1. Remember the mousetrap we shared two nights ago, that simple little invention molecular biochemist Michael Behe brilliantly used to convincingly shatter Charles Darwin's assumption that all complex life forms have slowly, gradually evolved?
   1. Behe said, Wait a minute like the mousetrap it is impossible for some life systems to have evolved--simply because you have to have the entire extremely complex system all in place in order for it to function at all!
      1. Can't wait a billion years.
      2. It's all got to be up and running instantly and simultaneously.
      3. Which, Behe announced, is scientific evidence for the exisitence of an Intelligent Designer.
      4. So declares a brilliant molecular biochemist.
      5. And so, coincidentally, concludes this ancient Book!
   2. Well tonight, I want to share with you another invention as a capstone to our excursion into the global debate between the Darwinian theory of evolution and the biblical theory of creation--I wish to share with you one more invention--this one considerably older than the mousetrap--and even more profound and more simple!
      1. A careful examination of this invention has truly made a believer out of me!
      2. For me this ingenious invention settles the question as to which theory is right.
   3. Illus: Now, I am NOT talking about the invetion of Dr. Gernot Winkler, a 73 year old Austrian-born astronomer and theroretical physicist, though his invention isn't too far off the mark:
      1. Dr. Winkler has been America's official time-keeper for over two and half decades.
      2. His offices are at the U.S. Naval Observatory, and are crowded with sundials, hourglasses, pendulum clocks and antique watches, etc.
      3. Here's a man who has plenty of TIME on his hands!!
      4. But his masterpiece is the atomic clock--consisting of 24 box-like metal instruments housed in eight climate-controlled vaults scattered around the observatory's tree-shaded grounds on a northwest Washington hillside.
      5. Each of these faceless clocks contains cesium atoms, which when heated to a low boil, emit faint beams of light from electromagnetic radiation at an unchanging frequency of 9,192,631,770 cycles per second!
      6. Every hour computers automatically compare readings from all the clocks to produce a uniform time that doesn't vary more than a NANOSECOND--one-billionth of a second--from day to day.
      7. (Some of the atomic clocks are accurate to one-tenth of a nanosecond!)
      8. To set all the clocks, Dr. Winkler relies on a network of radio astronomers from Bologna, Italy, to Hawaii, who determine the exact position of Earth by taking simultaneous fixes on light from a star millions of light years away.
      9. Can you believe it!
      10. This man didn't invent time--but he operates the most accurate way to tell time within the human system!
   4. However, this is NOT the profound invention that I'm referring to, though it has very much to do with the other invention, which also has very much to do with TIME
   5. Come with me tonight and examine an invention so profound that neither scientists nor philosophers nor historians are able to adequately explain it.
2. Before I share that invention with you, let's go back one more time to the Book of Beginnings and read once again its majestic opening salvo: Genesis 1:1 (p 1).
   1. Since we've been thinking of Dr. Winkler and his atomic measurement of time, let reexamine this creation account to ascertain how time was measured on earth "in the beginning."
   2. Since we've already read and examined this chapter in our previous two lectures, this time let's move quickly to the end of Genesis 1 and note the time measurements stated there: Genesis 1:31-2:4a.
   3. So ends the story of the first week on earth.
      1. The Genesis account emphatically declares: God created this world in six days and rested on the seventh day.
      2. Period.
   4. Which of course hardly proves that God created this earth--at least not to the skeptic or the agnostic or the atheist.
      1. When I am asked how I can possibly believe that God created our world, I'll tell you how I answer:
      2. My answer is succinctly summed up in Hebrews 11 (p 1155).
         1. This great chapter is called the Hall of Faith or Hall of Fame chapter of the Scriptures, because it tells about the of some of the most well-known men and women of Bible times.
         2. But notice the ringing declaration with which the chapter opens.
         3. In the end this is the only answer you can give to support your belief in a friendly Creator God!
         4. Hebrews 11:1-3.
         5. I.e., BY FAITH the friend of God believes or trusts that what this Book declares is in fact truth: GOD SPOKE OUR WORLD INTO EXISTENCE!
