By John Thiel, The Last Generation Challenge Series, mp3

Scripture reading: Hebrews 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it.

It appears that we are upholding works. That we want to be saved by the works of keeping the Sabbath correctly. But this is not so.

…in order to keep the Sabbath holy, men must themselves be holy. {DA 283.3}

If we are going to keep the Sabbath, we cannot achieve it unless we in our being are holy. That is the declaration under inspiration. To keep the Sabbath holy we must be holy. The stipulations of true Sabbath keeping, become a burden to the carnal nature. I have seen this time and time again. People who are not fully committed to Jesus but who are making a profession of religion, Adventism and Sabbath keeping when they are shown, This is not true Sabbath keeping – you should do this on the Sabbath, you should do that on the Sabbath. They tell me; you’re making the Sabbath a pharisaic burden to me. There is many an Adventist who over the years, in my experience has demonstrated to me that when the Sabbath is over, their thoughts are – now we can have some lovely enjoyments, as though the Sabbath was a burden to them.

To study Sabbath keeping without a deep understanding of the gospel of Christ, is like putting the cart before the horse. Sabbath equals rest, not labour, not burden. Sabbath is not a depiction of righteousness of works. It is not a depiction of salvation by works. The rest of the gospel came to the Hebrews in the wilderness and look at what the apostle says:

Hebrews 3:18 And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief. 4:1 Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left [us] of entering into his rest, any of you should seem to come short of it. 2 For unto us was the gospel preached, as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard [it].

What we are studying now is the true understanding of the gospel. We are seeking to understand the difference between salvation by works and salvation by faith. This is the big argument that transpires between many Christians and theologians today. Some are upholding the law and trying to keep it and others are saying, no, it’s not the law – it’s faith. We want to get this very clear so that the true meaning of rest which is encompassed in the Sabbath may come into focus.

Hebrews 4:3 For we which have believed do enter into rest, as he said, As I have sworn in my wrath, if they shall enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For he spake in a certain place of the seventh [day] on this wise, And God did rest the seventh day from all his works.

The Sabbath day is here introduced into a framework. The Sabbath is blessed and honoured in reference to the rest that God has given us through the gospel.

Hebrews 4:9 There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.

The margin reads: “There remaineth therefore a keeping of the Sabbath.”

Hebrews 4:10 For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God [did] from his. 11 Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief.

The apostle is trying to get into the minds of Christians that the gospel rest is inseparably integrated with the Sabbath. Many people don’t understand this combination. I wish to place a nail in a sure place and establish that true Sabbath keeping has nothing to do with righteousness by works. It is integrated with the true gospel of righteousness by faith. The Sabbath is a sign of the work of the gospel in the hearts of God’s people.

Exodus 31:13 Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it [is] a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that [ye] may know that I [am] the LORD that doth sanctify you. 14 Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it [is] holy unto you:

To be sanctified and to be justified is the activity of the gospel. The gospel that gives us peace and rest is here signified by the keeping of the Sabbath. If I am going to keep the Sabbath correctly, I must be made holy. I must have the gospel of rest applied in my life. Then I will keep the Sabbath correctly and the instructions on how to keep the Sabbath will be received with gratitude, not with internal struggles.

What Is True Gospel Rest?

The invitation of Jesus in Matthew 11 gives us an understanding. It imparts to us an ingredient of knowledge as to what true gospel rest is meant to be.

Matthew 11:28 Come unto me, all [ye] that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.

Compacted into these words is the very genetic makeup of gospel rest. Jesus says, Learn of Me, I am the gospel. If you want to labour to righteousness, learn of Me; My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Don’t try and find salvation in your way.

What is the labour that you need a rest from? What is He talking about when He says – come you that labour and are heavy laden, I will give you rest? Whom is He referring to?

Isaiah 1:4 Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters: they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.

Laden with iniquity – come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden. Heavily laden with iniquity – come, you people. He is lamenting over the Jews, this nation that needed to be released from this burden.

Isaiah 57:12 I will declare thy righteousness, and thy works; for they shall not profit thee.

