes Father, I believe that Your Son, Jesus
Christ, died on the cross for the forgiveness of my sins."
If you have done that, I welcome you to the eternal
Family of God!
Grace
Fellowship Church
Pastor/Teacher: James H. Rickard
23 Messenger Street, Unit 3
Plainville, MA 02762
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© 2001 - 2017.
Property of: James H Rickard Bible Ministries
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