Herbert W Armstrong

   I want to turn back and read Isaiah 58. Because all the young people might as well recognize that they're either keeping the Sabbath or they're not. They're either breaking it or they're not, you know, you can break it. You might not even be breaking it in the letter, but you are still not keeping it in the spirit. There are all degrees of Sabbath breakers among us, you know, some of us break the Sabbath in the letter, some of us don't keep the Sabbath in the spirit.

   Notice what he says here, Isaiah 58, verse 13 (Isaiah 58:13): "If you turn away your foot," in other words, quit trampling on foot the Sabbath day. When do you trample under foot the Sabbath day? "Turn away your foot from the Sabbath day." Alright, he's gonna tell you from pursuing your business on my holy day. Now that's trampling underfoot of Sabbath - if you pursue your business. From Friday sundown to Saturday sundown, you're trampling underfoot the Sabbath day.

   Alright, now what if you don't do that? What if you, let's say you don't pursue your business on the holy day on Sabbath? Well, do you call the Sabbath a delight? You know, what is your attitude towards the Sabbath coming up? Thursday comes around, Friday comes around. "Oh no, here comes another Sabbath." Oh ghastly, boy, that's bad, you know, if that's your attitude towards the Sabbath, you're trampling it underfoot. You hate to see the Sabbath come around.

   Or maybe you got that attitude like over in Amos. Notice this attitude in Amos about the Sabbath day, Amos chapter 8, verse 4 (Amos 8:4): "Hear this, oh you that swallow up the needy even to make the poor of the land to fail, saying when will the new moon be gone? That we may sell corn and when will the Sabbath be gone, that we may set forth wheat." Cheating even, crooked a little bit unfair, making the effort small and the shekel great and falsifying the balances by deceit.

   So you know if a person would sell on the Sabbath day, I wouldn't trust them that they would give me an accurate sale. If a person would do business with me on the Sabbath day when he ought to be keeping it, why would you trust him otherwise? If you can't trust him with the Sabbath, why would you trust him with money? But some people want the Sabbath to be over, boy, there you can hardly wait till the Sabbath is over. They can hardly wait till the Sabbath pass. Now that's a carnal attitude you'll repent of someday.

   Do you ever envy people because they get to break the Sabbath? Boy, you shouldn't. I, I have time sometimes, you know. When I was back at college and A&M played Texas on Saturday afternoon, boy, I, that was, I would sure love to watch that because I never got to see them play again. I, I went one time since I gra- or since I went down there and I never get to see them. They switched it from Thanksgiving to the Sabbath, so Sabbath rolls around and boy, here are these games on Sabbath day.

   What you know, what would it be that you would envy somebody for on the Sabbath day? "Boy, deer hunting season always opens on Saturday. Man, I wish I could be out there those guys deer hunting, and I wish he was sitting here on these hard chairs and I was out there in the woods looking for deer, boy, that's important."

   Well, do you call the Sabbath a delight, or are you anxious for it to be over with? And the holy of the Eternal. Do you ever call the Sabbath God's holy day? It, you know, it really is. You talk about the holy days, but you know so many of the holy days are for you. They're enjoyable, they're fun, they're great. You get to travel and you get to have meals and be with other people, but what about the Sabbath day? That's a holy day.

   Call it a delight. It's the holy of the Eternal. It's honorable. And shall honor it. You honor the Sabbath day to you, look forward to it and enjoy it and appreciate it and love it and hate to see it over with and well you will when you have God's spirit and you are converted a lot, shall honor it. Not doing your wanted ways nor pursuing your business nor speaking thereof.

   Now notice that, that is what your King James Version says. People used to go around on the Sabbath, almost afraid to talk to each other because they might be speaking their own words. That doesn't say that. The Hebrew word just does not say that. It does not say "seeking your own pleasure nor speaking your own words." Now, you, you... You put that in the spirit and man that so deeply embedded in you, it will take you years to wipe that out, to change that because for years and years and years, Isaiah 58 told you don't seek your own pleasure, don't do or speak your own words on the Sabbath.

   Now it doesn't say that in Isaiah 58. Now does that mean though that it is right to seek your own pleasure on the Sabbath and that it's alright to speak your own words on the Sabbath? I mean just because it's not in Isaiah 58, you know, we have conservatives and we have liberals. So when we realized Isaiah 58 did not say what we thought the King James Version said it said, you know what happened? Here go the liberals. You off to the right. Here go these conservatives still over here on the left.

