Lesson No. 7. What About Christians Who Keep All the Ten Commandments Except the Sabbath?
  Our message is dedicated to the defense of the Ten Commandments as a whole and the true Sabbath day in particular (Isaiah 58:1,13; Mark 2:27,28).
  QUESTION: "Do you really believe that a Christian will be lost who lives obedient to God's Law but does not keep the seventh-day Sabbath? The way you teach you make sinners out of many good people."
  THE BIBLE ANSWER: This is a very important question and one that many people ask us. The Bible has the answer and we will give it to you shortly. We are accused of making, or rather condemning, good Christian people as sinners because we teach obedience to all the Ten Commandments, which include the seventh-day Sabbath. These same people who fail to keep the Sabbath Commandment because they feel that it is not important, or has been changed, will teach and obey the other nine Precepts in the Ten Commandments. The nine Precepts are important to them because it is sin to transgress any of them. If it is a sin to transgress any one of these nine Precepts, why isn't it sin to ignore or transgress the Fourth Commandment in the same Law? (Exodus 20:8-11.)
  Now what does the Bible say? Will a person be lost who keeps all the Law except the Sabbath Precept?
  First, let us look at Psalm 119:165: "Great peace have they which love thy Law: and nothing shall offend them." From this we see that all true children of God must love the Father's Law. If we love God with all our heart, we will love His Law; and if we love God's Law, we will obey it. It will be all important to us. It is a bit of selfishness and lack of love on our part when we refuse to obey any Command of our God after we come to the knowledge of it.
  A solemn warning is given in Proverbs 14:12: "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death." We may reason out a way that seems right to us but it it causes us to disobey God's Law, it is a way of death. We have no right to set aside or change God's Law in any way. We must obey from the heart all ten Precepts of the Ten Commandments as Jesus taught us to do.
  There are honest people who have accepted Jesus Christ as their Saviour and who are living obedient to God so far as they have been taught; but they have not as yet learned the truth that Jesus did not change or abolish God's holy Sabbath day. They are honestly keeping Sunday, thinking that it is the Lord's Day. They are violating the Commandment of God but do not know it. What about them? Let James give the answer: "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17. See also John 15:22 and 9:41). According to these texts an honest-hearted person is not held guilty before God until the Bible truth about the Sabbath come to his knowledge. When the facts are presented, it is the duty of every honest-hearted Christian to search the Scriptues for himself, asking God to guide by His Holy Spirit (John 5:39; James 1:5). Willful ignorance, by refusing to search for the Bible truth on the matter, will result in death or destruction (Hosea 4:6).
  When a person is convinced that the Ten Commandments were not changed or abolished by Jesus Christ, and that the seventh-day Sabbath is still God's holy Day for Christians to keep, there is but one thing to do if he wishes to continue in the way of eternal life. "To him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." You are a sinner, my dear friend, if you refuse to keep the Fourth Commandment that says, "The seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God" after you have come to the knowledge of this truth. There is no way around this. When we know that the Bible says so, and we refuse to obey, it is sin--and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23; John 9:41).
  What is sin? "By the Law is the knowledge of sin" (Romans 3:20).
  By what Law? "Is the Law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the Law: for I had not known lust, except the Law had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Romans 7:7,12). These words of Paul make it very clear that God does have a Law that gives a knowledge of sin. We are not left in doubt as to what Law gives a knowledge of sin in our age, for he quoted from the Ten Commandments. "Thou shalt not covet." The Ten Commandments are still holy, just and good in this age (Romans 7:12). This fact we have proved in the lessons before this one. The Bible definition of sin is given in 1 John 3:4: "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the Law." This makes it very clear that when we transgress any one of the ten Precepts of the Law that gives a knowledge of sin, we have committed sin. Jesus was manifested to take away our sins or transgression (1 John 3:5). He came to save from sin (Matthew 1:21).
  "THE WHOLE LAW." James makes it clear that we must keep "the whole Law" and that we can't get by by keeping nine Precepts and failing in the one. James 2:10-12: "For whosoever shall keept the whole Law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the Law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the Law of Liberty." There can be no doubt that James quoted from the Ten Commandments here in these verses. He teaches obedience to the whole Law, and he tells us plainly that if we break one Precept, we are guilty of all. This includes the Sabbath commandment. It is just as much a sin to break the Sabbath Commandment as it is to steal, or to kill, or to worship idols. To God it makes no difference. Sin is the transgression of the Law--whether it be one Precept or the other. When we knowingly transgress God's Law, we commit sin, and if we do not repent and obey, we are sinners before God. We may go ahead in a form of godliness and hold church membership here on earth, but our names will be erased in Heaven. Someone will ask, "Does James mean that if I break the Sabbath Command, I am guilty of adultery, murder, etc.?" No, that is not the idea, but you have broken the Law of God. The Ten Commandments make up the whole Law in this text and when one Precept is broken, the whole Law is broken and you are as guilty before God as if you had broken every Precept. The wages of sin is death, whether you break one Precept or break them all (Romans 6:23).
