But you know, wherever Truth goes, Lie goes. And Lie heard that Truth was going into town, and as he followed along behind, he too was caught in the heat. And when he came to the pond he thought, "I'll take a swim and cool off a bit." So he went over to get ready to jump in the pond when suddenly he saw Truth's clothes hanging on the branch. And Lie being sneaky got an idea. "Ah," he said, "I'm going to let the swim go and just steal Truth's clothes." So he threw his old rags to the ground and put on the pure clothes of Truth, and started down the road towards town. And when the people saw him coming, they began to rejoice, "Here comes the Truth!" Until finally one perceptive elder in the town said, "No, hold it people, that's not the Truth, that's a Lie with Truth's clothes on!" And sure enough it was.

After awhile, Truth finished his swim intending to get dressed and go into town. But when he got out, he noticed his clothes were gone, and he was very disappointed. He wondered where they could be. And as he looked around, he suddenly spotted the old, ragged garments of a Lie. And Truth decided, "Before I wear that, I won't wear anything." So he started down the road just as he was! And when the people saw him coming, they really began to rejoice and shout and they cried out, "Look folks! Here come the Truth, the naked Truth! And so it was.

Today's subject is just like this story, here comes the naked Truth!

The great message to prepare our generation for Christ's coming is found in Revelation 14:6-10. The last phrase of verse 7 directs our attention to the subject of worship. "Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgement is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters." In the final hour of earth's history a message is to go to the world to "worship Him that made heaven and earth."

The obvious problem we are dealing with in Revelation is the difference between Revelation 14:7 and verse 9. One "worships Him who made," the other "worships the Beast." All the world including you will be on one side or the other. The shocking reality is that God says in Revelation 13:3,8 "all the world" is worshipping and following the beast! So today, if we find an area in which all the world follows the beast instead of the Bible, it should not surprise us, for God has told us it would be so.

Since the message of Revelation 14:7 says to "worship Him that made heaven and earth," let's go back to the beginning when God made everything. In Genesis 1:1, we read, "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." On the first day, He created light; second day, air; third day, water and vegetation; fourth day, sun, moon and stars; fifth day, birds and fish; sixth day, animals and the crowning act of creation - man and woman. Here we have the first six days of the history of the world. All was good and complete, created for man's enjoyment and sustenance, gleaming in its Edenic perfection. And now we come to the first seventh day of the history of the world. Genesis 2:1-3, "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." God created the Sabbath day. This day was set aside as a memorial of His creation. David said in Psalm 111:2-4 that God made His works to be remembered. And God Himself said it and wrote it in His law. Exodus 20:8-11 "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."

Now I want you to think, and follow, because I know some of you are wondering how we have both days today as the Sabbath - the seventh and the first. Some others wonder why people say the seventh day is the "Jewish Sabbath." Think now, How many people were on earth on the sixth day? Two! Their names were Adam and Eve. Were they Jews? NO! There were no Jews for hundreds of years. God never made the Sabbath for "the Jews." This Sabbath which Christ created, the seventh day, has ever since been a living memorial of His creative power. There were three things God did to specifically set apart the seventh day. He rested on it, blessed it, and sanctified it - or made it holy, and set it apart for sacred use. God did not do this to any other day.

As we read the full commandment, let's see why. First God says, "Remember." If my wife says, "Remember the clothes at the cleaners on the way home," why does she say "remember"? Because she thinks I might forget. God says "Remember!" Why? Because He knew we might forget! And it's amazing that the only one He said remember, the world has forgotten!

The fact that our God made heaven and earth sets Him apart from all other false gods. No other god can create anything. And so every time you remember the Sabbath day you are honouring the true God. That's why, if this commandment had always been kept, there would be no atheist, agnostic, idolater, or skeptic. And evolution would never have been taught in our schools, because it is impossible to doubt God or disbelieve Him when you keep the seventh day every week in His honour. And that's also the reason the devil hates God's Sabbath. He wanted to be like God and so he set up his worship day too. We will come to that shortly.

This Sabbath command was still binding when time reached its finger into the New Testament in Luke 23:56, "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments; and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment." They rested according to the commandment. Jesus died on Good Friday, rested on Sabbath, and rose on Sunday.

God gave the Sabbath as the greatest of gifts to us. A time when we fellowship together, a time for the family, a time of physical, mental, and emotional rest. We need this! The reason so many people are uptight today, and getting ulcers and heart attacks, the reason husbands and wives quarrel, is because our society is under the gun seven days a week. You need one day to forget everything. God gave it, not as a problem, but a blessing! Human nature needs an opportunity to regroup, recoup and refresh. Sabbath becomes the most special day of the whole week!

Furthermore, the Sabbath is a sign of our love relationship with Jesus. Ezekiel 20:20, "And hallow my sabbaths; and they shall be a sign between me and you, that ye may know that I am the LORD your God." God said "hallow my Sabbaths" they will be a sign just between you and me - 24 hours in a special love relationship.

Now the devil knows full well the meaning of the Sabbath. Every time God has given something as a blessing, the devil has come up with a counterfeit. That's his trademark. God gave the Sabbath, and the devil knew that the Sabbath honoured God above all the other commandments. So in order to detract from the worship of the true God, and nullify everything that honours God, he twisted and misconstrued things so much that today most of the sincere Christian world is breaking the Sabbath day and don't even know it! So God in His mercy sends the "naked truth."

This is also why the devil teaches that the law has been done away with. Yet interestingly enough, most of those who teach this, still keep nine of the ten commandments! One commandment bothers them, and in an effort to set aside the fourth, they do away with the whole law. We have covered this in the previous two lessons, but let's review a few texts. James 2:10-12, "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all. For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law. So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty." Did Jesus change? Matthew 5:17-19, "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven." If we break one we break all. And Jesus said again in Luke 16:17, "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." One TITTLE or JOT from the law cannot fail!

Let's identify the day. What day is the seventh day of the week? Saturday! An almanac, calendar or encyclopaedia will tell you that. But we want to find the Sabbath from the Bible to be sure. Let's go to the New Testament, Matthew 28:1, "In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre." Jesus died on Good Friday and rose on Easter Sunday. The day between was the Sabbath, Saturday. Let's get another witness, Luke 23:54, 24:1, "And that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on. Now upon the first day of the week, very early in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre, bringing the spices which they had prepared, and certain others with them." First the preparation day, (Friday), next they rested according to the commandment, (Saturday), then Sunday He rose. One more witness, Mark 15:42-16:1, "And now when the even was come, because it was the preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, Joseph of Arimathaea an honourable counsellor, which also waited for the kingdom of God, came, and went in boldly unto Pilate, and craved the body of Jesus. And Pilate marvelled if he were already dead: and calling unto him the centurion, he asked him whether he had been any while dead. And when he knew it of the centurion, he gave the body to Joseph. And he bought fine linen, and took him down, and wrapped him in the linen, and laid him in a sepulchre which was hewn out of a rock, and rolled a stone unto the door of the sepulchre. And Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Jesus beheld where he was laid. And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him." Here again clearly the Sabbath day is the day that falls between Friday when Jesus died and Sunday when He rose. The New Testament, without a doubt, teaches that Saturday is the Sabbath.

What day did Jesus keep? We can be safe in doing what Jesus did. In fact this is what the Bible says we are to do. First John 2:3-6, "And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked." Let's see then what Jesus' custom was. Luke 4:16, "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read." It was Jesus' custom to go to church on Sabbath. In fact, Jesus had so much respect for the Sabbath that He, looking far into the future asked us to respect it. Matthew 24:15-20, "When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day." Jesus here looked 40 years into the future, and still asked His disciples to honour the Sabbath. God answered their prayers, and they fled in A.D. 70, in October, on a Wednesday, to a city called Pella, and not one Christian died in the destruction of Jerusalem. If Jesus was expecting His church to keep the Sabbath, looking 40 years into the future, then we can be sure He wanted it kept to the end of time. What day did the disciples keep? Acts 13:14, 42-44, "But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and sat down. And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next sabbath. Now when the congregation was broken up, many of the Jews and religious proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas: who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God. And the next sabbath day came almost the whole city together to hear the word of God." Here we have New Testament Christians who were living under grace, keeping the Sabbath. Another text, Acts 18:4, "And he reasoned in the synagogue every sabbath, and persuaded the Jews and the Greeks." Paul preached every Sabbath to the Jews and Greeks. Even without a church, the apostles still kept the Sabbath day. Acts 16:13, "And on the sabbath we went out of the city by a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down, and spake unto the women which resorted thither." Paul the great apostle made a statement in Acts 20:27, "For I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." He had declared all the counsels of God. Now if there was a change from Saturday to Sunday, why didn't Paul tell us? There are more than 140 references to the seventh-day Sabbath in the Bible. But there is not ONE indication of the first day being holy. That ought to shock you! That makes me think, "Paul, if you declared all and if the Sabbath was changed, why didn't you tell us?" There is not even a hint of it in the Bible! So clear am I on this fact that I'm prepared to offer $1,000 to anyone who can find a text in the Bible that says Sunday is the Sabbath, or that it was changed from Saturday to Sunday. You can also have my house, and car, and on Sunday I'll worship with you in your church. If you don't believe it, find the text.