   Now what's right? Well, you might turn back to Exodus 20. Exodus chapter 20: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Alright. Keep it holy. Now how do you keep it holy? You've got to keep it holy. You keep it holy, go out and play golf on the Sabbath day? Oh boy, I'd like to hear that argument. You know that takes you about 3 hours. If you're gonna try to argue with me that you're keeping the Sabbath day holy playing golf on the Sabbath day. No way. I can't figure out any way you can say you're keeping it holy playing golf on the Sabbath day.

   Alright, what about if you go out somewhere and you're fishing on the Sabbath day? In what way does catching fish keep time holy? You know, no matter what Isaiah 58 says and doesn't say, Exodus 20 says, "Remember to keep it holy."

   All right. Are you keeping it holy when you sleep 12 hours on the Sabbath day? You got that kind of time to waste on Sabbath? How many Sabbaths do you think you've got before you got to be ready to be a king and a priest over 5 cities or 10 cities? You don't have that kind of time to waste on the Sabbath.

   Alright, now, when are you keeping it holy? Well, of course when you're studying you are, when you're praying, you aren't when you're with your family and what else though. Let me, uh, read a little bit out of the Jewish Publication Society. By the way, that was the translation I read in Isaiah 58, so I know, and I know that I know that's what the Hebrews says there.

   So you might as well go to work on washing your brain and wiping out of your spirit in man that it says on the Sabbath, not to seek your own pleasure and not to speak your own words, doesn't say that. Nowhere, nowhere. It doesn't say one of those anywhere. So just start erasing it and erasing it and erasing it and after a few years you'll get it out of there.

   Now there's another attitude people have about the Sabbath day. I talked to one of the ladies here after I'd come here and her husband wanted her to go somewhere with him while he was going to fish on the Sabbath day. And you know from past teaching she'd had the feeling that well, you couldn't ride with your husband in the car on the Sabbath when he was going to end up on a lake fishing and leave you in the cabin there where you could just study and pray and relax and look out at God's creation and take a walk through God's creation and... You couldn't do that? Why couldn't you do that? Is that keeping it holy? Is it keeping it holy riding with your husband in the car on a Sabbath day when he's been working 12 hours a day and you've been working?

   And is it keeping a Sabbath holy when you spend time with your husband in an automobile driving through scenery more or less depending on where you are and you end up down on the lake and he's fishing and you're reading and studying and relaxing? And oh, you know, I can remember some of the best Sabbaths I ever have. I remember one Sabbath when I didn't go to church. I've not gone a lot more than that, but I remember the first one when I didn't go.

   I was in Big Sandy teaching over at the College. And this Sabbath, we just went up to my wife's folks, 39 miles and just sat there, visited with them. We stayed all night with them. He went up on Friday evening and stayed all Sabbath with them, watched the news on Friday night on TV with them and boy, you know, all day long my conscience smote me, "not forsaking the assembling," boy, there you are 39 miles, didn't even go to church.

   But you know I, that's because the wrong teaching for years. Did I break the Sabbath by not going to church when I was 39 miles away visiting my wife's folks? I stop and think a second here. Here they had just given her up, you know, they, they were Baptists, they grew up, she grew up as a Baptist. She marries this Armstrong nut and he takes her off to Oregon for 2 years, to Chicago for 9 years, to Kansas City for 6 1/2 years. They just gave up their daughter, lost their daughter. Didn't see her, didn't see the kids, just gave her up for 20 years.

   And now all of a sudden I end up right back there in East Texas. So a Sabbath rolls around. We just went up there and you know that's one of the best Sabbaths I can remember because Saturday morning, boy, I was just lying there in bed just reading and reading and reading, no phone calls, no interruptions, no problems, you know, no troubles, just all morning just lying there reading and reading and reading and finding out about how the family was doing the night before and a real good long night's sleep and... How in the world did I break the Sabbath? Was it not keeping it holy, being with my in-laws? Was it not keeping it holy by watching the news Friday night? Was it not keeping it holy by not going to church once?

   You know what scripture we've used there? You might want to turn there and read this in Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25, most of us have memorized it. (Hebrews 10:25): "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together." Well, that settled it right there, didn't it? "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together," but that's a comma there at the end of it, better read on: "As the habit..." Boy, you made a habit, did it once a year and that's a habit. You got any other habits you do once a year? Decorate a tree, that's a habit. You just do it once a year automatically. No, you don't have a habit once a year.

