Page 10 - SABBATH

esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”

We live in a day in which men are proclaiming those things that they esteem, while
neglecting the things God esteems. I have picked just one topic, albeit a major one, that is
being falsely taught today to demonstrate that men have departed from truth and have
sought out teachers that would tell them things in accordance with their desires. Men in
their love of self and love of money have devised all manner of false interpretations of
scripture to justify their lust for things. Absent is the message of the disciple’s cross and the
proclaiming of the Christ’s words that if we would save our soul life, we must lose it, but if
we lose it we will save it. Absent is the message of taking up our cross daily and following
Yahshua.

Matthew 16:24-27
Then said Yahshua to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, let him deny
himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life
shall lose it; but whoever loses his life for My sake shall find it. For what will a man
be profited, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man
give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His
Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds.”

The message of self denial is not found in the houses of prosperity today. Every man
will be recompensed for his deeds, yet the recompense will be very grievous for those who
have accumulated to themselves teachers to tell them the things they desire to hear. The
very issue of self denial is at the heart of a true understanding of Sabbath, for in Hebrews
we read these words of Paul.

Hebrews 4:10
For the one who has entered His rest [Sabbath] has himself also rested from his
works, as God did from His.

If we are to enter into God’s rest, we must cease from doing our own works. This is self
denial. This is the work of the cross in the lives of the saints. Because men have not ceased
from their own works, preferring to indulge the selfish desires of their hearts, they have
strayed from truth and have embraced falsehood and myths. The issue of serving mammon
is but one issue in which this has happened. There is virtually no area of truth that has
remained unaffected due to the difficulty of the days we live. In the book of II
Thessalonians, Paul described the dire state of these days with the word “apostasy.”

II Thessalonians 2:1-3
Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Yahshua the
Messiah, and our gathering together to Him, that you may not be quickly shaken
from your composure or be disturbed either by a spirit or a message or a letter as if
from us, to the effect that the day of the Lord has come. Let no one in any way
deceive you, for it will not come unless the apostasy comes first...

Once more Paul is writing about the days that precede the return of Yahshua. He is
writing of the days we live in, and he states that Yahshua will not return unless the apostasy