Often sincere people say, "We keep the Lord's day." Did you know there is only one text in the entire Bible that says "Lord's Day?" Let's read it in Revelation 1:10, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet." According to this text, which day is the Lord's day? It doesn't say! Let's find from the Bible which day it is. Matthew 12:8, "For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day." "Lord of the Sabbath day." And the commandment says the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord!

Some others say, "Oh, it doesn't matter, which day you keep. I keep every day." But here we must be careful. The same commandment says six days are days for labour, not to be kept holy. God didn't say keep a Sabbath. He said keep the Sabbath. The is a definite article identifying a specific person, place, or thing. The Bible says the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord. The Bible says there is a way which seems right to a man but the end there of is death (Proverbs 14:12). We must follow God's Word, not human reasoning.

Then some people say, "Well, the days have been mixed up and we don't really know what day the Sabbath is. The calendar was changed." Yet, if that's so, then Sunday is wrong too! But time hasn't been lost. Yes, the calendar was changed once since Jesus in 1582 by Gregory. That's where we get our present Gregorian calendar. Prior to the Gregorian calendar, the Julian calendar was used from 46 B.C. on. It had the length of a year as 365 days and six hours. This was 11 minutes more than it was supposed to be. Over the years, the 11 minutes accumulated, and by 1582 the calendar was approximately 10 days out of harmony with the solar system. So it was Thursday, October 4, 1582 and the next day, Friday, which should have been October 5, became October 15. The days of the week were not affected at all, only the dates. Today we do the same thing every four years on leap year. And speaking of the calendar, it is a fact that in 108 languages of the world, the seventh-day, Saturday, is called "Sabbath." There is no question that the Sabbath day today is exactly the same seventh-day Sabbath Jesus kept while He was on this earth.

Often people will sincerely say, "We keep Sunday in honour of the resurrection." While that's a wonderful thought, we must ask: Is it biblical? You see, God did give two things to honour His death, burial, and resurrection. First He gave communion and said "this do in remembrance of Me." Luke 22:19. Secondly, He gave baptism as a memorial, not a new Sabbath.

And so from Eden to Eden there will always be a Sabbath. From creation, all throughout the Old Testament, it was kept. Then Jesus, in the four gospels, kept it. Then the early Christians in the New Testament kept it, and when we go to heaven and God creates the new heaven and the new earth, we are going to keep it there. Isaiah 66:22-23, "For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the LORD."

Now after disturbing you with a study like this, I think it well to tell you clearly who, when, and by what authority the Sabbath was changed. With irrefutable proof. First let's go to the prophecy again in Daniel 7:25. Here God has identified the papal power as the one who "changes times and laws." Interestingly, the only "laws" that deal with "times" are found in the fourth commandment. "Remember the sabbath day ... Six days shalt thou labour ...the seventh day is the sabbath ... For in six days the Lord made ... and rested the seventh day ... the Lord blessed the sabbath day ... ." God is simply telling us here that we can expect to find the papacy responsible for changing the time of the Sabbath day from Saturday to Sunday. Let's read now from the Catholic Catechism itself and see if this is so.

Also notice how all mainline churches admit this.

Now the issues become clear. On one side is the Antichrist and commandments of men. On the other is Jesus Christ and His commandments. Jesus has sent the message of Revelation in love, inviting you and I today to worship Him on His holy day, inviting us to love Him and keep His commandments, and inviting us into that rest that can restore our physical, emotional, and spiritual lives. Let's enter into that rest as Hebrews 4:4, 7-11 invites us, "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. Again, he limiteth a certain day, saying in David, To day, after so long a time; as it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts. For if Jesus had given them rest, then would he not afterward have spoken of another day. There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief."