In this sermon, the preacher focuses on the importance of observing the Sabbath day. He emphasizes that the Sabbath was given to the children of Israel as a sign between them and God. He argues that the Sabbath was not given to the church and therefore, it is not necessary for Christians to observe it. The preacher also states that the Sabbath was not changed but rather done away with, as Jesus' death on the cross marked the end of the Sabbath day.

Now, we have something else in this chapter that is of profound interest and it's very important to see, and it has to do with this matter of the Sabbath day, and this is something that a great many people pass over. Now, the Sabbath day was given at the very beginning, I take it after creation, that it was observed universally because man having come from the hand of God as his Creator, and having been given the Genesis account, I'm of the opinion that the creation account was universally known by mankind and it was perverted and changed. Now, this matter of the Sabbath day, though, when you come to the Mosaic system, you find out God made it one of the commandments for the children of Israel, and now He makes it very clear that it was just for the children of Israel. Verse 12 now of chapter 31, and I'm reading, and I want you to listen very carefully. "...And the Lord spoke unto Moses, saying, Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my Sabbaths ye shall keep, for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Now He said it once to the children of Israel, My Sabbaths, it's a sign between me and you throughout your generations." Now, the Sabbath was given now specifically to the children of Israel, and I take it was not given to other people. I do not think it's given to the church at all. When anybody says to me, and every now and then someone likes to pull this type of an approach, they say, when was the Sabbath day changed? Friends, it never was changed. It was done away with, as far as we're concerned. We are not under the Sabbath day. That's Saturday, and we don't observe Saturday. That's the day Jesus was dead. We are not serving a dead Christ. The first day of the week He came back from the dead, and the church from the very beginning met on the first day of the week. That's when the church was born, was on the first day of the week. The day of Pentecost was on the day after the Sabbath. It was 50 days, you see. Pentecost means 50, and that very name itself puts it on a Sunday, not on a Saturday. And therefore, today we don't observe it, not because it's been changed. It hasn't been. It was given to the children of Israel, specifically to them. It started off with the whole human race, but man got away from God, and as he did, then God gives it specifically to the children of Israel. I'm not through. Let me read verse 14 here. "'Ye shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it's holy unto you. Everyone that defileth it shall surely be put to death.'" And I'd like to know from these people who say you're to keep the Sabbath day if they keep it all the time, and those are their number who do not keep it, do they put them to death? That's part of it, you see. "'For whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people.'" That's very specific, you can see, and very strong, very strict. Verse 15, I'm still reading, friends. "'Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the Sabbath of rest. Holy to the Lord, whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.'" And a man was gathering sticks, and they stoned him in Israel. Now, verse 16, "'Wherefore, the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant.' It is a sign between me and the children of Israel forever. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.'" Now, they are an earthly people belonging to the first creation. The church is a new creation, and it has a new day, and that new day is the first day of the week.