AS BEREANS DID

Heart Versus Law

Frankly, it is entertaining to watch Sabbatarians respond to what Jesus so plainly stated as recorded by His disciples / apostles. Good works are lawful, on the Sabbath, where He specifically stated good works as contrasted with evil works.

Yet Sabbatarians will jump right in, and insist not all “good” works are lawful on the Sabbath, such as works of employment, which, when you take what Jesus said, would mean they are actually evil works.

I recall being taught that the Sabbath was the “test commandment” to see if people are willing to be “obedient” to the law “of God.”

What has developed is that the Sabbath is indeed a “test commandment” to see whether you listen to Jesus; God Incarnate, or listen so someone else, following someone else’s voice; those who advocate the law; the letter of the law THAT KILLS. (2Corinthians 3:6)

My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: — John 10:27

Notice what Jesus did NOT say. He did NOT say His sheep hear his voice, and follow the law.

But Sabbatarianism teaches you to believe that to follow Him is to follow the law, using equivocation with the law so that the law becomes authoritative like God Himself; on par with God. It may well appear to be a ‘natural’ conclusion, but it if fraught with danger.

The Hebrews of old, rescued from the slavery of Egypt, constantly demonstrated their lack of faith and belief in what God related to them. It is hard for faithless people to grasp, but God, as a result, gave them the law, which had nothing to do with believing God or having faith in Him, rather:

And the LORD said unto Moses, Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD. — Exodus 19:9

This is another one of those verses that Sabbatarians are conditioned to ignore; overlook. God was not equivocating Himself with the law; He was equivocating the law with Moses. Small wonder then that Jesus would do likewise:

Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law? Why go ye about to kill me? — John 7:19

What law dealt with killing? Where is this law found?

In the Decalogue; the “moral” law according to Adventism… “God’s moral law” that God Incarnate distanced Himself from, calling it Moses’ law and never referring to it as “His” law or “God’s law” as Adventists insist on doing.

His law: God’s Spiritual law, is a law related to the characteristics and attributes of the Spirit; a law of the spirit:

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. — Romans 8:2

What is this law of sin and death a believer in whom dwells the Holy Spirit is freed from; a law of sin and death?

What did the old covenant law do in relation to sin and sinners? It condemned them. It condemned them to death, being a blood covenant law. That law produced wrath. (Romans 4:15) That law caused all to be guilty before God.

Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. — Romans 3:19

Notice especially the statement here that says every mouth may be stopped… with the exception of the ‘mouths’ of Sabbatarians who insist they keep the law.

All have sinned, and that includes Sabbatarians who insist they keep the law; their truncated version of it, having altered Scripture in order to have Scripture comply with their beliefs, rejecting thereby over 98% of the law. The audacity and nerve of Sabbatarians is almost audible.

The entirety of the law; everything recorded from Genesis through Deuteronomy, shows that God condemns evil and evil beings, where even some of the angels were not spared this wrath of God as revealed in the rest of the OT writings.

One of the factors ignored by Sabbatarians is that God isn’t just looking at “sin” but rather everything associated with sin that is not hampered and restricted as Sabbatarians like Adventists have attempted to do, insisting that the definition of sin is not a definition, but the act of transgressing any one of the 10 Commandments located in the Decalogue. This reduces and confines sin into a manageable ‘box’ that being the Ark of the Covenant. But sin transcends commandments found solely among the Decalogue, if you are ‘listening’ to Jesus. For sin is also equated with the flesh and pulls of the flesh, so that, those of the flesh do nothing pleasing to God; quite the contrary.

So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. — Romans 8:8

There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. — Romans 8:1

Those walking after the flesh have a serious problem, for the fruits or works of the flesh are all sinful, right down to the thoughts and imaginations of those walking in the flesh.

For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: °That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. — Romans 8:3-4

For those Sabbatarians who, upon reading this citation from Romans 8, will focus in on the statement regarding the “righteousness of the law” and conclude this is about the Decalogue, “forgetting” and overlooking what Paul wrote back in chapters 3 and 4 of Romans; that the law testifies to righteousness derived through faith, as attested to in the law, regarding the life of Abraham, recorded in the law.

The flesh is sinful, as cited above. The flesh contains no good thing, as stated in Romans 7:18. Those born of the flesh are born with what God calls a “deceitful and desperately wicked heart” in Jeremiah 17:9.

Your own ‘heart’ deceives you into believing you can deal with sin and a sinful nature by being obedient to the Decalogue, overlooking that the overall purpose and function of that law is to condemn sin and those who sin; do evil, iniquitous things that transcends just actions. Evil and iniquity incorporate evil thoughts and evil imaginations, as attested to IN THE LAW.

And GOD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. — Genesis 6:5

Sabbatarians have been conditioned to stand guard and reject anyone who would speak against the law, where the law is redefined to mean just the Decalogue; the legalities of the law. In a way, this is a distraction that draws your attention to the “weightier matters of the law” Jesus touched on, that includes justice, mercy, and faith. There is also other matters associated with sin, evil, and iniquity, touched on here.

The covenant law God made with the Hebrews addresses evils of the flesh, and specific requirements of that law for the Hebrews; works of the law. The focus came off the flesh and works of the flesh, and was transferred to the works of the law specific to those Hebrews, such as the Sabbath commandment.

Keeping the Sabbath does not negate the overall works or fruits of the flesh. An evil person can keep the Sabbath, even as did the Pharisees who Jesus said hated Him and the Father in Heaven. They, being evil, were focused on the works of the law also, with a heavy emphasis on the Sabbath.

Jesus, in relation to the Sabbath, was addressing the works of the flesh versus the works of the Spirit, where works of the flesh are evil, and the works of the Spirit and those led by the Holy Spirit, are good; always, due to how God judges, according to the heart; the ‘heart, mind, soul’ of someone, where Jesus was our example, showing those who are now led by the Spirit that their works are never evil and sin, even on the Sabbath, seeing as He is Lord “also” of the Sabbath.

Some listen to Him.

Some do not.

Those who do not were conditioned through weekly sessions of indoctrination to ignore Christ Jesus and what He said and taught, having accepted a false Christ, preached by false prophets. Theirs is a Christ who judges according to their truncated law, and not according to the heart.

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It is important that you understand; Everything on this blog is based on the current understanding of each author. Never take anyone's word for it, always prove it for yourself, it is your responsibility. You cannot ride someone else's coattail into the Kingdom. ; )

Acts 17:11

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