06/13/2026
From the Pastor’s Pen June 14, 2026
“Keeping The Sabbath”
Colossians 2:16 “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:”
Self righteousness is sickening. This week, I saw another example of how blinded people can be in their own self righteousness. A man decided to deride me for not “keeping the Sabbath”. At first I laughed because I know this individual and he has never indicated that he was a Seventh Day Adventist (A cult founded by William Miller in the 1840’s and later taken over by Ellen G. White). I told him “You do not keep the Sabbath, do you turn a light switch on, which is kindling a fire? Ex. 35:3”. I asked him if he had lied “bore false witness, Ex. 20:16”, committed adultery “Ex. 20:14 standard AND Matt. 5:28 standard” and of course he said “NO” and that is what set him off (How dare you call me a liar and adulterer)! Not only was he a liar but he also had no beard, among other things I do not have room to expound on in this short letter, (FORBIDDEN under the law to MAR the corners of your beard, Lev. 19:27). I asked him why Paul left out the Sabbath day in Romans 13:9 (no answer) and why our Brethren in the first century met on the FIRST day of the week (no answer). He thought because in his mind he “kept the Sabbath, which he did not” that he was right with God but yet dismissed other parts of the law. Hey sir and Ma’am, listen to the book “Gal. 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them”. If you keep the Sabbath, but do not observe the seven feasts in Leviticus 23 (WHICH NO ONE DOES) then you are CURSED!
He then proceeded challenge me saying “I have a King James Bible right here, show me that I am wrong”. He bit off more than he could chew. By God’s leading I proceeded to explain to him that there were FOUR parts to the Mosaic Law (613 points in total) and that they were divided into FOUR parts (Moral, Civil, Ceremonial and Dietary) and the SABBATH was in the Ceremonial portion of the law given as a SIGN under the Mosaic Covenant for ISRAEL (Ex. 31:13, 16-17), (I Cor. 1:22), (Ezek. 20:12, 20) and “shocker” he had NEVER heard that before. I then expounded to him what Jesus accomplished on the cross (Col. 2:14-17) with Colossians 2:16 EXPLICITLY saying “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the SABBATH DAYS:”. He did not realize that CHRIST IS THE END OF THE LAW (Rom. 10:4) and that his line of reasoning is exactly why Paul wrote Galatians, (Gal. 2:16)! It is not your personal righteousness that justifies you in the sight of God, but the righteousness of Jesus Christ that does (Phil. 3:5-9). I did not discuss this with him to win an argument, but to point this man to Jesus Christ! I explained to him how bad I felt for him putting himself under that kind of bo***ge (Gal. 5:1). Folks, Christ was made a CURSE for us and took our place as the CURSED sinner that the law makes us, Gal 3:13, II Cor. 5:21! GLORY!
First off, this once again confirmed to me that if one does not STUDY and RIGHTLY divide they will be a theological train wreck (II Tim. 2:15). It also revealed to me once again the depraved nature of mankind that just cannot come to grips with the fact that NOTHING we do will ever be good enough to justify us in the sight of God (Gal. 5:4)! Please trust Jesus ALONE friend!
Christian, you do not become spiritual by putting yourself back under the law, but we become spiritual by being led and filled with the SPIRIT (Gal. 5:16-26). All the law does is puff you up in your own eyes making you think you are something you are not, provoking the brethren while magnifying and multiplying the works of the flesh in our lives! Verse 26 in Galatians 5 goes back to verse 15 and everything sandwiched in between is the CONTEXT! “Holier than thou” believers who put themselves back under bo***ge bite and devour one another with their “convictions” and PROVOKE others while envying those who may look more spiritual than them, instead of using their LIBERTY to love the brethren and be filled with and grow by WALKING in the Spirit!
Pastor Austin Vestrand