Iniquity is a laden experience and when the person tries to release himself from iniquity to declare his own efforts for the works of righteousness, it is an unprofitable exercise and it is wearisome. It’s a labour and Jesus says – come unto me all you people who are labouring, trying to do the things of righteousness, to establish your own righteousness.

Labour

Isaiah 57:20 But the wicked [are] like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 [There is] no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.

There are wicked people like the Pharisees in the time of Christ. They were wicked. They wickedly killed Jesus on the cross and they were trying to establish righteousness and be saved by their own works. They became a troubled sea. It was labour that troubled. The people they taught were thrown into troublous experiences. The apostle Paul deals with this very clearly. Here is the troublous experience of trying to keep the law. We recognise that the Ten Commandments are very important, and we try to keep them. This is the labour, the battle, the conflict, the restlessness.

Romans 7:18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but [how] to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

Can you see something here about labour and restlessness? A struggle of restless labour – a trying to keep the law, recognising that the law is holy and just and good, but struggling and restlessly labouring in trying to reach it, and not achieving it.

It is not enough to perceive the loving-kindness of God, to see the benevolence, the fatherly tenderness, of His character. {SC 19.1}

We hear Christians all around us exonerating this wonderful God. But this is not enough.

It is not enough to discern the wisdom and justice of His law, to see that it is founded upon the eternal principle of love. Paul the apostle saw all this when he exclaimed, “I consent unto the law that it is good.” “The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.” {Ibid.}

This is what religionists express – yes, the law is good.

But he added, in the bitterness of his soul-anguish and despair, “I am carnal, sold under sin.” … He longed for the purity, the righteousness, to which in himself he was powerless to attain, and cried out, “O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from this body of death?” Romans 7:24, margin. Such is the cry that has gone up from burdened hearts in all lands and in all ages. To all, there is but one answer, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29. {Ibid.}

These are the words of Jesus to such a people – come unto me, you people who feel so wretched. Come unto Me, you who are labouring to reach the standard. Every time the standard comes up, you only feel more wretched because you’re meeting an internal impossibility as you try to reach it. So it is that, to find rest from this we are invited by Jesus, Come and learn of me. The call to come to that rest is expressed by the psalmist:

Psalm 55:22 Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.

What are we to do? You who are heavy laden, you who are battling with the internal struggles of incapacity to do what your conviction is telling you to do? Whatever it is, come! Cast your burden upon the Lord.

1 Peter 5:6 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: 7 Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

What is identified here? I am caring and trying to reach the perfection of the law and I am struggling and labouring and Jesus says, Come unto Me. Do what? Learn of Me. What did Jesus do? He cast the burden upon the Father and the Father was His strength and help. Here is the answer in the gospel. We are to trust the Father. As Jesus laid all His glories down and humbled Himself under the mighty hand of God, and God exalted Him, so we are to do the same – casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

We will find that rest when we apply these words of the gospel to our hearts.

Isaiah 38:17 Behold, for peace I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love to my soul [delivered it] from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.

Here is the gospel. Here is the rest that God wants us to find. When we for peace had great bitterness – we read the Ten Commandments, we study Sabbath keeping and we see that the Sabbath is to be blessed if we will do what we are told to do.

I’m looking for this beautiful peace of the Sabbath and what do I get? Have you gone through those experiences? I’m really looking for a beautiful Sabbath rest and it gets spoiled for me. I have this double load of wanting to achieve true Sabbath keeping but failing and it becomes bitterness to me. It spoils my whole Sabbath. “But thou hast in love to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” Here lies our danger. Can we believe that in my struggles to try and keep the law and failing, I have a precious release that God in Jesus Christ will cast all my sins behind Him? That all my failures, all my human depravity that I have been labouring to get rid of and can’t get rid of, is at Jesus’ feet? At the cross we are released from that. Now the labourer who has been trying to reach for that perfection is relieved and he finds rest.

Our danger is the same as that of the Hebrews – to not believe the impact of these statements – I will cast all your sins behind my back. Can I believe that? The human response to what God wants to offer us in the gospel is but I’ve got to do something! I have to prove myself. I’m reading the commandments of God and I fail again and again in different variations. I cannot believe that my failure can be overlooked. In my heart I cling to my guilt, I hold onto it instead of letting it go. This was the problem of the Hebrews and of the Jews in the time of Christ.

