The following Scripture passages are offered to aid beginning fellowships. The readings and commentary for this week are more in line with what has become usual; for the following will most likely be familiar observations. The concept behind this Sabbath’s selection is faith is evidenced by works of obedience.
Weekly Readings
For the Sabbath of July 30, 2011
The person conducting the Sabbath service should open services with two or three hymns, or psalms, followed by an opening prayer acknowledging that two or three (or more) are gathered together in Christ Jesus’ name, and inviting the Lord to be with them.
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Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. / For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation. / Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. For if, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. / Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 5:1–21 emphasis added)
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Every Sabbatarian Christian will be told at one time or another that the person doesn’t understand grace and the writings of the Apostle Paul. Yet it isn’t the Sabbatarian that doesn’t understand Paul: it is the anomian (i.e., the person without law) that is without knowledge and without understanding for the free gift of indwelling eternal life is not like the trespass, physical life as Adam had life after he was driven from the Garden of God because of his trespass.
The flesh will die and will not enter the kingdom of God (1 Cor 15:50): grace is not for the flesh and does not give to the flesh immortality—
John records the following:
This was why the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel. For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whom he will. The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life. / Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.
“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not deemed true. There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved. He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. But the testimony that I have is greater than that of John. For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing, bear witness about me that the Father has sent me. And the Father who sent me has himself borne witness about me. His voice you have never heard, his form you have never seen, and you do not have his word abiding in you, for you do not believe the one whom he has sent. You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me, yet you refuse to come to me that you may have life. I do not receive glory from people. But I know that you do not have the love of God within you. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him. How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you: Moses, on whom you have set your hope. For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote of me. But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words?” (5:18–47)
The Father raises the dead inner self of every human being to life on His time schedule and at His pleasure. Once Adam was driven from the Garden of God, Adam’s trespass introduced death into the world, not nine hundred years later, but immediately—that day—just as the Lord God had promised Adam: “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die’” (Gen 2:16–17).
If Adam had not died on the day when he ate forbidden fruit but died centuries later, then the Lord God did not tell Adam the truth—and that is not the case. The Lord God told Adam that he would die when he ate, and Adam died, but not physically: Adam’s inner self died and was dead, separated from God and the Garden of God into which he was placed after he was created (Gen 2:7–8, 15).
Adam was not created with indwelling eternal life; Adam had no indwelling immortal soul. The life Adam received when Elohim [singular in usage] breathed into his nostrils was received outside of the Garden of Eden, with the Garden of Eden representing Eden, the garden of God (from Ezek 28:13), a heavenly location where iniquity was discovered in an anointed cherub, the guardian cherub that became the Adversary (vv. 14–18).
The symbolism represented by Adam being created outside the Garden of Eden, the Garden of God, discloses that humankind [i.e., the sons of Adam] has been created without indwelling eternal life; without immortal souls … any religion, any form of Christianity, any Christian theologian that teaches humanity is born with indwelling eternal life (i.e., an immortal soul) is of the Adversary and is not of God. This includes all of visible Christendom, all of rabbinical Judaism, all of Islam, all of Hinduism; for this world does not today belong to the Son of Man, but remains under the dominion of the Adversary, the prince of the power of the air that the man Jesus defeated nearly two millennia ago. Therefore, it is no wonder that the visible theologies of this world teach the lie of the Adversary, the lie the serpent told Eve: You shall not surely die (Gen 3:4).
The Muslim who blows himself or herself up in an act of jihad has been deceived by the Adversary and by agents of the Adversary.
The Christian pastor who tells bereaved families that their dead will immediately go to heaven to be with the Lord is a liar and con man, a minister of the Adversary … this Christian pastor will be numbered among those denied by Jesus when judgments are revealed—
Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, “Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?” And then will I declare to them, “I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.” (Matt 7:21–23)
Jesus also said,
Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye. / Do not give dogs what is holy, and do not throw your pearls before pigs, lest they trample them underfoot and turn to attack you. (Matt 7:1–6 emphasis added)
To criticize greater Christendom or Christian pastors in general or one in particular subjects the person who criticizes to the judgment producing the criticism. This is true, but it is Jesus who pronounces damnation upon every Christian who teaches a doctrine of lawlessness, not Paul, not anyone who builds on the foundation that Paul laid in heavenly Jerusalem; for Paul laid no foundation for the house of God, for the Church that is the Body of Christ, the temple of God, in earthly Jerusalem. The foundation that Paul laid is Christ Jesus (1 Cor 3:10–11) and what Jesus told Peter (Matt 16:18); the foundation that Paul laid is constructed from the movement of breath from the nostrils—where the first Adam received life via receipt of the breath of God—to receipt of the divine breath of God [pneuma Theon] that the man Jesus received following baptism (Matt 3:16). As the second or last Adam, the man Jesus forms the pattern or type of the living inner self, resurrected from death through the Father raising the person from the dead by giving to the person life via His breath, a second breath of life.
The inner self that died when Adam ate forbidden fruit is not an immortal soul that needs to be regenerated as the bastard servants of the Adversary teach throughout greater Christendom, but is dead as Jesus said: “Another of the disciples said to him, ‘Lord, let me first go and bury my father.’ And Jesus said to him, ‘Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead’” (Matt 8:21–22).
