740
ing trust in God’s power to save, are ac-
quired by the experience of years. By
a life of holy endeavor and firm adher-
ence to the right, the children of God are
to seal their destiny.
Wrongs cannot be righted, nor can ref-
ormation of character be made, by a
few feeble, intermittent efforts. Sancti-
THE WATCHMAN
fication is the work, not of a day, or of
a year, but of a lifetime. The struggle
for conquest over self, for holiness and
heaven, is a life-long struggle. Without
continual effort and constant activity,
there can be no advancement in the di-
vine life, no attainment of the victor's
crown.
TB eC fe
63 SC ETE (eS
TENT
MEETING
THEMES
Lesson Twenty-three
THE SABBATH
CLARENCE SANTEE
F ye be Christ's, then are ye
Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise.”
Gal. 3:20. Abraham’s
seed, means Abraham’s chil-
dren. This text says that
if we are Christ's, we are
Abraham’s children. When
Christ was speaking to those vain scribes
and Pharisees, “ they answered and said
unto him, Abraham is our father. Jesus
saith unto them, If ye were Abraham’s
children, ye would do the works of Abra-
ham.” John 8:39. God says that he
made the promises to Abraham, ““ because
that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept
my charge, my commandments,” etc.
Gen. 26: 3-5.
Put these statements together, which
are all equally God’s word, and we have
this central thought: If we belong to
Christ, then we are Abraham’s children.
If we are Abraham’s children, we will do
as he did, and he kept the command-
ments of God. It is summed up that if
we are Christ's, we shall keep the com-
mandments of God. Doing as Abraham
did, we shall share in the inheritance
promised to Abraham, for we are ‘‘ heirs
according to the promise.” My profess-
ing friend, do you belong to Christ?
There is no salvation outside of him.
The evidence of your connection, as we
have read, is in keeping the command-
ments of God. We have proved by
many texts that they could not be done
away nor changed. Can you, then, be
surprised that when these facts came to
us, we began keeping the Sabbath of the
Lord? |
A Blessing in Its Observance
Isaiah is called “the gospel prophet,”
because much of his writings apply to the
gospel age. Ie says, “ Blessed is the
man that doeth this, and the son of man
that layeth hold on it; that keepeth the
Sabbath from polluting it, and keepeth
his hand from doing any evil.” Isa.
56:2. This applies in the last days; the
Lord through the prophet says in verse
I that this blessing is pronounced when
“my salvation is near to come, and my
righteousness to be revealed.” This
blessing is pronounced upon the person
“that doeth this, and the son of man that
layeth hold on it; that keepeth the Sab-
bath from polluting it.” The call is to
those who have not been keeping God’s
Sabbath, because he asks them to lay hold
of it. You cannot lay hold of that which
vou already have in your hands; but it is
proper to ask you to lay hold on that
of which you do not have a hold.
Listen further: “ For thus saith the
Lord unto the eunuchs that keep my Sab-
baths, and choose the things that please
me, and take hold of my covenant: Even
unto them will I give in mine house and
within my walls a place and a name bet-
ter than of sons and of daughters: I will
give them an everlasting name, that shail
not be cut off. Also the sons of the
stranger [Gentiles] that join themselves
to the Lord, to serve him, and to love the
name of the Lord, to be his servants, ev-
ery one that keepeth the Sabbath from
polluting it, and taketh hold of my cove-
nant.” Verses 4-6.
Turn to the 58th chapter, and you will
notice in the first verse a message from
God to those who have given themselves
to him. He calls them “my people,”
yet says they are transgressing, and com-
mitting sin. Sin, you will remember, is
“the transgression of the law.” Then.
when this message is due, God's people
will be transgressing the law of God, and
will not know it, because he says, ““ Show
my people their transgression.” It will
also be a point that will not readily be ac-
cepted, because after calling upon his
servants to “ cry aloud,” he adds, “ Spare
not.” My Christian brother, what part
of the law of God have we transgressed,
and did not know it? The prophet does
not point to all our failures in this call.
He says, Show them “their transgres-
sion ” (singular number) ,— one thing to
which their attention must be called.
Passing down through the chapter,
where a true fast to the Lord is defined,
I will read verses 12-14: “They that
shall be of thee shall build the old waste
places: thou shalt raise up the founda-
tions of many generations ; and thou shalt
be called, The repairer of the breach,
The restorer of paths to dwell in. If
thou turn away thy foot from the Sab-
hath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy
day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the
holy of the Lord, honorable; and shalt
honor him, not doing thine own ways,
nor finding thine own pleasure, nor
speaking thine own words: then shalt
thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I
will cause thee to ride upon the high
places of the earth, and feed thee with
the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” This
certainly refers to the law of God, be-
cause the Sabbath, which he mentions, is
only found in the bosom of that law.
Please consider these verses: “Thou
shalt be called, The repairer of the breach,
The restorer of paths to dwell in. If
thou turn away thy foot from the Sab-
bath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy
day.” There is, then, a breach, or brok-
en-down place, in the law of God, which
must be repaired. If you heed the call,
God says you will be called, “ The re-
pairer of the breach.” He also tells
where the broken place, or breach, is.
You will be called the repairer of the
breach, “If thou turn away thy foot
from the Sabbath.” Is it not plain that
the breach in the law of God is found
in the Sabbath command? We repair
the breach when we restore the Sabbath.
This is the statement of this scripture.