It was this that proved the ruin of the Jews, and it will prove the ruin of many souls in our own day. {DA 280.1}

What will prove the ruin of many souls in our day?

Thousands are making the same mistake as did the Pharisees whom Christ reproved at Matthew’s feast. Rather than give up some cherished idea, or discard some idol of opinion, many refuse the truth which comes down from the Father of light. They trust in self, and depend upon their own wisdom, and do not realize their spiritual poverty. They insist on being saved in some way by which they may perform some important work. When they see that there is no way of weaving self into the work, they reject the salvation provided. {Ibid.}

They reject. There is a pride in man that says I can do this! It is sometimes subconscious. As the word of expectation of true Sabbath keeping or of any of the commandments of God, comes up before us, we say, yes, okay! I’m going to do it. That is what the Hebrews did when God gave them the Ten Commandments and called upon them to make a promise. They said – everything that the Lord hath said, we will do and they fell flat on their face. This is the subconscious thing inside of every one of us.

A legal religion can never lead souls to Christ; for it is a loveless, Christless religion. Fasting or prayer that is actuated by a self-justifying spirit is an abomination in the sight of God. The solemn assembly for worship, the round of religious ceremonies, the external humiliation, the imposing sacrifice, proclaim that the doer of these things regards himself as righteous, and as entitled to heaven; but it is all a deception. Our own works can never purchase salvation. {DA 280.2}

Our own works in trying to keep that law can never purchase salvation.

As it was in the days of Christ, so it is now; the Pharisees do not know their spiritual destitution. To them comes the message, “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.” Revelation 3:17, 18. {DA 280.3}

What is this message about? That’s the message to Laodicea which is the message for our time for us as a people. It’s exactly the same message as came to the Pharisees. Self is the problem. We now want to search the Scriptures to understand the connection between salvation by faith and not by works and yet salvation that manifests good works.

I have introduced this subject very deliberately from the approach of the Sabbath and the rest that the Sabbath represents so that we can come to see an object lesson in Sabbath keeping in reference to works versus faith. Let us see what the apostle Paul is talking about when he deals with salvation by faith versus salvation by works:

Romans 9:31 But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. 32 Wherefore? Because [they sought it] not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;

What is the stumbling stone? My pride, myself and Jesus revealed that.

Romans 9:33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

The apostle here deals with this subject of salvation by works versus the stumbling stone, which is Jesus Christ and the gospel. It’s a stumbling stone! and we don’t want to admit that. I know by experience that this is a stumbling stone. The beautiful message of Jesus and His love that is to generate within us the works of obedience to all of God’s commandments, is a stumbling stone.

Romans 10:1 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is, that they might be saved. 2 For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge.

What is their problem?

Romans 10:3 For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. 4 For Christ [is] the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth.

What do most people pick up here? They say, If I come to Jesus, I’m no longer interested in the law, because Apostle Paul said here, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to every one that believeth. But remember the meaning of this scripture is that the Jews are trying to get their righteousness by looking at the law and trying to keep it. That is their problem. What is inspiration saying here? Righteousness by trying to keep the law, versus righteousness by embracing Jesus. This is the kernel of our research.

Galatians 2:19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness [come] by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

What did he say? “For I through the law am dead to the law.” That’s what he meant before when he said, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness. That is because the law, as it comes to me and I want to keep it, destroys me. I can’t keep it. I can’t really do what the law says. I won’t really keep the Sabbath properly as one of the laws. So Apostle Paul says, I do no frustrate the grace of God. I don’t make God’s grace become disturbed here; I’m going to give up trying to keep the law in my own strength like they did back then, as he was referring to in Romans 10. They are trying to get their righteousness by trying to keep the law, and not by Jesus.

Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God,

What did that mean? It means that now the faith that Jesus had, in casting all His burdens upon the Lord, and humbling Himself before the Lord, this kind of faith produces righteousness.

Therefore if I want to reach righteousness by the law, it means that I will look at the law and by my own human effort I will try to keep it. That will result in working, labouring, and restlessness, because it will be total failure. That is what the apostle said will be the result if we try to get it by the law. I will look at the law, and try to keep it by own human effort, and it will be a labour of restlessness. This is what you call legal religion.

The spirit of bondage is engendered by seeking to live in accordance with legal religion, through striving to fulfill the claims of the law in our own strength. {6BC 1077.7}

That’s what legal religion is. And that is why it becomes a loveless, burdensome religion, because we start judging others because they’re not meeting up with my standards. All that you study and all that I will be sharing through this series must be seen outside of a legal religion. All the details of doing what God wants me to do must come from an experience of Jesus Christ – the experience of the faith of Jesus which I have embraced in the gospel.

There is hope for us only as we come under the Abrahamic covenant, which is the covenant of grace by faith in Christ Jesus. The gospel preached to Abraham, through which he had hope, was the same gospel that is preached to us today, through which we have hope. Abraham looked unto Jesus, who is also the Author and the Finisher of our faith (YI Sept. 22, 1892). {Ibid.}

This is the clarification of what the apostle Paul meant when he said that Jesus is the end of the law for righteousness. They have great zeal, they try to keep the law for their righteousness, but Jesus is the end of that method – the method of looking at the law and trying to keep it and exercising our strength to try and keep it outside of Jesus.

What does it mean then that Jesus is the end of the law? If I will embrace Jesus, as Apostle Paul described it Galatians, if I will embrace the beauty of what Jesus has offered me, if I will bring down my pride into total humility as Jesus Himself did (and God then lifted Him up); if I will embrace that, what will be the product?

Romans 8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and as a sacrifice for sin [margin], condemned sin in the flesh: 4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

Apostle Paul says that the Ten Commandments are not the method by which I’m going to be saved and find righteousness. It is by Jesus that I am going to find that righteousness. But it doesn’t mean that the law is no longer going to be obeyed. It doesn’t mean I’m not going to keep the law. I am still going to exercise the works of the law but the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. When I walk after my flesh to try and keep the law, it’s Pharisaic; it is righteousness by works. The argument of people pointing to Apostle Paul and saying, “It’s not works anymore! It’s all just believing in Jesus and you will be saved!” is not what Apostle Paul is talking about under inspiration. He is saying that when you come to Jesus the weakness of the flesh that couldn’t keep the law and that made trying to keep the law laborious, is removed. Jesus condemned sin in the flesh, the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in those who walk after Jesus’. This is described in Ephesians. We gain righteousness (which means the keeping of God’s law), not by our works, but by Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God:

What faith? The faith of Jesus. That’s how we are saved – by the faith of Jesus, and that not of ourselves. It is a gift of God, through Jesus Christ.

Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

Do you see what Apostle Paul is talking about? What he has been saying in the other places is that it’s not by your works, or your own motivation or your own strength, that you are going to to be saved. It must the faith of Jesus by which you are going to keep the law.

Ephesians 2:10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works,

What is that? We will be created unto doing the good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. God has ordained that we should walk in the Ten Commandments. And now the law that we have been trying to keep in our own strength, and having failed, Jesus has made the end of righteousness by that law, by that process. He has brought Himself into our proximity in the gospel, and He says, you come and learn of Me. You learn how to do it from Me. Lay down at the cross, as I did. Humble yourselves before the Lord and conquer your pride. How? By following Me. The apostle Paul says, I die daily, I am crucified with Christ. If we are going to keep the law which God has ordained for us to keep, we must have Christ, not self.

Philippians 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of [his] good pleasure.

The strength that the human exercises is not the strength from God. It is God that gives you the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord. The whole subject of righteousness and salvation by faith versus salvation and righteousness by works, is clearly delineated in the scriptures that we have just contemplated, and it is further explained by the apostle James:

James 2:14 What [doth it] profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? Can faith save him? 15 If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, 16 And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be [ye] warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what [doth it] profit? 17 Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. 18 Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: show me thy faith without thy works, and I will show thee my faith by my works. 19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. 20 But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?

The suggestion of “Just believe and be saved” without highlighting the principle that we will have the righteousness of God, which is the keeping of His commandments, which is doing His pleasure, is a fallacy. When we study the way we dress, the way we eat, the way we behave on different subjects, it is doing God’s pleasure that we are seeking to understand. What is God’s pleasure? When we have it from the perspective of my relationship with Jesus, then it will be motivated by His faith, not by my own efforts and strength of self. The Spirit of Prophecy enlarges this principle expressed by James with regards to faith without works:

From the pulpits of today the words are uttered: “Believe, only believe. Have faith in Christ; you have nothing to do with the old law, only trust in Christ.” How different is this from the words of the apostle who declares that faith without works is dead. He says, “But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). We must have that faith that works by love and purifies the soul. Many seek to substitute a superficial faith for uprightness of life and think through this to obtain salvation. {FW 89.2}

The salvation we need to obtain is found in the gospel, and that salvation is the answer to our plight of labouring to try and keep the law and failing. It is through Jesus Christ and His faith that God can work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. The whole book of Galatians is riddled with this message and we need to understand what Apostle Paul is saying.

Galatians 5:5 For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.

Faith which worketh – but by what? By the gospel of Jesus Christ, which is love. That is what the human nature finds a stumbling block in. What? Do I have to accept the fact that I can’t make God happy by me trying to keep His law? What? Do I have to let go of everything that could make me feel happy that I’ve done the right thing? Do I have to do that? That’s the stumbling block. To actually give over to Jesus so completely that we recognise, I am a complete failure, I am a complete wretch and I didn’t know it; and now, with my failure and my effort to reach His perfection and having failed so many times, I come to Him according to His wonderful invitation, and I rest. This is the gospel rest.

When we do not reject the grace of Jesus but trust everything that He has done for me, we are set free and we enter perfect rest. God works in us without any more hindrance. As Apostle Paul said, I do not frustrate the grace of God; I don’t frustrate God anymore. God is trying to help me and I keep on frustrating Him because I say I can do it! This is what we often do. When someone comes along and says, this is the way; we say – ‘go away, I can do it myself. Don’t tell me! I know it already.’ Do I? The reality is that, while I’m struggling, and while I’m there failing, I’m not practising trust in God! That’s all it boils down to.

We are not to frustrate God, His grace. We are now surrendered, as Jesus is surrendered. God, it’s all up to you, I trust you, and I will listen to you, and I will let you deal with me, and I’m not going to hinder you.

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Is that what God is going to do? Do you like that? You see, if you don’t resist that, God will work in you His righteousness. God loves us, and that’s what He said to the Laodiceans, As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. So I’m not going to resist that anymore.

Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected [us], and we gave [them] reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? 10 For they verily for a few days chastened [us] after their own pleasure; but he for [our] profit, that [we] might be partakers of his holiness.

Partakers of what? His holiness. He will work in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. He will work the works that He did in Jesus. As I focus upon Jesus and as I learn of Him, His burden is light because He is a submissive child. And if I become a submissive child, do my burdens become easier? Very easy; because I simply surrender. And as He punishes me and corrects me for something, I say, “Thank you, God; I’m so glad that You are taking over in my life.”

No more chafing, no more frustration and restlessness inside of me; only perfect submission. Then I will be partaker of holiness. “In order to keep the Sabbath holy, men must themselves be holy.” How? To keep the Sabbath correctly I am going to let God take over in my life.

Hebrews 12:14 Follow peace with all [men], and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:

Righteousness is keeping the commandments. It is holiness and doing what God says. That’s what righteousness is. As we open our hearts to the work of Jesus and let Him come into our life and let His faith govern us, we will be saved by faith that works by love. We will have works and people will say to us, you’re trying to get to heaven by works. Well sorry, I get to heaven by Jesus Christ who works with me to do what He says. It’s as simple as that.

When the Sabbath comes into the equation, it is a sign of God making us holy. Our progress in sanctification renders our keeping of the Sabbath progressively more faithful and hence we become sealed in our foreheads by the Sabbath in this last generation because we have been perfected through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The Sabbath is the sign that we have been perfected.

May God grant us the straight understanding of what the Scripture is saying so that we will cooperate with His wonderful righteousness by faith that works by love.

Amen.