  After we know that the Ten Commandments must be kept by Christians, there is no excuse for refusing to keep the Sabbath, because there is no excuse for willful sin.
  If you know these things, my dear friends, I beg you in the name of Jesus Christ that you obey. I am convinced that there are many who know that the Sabbath day is still God's holy Day, but who do not feel that it is important to keep it. You would not tolerate that kind of reasoning about the Sixth or Seventh Commandment in the same Law. "Thou shalt not kill," (the Sixth Command) condemns murder, and under the teachings of Jesus Christ "Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him" (1 John 3:15). Is there any question about the seriousness of violating this Sixth Precept of the Ten Commandments? Those who hate their brother are condemned by that very Precept as murderers and they do not have eternal life abiding in them. Why? Because they are sinners. The Sabbath is in the same Law. If it makes no difference whether we keep the Sabbath Command, then we have as much right to reason that it makes no difference if a professing Christian breaks that Precept that says "Thou shalt not commit adultery" or the one that says "Thou shalt not steal." If we can break the Sabbath Commandment and be guiltless before God, we can break any one or all of the other nine Precepts and be guiltless. James said that if we break one we are guilty of all (James 2:10-12). This is God's Word to us. God will not tolerate sin whether it be Sabbath desecration or the worship of idols. The Sabbath stands or falls with the Ten Commandments. The Fourth Commandment says "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy . . . the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God . . ." (Exodus 20:8-11). The seventh day was blessed and sanctified by God in the beginning of man's existence (Genesis 2:1-3). Jesus said, "The Sabbath was made for man . . ." (Mark 2:27). Jesus kept the Sabbath day (Luke 4:16). His followers kept it (Luke 23:56). Paul kept it (Acts 17:1,2). Jesus taught how to keep it (Matthew 12:1,2 and 24:14-20). We are to follow the footsteps and teachings of Christ (John 8:12; 1 Peter 2:21,22).
  Satan persuaded Mother Eve to believe his lie. God said that she would die if she disobeyed Him, but Satan said she would not die (Genesis 3:1-20). In short Satan was saying that she could disobey God and it would make no difference. Many are being persuaded to believe that same thing today. It did make a difference to Mother Eve and Father Adam. They were driven from their home in Eden, and death entered this world with multitudes of other sorrows and troubles. We see the results of their disobedience on every hand. This all came because Mother Eve was persuaded that it would make no difference if she did disobey God. Will you fall into the same pitfall today? You can't break God's Law and get by with it. The penalty must be paid. Christians must obey God's will.
  In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus said, "Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in Heaven." What is the will of the Father? Let Paul answer. To the Jews he said, "And knowest His will, and approvest the things that are more excellent, being instructed out of the Law" (Romans 2:17,18). The Law is clearly identified in verses 19-25. Read them. Those Jews knew God's will, being instructed out of the Law. Then if we are to do the will of the Father, we must obey His Law. It will do no good to call Jesus our Lord and refuse to obey His Father's will or Law. You cannot be saved by calling Him your Lord and then contradict that claim by refusing to obey the Law of God the Father. Turn back to Matthew 7:21-23. We gave you verse 21. Read verses 22 and 23, please. Many will claim to have been followers of Jesus, even to the extent of casting out devils in His Name, but Jesus will say, "I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." This is a sad picture because this is speaking of "many" professing Christians who refuse to go all the way with the Lord. While professing to be Christians, they work iniquity, or sin, by transgressing God's Law. Jesus was speaking of persons who knew better. They know the will of God. Read verses 24 to 27. "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine and doeth them . . ." (verses 24,25). These words are part of the "Sermon on the Mount." They begin with Matthew 5:1. "These sayings of mine" that Jesus spoke of included this entire Sermon, and in Matthew 5:17-28 Jesus plainly taught obedience from the heart to the Ten Commandment Law of God. We can't even break one Precept. We must "Do and teach them" (verse 19). The Sabbath is a part of that Law. Now let us go back to Matthew 7:24-27: "Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, [the Sermon on the Mount] and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house, and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock." But "every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand: and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall of it." Which house is yours? Where are you building? Are you hearing and obeying, or are you hearing and obeying not?
  We are commanded to love God with all of our heart (Matthew 22:36-40). If we love God, we will keep His Commandments (1 John 5:3). "He that saith I know Him, and keepeth not His Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him" (1 John 2:4).
  The Sabbath was and is important (Jeremiah 17:20-27; Isaiah 58:13,14).
  Let us obey Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath day (Mark 2:28; Luke 6:5; John 8:12; 15:10; and 1 Corinthians 11:1).
  A counterfeit or substitute will not do. Aaron's sons offered "strange fire" before God--something that He did not command them and it cost them their lives. Read Leviticus 10:1-5. These things happened and are recorded in the Bible for lessons to us (Romans 15:4).