The Tulsa star. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1913-1921, 1921-01-22
REMEMBER THE SABBATH DAY
Matth. 12:1-I3
"The Son of Man is Lord Even on
The Sabbath Day

are sometimes great StickerS for
1ormalltleS. This was true of the
Jews at the fist vent of our Lord.
Feast days, Fast days, Sabbaths and
giving of the tenth, were very care
fully attended to by them but the
welghtieSt matters of the law, re-
spectlng justice and love to. God
and man were sadly neglected. This
is our Lords testimony. So today
there are people who give strict
attention to Church attendance and
to various religious formalities
who wholly overlook the real
spirit and intention of the Scriptu-
raj Commands. Their attention TO
the formality seem to satisfy them
from making too thorough reforma-
ton of life and seeking to bring all
It's affairs into harmony with Di-
vine law, love of God and our fell
lows.
The Jews of our Lords day laid
great stress upon Sabbath keeping,
which fact, according to some peo-
pie of our day, should have seemed
ample evidence of their Holiness,
full harmony with the entire law,
but such was not the estimation of
our Lord. They even undertook
to chide our Lord and His Disciples
respecting their neglect of the Sab
bath, although they generally ad-
mltted that Christ and His Apostles
characters were blamelesS. On one
OF these occasions in which reproof
wss administered by the Pharlsees,
our. Lord took up the subject and
explained it, showing that they had
wholly Inexperienced the Divine
intention respecting the Sabbath.
1t was not intended to be a burden
but a blessing; the Sabbath was not
given for Gods sake, but for mans
sake. He the Lord Jesus, called
them to witness that His Disciples
were doing no harm, that they
were merely satisfying their hun
ger lawfully. He then proved the
correctness of His position from
authorities, they would be willing
to accept. They. recognized that
David as Holy man approved of
God, and He pointed out to them
how that David under stress of
hunger, had eaten bread that other
wise would have been unlawful to
eat Then He laid down the gem
elal principle that altho labor was
prohibited under the law, it was
ior the purpose of bringing TO man
rest, comfort, refreshment and
blessing, and not to bring hunger,
and distress upon
either man or beast. He cited them
to the fact that certain work was
done on the Sabbath Day by the
Priest, and for the assistance of
others, as well as for their own
necessities, could be no violation of
the fourth commandment. After
declaring himself fully qualified to
decide the Sabbath question, He
tells them that, watching out for
letter of the law they neglected its
spirit, and should learn that the
Lord desires mercy, sympathy, pity
and love, more than He desires
sacrifice and that any deed of mer-
cy, sympathy, pity and love done
on the Sabbath day are more pleas
ing in Gods sight, than were those
sacrifices which were performed
on the Sabbath as well as other
days, in the typical Temple. With
this proper view before their minds
they would OF have condemned
His Disciples whom He, the Mas
Ter of the Sabbath did not condemn.
The blindness of the PhariSees
the proper interpreta
tion of the law of the Sabbath, is
shown by the fact that even after
our Lord had given them this expla
nation, they evidently still sup
posed that while it would be right
FOR Priest in the Temple to labor
in the offering of sacrifice it
xnnttlH hn contrary tn thn LOW
for some one to heal he sick and
however, soon discovered to them
the error if not the hypocrisy of
their own hearts. He well knew
that in their love of gain they
would help sheep or an ass out
of a pit on the Sabbath Day be-
cause it represented value, and it's
in the pit over Sabbath |
might mean its death, and hence |
loss. Thus He showed |
them that they well knew how to |
interpret the law correctly, liberal
ly, when it touched their purse but
that they were lacking n mercy,
sympathy and love where financial
loss or gain was not involved. Our |
Lord, as a Jew, was bound under
the Jewish covenant so long as lie |
lived as a human being; because
He did not in any sense of the word
make an end of the law covenant
until His death-there He became
the end of the Law for righteous
ness (justification) to every one
that believeth. When the Scrip
ture informs us that Christ by His
death made an end of the law it
means that there was nothing fur
.her to be gained by the keeping of
the law, and that what there was
to be gained by keepink of that
law was captured by our Lord Je-
sus Christ when at death He said
upon the Cross, sit is finished"
The offer to any Jew who would
keep the law perfectly was eternal
life, but all the Jews failed except
Christ, hence there was no further
need of holding out the offer since
the prize has been won. All who
desire to share any of the benefits
of this prize which was captured
nv our Lord JeSuS must of neceSSi- |