         6. In the end you must accept it BY FAITH.
         7. Which is the point of v. 6 as well.
         8. BY FAITH YOU CAN TRUST THAT THERE IS A FRIENDLY GOD in this universe WHO REWARDS OR RESPONDS PERSONALLY TO EVERY MAN OR WOMAN WHO SEEKS HIM!
   5. But lest you're worried that your "by faith" response will be laughed out of the room by skeptics, here's some fodder for your conversation with them.
      1. You see, every theory of origins has the same basic problem no one was there as a reporter to observe how it happened!
      2. Therefore, since the ultimate origin in every theory of origins is outside the realm of scientific testing, ALL THEORIES OF ORIGINS MUST INVOLVE HUMAN FAITH.
      3. Let me explain.
      4. Evolutionists cannot adequately explain the origin of POLYMERS or CELLS from random processes, even with long ages of time.
      5. (Polymers are large biochemicals made up of several or thousands of MONOMERS or simply one unit biochemical structures like sugar, amino acids, fatty acids--which when put together make proteins, starches, and fats.)
      6. This is a bit complicated for all of us--but I want you to hold on for a minute!
      7. The point here is that evolutionists today are not able to adequately explain how these basic building blocks of life came to be.
      8. In fact, the probability of these biochemical units evolving IS NOT EVEN WITHIN THE ACCEPTED LEVEL OF POSSIBILITY!
      9. Scientists (and I am not one, I'll be quick to admit) tell us that the probability of life at the lowest level of complexity originating on earth BY THE NATURAL PROCESSES WITHIN 2 BILLION YEARS is less than 10 -255!!! (Which means that between the decimal point and the first number there would be 254 zeroes!!!)
      10. Even with 4 BILLION years to produce one DNA molecule that could control the synthesis of a typical small protein the probability is less than 10 -535!!!
      11. By the way, anything below 10 -50 is considered BEYOND THE BOUNDARY OF POSSIBILITY, STATISTICALLY SPEAKING!
      12. MY POINT: To the evolutionist who tells me that it takes faith to believe the creation theory, I quickly respond, You're right--just as it takes a whole lot of faith to believe in such impossible odds that the evolutionary theory requires!
   6. So in the end, ladies and gentlemen, the choice for every human being is-- Which theory of origins shall I choose to place my faith in?
      1. Did I come from the hand of an Intelligent Creator or did I evolve from the womb of a wild monkey?
      2. Speaking personally, I have a feeling some of my ancestors hung by their NECKS--but I choose to believe that not one of them hung by their TAILS.
      3. Of course--and you guessed it anyway--I have placed my faith in the creation theory rather than the theory of evolution.
      4. And there is an invention that I believe proves the creation story of the Bible, and I want to share that invention with you now.
3. Return with me to the heart of God's great Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 (p 71), and there you will discover the profound but simple invention that scientists, philosophers and historians cannot adequately explain.
   1. Exodus 20--turn there please--and the very familiar Fourth Commandment.
   2. Illus: My friend Jacques Doukhan, Professor of Old Testament and Hebrew here at Andrews University, describes the Fourth Commandment as the thematic hinge of the entire Decalogue.
      1. The first three commandments describe our relationship with God.
      2. The last six commandments describe our relationship with each other.
      3. And in the middle, as a hinge between God and humanity, is the Sabbath Commandment that describes both our relationship to God and to each other.
      4. Thematically this is the hinge of the Decalogue.
      5. And what is the message of this great heart of the Ten Commandments? "Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy."
      6. Illus: And by the way, have you read Moses' eyewitness account of how he received the Ten Commandments?
         1. Keep your finger here, because we'll be right back, but turn a few more pages to Exodus 31:18 (p 83).
         2. Moses clearly declares here in Exodus that God wrote these Ten Commands with His own finger on two tablets of stone.
         3. Illus: I don't know if it really happened the way Cecil B. DeMills portrayed it in his epic film, "The Ten Commandments," where out of the fiery presence of the divine, a hand emerges and carves in letters of flame the Ten Precepts.