   You know if you got a habit, you do it often. You don't break the Sabbath by being gone 3 or 4 times a year. You know, if you don't show up at church here and you're all somewhere on the lake reading your Bible and having a real relaxing Sabbath, you know, the ultimate test of the Sabbath day: What are you like on Saturday night when it's over? You know, you want to know how well the Sabbath went with you? Evaluate yourself at sundown on Saturday night.

   Boy, you're all rested up and spiritually rejuvenated. You really call it a delight, you call it honorable, you call it a holy day. "Boy, what a wonderful day that Sabbath was," and now you are all ready to launch into something, another, another week's work, a new week.

   Well, how did you break the Sabbath, you know, if you break the Sabbath, it's a sin and you'll pay a penalty. Then you're gonna find out you're paying a penalty Sunday morning and Sunday, Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, you're gonna pay a penalty all the rest of the week. Because you didn't keep the Sabbath day holy. What is the penalty you pay? Well, probably falling into temptations because you weren't spiritually strong from the Sabbath. Probably getting the flu because you didn't physically get recuperated on the Sabbath. Probably having troubles in your marriage with your kids because you didn't keep the Sabbath as a family day. If you don't keep the Sabbath holy, you'll pay a penalty. It's a sin.

   But you don't break the Sabbath by not assembling a few times a year. Unless you forsake the assembling. As the habit of some is. That's the breaking the Sabbath, and if you do it as a habit, you know, you just come once a month. So you, you come every other week or you, uh... Come 4 times a year. You come on Easter and New Year's and Christmas like they do in world churches. You're breaking the Sabbath.

   But you know, you're not breaking the Sabbath by being off on a lake somewhere while your husband's out fishing. You got to keep it holy. Now I want to read a little bit out of the "The Sabbath." This is written by Rabbi Abraham. And Sabbath: "Of all the religious and social institutions which Jewish genius is created, none has enriched man's spiritual well-being, as has the Sabbath."

   And you know one writer said it isn't really true, the Jews kept the Sabbath. It's really more true the Sabbath kept the Jews. And you know you stop to think about that. It isn't really as much true, the church of God keeps the Sabbath. It's really a lot more true the Sabbath keeps the church of God. You know that's really a lot more true.

   The Bible, which begins with the story of creation, ends that narrative with the significance of the Sabbath. Therefore, the rabbi has commented that he who observes the Sabbath becomes God's partner in upholding the creation. This rest day effectively taught the Jews the dignity of labor and the spirituality of man. Yet firmly established the principle that man must be free from the slavery of perpetual work and that his mind and spirit must have time to reflect their divine source. For such reflection was the Sabbath given to man.

   The Jewish people recognized in Sabbath rest, not only a divine commandment, but a precious gift from God. You know, I feel sorry for people who don't keep the Sabbath. They're missing out on a great, great blessing and a great benefit. It was a gift that enriched the life of the Jew. It rewarded him with strength in the midst of helplessness, with joy in the midst of gloom. It rendered his life tolerable even during the rest of the week.

   The pleasant memory of the Sabbath just passed and the anticipation of the Sabbath to come lightened his heavy burden and renewed his courage and his hope. Indeed, the Jewish calendar calls each day of the week by a number: 1st day, 2nd day, 3rd day, 4th day. And then the 7th one is the only one that had a name, you know. All the other days were just numbers leading up to the big day number Sabbath.

   Like the Talmudic sage, Shammai the elder, the Jew lived every day of the week for the Sabbath. To the Jew, Sabbath delight was not to be compared with any other human experience. It was to him nothing less... Now notice, notice this. It was to him nothing less than a foretaste of the happiness which is stored up for the righteous in the world tomorrow.

   On the Sabbath day, he felt himself wondrously transformed into another being. On the Sabbath, he had an additional soul and the Shammai Yatra. Thus, Heinrichyny in his poem, "Prince the Sabbath" compared the change to that of the prince who was transformed, but who periodically recovered his princely form only to return later to his enchanted state. This prince is Israel.

   The observant Jew welcomed and honored the day as his queen. He adored and loved it as his bride. The medieval Jewish mystics not only sang Sabbath hymns to Sabbath queen, but actually marched to the outskirts of the city to welcome her. Can you imagine what kind of emphasis that put on the Sabbath? What if we were all together in a little town around here somewhere, and every Friday evening just a few minutes before sundown, we all marched out to the west side of town to watch the sun go down, starting the Sabbath day?

   To this day, on Friday night, the Jew chants to hymn, "Lekadoda, come, my friend, to meet the bride. Let us welcome the presence of the Sabbath." It is this ardent love for the Sabbath that begot the conviction that the Sabbath will never disappear from Israel. In the words of Balach, "The children of Israel have a mighty masterpiece, the holy day that is Prince the Sabbath."

   In popular imagination, she became a living being with form, the very essence of beauty and radiance. She it was that the holy one, blessed be he, led into the world as the man leads his home, his newlywed. It's she who was the costliest jewel in God's treasury and only in Israel did she find a suitable mate. Jewish experience demonstrated that more than Israel has kept the Sabbath, it is the Sabbath that has kept Israel.

   Jewish writers have called the Sabbath the cornerstone of Judaism and the hub of the Jewish universe. In the words of the Talmud, quote, "God said to Israel, if you keep the Sabbath, I shall account it unto you as if you have kept all the commandments of the Torah, for truly the Sabbath is the crown of the Torah."

   In the Bible, the Sabbath is spoken of as an established institution, and its observance is commanded many times. And then they quote Exodus 20 and Genesis 2. According to this commandment, the purpose of Sabbath observance is to teach man to emulate the Creator. In other words, you should look back and evaluate your week each Sabbath day. What you do on Sunday - was it good? What you do on Monday? Was that good? Have you kept that old man buried? He keep popping back up out of the grave?

   In contrast to the practice of the ancient pagans among whom the common people had to work every day while the nobility refrained from all labor, the Jew was taught both the dignity of labor and the dignity of the human personality. On the one hand, he was instructed "6 days you shall labor," and that isn't really accurate, you know, the Hebrew doesn't say you're breaking the law if you don't, if you work a 5-day week. That isn't true. What it says is within 6 days, you got to get all your work done. No matter how much work you've got to do, you know, if God made the whole world in 6 days, what do you got? Whatever you got, you got to do within 6 days.

   But it's not a command to work 6 days, you know, you don't break that law if you work 5 days a week. In this work, the Jew was taught to strive for creativity and in his rest, he was taught to strive for spiritual and intellectual renewal. To emulate the Creator and to live a life both creative and holy, the Jew had to have the most precious of human possessions, freedom.

   The Sabbath commandment, when repeated in Deuteronomy, is associated with the redemption from Egyptian slavery: "And you shall remember that you were a servant in the land of Egypt." You weren't allowed to rest on the Sabbath. You remember how much burden you were under as a slave in Egypt? Remember how much you had learned to respect and appreciate the Sabbath. So you shall remember you were a servant. Therefore, the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

   The Sabbath law was not satisfied with a mere provision of a weekly day of rest. Well, he goes on and mentions quite a few background emphasis on the Sabbath, but I want to come on over to a few examples.

   Welcoming the Sabbath: When the sun was about to set, the Jewish child became aware of a sense of family consecration. It was then that the scattered members of the family gathered to welcome the Sabbath. The first to be honored with the privilege was the mother. It was she who had labored most to bring the Sabbath spirit into the home, and it was only proper that she be the first to welcome the queen.

   Immediately before lighting the candles, she would drop some coins into the charity box, associating the spirit of charity with light and Sabbath rest. The child reverently watched as the mother kindle the lights. She covered her eyes with the palms of her hands, recited the traditional blessing, and prayed for the well-being of her family. Then she kissed every child, and this kiss too, the child felt was unlike any other he received during the week. It had a rare sweetness and loveliness, reflecting the Sabbath spirit.

   Equally impressive was the father's role. Returning from the evening services in the synagogue with a hearty greeting of "Good Shabu, Shabbat Shalom," he would bestow the benediction of Jacob on his child. The father placed his hands on each child's bowed head, pronounced the traditional blessing, quote, "May God make you as Ephriam the Manasseh. May God make you as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah." In each case, the blessing was followed by the priestly benediction.

   The ceremony of welcoming the Sabbath reached its climax at the Friday evening meal. The child joined in chanting the hymn, "Shalom Allah came," welcoming the angels of peace which figuratively visited every Jewish home on the Sabbath. These angels of peace banished from the Jewish home all gloom and sorrow and brought into it peace and joy.

