How to keep the Sabbath properly is often asked. This question often surfaces: should we eat out on the Sabbath day, as this causes work to be done? The answer is, of course, very simple; and is explained clearly in the Bible.

1Co 5:9  I wrote to you in my epistle not to keep company with sexually immoral people.

1Co 5:10  Yet I certainly did not mean with the sexually immoral people of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world.

1Co 5:11  But now I have written to you not to keep company with anyone named a brother, who is sexually immoral, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner not even to eat with such a person.

We are in this world, as physical people, and that’s how God designed it. By going to a restaurant on the Sabbath, we are not creating employment. The people who serve us are there, by their own accord: they are happy to be working on the Sabbath. They will be working on that day, regardless of whether Sabbath keepers are there or not. We are in this world, but we are not part of this world. The following scriptures show us how to keep the Sabbath. It is up to us to obey God.

We must prepare for the Sabbath.

Exo 16:23  Then he said to them, “This is what the LORD has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ”

The Sabbath is a holy day.

Exo 20:8  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

No work is to be done.

Exo 20:10  but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates.

It is God the Father who made the Sabbath holy.

Exo 20:11  For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

The Sabbath is perpetual.

Exo 31:16  Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant.

It is the Sabbath of the Lord.

Lev 23:3  ‘Six days shall work be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work on it; it is the Sabbath of the LORD in all your dwellings.

We should give thanks and sing praises on the Sabbath.

Psa 92:1  A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath Day. It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;

The Sabbath is part of the covenant.

Isa 56:6  “Also the sons of the foreigner Who join themselves to the LORD, to serve Him, And to love the name of the LORD, to be His servants Everyone who keeps from defiling the Sabbath, And holds fast My covenant

There are beautiful promises from God for correctly keeping the Sabbath.

Isa 58:13  “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words,

Isa 58:14  Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.”

All people will eventually keep the Sabbath.

Isa 66:23  And it shall come to pass That from one New Moon to another, And from one Sabbath to another, All flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the LORD.

There can be hypocrisy in Sabbath keeping; this is not of God.

Amo 8:5  Saying: “When will the New Moon be past, That we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, That we may trade wheat? Making the ephah small and the shekel large, Falsifying the scales by deceit,

Christ is Lord of the Sabbath.

Mat 12:8  For the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.”

There are times when working on the Sabbath should be done.

Mat 12:11  Then He said to them, “What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out?

We can do good on the Sabbath, even if work is required.

Mat 12:12  Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

Christ is Lord of the Sabbath, which was made for man.

Mar 2:27  And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.

Preaching is done on the Sabbath.

Act 13:42  So when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath.

Act 13:44  On the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of God.

We must keep the Sabbath, regardless of what people think.

Col 2:16  So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,

Sometimes we can break the Sabbath by not working on that day. It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath, and that sometimes requires work. God is not mocked; He knows the intentions of our heart. God gives us the guidelines of Sabbath keeping in the Bible. We all have a free choice as to whether or not we obey God.

God’s people will look forward to, and love the Sabbath day. A meal out or coffee is not causing work to be done by others; they are going to work on the Sabbath regardless. It is a pleasure to talk about the things of God, by those who love God’s way of life.

Putting on a Sabbath face for church, to appear righteous: might fool other church members, but it will not fool God. Our commitment to God’s Sabbath must be wholehearted and sincere; just as our commitment to God’s way of life must be wholehearted and sincere.

As one of the Ten Commandments: it is a requirement of eternal life that we correctly keep God’s Sabbath.

Just as God spoke to the ancient Israelites, so today the same words are in force from the pages of the Bible.

Exo 19:5  Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine.

Look what God had in mind if Israel would have obeyed.

Exo 19:6  And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

The Israelites said they would obey but soon forgot their own pledges. Do we just discard the Sabbath command or do we desire to keep this special day holy to God and spend as much time as possible with God, in study, prayer, fellowship and meditation.

Exo 19:8  Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.

The Israelites were scared to hear God talk to them, they wanted Moses to talk to them.

Exo 20:19  Then they said to Moses, “You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.”

Notice the reason why God spoke to them with thunder so that they would fear Him and sin not.

Exo 20:20  And Moses said to the people, “Do not fear; for God has come to test you, and that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.”

Let’s have the correct fear of God, and keep the Sabbath day as He shows us how.

For those people who cannot attend church through distance, health or other reasons, it would be advisable to spend as much time in study, prayer and meditation, as possible. Remember we are never alone, God the Father and Christ are with us all the time, even though we may not be able to fellowship with many brethren our fellowship is with the Father and Christ.

1Jn 1:3  that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.

It is also pleasing to God to sing praises to Him. There are many pleasant hymns available to us today and this is uplifting and joyous for us on the Sabbath.

Col 3:16  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Psa 92:1  A Psalm. A Song for the Sabbath Day. It is good to give thanks to the LORD, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;

Psa 92:2  To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night,

Psa 92:3  On an instrument of ten strings, On the lute, And on the harp, With harmonious sound.

Psa 92:4  For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands.

Psa 92:5  O LORD, how great are Your works! Your thoughts are very deep.

Psa 92:6  A senseless man does not know, Nor does a fool understand this.

Psa 92:7  When the wicked spring up like grass, And when all the workers of iniquity flourish, It is that they may be destroyed forever.

Psa 92:8  But You, LORD, are on high forevermore.

Psa 92:9  For behold, Your enemies, O LORD, For behold, Your enemies shall perish; All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

Psa 92:10  But my horn You have exalted like a wild ox; I have been anointed with fresh oil.

Psa 92:11  My eye also has seen my desire on my enemies; My ears hear my desire on the wicked Who rise up against me.

Psa 92:12  The righteous shall flourish like a palm tree, He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Psa 92:13  Those who are planted in the house of the LORD Shall flourish in the courts of our God.

Psa 92:14  They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing,

Psa 92:15  To declare that the LORD is upright; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.

Let us get closer to God and come to understand that the Sabbath is a delight.

Mar 2:27  And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.