Do we observe works unto salvation or perform works out of faith? Are our works thought to be before salvation and required for salvation or are they because we are saved? Let us look at the written word that states, “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:24-25). Now look at the commandment, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God” (Exodus 20:8-10). Are these two passages of scripture saying the same thing? Or is the first passage saying we must meet on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening?

Jesus healed a man on the seventh day and told him to take up his bed and walk. The Jews condemned him and asked who had healed him (John 5:18-12). “The man departed and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. But Jesus answered them, ‘My Father has been working until now, and I have been working'” (John 5:15-17). Isn’t it written, “One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it” (Romans 14:5-6).

Have you not read the ten commandments and seen how all of them except, “Remember the Sabbath day” and, “Honor thy father and mother” are not works? Except for those two commandments found in Exodus twenty, none of them are works. It is not a work to abstain and eight of the ten commandments in Exodus twenty call for us to abstain (i.e. you shall not). “Remember” and “Honor” requires us to do something, “you shall not” does not require an action but asks us to abstain from an action. Jesus tells us that all the law and the prophets hang on two commandments, love the Lord your God and love your neighbor (Matthew 22:37-39). Those are the actions we take instead of the actions we are told “you shall not” take. Even observing those commandments are not what saves us. Jesus has already saved us and, because He has, we should desire to love the Lord our God and love our neighbor. Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).

What does it mean, “Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together” (Hebrews 10:24-25). Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). There is no mention of a special day when two or three meet, only that they meet in the Lord’s name. Isn’t that what Paul wrote in Romans fourteen, “He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it.” If two or three gather in the Lord’s name on the seventh day are they not performing a work (taking an action) and by gathering are they not abstaining from observing the day, if observance is to rest from works? But if they exist in the Lord’s rest (peace that passes all understanding) are they not in that rest everyday and not just on the seventh day? What if two or three gather in the Lord’s name on the first day of the week? There is no commandment to rest on that day. If they are in the Lord’s rest everyday are they not observing the Sabbath as well as those that gather on the seventh day? Are they not assembling themselves together the same as those that gather on the seventh day?

It is not our observances or our abstaining that grants to us salvation. Our part is accepting that Jesus is the Son of God and the Christ – that He lived and died as a man – that He rose from the dead and believing that He did so for our salvation to be our righteousness. Jesus is the righteousness of God manifested in mankind. Jesus is the love of God manifested towards mankind. Jesus is salvation and righteousness for all of mankind. It is not our suffering that saves us, it is that Jesus suffered death for us that saves us and His resurrection that assures us of life. It is not our prayers that save us; we pray in thankfulness and acceptance of the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus that has saved us. We have no acts of righteousness that can save us, because we are saved by the actions of our Lord Jesus (already done for us). Out of faith that God has granted to us a savior in our Lord Jesus we act as if we are saved ; our actions are because we are saved. We love the Lord our God and love our neighbors because we are saved. Praise God!

© 2005 Tim D. Coulter Sr.