   The hymn was followed by the father's recital of the last chapter of Proverbs wherein the virtuous woman is praised in glowing terms and is declared to be more precious than rubies. The father then filled the wine cup and recited the kibbish. Usually each male child was given the opportunity to make the kibbish himself. This personal participation was calculated not only to teach the child the prayer, but to impress upon him that he was a real partner in the family service and that he personally welcomed the Sabbath and proclaimed its sanctity.

   The Sabbath meal was a memorable and happy event. You know, I remember the Sabbath meals at Mayfair to this day. They were the best meals of the whole week. We'd have brunch about 10 o'clock, then we wouldn't have another meal till after church, about 6. Gone was the plainness of the weekday meals. Gone with the hungry and weary of the midweek family gatherings. At the Friday evening meal, there was complete relaxation. Everyone was at peace with himself, with the family and with the world at large.

   The two white loaves on the table were symbolic of the double portion of manna which our ancestors in the desert received before the Sabbath. The father recited the hamai, the blessing over the hollah, and passed the piece of the Sabbath bread to everyone at the table. Then followed the meal and the Zimro, the Sabbath table hymns.

   These hymns are unlike those sung at the synagogue or at feasts. They are unique in that they blend the holy and the secular, the serious and the playful. Now, would we be more strict than the Jew on the Sabbath like that? You notice what some of their songs were? These hymns are unlike those sung at the synagogue or at feast. What about these family songs they sang on Friday night? They are unique in that they blend the holy and the secular, the serious and the playful.

   Between courses and hymns, there was leisurely family table talk about small and large events, talks that could not be indulged in during weekdays when every member of the family was preoccupied with his own problems. But in all the talks, there was no mention of money. But you know, is it alright to speak your own words on the Sabbath? What if the dad said, "Well, how did school go this past week, Billy?" and you know he talks about Monday and Tuesday and that's alright on the Sabbath.

   The Bible doesn't say don't speak your own words on the Sabbath. It says don't speak any business words. On the Sabbath, business and similar world interests were officially banned from the home and even from the mind of the observant Jews. A long and persistent discipline succeeded in training the Jews, not merely to refrain from labor on the Sabbath, but even from the thought of it. He was similarly trained, not to harbor any sad thoughts on the Sabbath. Both worry and gloom were forbidden. Hence the table talk like the table hymns, was pleasant and joyful.

   The meal concluded with the benchen, grace after meal. The family sang it with all its responses. The usual hurried recital of the grace, which was common on weekdays, became on the Sabbath an inspiring family service. Later one could enjoy a good cup of tea in traditional homes. The ever-warm tea kettle standing on a middle or asbestos sheet throughout the night, served as a reminder that although cooking is prohibited on the Sabbath, one could enjoy the Sabbath with delight by having the food prepared the day before.

   The same happy spirit prevailed at the Sabbath noon meal the following day. It was only at the 3rd meal, that Siuda Shelahi, that the Sabbath spirit began to wane. This meal was eaten toward the close of the day. The Nashama Yara, the additional soul of the Sabbath was almost gone.

   Now he talks about church services on Friday night. The Sabbath afternoon was spent restfully and pleasantly. Older folks often took a nap after the noon meal. The remainder of the afternoon was usually spent in social visits, in going for a stroll, above all in study, either alone at home or with a group in the synagogue. This custom, which was part of an unsystemaized program of adult education, goes back to ancient times.

   The historian Josephus, who lived in the first century, praised Moses, who caused the people to abandon all other employments and to assemble to hear the law and to study it carefully every week, a thing all other legislators failed to do. One of the most popular treatises studied on Sabbath afternoons was the Turkey avo, the ethics of the Fathers. It was customary for every Jew to study a chapter of this treatise each Sabbath afternoon during the summer months.

   The Jewish child had his own way of spending the Sabbath afternoon. And you know, I can look back and I remember when our little kids used to sit there in church for 3 hours, they had their hands folded in their lap and they just sit there. You know, it might as well have been a robot, you know, they might as well have been a little plastic doll that you sit up there because boy, there they sat like that.

   Now, is that good? Is that the way kids ought to do, or can they bring along coloring books and can they, uh, you know, when a guy gets to be 16, he's sitting there with his coloring book, that seems kind of ridiculous. But you know, kids will get away with whatever they can get away with.

