Episode Transcript
Welcome to Countdown. Back to the future. In this presentation, we're going to be looking at Antichrist, history's greatest hoax. I wonder if you've ever heard about the cow path. The story goes that a cow once wandered through a forest. One day it went this way and that way, all the way for kilometers, and finally came out on the other side of this, this great forest. The next day, a man was walking along with his dog when he saw this cow path and he followed it. A couple of days later, a man on a horse with a few sheep, he saw the calf path and he followed it and beat it down a little more and went for kilometers right through the forest. Then along came a man a few weeks later with a bullock cart and he saw this path and so he beat it down a little bit more as he wandered this way and that way, right through to the other side of the forest. Eventually, this cow path became a major highway through this forest. And as people drove along, they wondered, why do we go this way and that way, winding all the way through to the forest, out the other side? Nobody realised that it was all because of a calf or a cow centuries before that had just gone for a wander. Well, it's a bit of a legend, of course, isn't it? But there's a great lesson in there for us. Sometimes we just follow the way that everybody else. I want to talk to you about a calf path that many people have been on for centuries. You know, in our last presentation, we looked at the Sabbath of the Bible and there should have been a question in many of our minds. This question, how was the Sabbath changed from Saturday to Sunday or from the seventh day to the first day? How did that change come about? Cause many people, most Christians do that. Well, we want to notice in the Bible that the attempt to change God's Sabbath from the seventh day to the first day, or from what most call Saturday to Sunday, this was actually predicted in the Bible long ago in the seventh chapter of the Book of Daniel. You remember, we were there in our last presentation looking at the subject of the Antichrist, that little horn. Well, notice one of the things that Daniel mentions right back there, 2,500 years ago, back there in Babylon, around 530 B.C. he that is the little horn, the Antichrist, the church, sadly, of the Dark Ages, it will speak pompous words against the Most High and shall intend to change the times and the law. Now he's dealing here with the times and the laws of the Most High. There is a command in the Bible that's one of God's laws that deals with time. And that of course is the Sabbath. It's God's law dealing with time. Remember the Sabbath day. So Daniel was seeing way down into the future that this change would come about. People would attempt to change God's laws. We noticed how that is true. And some of the commandments had been altered slightly. Remember one of them was dropped out in the catechism and so on. But now we notice he made a prediction that God's law dealing with time would somehow be attempted to be changed. So how was it that the Sabbath changed from the Saturday or the seventh day to Sunday the first day? How did this change come about? That's what we need to understand now in this presentation. We're going to have to go to university History of Christianity again. What we'll notice first of all is that the change was gradual. It wasn't something that came overnight. You see, we know from the Bible that the Christians of the first century kept the seventh day Sabbath, or what we call Saturday in this country, the seventh day, the Sabbath of God. You may recall when we were one of our presentations, Jesus gave signs of the end of the world there on the Mount of Olives as he sat with his disciples, we learn that Jesus intended for him and his apostles way down into the future to still be keeping the Sabbath. Notice what he said in the midst of these signs of the destruction of Jerusalem and of the end of the world. Jesus said to them, and pray that your flight may not be in the winter or on the Sabbath now. Why not in the winter? Well, it gets pretty cold in Palestine, in Jerusalem, sometimes even snows there. I've been across the Jordan, in Petra, there, and I've noticed the snow's coming because it gets very cold. And of course he doesn't want them to be uncomfortable or even to die in a freezing cold winter. Pray that your flight be not in the winter or on the Sabbath now, why not the Sabbath? Well, of course they're going to miss many of the blessings that come with the Sabbath. Remember, the Sabbath reminds people of God is our Creator. I'm not an accident, the product of time and chance. I didn't come from a monkey, I came from the hand of God. They're going to miss the blessings that tell us that God redeemed us, changed our lives by his power and grace. They're going to miss the blessings that come with the Sabbath that reminds us each week we belong. We're not a nobody. We're not. We're the children of God, children of the King of the universe. So even one Sabbath he didn't want them to miss. Well, of course they would have had to run for their life. If the soldiers are chasing, that would have been appropriate. But Jesus says, I want you to pray that you don't even have to flee on the Sabbath. Because I love to spend this day with my children. I love to have quality time to build up our relationship. So that's what he was saying to these followers now, the destruction of Jerusalem, when they would have to flee and hopefully not on the Sabbath. They were told to pray that was going to be in 40 years time. Jesus is speaking in 31 A.D. the destruction of Jerusalem's not coming till 70 A.D. so this is well into the Christian period. And he says, pray that you don't have to flee on the Sabbath. I want you to keep that day in such a way that our relationship continues unabated. Then I want you to come here now to Antioch in Turkey. Because we learn that the Apostle Paul was very big on keeping the Sabbath. Paul came to Antioch in this place here. We were here recently. An amazing ancient city. A very great, great city for the people back in Paul's time. This is the streets. You'll notice some of the shops on the left hand side as we go along the street. Paul would have come up these streets, no doubt on his way to bring the good news of Jesus to the people of Antioch. This is Antioch in Turkey. Now you will notice here he actually planted a church. This is called St. Paul's Church right here in Antioch. Then on the left hand side you'll notice the temple of Augustus. There was a lot of pagan worship in these places. But the Gospel of Jesus reached into the hearts of these people. Jesus love can touch anybody and everybody if only they'll open their lives to it. So Paul planted the church. But as he was going about his work to bring people to the saving knowledge of God so they could be part of the last empire. I want you to notice what happened. We go to the Book of Acts, Paul is here. So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, of the synagogue, that was the synagogue in Antioch, the Gentiles, the non Jewish people begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. Now if Paul had known that the change of the Sabbath was now not Sabbath but on Sunday, he would have said right there, no, don't come next Sabbath, come tomorrow morning, that's Sunday, that's the first day come. But he never said anything because Paul didn't know of any change his next Sabbath. Notice what happened then on the next Sabbath, almost the whole city came together to hear the Word of God. Very clearly, Paul didn't know of any change. And he certainly didn't instruct the Gentiles to come tomorrow morning on Sunday. No, they came the next Sabbath. Do you know Paul came to Corinth and there's indications there that he kept around about 80, 78 Sabbath because it says he preached for a year and a half. And on the Sabbaths he was talking to the people. Amazing. We can come here to Thessalonica. Here we are in this city in Greece today. Paul came here and notice what happened. The Bible says they came to Thessalonica where there was a synagogue of the Jews. Then Paul as his custom was, in other words, as his habit was. You notice he has the same habit that Jesus had in our last presentation, that it was Jesus custom or Jesus habit to go into the church or the synagogue. Paul as his custom was, went into them. And for three Sabbaths he reasoned with them from the Scriptures. Now why did Paul do it for only three Sabbaths? Why not four Sabbaths or five? Because you see, when you read the story, they ran him out of town before number four Sabbath came along. They didn't like what Paul was preaching, so he was chased out of town. So Paul was certainly one who kept the Sabbath. In fact, Paul said, God's commandments have not been done away with. God forbid. Do we make void the law through faith? Yea, we establish it. Grace teaches us to say no to ungodliness and to do what is right. Paul taught the people an amazing thing. When we think that Paul himself was a Sabbath keeper, well, I guess that's not amazing because Paul was a Bible believer. Paul was a follower of Jesus. So of course, naturally he would follow the example of Jesus who kept the Sabbath himself. Now you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and you will see that the Bible Sabbath is the seventh day. Think of it for a moment. God himself is the first Sabbath keeper. It says God rested on the Sabbath. We go down in time to the times of Moses. And the Israelites were keeping the Sabbath. God wrote the Sabbath down with his own finger in the Ten Commandments. We go on down through time. Ezekiel is calling the people back to the Sabbath. We come down on further through Jesus to his time. Jesus is keeping the Sabbath. We move on. We see Paul is keeping the Sabbath. John the Revelator was keeping the Sabbath. You know, my friends, we're in Good company. When we keep the Sabbath, we're in company with all of the Bible people and of God himself and of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Good company to be in. Well, the next thing we discover in this question of how do we get from Saturday to Sunday is this. The Saturday and the Sunday were observed