         4. All I know is that Moses recorded that God Himself wrote with His finger the entire Decalogue.
      7. Illus: Which includes the Fourth Commandment--read it again with me, Exodus 20:8-ll (p 71).
      8. Illus: Jacques Doukhan reminds us that only two of the Ten Commandments are "positively formulated"--meaning these two do not begin with the familiar negative prohibition, "Thou shalt not."
         1. Significantly they are juxtaposed together in the heart and along the hinge of the Decalogue.
         2. "This correspondence indicates a common concern."
         3. "Remember the Sabbath day" and "Honor your father and your mother"--What do they have in common?
         4. BOTH are calls for us to remember our origins and our roots as human beings.
         5. The fourth commandment calls us to remember our origin in "the creative act of God"--and the fifth commandment enjoins us to remember our roots through "the procreative actions" of our parents. (The Sabbath in Jewish and Christian Traditions, p 151)
         6. Both center commandments were given to protect the truth about our human origins!
            1. Honor your mama and papa, who procreated you.
            2. And, Remember the Sabbath of the LORD your God, who created you!
      9. At the heart of God's eternal Law of Love is the truth about our ORIGINS!
   3. "So, where's this profound invention you've been talking about that made a believer out of you!"
      1. It's right here in Exodus 20:11.
      2. Do you realize that there is no historical or astronomical explanation for the existence of the seven-day week apart from the Genesis account of creation?
   4. Illus: Let's take an astronomy quiz together, shall we? Since this is a university setting, let's find out how current we are in our scientific knowledge: [show on screen]
      1. QUES #1: In our solar system, what goes around every 24 hours? The earth turns once on its axis.
      2. QUES #2: What goes around every month or "moonth?" The synodic month is actually 29.5 days long.
      3. QUES #3: What goes around every year, solar year, if you please? The earth makes one revolution around the sun.
      4. QUES #4: And now, what goes around every week, every seven days? Access your scientific memory and recall what cycles every 7 days?
      5. There must be something--since every other natural measure of time involves an astronomical cycle.
      6. What goes around every seven days? The answer is NOTHING.
      7. The seven-day week--contrary to the day, the month and the year--is tied to no astronomical cycle.
      8. Then where did it come from?
   5. Illus: Let's turn to an evolutionist historian to see if we can find the answer--he is Anothony Aveni, Russell B. Colgate Professor of Astronomy and Anthropology at Colgate University in New York, and author of the book, Empires of Time:

      "The word genesis means "origination"....Our modern scientific genesis began more than ten billion years ago in a colossal explosion from which all events and things have spun." (53) How did we get the week? "Any page of the wall calendar will reveal another subdivision to the time units Westerners have created: seven vertical divisions to the sequence of numbered blocks, each column with its own name. The four or five horizontal bands, called weeks, into which we group the moon's days constitute a peculiar time division. [Show monthly calendar on screen] There is no single celestial body such as sun or moon, no obvious natural cycle to which we can directly attribute this little packet of time. Moreover, many other cultures and traditions also tally an interval of about the same general duration in their calendars." (87)

      1. In essence, Dr. Aveni is saying, We can't explain how we got the week or why nearly every culture on earth also has the same time unit.
      2. But there is something very fascinating about the week, Aveni goes on:

         "After the day, the week...is among the most recognizable and commonly used parcels of time and also one of the most convenient....Some biologists believe the week is self-determined. The 7-day biorhythm in the human body is one of the recent discoveries of modern chronology. It manifests itself in the form of small variations in blood pressure and heartbeat as well as response to infection and even organ transplant: for example, the probability of rejection of certain organs is now known to peak at weekly intervals following an implant."

      3. Isn't that fascinating! Our bodies are on a mysterious seven-day cycle.
      4. But not just us!

         "We are not unique in broadcasting this beat: even simple organisms, down to bacteria and one- celled animals, seems to share it with us. There is, for example, a 7-day rhythm in the mermaid's wineglass, a species of algae whose configuration resembles a champagne glass with a long stem and a large flowery globe at the end. This organism can be entrained to reduce its rate of growth only when exposed to an alternating light-dark period of 7 days--no more, no less." (100,101)

      5. "And the evening and the morning were the first, and the evening and the morning were the second day, and the evening and the morning were the seventh day."
      6. V. 11--"For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it."
      7. Illus: Oh yes, it's true--the histories of time that you read will document variations in the length of the week from time to time throughout history.
         1. The Greeks experimented with a 10-day week (decade)
         2. The Romans went to an 8-day week.
         3. The French Revolutionary Convention during the French Revolution decreed a ten-day week in an attempt to totally rewrite history and reinvent time along a decimal system--it was abandoned when Napoleon came to power.
         4. The Soviet Union experimented with the week in this century--in 1929 they went to a 5-day week, in 1932 to a 6-day week--but by 1940 returned to the global 7-day week.
   6. Where did it come from, this "little packet of time," the 7-day week?
      1. Ladies and gentlemen, the most conclusive evidence we have in history, philosophy and science for the establishment of our global seven-day week is the ancient Hebrew account of the creation of the world.
      2. Which leads me to assert that the seven-day week and the seventh-day Sabbath are a convincing evidence tonight that the creation theory is in fact the true theory about the origins of human life!
      3. Science cannot explain the seven-day week, save to appeal to history.
      4. And history declares that the most consistent accounting for our present day seven-day week is found in the ancient Hebrew recording of creation.
   7. WHICH MEANS THAT EVERY TIME YOU LOOK AT A CALENDAR YOU CAN KNOW THAT A FRIENDLY CREATOR GOD HAS MADE YOU---SO THAT YOU MIGHT ENJOY A FRIENDSHIP WITH HIM!
   8. The seven-day week and the seventh-day Sabbath have made a believer out of me!
   9. Do you know what, my friend?
      1. If Charles Darwin and the world had always remembered the Sabbath day, there would never have been the invention of the evolutionary theory--for every seventh day he and the world would have celebrated the truth about our loving Creator.
      2. If Karl Marx and the world had always remembered the Sabbath day, there would never have been the invention of political atheism, or communism--for every seventh day he and the world would have celebrated the truth about our loving Creator.
      3. If the world had remembered--think of the all heartache and bloodshed that could have been spared--for if we have the Same Creator Father, then we must all surely belong to the very same Family--all of us black and white and yellow and red.
      4. "Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy" God cries out to the human race today!
      5. For wrapped up in the seventh-day Sabbath is the gift of a friendship with our Creator, a friendship every Sabbath celebrates!
4. But I've had people come up to me and ask--Yes, but, Dwight, how can we really be sure which day is God's seventh day any more?
   1. That's a fair and good question.
      1. Illus: You might be interested to know that in over 100 languages the seventh-day of the week is still called the SABBATH!
      2. Illus: Of the 40 languages this is being simultaneously translated into this evening....give a few examples...[show on screen]
      3. Not only the calendar, but even anthropology proves that this world has always known which day of the week has been named by God to be a holy day, a day of rest and fellowship with Him!
      4. Illus: Moreover, religious leaders and Bible scholars all concur that our present-day Saturday is the seventh-day Sabbath of the Bible.
   2. "Ah, but didn't they change the calendar?" you ask.
      1. Yes they did!
      2. Illus: In 1582 the Julian calendar (which had been used since 46 BC) was changed to the Gregorian calendar.
      3. Because of a 11 min/hr. miscalculation in the Julian calendar, they had an accumulated loss of ten days--ten days out of sync with the solar system.
      4. So the Gregorian calendar dropped 10 days from the month of October, 1582.
      5. As a consequence Thursday, October 4, was followed by Friday October 15.
      6. So if the workers who got their paychecks on the first and the 15th of the month had a great week that week.
      7. PLEASE NOTE: They changed the numbers, BUT NEVER TOUCHED THE WEEKLY CYCLE!
   3. OK, you say, but isn't it true that the New Testament changed the day of rest from the seventh-day to the first day in commemoration of Christ's resurrection?
      1. I can answer that very quickly--the answer is NO.
      2. There are only 8 references to the first day in the New Testament, and not one of them even suggests the possiblity of a change from the seventh day to the first day, from Saturday to Sunday!
      3. 5 of the references have to do with Jesus' resurrection on the first day of the week--and no one contests that great fact!
         1. Let's read only one of those five as a sample, and I'll give you the other four references for your notes.
         2. Read Matthew 28:1,2 (p 967)
         3. Here are the other resurrection references: Mark 16:2; Mark 16:9; Luke 24:1; and John 20:1.
         4. So 5 of the 8 first day references have to do with simply reporting the glorious fact that Jesus rose on the first day of the week.
      4. Let's note reference #6--John 20:19 (p 1049)
         1. Any indication here of a new day of worship? No!
         2. The disciples were gathered for "fear [phobos] of the Jews," which was hardly a day of celebration!
         3. They didn't even believe Christ has risen!
         4. That's the testimony of the gospel resurrection accounts over and over again--didn't believe the women, didn't believe their colleagues, didn't believe the empty tomb, etc.
         5. Therefore, this was NO worship service celebrating the risen Christ!
      5. Let's note reference #7--Acts 20:7 (p 1074)
         1. Ah hah, here's a religious meeting--so they must have been keeping Sunday instead of the seventh-day of the week!
         2. Be careful about jumping too quickly to conclusions--for some people that's the only exercise they get--JUMPING to conclusions!
         3. "See, they're having a communion service!"
            1. Be careful about even that conclusion, since. V. 11 indicates that Paul was eating when he "broke bread."
            2. But even if that were a communion service, Acts 2:46 indicates they broke bread daily from house to house.
            3. And does the fact that Jesus celebrated communion with His disciples on Thursday evening make that a day of worship now? Hardly!
         4. "Well, Paul is having a preaching service!"
            1. Yes, but Acts 5:42 records that the apostles preached DAILY.
            2. Preaching can therefore hardly make a day holy!
         5. But the most significant evidence that this was not a Sunday morning service is the fact that the meeting of Acts 20:7 took place during the DARK hours of the "first day of the week."
            1. vv 7,8 indicate Paul preached until midnight.
            2. And there were many lights in the upper chamber.
            3. Remember the creation story and how the biblical day begins with the dark part first--evening and then morning were the lst, 2nd, etc. days of creation.
            4. Even so here, the dark part of the first day would place it sometime after sunset on Saturday or the seventh day.
            5. Which is why several modern English translations correctly interpret the dark part of the first day as "Saturday night" (NEB), "Saturday evening" (Jeru. Bible, footnote, Catholic--and TEV)
      6. Which leaves the last of the 8 references to the first day in the New Testament-- I Corinthians 16:2 (p 1110).
         1. Some wonder if this is a reference to taking up offerings in a worship service.
         2. But that misses Paul's point: you are to LAY BY IN STORE or SET ASIDE some offerings for the famine victims in Jerusalem, SO THAT WHEN I COME I WON'T HAVE TO GO ABOUT GATHERING UP A COLLECTION.
         3. I.e., have your offerings and gifts for famine relief set aside and ready whenever I can get there.
         4. Without question, this verse does not depict the church worshiping on Sunday in the New Testament.
      7. There they are, my friend, all 8 references to the first day in the NT.
      8. It's clear, isn't it, that none of them teaches us that God changed His eternal Law of Love, the Ten Commandments, and none of them invites us to transfer the Creator's divine blessing from the seventh day to the first day.
   4. To be candid with you, the example of Christ and His disciples throughout the NT is actually irrefutable proof that the seventh-day Sabbath was NEVER changed and is still God's great Day of rest today!
      1. Why, do you know when the greatest Christian who ever lived worshiped?
      2. Acts 17:2 (p 1071)
         1. Paul had the identical custom Jesus had.
         2. You remember Luke 4:16--"And as Jesus' custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day" and worshiped.
         3. Paul had the same custom.
         4. When it came to worshiping God, Paul and Jesus and all the Christians of the New Testament had a custom--they worshiped God in accordance with His commandment on the seventh day of the week.
      3. There is no record anywhere that the NT Church worshiped on the first day of the week, or any other day, except the seventh day of the week.
      4. Illus: Whether he was worshiping with Jews or whether he was worshiping with Gentiles, there are over 80 references in Acts to Paul's worshiping God on the seventh day of the week!
   5. "Oh but come on," you say, "times have changed--and all God cares about is that I worship Him on one day in seven, right?"
      1. Illus: Suppose it's my wedding day!
         1. There I am standing at the altar sweating profusely, my heart pounding wildly.
         2. And there she comes down the aisle--the most beautiful girl in the world, with whom I've been married now for almost 25 years!
         3. I was so nervous the day I got married I didn't sleep a wink the night before!
         4. But I knew I was the luckiest guy in the world, so not to worry!
         5. And the service goes splendidly.
         6. And now we're changing clothes to go running off into our honeymoon.
         7. But let's say my wife has six other sisters, and she's the seventh daughter.
         8. I hurry out to jump in the car, when right behind comes one of her sisters.
         9. Who promply grabs my hand and says, "Let's go, Dwight--this is going to be a wonderful honeymoon."
         10. "Let's go where?" I fire back in confusion.
         11. "Come on," she says to me, "there are seven of us girls--so what difference does it make--as long as you get one of us! And lucky you, you've just got me!"
         12. I say, "Wait a minute, baby--you aren't the one I fell in love with, and you're aren't the one I just got married to--you better get out of here before your sister shows up!"
      2. Now, ladies and gentlemen, I ask you: Is there anybody here who would tell that young groom--AS LONG AS IT'S ONE IN SEVEN, IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE?
      3. Of course it makes a difference--it makes all the difference in the world!
      4. GOD'S ETERNAL FOURTH COMMANDMENT is not an invitation to remember one in seven--He is calling us to remember the seventh one!
      5. All seven sisters are fine--but only one is the object of your love!
      6. All seven days are fine--but only one was chosen by the Creator as the symbol of His eternal love and friendship for you.
5. "Oh," but you say, "all these years I've been sincerely worshiping Him on the first day--why should I change now?"
   1. The Bible has good news for us all--Acts 17 (p 1072)--read this compelling portrayal of God for yourself!
      1. Read v 30.
      2. The old King James Version translated this line, "God winked at the times of this ignorance."
      3. Because like every good parent, God knows what His children have learned and what they haven't learned.
      4. God winked and overlooked our times of ignorance in the past, BUT THAT TIME IS OVER!
      5. WHY? Read v. 31
      6. Jesus who rose from the dead is coming back--and because He is, our time of ignorance must come to an end!
   2. And now we come full circle, because that is precisely the urgent word that the lone angel of the Apocalypse is shouting with a megaphone in Revelation 14!
      1. Revelation 14 (p 1183 ).
      2. Last weekend we began our NeXt Millennium Seminar with these words, and tonight in the light of our study in creation and evolution this weekend they become even more significant!
      3. Read vv. 6,7.
      4. Please note it carefully, my friends--before the return of Christ to this planet depicted in vv. 14,15--God proclaims a global message calling the entire earth back to Him as our Creator.
      5. "Worship Him who made heaven and earth!"
      6. If those words sound at all familiar it is because we have read them in the Fourth Commandment of God's eternal Law of Love [show screen both texts side by side]: "Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy....For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it." "Worship Him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water."
   3. What does all this mean?
      1. It means that at the end of time just before the return of Jesus Christ to this planet, once again the the truth about God as Creator and the good news about His gift of the Sabbath will be sounded from one end of the earth to the other!
      2. The fallen archangel Lucifer has tried every hellish trick in the book to eradicate the shining truth that we are all--black and yellow, red and white- - children of the same loving Creator and Parent.
      3. Darwinism, naturalism, secularism, atheism have exploded their withering broadsides against the timeless truth about our Creator God.
      4. But never mind Satan's dark, desperate strategy against the Creator!
      5. There comes down from God another angel in the darkest hour earth's midnight--an angel with a mighty shout to the earth, WAKE UP WORLD, YOUR KING IS ABOUT TO RETURN--WORSHIP HIM NOW, YOUR CREATOR, REMEMBER HIS SABBATH, RECLAIM HIS FRIENDSHIP, HE IS COMING SOON!