   Now I remember back when I was in the Baptist church and I was keeping Sunday holy. My dad never did go to church. My mom never did go to church. We had to go though they say, "You can't play ball and you can't go to the show if you don't go to church." So boy, Sunday morning we went to Sunday school and went to church and sat up there and counted hat pins and doodled out the os on the program and... You know, chanted and passed notes and goofed off, but you know I couldn't help to learn some things anyway.

   But you know, I've seen churches. I've seen people in God's church more strict with the Sabbath than the Jews. And that's really unbelievable. Well, what about Jewish children? Well, let me tell you. He visited with friends and relatives, especially with his grandparents. He went strolling or indulged in games suited to the spirit of the Sabbath, games that did not involve physical exertion or acts specifically forbidden on the Sabbath.

   But you know, for Jewish children, they weren't like robots having to sit in the house keeping the Sabbath day holy. They can't do that. How in the world can they keep the Sabbath day holy? And when they get on up into their teen years, they ought to be realizing the joy of keeping the Sabbath day holy and it passes faster and you're glad when it's over and that you got a lot more out of it than just endure it. But you know, to think that children shouldn't even be allowed out of the house on the Sabbath day, where in the world do you get that? You know, I'd like to, you know, you're gonna have to quote chapter and verse to me. I mean, I'm from Missouri and I've got to be shown, so you can show me that in there.

   You know, where does it say in the Bible about traveling on the Sabbath day? Here again, weigh it. Let's say you take teenagers. And you want to ask them what they do on Friday night from sundown to bedtime. Then what do they do Saturday till time to come to church? Then what do they do after church before sundown? Add that all up. Then find out what happens when they get on a bus in a group and go to the YOU activity at Big Sandy, you know.

   What do they do? Well, they are riding on a bus together. We will play a tape or something where they miss church. So here they're in a bus and they listen to the tape. They stay Friday night in the motel and they get up Saturday morning, they eat a meal together and then they get in the bus and they go on down and attend church at Big Sandy, and then at sundown they play a ball game. Now you weigh that Sabbath against any one of their Sabbaths back home. I mean which Sabbath accomplished its purpose more? The Sabbath when they travel to Amarillo, the Sabbath when they travel to Big Sandy, the Sabbath when they travel to Lubbock?

   Yet, you know, we've got people in the church that, uh, say well, "If you're going to have them go on a bus on the Sabbath, I'm not going to let my kids go." Well, what's the secret, uh, deal now? What, what about global? That's 115 miles. Is that, is that OK? Well, well, what about Amarillo? Now that's, that's 240 miles. What's the secret here, you know, mileage, that's the secret. What's the secret, you know, uh, who has to do the driving? You know, what about a guy that just loves to drive?

   I love to drive. You know, I've never considered traveling 165 miles breaking the Sabbath. Matter of fact, I used to travel 850 miles on the Sabbath. I didn't figure I broke it then. Because we preached three churches. So you know, when are you breaking the Sabbath and traveling? Now if I all of a sudden decided on Saturday morning, I'm gonna drive to Big Sandy, I couldn't do that. I, I wouldn't do that. That would break the Sabbath for me - to just spend 8 hours behind the wheel driving an automobile from here to Big Sandy.

   Now if I were going up to Amarillo, 240 miles, and I'd preach here and then get in the car and go up there and preach, I didn't break the Sabbath there. Or what if I were to travel to Amarillo because there are a bunch of people up there I hadn't seen in a long time or maybe one of the guys is, uh, mixed up and might go out of the church and so I'd get up Friday or Friday or Saturday and drive up to Amarillo and visit that church and visit church brethren and visit that man and maybe rescue him from dropping out of the church and... And did I break the Sabbath day?

   You know what would happen if we all expressed our opinions and judged one another about keeping the Sabbath? I found out because I've got a volume or set of the Talmud - they're what, 12 volumes. Big thick green books that thick. 12 volumes of them just tell you what you can and can't do on the Sabbath day. Well, I got another big fat book though that was written about the churches in New England that tells you what you can and can't do on Sunday. So they even drew up there one volume Talmud about what you can and can't do on Lord's Day.

   But you know, I don't find that many deals in here about Sabbath. Do you find that many in here? Now, God said remember it to keep it holy. He did not say, "not seeking your own pleasure," he did not say, "not speaking your own words." That's just not in there. It's not in Isaiah at all.

   Now, for children... You know, for them to be allowed to go outdoors or to play games that don't involve physical exertion or acts specifically forbidden on Sabbath. For them to stroll, walk, go out to park... You know what can you do? I remember taking a bunch of young people up to Oklahoma one time over a weekend. We took off Friday early and got up into Oklahoma a little after sundown. We built a campfire and sang around the campfire on Friday night and then Saturday morning we got up and had a Bible study.

   Then after Bible study we went over and dipped in the lake over there and cooled off and, uh, relaxed just a few minutes in the lake and we got back out and we didn't swim like you normally would when you go out to the lake swimming, just hours swimming. It wasn't even 30 minutes, but there were Pharisees in the group that boy, that was too much, you know, what's the secret there? 28 minutes, 38 seconds, and what, you know, 2/10.

   Well, the conclusion of the Sabbath had a mystic beauty all its own. A hymn voicing the eternal Jewish hope that the prophet Elijah would appear during the coming week and bring the good tidings of the coming of the Messiah. So every Sabbath day as the day ended, they reminded about the coming of Elijah to announce the coming of the Messiah. You know, they didn't think Elijah had already come. You know all the Sabbaths since Jesus' day, as the day ends, the Jews sang hymns looking for Elijah to come. And the Elijah is going to announce the Messiah. Well, they're right, you know. They're right, they're looking for that, and it's going to happen.

   Well, I hope we can, uh... We went through one time about the laws in the New Testament about keeping the Sabbath. You know Jesus said it's lawful to do well on the Sabbath day. If an ox is in the ditch, you can get him out of the ditch on Sabbath day. Of course, as long as you don't shove him in on the same Sabbath so you can have an excuse to get him out. But Christ gave laws about how to keep the Sabbath in the New Testament, but uh, I hope we can realize the real value of the Sabbath.

   Did it accomplish what God created it for when that Sabbath is over? When the sun sets on Saturday ending the day, the best proof of that Sabbath: What did it accomplish? What did it do with you? What did it do for you? And if it didn't accomplish its purposes that God gave it for, then you didn't keep the Sabbath anyway. So it didn't technically what you were and weren't doing, as much as it is, whether the Sabbath accomplished what God created it to do in you each week.

   So I hope we can keep the Sabbath holy and not judge one another in the little ways because we don't want to have a Talmud. I'll tell you for sure. You know, I, I've read of Talmud and I, I like to ask a lot of questions about Talmud because they say if you're sitting in your house and your house catches fire on the Sabbath day, well, if it catches fire Friday night, you can take us out for two meals. And if it catches fire Saturday morning, you can just only take us out for one meal.

   Well, I'd like to ask how much can you take? 6 boxes, 4 boxes, uh, how much can you take? Well, enough for a meal. Well, you're gonna be real hungry, so you load the whole box that day, or you know another law they have about the Sabbath, they say that if you're sitting in your house on the Sabbath day and a deer runs into your house, would it be worth to take him or not? Well, you know what they say, if there are two of you there, it wouldn't be too much work. Go ahead.

   But you know what I'd like to ask is, what if it's a big deer and your little guys? Or what if it's a little deer and you're a big guy, but there's only one of you? You know, I mean, you can't just say one deer, 2 guys, that's not definitive enough. It's how big is the deer and how big are the guys. So you know there you couldn't write a Talmud that could answer all the questions people could ask. It's impossible. That's why it's 12 volumes and it still doesn't do the job.

   So the Sabbath is made for man and it's to rejuvenate us every week, but I hope a lot of young people begin to, you know, I think the most drudgery of young people is all the Sabbath means to them is they come to church, they sit in the chairs and the sermon goes on and on and they haven't learned really that if you listen and follow in your Bible, it goes 3 times quicker. You know, if you're sitting there doodling and talking and goofing off the Sabbath is long and that's what you deserve. But you know if you're sitting there with your Bible listening and following, zip it goes by in a hurry. You talk to some of these people, they come up and say, "Well, why did you quit so soon? That just seemed like he just got started. It didn't seem like it was 30 minutes."

   But then one little old bitty girl down in San Angelo came up one time and said, "Boy, Mr. Blackwell, that was just too long." Well, you know, for young people it's long because they're not listening, they don't pay any attention, that makes it longer and longer. The time you waste the longest time of all, you know, when you're waiting on somebody, every minute is like 3 minutes. But if you're busy with something, time just whizzes by. So I really think the young people ought to try keeping the Sabbath and find out if it doesn't mean a lot more to them and if it doesn't go by a lot quicker too.