Fifty Reasons for Sabbath Observance
By D. T. Bourdeau
FIFTY REASONS FOR SABBATH OBSERVANCE. NO. 3.
FIFTEENTH. We observe it because it is a part of the law by which we shall be judged. Speaking of the law that says: "Do not kill," "Do not commit adultery," etc., James says, "So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." James 2:11, 12. Sixteenth. We observe it, seeing it enters largely into the law which is to us "the law of liberty," because having been delivered from its just condemnation by faith in Jesus Christ which produces repentance, it does not bind us to the consequences of sin to give us death, and we can say with David, "And I will walk at liberty; for I seek Thy precepts." "Let Thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live; for Thy law is my delight." "So shall I keep Thy law continually forever and ever." "The law of Thy mouth [or, "which Thou hast pronounced with Thy mouth," French translation] is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver." Ps. 119:45, 77, 44, 72. Seventeenth. We observe it because it is enjoined by the law of eternal righteousness, by the law of which it is written: "The law which Thou hast pronounced with Thy mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver." "Thy righteousness is an everlasting righteousness, and Thy law is the truth." "The righteousness of Thy testimonies is everlasting." "All Thy commandments are righteousness." "My righteousness shall not be abolished. Harken unto Me, ye that know righteousness, the people in whose heart is My law." Ps. 119:72, 142, 144, 172; Isa. 51:6, 7. And again, "And it shall be our righteousness, if we observe to do all these commandments before the Lord our God, as He hath commanded us." Deut. 6:25. He speaks of the Ten Commandments, as may be seen by reading chapter 5:7, etc. Eighteenth. We observe it because our violations of the Sabbath are a part of the accursed instrument (the sins of the world) which killed our Saviour. Jesus Christ died for our transgressions of the Sabbath precept, as well as for those of the other precepts of the divine law. Should we not therefore manifest our love and gratitude to Him by observing the Sabbath with all the other precepts of the Decalogue? Nineteenth. We observe it because it belongs to the law which is obligatory on the Gentiles as well as on the Jews. Rom. 2:27: "And shall not uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who by the letter and circumcision dost transgress the law?" And speaking of the world outside of Jesus Christ, the same apostle, the apostle Paul, expresses himself thus: "Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law; that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God." Rom. 3:19. How can a law stop every mouth and show the whole world to be guilty, if it is not obligatory on all, on both Jews and Gentiles? Twentieth. We observe it by faith in our Saviour, having been delivered from the just curse of the law of which it forms a part, and being no more under the law as a condemning, accusing rule, shutting us up to death as the wages of sin, and we would not be sinning knowingly, and voluntarily place ourselves again under the curse of the law, and consequently10under the law as a condemning, accusing rule; on the contrary, we desire to take to heart these wise words of Paul: "What then? shall we sin [transgress the law], because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid." Rom. 6:15. Twenty-first. By faith in Jesus Christ we observe it because the law of which it forms so important a part, is so just, so perfect, and so consistent, that it can not condemn and justify the sinner at the same time. The doctrine of justification by faith in Jesus Christ, in maintaining that the righteousness of Jesus Christ—His perfect obedience to the law—is imputed to the believer who repents of his sins, lays upon man the most sacred obligation to obey the divine law. Is there not in the fact that our divine Lord had to obey the law that His obedience might replace our disobedience and that His death might expiate our sins, an irrefutable proof that the law is immutable? that we should have obeyed it in the past, and that we should, by His grace, obey it in the future in view of its excellence, and to manifest our gratitude to Him who has done so much to save us? The law being holy, just, and perfect, our acts of obedience to-day, were they perfect, could not more than answer to its demands for to-day. But without faith in our Saviour, "our righteousnesses" [or acts of obedience] are as filthy rags." Isa. 64:6. How then can we by our works merit our justification and our salvation? To obtain these inestimable blessings, we must exercise faith in Jesus Christ. Now this faith is eminently practical and furnishes the most convincing proofs that the law in which the Sabbath is prominent is obligatory, and that we, by the unmerited favor of God, should observe it diligently.