      6. My friends, can't you see that suddenly now in this final generation the decision to worship our Creator on His Day is such a critical one!
      7. I didn't know before--and God winked at my ignorance--but now I know that the seventh-day Sabbath is at the heart of God's FOREVER FRIENDSHIP offer to me.
      8. I didn't know before--and God winked at my ignorance--but now I know that to embrace God as my Creator is to accept the seventh day as the Sabbath Day of His Friendship.
      9. I didn't know before--and God winked at my ignorance--but now I know that if I have embraced Jesus as Lord of my salvation, it is the most logical and reasonable and natural step in the world for me to embrace Him now as Lord of the Sabbath as well--for in the end it will be illogical and impossible to accept Him as Lord of salvation but reject Him as Lord of the Sabbath.
   4. For that reason in closing tonight, Jesus speaks these personal words to us-- John 14:15 (p 1043).
      1. Read John 14:15.
      2. And now read John 15:14.
      3. Two unmistakable declarations from Jesus that place the Sabbath of His Fourth Commandment in the heart of His FOREVER FRIENDSHIP.
      4. "If you love Me"--"remember My Sabbath Day."
      5. "For you are My friends, if you do whatever I command you."
   5. I have a colleague who was visiting a lady in the hospital one day, and she happened to ask him why he worshiped on Saturday instead of Sunday.
      1. So they looked up the fourth commandment in Exodus 20 and read it together, how God asked us to keep the seventh-day holy.
      2. Then they consulted a calendar that she happened to have with her, and sure enough, the calendar said that the seventh day is Saturday.
      3. And finally, they turned to John 14:15 where Jesus said if we love Him we will keep His commandments.
      4. My friend said, "For me this is a very simple matter--I love Jesus, so I worship Him on the day He has set aside for us to be together in a special way and asked me to keep."
      5. That lady began to keep the Bible Sabbath as soon as she got out of the hospital, and has kept it ever since.
   6. It really ought to be just that simple.
6. Illus: Babe Ruth--one of the greatest baseball players in the history of American baseball--who had hit 714 home runs during his baseball career--one afternoon was playing in one his last major league games.
   1. On that day the aging star was playing for the Boston Braves against the Cincinnati Reds.
   2. But he was no longer as agile as he once had been.
      1. He fumbled the ball and threw badly.
      2. And in one inning alone, his errors were responsible for five Cincinnati runs!
   3. As the Babe walked off the field after the third out, the fickle crowd turned on their aging hero and boo's and catcalls descended from the stands.
   4. The Babe dropped his head and kept on walking.
   5. Just then a young boy leaped over the railing and onto the playing field. Racing toward the Babe with tears trickling down his little cheeks, the boy threw his chubby arms around the stocky legs of his big hero, as if to say: "Never mind the crowd, I love you, Babe!"
   6. And Ruth didn't miss a beat.
      1. He reached down and scooped the little tyke up into his arms, threw him in the air, gave him a giant bear hug, and placed him back on his feet.
      2. Then with a playful pat on his head the two of them walked hand in hand back to the dugout.
   7. The reporters there that day said suddenly the booing stopped and a hush fell over that entire park.
   8. Why?
      1. Because in those brief moments the crowd saw a different kind of hero.
      2. They saw a man who in spite of dismal day on the field could still care about a little boy.
      3. And now he was no longer being judged by his accomplishments.
      4. Neither his past successes nor his present failures mattered.
      5. For in the end it was a relationship that made all the difference in the world.
   9. In the end that is the truth about God's seventh-day Sabbath that will make all the difference in the world.
      1. Because in the end it is a relationship, it is a friendship that must matter most.
      2. Knowing that the Sabbath is at the heart of His friendship, why would anyone say NO to the Creator?

Further Study:

The Secret Of Growth Through Fellowship     (Lecture Study Guide from Discover Bible School)

Topical:   Church,   Church Attendance.

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