Let the dead (i.e., all who have not received a second breath of life) bury the dead of themselves … that is what genuine sons of God see through human eyes when watching the things of this world unfold. There is no indwelling eternal life in President Obama, or in any politician in Washington D.C., or in London, Rome, Moscow, Beijing, or anywhere else on this globe. Simply believing that a person has indwelling eternal life doesn’t give to the person such life; for the person who has been born of God (i.e., the person who has received a second breath of life) doesn’t set his or her mind on the things of this world (cf. Rom 8:5–7; 1 Pet 2:15–17).
To be a politician; to be a political activist; to be a soldier; to be concerned about the things of this world is to set the person’s mind on fleshly things. This person cannot please God, cannot keep the law of God, and is actually hostile to God (Rom 8:7–8) … the Christian who pickets an abortion mill has good intensions and a desire for righteousness, but by picketing this Christian politically engages with the world and thereby serves the Adversary. For as long as the abortion picketer frets over the rights of the unborn and seeks to prevent the murder of innocents, the picketer will not realize that he or she is a spiritual unborn, spiritually analogous to the physically unborn child that will be murdered inside the abortion mill, with the Adversary murdering this still dead son of God prior to the Father raising the dead inner self to life …
How is the Adversary to murder the still dead inner self of a Christian?
If the Adversary can convince the Christian that he or she need not keep the law of God (need not keep the commandments), then whenever the father raises this dead inner self to life, the crucified old self and the flesh will together convince the now-living inner self that faith alone is sufficient for salvation. But faith without deeds, without works, is a dead faith—
Abraham believed God and his belief was counted to him as righteousness (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:3). But Abraham’s righteousness that came via faith/belief was insufficient:
After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you.” So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him. On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw the place from afar. Then Abraham said to his young men, “Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you.” And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. And Isaac said to his father Abraham, “My father!” And he said, “Here am I, my son.” He said, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son.” So they went both of them together. / When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here am I.” He said, “Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me.” And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. So Abraham called the name of that place, “The Lord will provide”; as it is said to this day, “On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided.”
And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” So Abraham returned to his young men, and they arose and went together to Beersheba. And Abraham lived at Beersheba. (Gen 22:1–19 emphasis and double emphasis added)
The promise/covenant made to Abram that is recorded in Genesis 12:2, and the promise/covenant made with Abraham that is recorded in Genesis 17:1–8 are conditional. If they were not conditional, then there would have been no need for the Lord to tell Abraham, “By myself I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” But what Paul apparently didn’t fully grasp is what James understood:
What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. / But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (Jas 2:14–26 emphasis and double emphasis added)
The body of a person who is without breath is dead … no educated person will argue this point even though visible Christendom, Judaism, and Islam continue to believe that the physically living have indwelling immortal life that continues on after breath has been lost. But then, until the Second Passover liberation of Israel all forms of visible religion in this world is of the Adversary—and it is the Adversary’s primal lie that a person shall not die even when that person is dead.
Faith without works is as Adam was when he was created outside of the Garden of God … would Adam, in the Garden of Eden, have hungered if he had not eaten? If Adam had eaten nothing, would Adam have continued to live even though he was in the Garden of God? And the answer is that Adam could not have continued in the Garden without eating: his hunger would have compelled him to eat. And so it is with faith: a person truly born of God is compelled to good works, the first of which is to keep the commandments of God.
As the fleshly body of a person hungers for food, the faith of a son of God hungers or longs to keep the commandments.
The above is perhaps the most important concept a Philadelphian can possess when it comes to addressing or having a relationship with another Christian: if the Christian doesn’t hunger for righteousness, striving mightily to live righteously as exhibited by keeping the commandments, the Christian is not born of God regardless of what the Christian claims.
The Sabbath [i.e., Sabbath observance] is often used as the test of whether a person hungers for righteousness, but every Observant Jew keeps the Sabbath without having been born of God through receipt of a second breath of life. So it isn’t keeping the Sabbath that produces righteousness. Rather, it is the faith that will have the person desiring to keep all of the commandments that discloses whether a person has been truly born of God—
The wife who does not submit to her husband; the wife who has a more intimate relationship with a person other than her husband is not born of God. If she were truly born of God, she would treat her husband as her human lord and Christ Jesus as her spiritual Lord, thereby giving to both the honor and respect that each should have.
Likewise, the husband who notices the length of skirts or the tightness of blouses on women other than his wife has his mind focused on fleshly things and has not been born of God. The husband who strives to buy-and-sell during all of his waking hours is of this world and has not been born of God. The husband who is more interested in his hobbies than his wife is of this world.
And every politician, every breeder of money, every corporate raider is of this world, no exceptions even though many will plead to be excepted.
Ask yourself, do you truly hunger for righteousness … that hunger is of God and is what John wrote about when he said,
Everyone who makes a practice of sinning also practices lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. You know that he [Jesus] appeared to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him. Little children, let no one deceive you. Whoever practices righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous. Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God. By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother. (1 John 3:4–10 emphasis added)
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The person conducting the Sabbath service should close services with two hymns, or psalms, followed by a prayer asking God’s dismissal.
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"Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright ©2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved."