WEBVTT 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.399 Gospel of Luke chapter six. 00:00:03.439 --> 00:00:08.960 Encourage you to turn there in your Bibles just so you'll have it handy as we continue in just a few moments. 00:00:09.119 --> 00:00:11.919 But Luke chapter six, beginning in verse one. 00:00:12.320 --> 00:00:16.320 We've been walking through the gospel and we have uh it's July. 00:00:16.480 --> 00:00:20.719 It's almost beginning of July and six chapters. 00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:22.480 Okay, uh we're gonna we're gonna make it. 00:00:22.559 --> 00:00:23.199 We're gonna make it. 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:27.039 Uh Luke chapter six, beginning in verse one. 00:00:27.920 --> 00:00:36.560 Now it happened that he was passing through some grain fields on Sabbath, and his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands and eating the grain. 00:00:36.799 --> 00:00:42.079 But some of the Pharisees said, Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath? 00:00:42.640 --> 00:00:48.399 And Jesus, answering them, said, Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him? 00:00:48.719 --> 00:00:57.119 How he entered the house of God and took and ate the consecrated bread, and which is not lawful for any to eat except the priest alone, and gave it to his companions. 00:00:57.359 --> 00:01:02.240 And he was saying to them, The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. 00:01:02.799 --> 00:01:08.239 On another Sabbath he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and there was a man there whose right hand was withered. 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:17.280 The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him, watching him closely to see if he healed on the Sabbath, so that he might they might find reason to accuse him. 00:01:17.599 --> 00:01:24.079 But he knew what they were thinking, and he said to the man with the withered hand, Get up and come forward. 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:25.920 And he got up and came forward. 00:01:26.159 --> 00:01:34.719 And Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to destroy it? 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:43.359 After looking around at them all, he said to them to him, Stretch out your hand, and he did so, and his hand was restored. 00:01:43.680 --> 00:01:49.200 But they themselves were filled with rage and discussed together what they might do to Jesus. 00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:50.640 Would you pray with me? 00:01:51.359 --> 00:01:54.159 Lord, I thank you that you speak. 00:01:54.560 --> 00:01:59.840 And I thank you give us the privilege and the joy and the responsibility to listen as you speak. 00:02:00.079 --> 00:02:06.719 And I pray for the next few moments that you would be glorified and that we would worship. 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:08.800 In Christ's name we pray. 00:02:09.120 --> 00:02:09.680 Amen. 00:02:09.919 --> 00:02:10.240 Thank you. 00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:11.520 Please be seated. 00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:18.000 As I mentioned, I hope you have the Bible with you in front of you. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:25.439 If you didn't bring your own copy, or if you use your phone or whatever it is you do, uh you scroll versus turn, whatever whatever it is. 00:02:25.599 --> 00:02:26.879 I do hope you have your own. 00:02:27.199 --> 00:02:31.439 It isn't just because it's nice to be in uniformity, it's nice all of us to have scripture. 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:37.840 Honestly, it'd be easier if we just use the pew Bibles in front of you because they're all the same version, same translation. 00:02:38.080 --> 00:02:46.639 But the reason that we do this, the reason that we emphasize this, is that your relationship with Jesus Christ needs the Word of God. 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:50.240 You cannot grow in your faith. 00:02:50.400 --> 00:02:52.479 You can't know your need for salvation. 00:02:52.639 --> 00:02:55.759 You can't know what it is to come to Him saving knowledge. 00:02:56.000 --> 00:03:13.599 You can't have a relationship with Jesus Christ that is abundant and fruitful and everlasting if you don't have His revelation, if you don't hear it, if you don't apply it, if you don't walk in it, if you don't have the Bible intaking into your life in the myriad of ways that the Scripture talks about, so that you're able to grow in the faith. 00:03:13.759 --> 00:03:16.879 So it's it isn't just, hey, let's bring our Bibles to church. 00:03:17.039 --> 00:03:19.280 It's let's bring ourselves to the Bible. 