from the 2nd to the 5th centuries AD. In other words, after a while, Christians began to keep two days, Sabbath and Sunday. I want you to notice what ancient history tells us. Let's go to an ancient history source here. It says the people of Constantinople, that's what we call Istanbul today in Turkey, the people of Constantinople and almost everywhere assemble together on the Sabbath as well as on the first day of the week, which custom is never observed at Rome or Alexandria. Do you see? Christians are keeping two days, including the Sabbath. They haven't got rid of the Sabbath. They're keeping two days. That's in the second century onwards, after the Bible is finished, they start to keep another day as well as the Sabbath. Here's another statement from ancient history. Almost all the churches throughout the world celebrate the sacred mysteries. That's the Lord's Supper or the Communion or the Eucharist on the Sabbath of every week. Yet the Christians of Alexandria and at Rome, on account of some ancient tradition, have ceased to do this. So now we see very clearly they're keeping two days, the Sabbath and the first day. Very clearly the Sabbath wasn't just ejected gradually, things are starting to change, was one day. Now they've added a second day alongside of it. The third thing that took place in this transfer of the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday or from the seventh to the first day, was that pagan sun worship led the church in Rome to change the Sabbath to Sunday. I love to come here to the city of Rome and I always bring people to this very interesting church. It's called the Church of St Clemente because the archaeologists have been excavating underneath and they discovered a Mithraic altar for sun worship, which you can see underneath. Mithraism killing the bull there. If you can see it in the background there, this is the sacred bull and this is Mithraism. They worshiped on the day of the sun. The Romans worshiped on the sun's day. They called it sun worship, was practiced in the ancient world an incredible amount. Ancient sun worship in Egypt, you know, you can go to one of the greatest sun temple complexes in the world. It's today found in what we call Luxor, used to be known as Thebes in Bible times. But there you can see 600 acres dedicated to the worship of the Sun God Amon Ra in ancient Egypt. No question, the sun was a very important God to many peoples in ancient times. Notice what we are told in the Bible encyclopedia about these things. Sabbath, a Hebrew word signifying rest, which is what Sabbath means. Sunday was a name given by the heathens or the pagans to the first day of the week because it was the day on which they worshiped the Sun. Now why was it that Christians in Rome and at Alexandria, why was it that they began to take on the Sunday? Now you will remember we've seen already in this series that the center of Christianity, at least the number one place for the bishop was Rome. This was the chief bishop of the Christian church. Thanks as we see to the Emperor Justinian and the bishops in Rome. And of course the Christians in Rome were surrounded by the pagan Romans. Many of them no doubt wanted to bring their pagan friends to God. So undoubtedly they said what is it that we have in common? And one of the things that they noticed was their day of worship, a different day. However, you know, during this time there was a lot of persecution against the Jewish people. And the Christians wanted to put a distance between themselves and and the Jewish people. One of the first things they did was to fast on Sabbath in Rome. We know this from history. The Jews feasted on Sabbath. It was a day of celebration as the Bible says. So they feasted. But now the Christians to put a difference between themselves and the Jews, cause they're all been keeping the same day. They look like they're the same sort of very connected. They wanted to make a difference because the Jews were being persecuted. So they start to fast. Then they take on board Sunday. Why is that? Well, the pagans worshipped on Sunday. No doubt they wanted to influence their pagan friends. So let's take this day Sunday. But we will give it Christian trappings. Notice what the church itself tells us about this. The sun was a foremost God within Heathendom. Among pagans. There is in truth, says the Church, something royal, something kingly about the sun marches across the sky. In other words, you know, making it a fit emblem of Jesus. Says the Church, the Son of Justice. Hence the church in these countries, that is Rome and Alexandria and Egypt would seem to have said, keep that old pagan name, Son's Day. It shall remain consecrated or sanctified, set apart from the other days, they're saying. And thus the pagan Sunday dedicated to Balder, the Sun God became the Christian Sunday sacred to Jesus. So they took a pagan custom and Gave it Christian trappings, Christian symbols they added to this day, turning the pagan Sunday into a Christian day. Hence that with what took place in Rome and Alexandria, now we even see the influence of sun worship in the Christian church. If you just look around sometimes, for example, if you go to St. Peter's Basilica, you see the arms here in this great part here, near the Vatican. And it's part of the Vatican, but you see in the middle, this is a sundial. The influence of sun worship is very, very evident. You go into some of the great cathedrals and what do you see? You see the sun disc, the solar disk. The sun is a very important emblem in Christian churches today, there in Rome and other countries. So sun worship influenced them to take that day. Why not make it Tuesday or Thursday? Because of the influence of sun worship. That's why they took that day and gave it Christian trappings. Then the next thing that happened in this journey from Saturday to Sunday, or from the seventh to the first day, was that the government laws were made encouraging Sunday worship. Notice what happens. Constantine in fact himself made a decree. He said, on the venerable day of the sun, let the magistrates and the people residing in cities rest and let all the shops be closed. So here is the government making a law calling the people to rest on the Sunday. Whereas the Bible has said God said rest on the Sabbath day, the seventh day. That's what we call Saturday. The next step in the journey towards how the change took place was that the Church next forbade Sabbath worship. So what have we got? We start with, in the Bible times, they're all worshiping on Sabbath, the seventh day, what we call Saturday. Then we add another day alongside it. And then the next thing is, we are dropping off Saturday and just keeping Sunday and giving it trappings that are connected with what the pagans themselves did to bring the two groups together. Notice what the Church said. Christians shall not Judaize. What does that mean? Let's continue. That is, they shall not keep the Sabbath and be idle on Saturday, but the Lord's Day, which they are now calling Sunday. But the Bible calls the Sabbath the seventh day we saw, but the Lord's day they shall especially honour as being Christians, shall, if possible, do no work on that day. If, however, they are found Judaising, that is keeping the Sabbath, remember they, they shall be what? They shall be shut out from Christ. Now think of that for a moment. God is the first Sabbath keeper that includes Jesus Christ. There in the Garden of Eden they've just made man and they rest on the Sabbath and call Adam and Eve to join them. Then we come down to God giving the Ten Commandments, written with his own finger. God is calling the people to keep the seventh day, Sabbath. We march on down through time. Israel is forsaking the Sabbath, they're not keeping it. Ezekiel is told by God, call them back to keep the Sabbath. Isaiah does that too in his 58th chapter, calling the people back to true Sabbath worship on the seventh day. Then we come to the time of Jesus. Jesus, the creator of the universe, God Almighty in human flesh. He keeps the Sabbath when he's on earth. So many times we have how Jesus is keeping the Sabbath. Then Paul, when he becomes a believer, he keeps the Sabbath. John keeps the Sabbath. And now what's happening? The Church says, if you keep the Sabbath, you'll be shut out from Christ. You'll no longer belong to the people of God. Do you see, my friend, what happens when we turn away from this book? We soon say things that are completely opposite to what our God said. And that can happen to any of us. When any of us depart from the teachings of this book, we can soon be saying things that we never thought we would ever say. You will be shut out from Christ because you're keeping God's Sabbath, which is one of the four. One of the Ten Commandments. What a tragedy. What a warning to us of how easy it can be for any of us, myself included. If we don't follow this book. We never know where this thing is going to end. Let's come to a catechism. This is a teaching book, as we said, for instructing new believers in the faith. I want you to notice what it says in the catechism, in the catechisms today that you can read. Here's the question which is the Sabbath day. Good question. Right? Notice the answer that's given in the catechism. Saturday is the Sabbath day. Very clearly. Then comes the question, the next question. Why then do we observe Sunday instead of Sabbath? How come we're worshiping on the Sunday? Good question. The very question we're seeking to answer. But notice the answer. The answer is, because the Catholic Church transferred the solemnity from Saturday to Sunday. The Church openly acknowledges that they change the day of worship from the Saturday to the Sunday. They're not ashamed of that. They believe they have the authority. Which brings us to a statement from Cardinal James Gibbons. Now, he's one of the men that chooses the bishops of Rome or the Pope when a new one has to take take over. Notice what this man said. Very honest. Incredibly honest statement here. He says, you may read the Bible from Genesis to Revelation, from the first book of the Bible to the last book of the Bible, and you will not find a single line, not one line, authorizing the sanctification of Sunday. This cardinal, he says it's not in the Bible where you find it says we need to honor Sunday. It's just not there. He says. Notice what he says. The Scriptures enforce the religious observance of what? Of Saturday. And that's what we've seen as we've been following this incredible story of the Bible, of God's Sabbath day. That's exactly what the Scriptures teach. I'm glad that he was an honest man and laid it out how it is. Cause that's exactly the way it has been. What do we notice what other churches say about the Sabbath thing? What about the Anglicans? What do they say about the Sabbath? I want you to notice. And where are we told in the Scriptures in the Bible that we are to keep the first day at all? Where is that? We are commanded to keep the seventh, but we are nowhere commanded to keep the first day. Even the Anglicans note that this is just no command in there to keep the first day. Notice what it goes on to say. The reason why we keep the first day of the week holy instead of the seventh is for the same reason that we observe many other things. Not because the Bible, but because the church has enjoined it. In other words, we do this not because of what the Bible says, but because what the church people say. But the Bible says Jesus said we should follow the word of God. It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but every word that comes from the mouth of God. But here, sadly, the church has changed the day from the Sabbath to the Sunday. Well, what about the Baptists, another group of people? What do they say about the Sabbath? I want you to notice what one of the leaders in the Baptist church said. There was and is a command to keep holy the Sabbath day. He's referring to the fourth commandment. But that Sabbath day was not Sunday. Very clearly he says it, Sunday is not the Bible Sabbath. It will, however, be readily said and with some show of triumph that the Sabbath was Transferred from the 7th to the 1st day of the week, with all its duties, its privileges and and its sanctions. Now, earnestly desiring information on this subject, says this man, which I have studied for many years. So he's been looking at this. I ask, where can the record of such a transaction be found? Where can this transaction from Sabbath to Sunday be found. He's saying, not in the New Testament, absolutely not. He says there is no scriptural evidence of the change of the Sabbath institution from the seventh to the first day of the week. And that Baptist man is right. It's just not there in the Bible. This was something that human beings brought in down through the centuries. What a tragedy when this sort of things takes place. So the Sabbath, the change was actually from Satan. It didn't come from God, cause it's not in his book. And Paul warned before he died, before he was beheaded by Nero, he warned that such teachings, such things would come into the Christian church. Notice what Paul said now. The Spirit, that's the Holy Spirit, expressly says that in latter times, in the days to come into the future, some will depart from the faith. What doing? Giving heed to deceiving spirits and doctrines or teachings of demons. Paul is telling us that these sorts of teachings, these new ideas are not the teachings of the Bible. Not from God, but from demons are bringing these things in. So here's the question. Why would Satan want to change the Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday? What would be his raison d', etre, as we say, his reason? Well remember who ultimately the devil is. He is anti Christ. He's the one behind this whole thing. He hates Christ with a passion. And this is one of the great reasons he's changed or sought to change the Sabbath. Because remember, Sabbath reminds us what God made us in his image. You are special, I am special. And the devil does not want anyone on this planet to think that they're made in the image of God. Because he hates Christ. He wants us to not understand the worth that we have. God made us in his image. So if he can somehow get rid of the Sabbath, he'll get people to forget that they're made in the image of God. What a tragedy. The Sabbath also reminds us, you know, that Jesus is the Lord God Almighty. He's the God Almighty who created the universe. Notice what the Bible says. Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Why? For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth. Here it says Jehovah, the Lord. Capital L, capital O, capital R, capital D means Jehovah. The self existent one. The I. I am, I always was, I always will be. This is the one that fashioned the world, the Lord God. Yet what does Paul say? Paul says, for by him, by Jesus, all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible. The great creator God, says Paul, was none other than Jesus. Christ, the pre incarnate Christ. That's why Jesus said these words. He said when he was talking to the Jewish people, the Son of Man is Lord, even of the Sabbath. He's actually claiming to say to be that Lord, that Jehovah of the Sabbath commandment. Because it said remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. For in six days the Lord made. Jesus is claiming here to be Jehovah God. And the devil doesn't like that. Remember, he said, I will be like the Most High. I want to be in God's place. And so he wants to undermine Jesus Christ. So by just changing the Sabbath, by sweeping the Sabbath aside, people are going to be not so clear on who Jesus is. Because the Sabbath uplifts who he is. He's God Almighty in human flesh. The Sabbath reminds us, remember that Jesus is not only Lord God Almighty, but he sanctifies us by his redeeming love. That's what the Sabbath reminds us. Remember. Remember what the Bible says. Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify. That means he might clean up our life. Cleanse the people with his own blood. Suffered outside the gate. Jesus Christ gave everything. Who was that? God Almighty. Spread out his hands on an old rugged cross. How good is God, my friend? You know what pagan God would die for his people like this? But the God of the universe, the God of everything, he loved us so much he spread out his hands and redeemed us with his own blood. The Sabbath reminds us of that. He values us. You see, you're not junk. We're not rubbish. We matter to God. He values you. You are special. So special. He said, I'm going to send my son to die to redeem us. What a God. And God provides all our needs because we belong to Him. Remember, the Sabbath reminds us of that. That we belong to God. We saw that we are his. And therefore if we belong to him, he's going to look after us. The devil wouldn't want us to remember any of these things. He wants us to think that it all depends on us. And when we get between a caught between a rock and a hard place, there's nobody to turn to but ourselves or someone else on earth who lets us down. But God says no. The Sabbath reminds you. I will take care of you. I will look after you. Because I redeemed you. I made you. I love you. I will care for you. No wonder that Satan wants to change the Sabbath. He wants to get our focus of what the Sabbath means. When we forget when we what the Sabbath means. We'll end up forgetting the God of the Sabbath. You see, the Sabbath finally reminds us that Jesus Christ, God Almighty gives us rest. That's why he said on the Sabbath these beautiful words, come unto me, all you who labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. You know, we all have big burdens. Lost a job, don't know what to do. Worries are stiff, failed an exam. You were studying to be a doctor and now you failed. What am I going to do? Worries compound us. Your marriage is falling apart, what am I to do? You wonder where the next meal's coming from. How are we going to look after our family? God says, listen, I love you, I care for you. Come to me with your burdens, just throw them on me. Cast all your care on him, says Peter. And that's what the Sabbath reminds us. The Sabbath is the. Is that day that says, listen, you can come with all of your worries, all of your. All of your anxieties, all of your troubles, all of your sin stuff and just throw it all on Jesus. Throw it all on God. Say, oh God, I need your help. And what's his promise? I will give you rest. I love the way the Book of Hebrews is trying to get this meaning of the Sabbath across to us. Paul. We read it before, but let's look at it again. He has spoken. God has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way. And God rested on the seventh day from all his work in good company. As we said, when we keep the Sabbath. God keeps the Sabbath, even keeps it. Now what? The Bible says God rested on the seventh day from all his work. And again in this place. They shall not enter my rest. His rest continues for us, since therefore it remains that some must enter it. And those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of what disobedience? Why can't we find rest? The only way to find rest in God is when we see what's right to do what it says. They didn't enter his rest because they disobeyed. They wouldn't follow what God said. There remains therefore a rest. A sabbatismos, it says in the Greek, a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For he who has entered his rest, God's rest has himself also ceased from his work, as God did from his. What Paul is saying here is this. God gave us the Sabbath to remind us that it's not about what we've done. We don't have this rest in God because of our human efforts. The Sabbath calls us to rest In God, the Sabbath says, listen, it doesn't come because of you. You didn't come into existence because of yourself. Did we? God made us. You couldn't redeem yourself. You couldn't pull yourself up by your shoestrings. I'm the one who lifted you up out of the gutter, so to speak. I'm the one who took away your sin. It's my work. You can rest in me. What an amazing thing. No wonder the devil wants to get rid of the Sabbath. Did you know, my friends, that the reason we have evolution is because Christians forgot to keep the Sabbath? That's the reason. Because if we had remembered to keep the Sabbath as a Christian church, we would have remembered that God created the world in six days. That's the teaching of the Bible. God even wrote that in the fourth commandment in six days. But where have we gone now? Many Christians, tragically, do not even believe that God created the world. Most Christians, even in theological colleges, believe that God used evolution. That's certainly not what the Bible says. And what does this do? It undervalues us as humans because evolution teaches us that we're the product of time and chance. We just came by accident, basically. We didn't come in the image of God. We came in the image of a monkey. And what's the end result if people take this teaching to its logical conclusions? Where have we ended? We've ended up where many people even don't even believe there is a God today. And it's because the church, Christianity, forgot the Sabbath. It's just that serious. This is why Satan has tried to change the day of worship. He really can't change God's day, but he can get people to change it in their way. They act, they keep another day. Oh, what a tragedy. When we move away from the Bible, you see where we've ended up. We don't even believe many people on this planet that there is a God because we forgot the Lord and his Sabbath. The Lord of the Sabbath. So the question becomes, who will we follow? Will we follow the cow path that many people have been on for centuries? Ignorantly, most people, most of us have been doing this because we just followed what everybody else did, like that calf path. Remember, many people don't even know why they do it. Didn't realize that it happened centuries ago when human beings took a commandment of God and altered and changed it. You see, the question becomes, who will be our guide in life? Will it be a tradition or will it be the Bible? Which will it be? The Teachings of man or the commandments of God, the ideas of men or the teachings of the Bible? It really becomes a question of who will we follow? Will we follow Christ or will we follow church leaders? That's what it boils down to. Now someone says, listen here, Gary, does it really matter? I mean, give me a break. What's the difference between one day and another day? It's just a day. What does it really matter? Who cares? Well, let me tell you, it matters to Jesus. And if it matters to Jesus, it should matter to us. Notice what Jesus said himself. He said these words and in vain. That word in vain means waste of time, uselessly in vain. They worship me. Whoa, he's talking about true worship here now. But it's a waste of time. It's not, not real worship. He's saying in vain. They worship me. Why? Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men for laying aside the commandment of God. You hold the tradition of men. Do you see what's happened in the Christian church? Christians have taken a man made institution and pushed aside God's Sabbath and put it in its place. And that's exactly what Jesus said. And he says such worship is vain when we know what is right and what we should do. If we continue on in that pathway, knowing that we have pushed God's commandment aside and holding onto a tradition of men Sunday, our worship is vain. It's a waste of time. Serious words from Jesus. Why? Because he loves us. He knows where this thing will lead eventually. Why is it that Satan does these things? How come he's deceived the world on this matter? Deception for what we've seen destruction. And many people because of this, they don't even believe in God. So how are you going to make it into the last empire when you don't believe in God? Because the church centuries ago removed the great reminder of God and his creative works. So what does God expect me to do? Many of us didn't know. We didn't realize this. So what does God expect of me? Well of course in times of when we don't know, God doesn't hold us accountable for what we don't know. He's not going to judge us on what we don't know. He's going to judge us on what we do with what we do know. Notice what Paul said when he addressed this sort of an issue. Truly, these times of ignorance, God overlooked. But now he commands all men everywhere to repent because he has appointed a day on which he will judge the world. In other Words Paul was saying, when we don't know it's ignorance. God doesn't blame us for that. But once we understand what is right from what is wrong, God, God expects us to follow what is right because he's going to judge us on the basis of what we now do know. He's got a day in which he will judge the world. So who will you and I worship? Will we worship Satan or will we worship God? That's at the heart of this issue, my friend. That's what it's all about. Remember, Satan is seeking worship. He's going to lead people to push aside God's great reminder that he is the Creator God and that's how we worship him. What did the angel say? Worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. Satan doesn't want us to do that. But I believe your intention is like Peter's. Peter said we ought to obey God rather than man. Much better to do that. I love the story of Martin Luther. Martin Luther was a devout member of the Church of Rome, the Church of the Dark Ages there. He was part of that. He loved the church. Martin Luther actually was very scared of God. Back in the Dark Ages, people sort of saw God as sort of some sort of a angry grandpa in the sky who was always looking out to pounce on them for any little infraction, any little sin, to damn them to hell or into purgatory. They were scared of God and Luther was one of them. Luther on one occasion spent six hours confessing his sins lest he forget one and he be damned to eternal loss. That was his picture of God. Well, fortunately, Luther had a godly friend, a godly priest by the name of Staupitz. Staupitz loved God and he cared about Luther. So he came up with an idea to help this young man. Luther, actually sometimes he would flagellate himself, beat himself till the blood flow. Sometimes he would lay on the frozen cold floor. I mean, we're talking about winter in Germany, you know, minus 10 and so on. Nearly killed himself in. In fact, it affected his health for the rest of his life, hoping that by doing these things he would find peace with God. There were many things that people were doing to try to be right with God by their human effort. And Luther was doing some of these. Well, Staupitz got alongside him. He said, luther, I got a job for you to in this university of ours. I want you to teach the Bible. So he knew that if Luther had to teach the Bible, he had to read The Bible. As Martin Luther read the Bible to teach others, he began to find a different God than he'd thought of, a different God than he'd heard about, a different God than he'd been taught about. He found that there was a God of love. Especially he noticed in the Psalms. Martin Luther. As he studied the Bible, he came across a great teaching which says, for by grace are you saved through faith, not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works lest anyone should boast. He discovered the grand teaching that when we come to Christ, just as we are, he accepts us, he forgives us, he begins to transform us day by day into his image. He discovered that grand teaching that the just shall live by faith. He who puts his trust in God will be righteous by his faith. Oh, as Luther discovered that grand teaching, he discovered that that's how you get eternal life, when we throw ourselves on Christ. Well, he wrote a little message. Well, not a little one. 95 theses they're called. And he nailed them to the door of the Wittenberg castle there in Germany, because he. He felt that sadly the church had strayed and they were having these indulgences. You know, you buy a piece of paper and have your sins forgiven, some people were saying, and it abhorred him. And so he put A list of 95 reasons why indulgences weren't necessary. He was taken to a great council eventually in Worms in Germany, where he was told to give up his ideas that he could have salvation in Jesus alone. Luther there in that council, notice the stand this man took. I love the words of this godly priest. Notice what he said. I am bound by the scriptures that I have quoted and my conscience is captive to the word of God. I cannot and I will not recant anything. Why, since it is neither safe nor right to. To go against conscience. May God help me. Amen. What a tremendous example for you and I. This man left with us. Here is a man saying, listen, I need to follow what the scriptures say would to God, that all of us would say. I must follow what the Bible says, not what man teaches, not what my parents taught me. If it's against what the Bible says, not what my church might say, but what does my Jesus say? What does God say in his book, the Bible? That's the safe place to follow the example of this godly priest in the church of Rome. Let's bow together in prayer. Oh, Father, this subject may be difficult for some of us to handle because we've been taught, we've been brought up that Sunday is the day of worship. But now we know from the Bible, now we know from God's command, now we know from the prophecies of the Bible that this is not right. God's Sabbath day is on the seventh day, what we call Saturday in our country. Oh God, help us to have the courage of our convictions like this godly priest did, to take a stand on truth, to take a stand on the Bible. Lord, help us to determine right now, wherever we are in our homes where we are walking, to take a stand now on the word of God. Give us that courage and thank you in Jesus name. Amen. Well, we're so glad that you were able to join us with this incredible presentation that comes from the Book of Daniel and other parts of the Bible. Whatever you do, don't miss the presentation that we're going to be having when we come to look at the next program in Countdown we Back to the Future. I'm going to be taking you to Egypt and we're going to notice the Book of the Dead where we're going to look at justice in the balance. I love this program because we're going to go back to the Book of Daniel. It's an amazing program that we see our God is a great God. So don't miss invite a friend to watch maybe with you or at least send them a link to this so you can watch Countdown Back to the Future.