00:03:19.360 --> 00:03:25.280 Let's make sure that we're using it in the place in our life that it needs to happen, it needs to be. 00:03:25.599 --> 00:03:28.400 So all of that just to say, hey, read your Bible. 00:03:28.719 --> 00:03:30.319 But there's there's a reason for that. 00:03:30.400 --> 00:03:39.360 And as we're getting to Luke chapter 6, uh we're we're continuing in the in the episodes of Jesus, his encounter with people as as he is engaging. 00:03:39.599 --> 00:03:52.960 And now we get to a very interesting subject, an interesting topic, where Jesus is being confronted, and we've got two vignettes, two scenarios, two circumstances that have to do with the Sabbath, with the seventh day. 00:03:53.199 --> 00:04:04.479 Now I didn't take the time in the notes, I didn't take the time in the sermon preparation to go through all of the Old Testament says about the Sabbath and how we as Christians are supposed to engage in the Sabbath, and you're welcome. 00:04:04.639 --> 00:04:06.960 Uh, because we don't have time for that. 00:04:07.199 --> 00:04:14.000 But uh there is so much that we can talk about and so much that we can hit on, and maybe if we have a minute or two in the midst of this, I'll allude to it. 00:04:14.080 --> 00:04:18.160 But let's just let's pick it up in the verses and let's let's see where this is going. 00:04:18.319 --> 00:04:24.319 What Jesus is encountering with these Pharisees who have been, they've been popping up all along. 00:04:24.480 --> 00:04:30.399 We've seen them from the beginning, especially when there is conflict, especially when there's misunderstanding, especially when there are issues. 00:04:30.560 --> 00:04:34.720 But take go with me, please, to Luke chapter 6, verse 1. 00:04:34.959 --> 00:04:45.600 It says, Now it happened that he was passing through some grain fields on a Sabbath, and his disciples were picking the heads of grain, rubbing them in their hands, and eating the grain. 00:04:45.680 --> 00:04:50.480 Now, just to for care clarity and context, in the Old Testament, this is very okay. 00:04:50.879 --> 00:04:58.560 As long as you don't bring it in and you have a sickle and you have a bag and you're gonna sell the grain, you are welcome to eat other each other's grain because of the abundance of the promised land. 00:04:58.800 --> 00:04:59.600 Not a problem. 00:05:00.160 --> 00:05:01.360 Verse 2. 00:05:02.000 --> 00:05:09.920 But some of the Pharisees said, Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath? 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:11.199 All right. 00:05:11.600 --> 00:05:12.879 So here we go. 00:05:13.360 --> 00:05:15.120 Jesus is Jesus. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:20.399 I'd realize that you came all this way and got dressed up to hear that, but this is it's absolutely true. 00:05:21.439 --> 00:05:25.279 Jesus is the Son of God, fully God, fully man. 00:05:25.600 --> 00:05:30.240 He never sinned in the physical human nature. 00:05:30.480 --> 00:05:33.680 That is that is something we attest to from beginning to end in Scripture. 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:41.120 So to say that Jesus or His disciples broke the law, quote unquote, that they sinned is totally false. 00:05:41.279 --> 00:05:42.079 That's not true. 00:05:42.319 --> 00:05:48.399 But what we have here are Pharisees who are having an issue with what Jesus and his disciples are doing. 00:05:48.560 --> 00:05:53.199 And honestly, you've got, and I wish I could say this as other people, but I I do this. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:56.639 I think I think we all have a tent of this or a little bit of this. 00:05:56.879 --> 00:06:09.759 You've got this looking for a fight mentality where when somebody gets on your wrong side, now I've got the old Westerns and the cowboys and Indians, but anyway, when somebody gets on your wrong side, it doesn't take much to provoke you again. 00:06:10.000 --> 00:06:25.120 You have this bitterness, you have this anger, and you you have you have them cast as a villain, you have them cast as the bad guy, and even if they do something completely innocent, you're still gonna think to yourself, oh, their heart wasn't in it, that was wrong, they meant all sorts of bad things. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:26.879 And that's what the Pharisees are doing. 00:06:27.040 --> 00:06:31.120 And I know it's easy to pick on the Pharisees, but I'm just gonna remind you, we all do that. 00:06:31.360 --> 00:06:41.279 We all have a thread or a vein or a tendency to have this critical, negative, condescending judgment, like a keep going attitude toward other people. 00:06:41.439 --> 00:06:45.680 But they're looking for a fight, they're looking for something to accuse Jesus with. 00:06:45.759 --> 00:06:47.199 They are they are in a bad mood. 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:56.000 They woke up in a bad mood, it's been getting worse all day, and now here they are, and they're saying, Why do you do what is not lawful on the Sabbath? 00:06:56.399 --> 00:06:57.839 It's not against the rules. 00:06:58.079 --> 00:06:59.600 It's not it's not against the law. 00:06:59.759 --> 00:07:03.439 They haven't broken any law that is in Scripture. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:05.920 And that's where we're going with this. 00:07:06.240 --> 00:07:10.240 The wrong view of the Sabbath law. 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:14.000 The wrong view of the Sabbath law. 00:07:14.240 --> 00:07:15.920 So this is what they did. 00:07:16.160 --> 00:07:25.199 And this this is, and once again, it's easy for us to sit in judgment and let's say, hey, I can't believe they were so naive, I can't believe they were so judgmental, I can't believe they were so condescending. 00:07:25.360 --> 00:07:26.160 But this is what they did. 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:31.279 They thought to themselves, and and this is going over hundreds of years, this is not just an easy one-time thing. 00:07:31.439 --> 00:07:35.199 They thought to themselves, hey, the law, yeah, man, that's good. 00:07:35.279 --> 00:07:49.600 I I so appreciate what Moses did in the Ten Commandments and and and uh to set apart the Sabbath, keep it holy, to observe the Sabbath, because it's right there between uh his name and honoring your father and mother, and all of that is really good, and we need to do that. 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:52.560 But you know, I don't think I don't think that's enough. 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:54.959 I think we should we should add on to it. 00:07:55.120 --> 00:07:59.680 We should make it more engaging, we should make it more restrictive. 00:07:59.839 --> 00:08:10.480 And so what they did is they took what was written down, the law, the covenant, what Moses did when he came down the mountain, what what God gave us, he they took those rules and they said, you know what? 00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:11.920 Let's add some more. 00:08:12.079 --> 00:08:13.279 This is gonna be fun. 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:25.040 Uh let's let's let's say that not just um observing the Sabbath is what God intended, which in creation He He created for six days, and on the seventh day he rested. 00:08:25.199 --> 00:08:30.959 Man, that's that's nice, but let's let's do it where if you do anything that looks like work at all, then you're wrong. 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:38.000 Let's just let's just make sure that we we we cover every base and we make sure that everything that we want to do to make it look as bad as we can. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:40.159 We gotta we gotta be sure that we get all of it together. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:57.519 So what they did is they made these rules, and then they made more rules, and they had point one and then a lot of sub rules under point one and point two and sub-rules under those, and they would make sure that that they would cover all of that so that nobody would even come close to breaking the Sabbath law. 00:08:57.759 --> 00:09:06.080 So that that meant, just give you a few examples, you couldn't walk so many feet, you couldn't drag a stick because that was too close to plowing. 00:09:06.480 --> 00:09:15.519 Uh, if you've ever been to Israel, uh they have the elevators go automatically on the Sabbath so that you don't have to actually push the button. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:23.600 Um see, I I know this, and I again even as I thought about this, I was like, okay, I don't want I don't want to get in the weeds on this. 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:26.240 But you know what we do? 00:09:27.679 --> 00:09:34.399 We say you have to dress a certain way to worship Jesus, and you have to listen to certain type of music. 00:09:35.360 --> 00:09:44.559 And no, no alcohol, no alcohol, no tobacco, uh, don't cuss, drink, chew, or hang out with those who do. 00:09:44.799 --> 00:09:47.679 You got you, we got the whole, we got the whole rule book. 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:58.480 We go through and say, hey, hey, hey, hey, I know it doesn't say this in the scripture, but hey, you know, if you don't you dare to wear a hat in the sanctuary. 00:09:59.440 --> 00:10:03.519 Don't, don't, don't listen to that rock and roll music. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:05.519 I'm sorry, just go just go on and on. 00:10:05.759 --> 00:10:12.320 There is actually this is true, in Scotland, they have a thing about makeup. 00:10:12.480 --> 00:10:15.519 Not men wearing makeup, women wearing makeup. 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:28.960 Where if you go into church, if you go into church um and you're wearing makeup as a lady, you may find yourself escorted to the bathroom to wipe all of that that stuff off. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:31.600 Isn't that silly? 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:35.600 The wrong view of the Sabbath law. 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:41.919 So let's now I I mention all of those examples not to say, well, let's just throw it all away. 00:10:42.559 --> 00:10:49.360 Because it's still the Sabbath, it's still the commandment, there are still things we need to grapple with and we need to obey. 00:10:49.679 --> 00:11:00.960 But what the the Pharisees had done is they had twisted the religious thinking so that they exchanged what God meant as a gift, and they had made it a requirement. 00:11:01.200 --> 00:11:06.000 What God had given them to help them to bless us as his creation. 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:10.720 I mean think about it and like I said, you're welcome for me not getting into the the weeds on this. 00:11:10.960 --> 00:11:12.399 But you think about what he did. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:23.919 God, the creator, when he rested on the seventh day, it's not because he was tired, it's because he was setting a precedent that he had completed what he did the first six days. 00:11:24.080 --> 00:11:26.799 He could have done it in just a word, you know that, right? 00:11:27.120 --> 00:11:28.639 He didn't need six days. 00:11:28.799 --> 00:11:34.240 He he could just but and how you like that from that's my that's my grammatical analysis. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:35.039 Oof. 00:11:35.279 --> 00:11:37.440 Um he could have just done it. 00:11:37.679 --> 00:11:41.840 But what he did is he was setting he was setting the pattern, and he did it for us. 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:48.159 Have you ever tried to work 12 hour days, seven days straight, week after week after week? 00:11:48.399 --> 00:11:50.720 Have you ever tried to go without sleep? 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:57.279 Have you ever tried to not have the rhythm and the pattern of not having rest appropriate times and appropriate ways? 00:11:57.440 --> 00:11:58.240 You go crazy. 00:11:58.399 --> 00:12:01.440 You you say things you don't mean, you do things you should not be doing. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:02.559 It it's it's great. 00:12:02.720 --> 00:12:03.600 He knows that. 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:04.639 That's the Sabbath. 00:12:04.799 --> 00:12:05.360 It's a gift. 00:12:05.440 --> 00:12:24.480 But it's it's more than just a gift, it's it's a it's a way for him to help us so that we can set it apart as holy, where we we we treat it as a time to focus on him, to to to rejuvenate, to center down, to be able to say, hey, this is my God, and I am his child, and this is what I'm supposed to be about. 00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:30.320 So it's that break where in the hecticness and the hurriedness, if you've ever thought to yourself, why am I so busy? 00:12:30.399 --> 00:12:31.840 Why is my calendar so full? 00:12:32.000 --> 00:12:34.159 Why is there so much happening in my world? 00:12:34.399 --> 00:12:36.000 God already gave you a solution to that. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:37.200 It's called the Sabbath. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:41.120 It's a way for us to slow down and say, hey, wait a minute. 00:12:41.200 --> 00:12:42.720 I need to get my priorities in check. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:55.840 I need to make sure that I'm focusing on God, I'm doing what he wants me to do, the way he wants me to do it, so that it becomes a joy, a delight, a treasure to come into the house of the Lord, to spend time with him. 00:12:56.000 --> 00:13:02.320 And I know my to-do list isn't getting any shorter, and I don't care because I get to be with my Savior. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:04.080 That's the Sabbath. 00:13:04.480 --> 00:13:10.559 And what the Pharisees had done, and what Jesus is addressing, is not whether or not we should observe the Sabbath. 00:13:10.720 --> 00:13:12.000 That's still a commandment. 00:13:12.240 --> 00:13:18.639 He's addressing how they are abusing the law surrounding the Sabbath. 00:13:18.720 --> 00:13:21.120 So let me let me break this down as we're going through the passage. 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:22.879 I hope I hope you're still with me. 00:13:23.039 --> 00:13:30.159 But here it is: the sign of the covenant, the Sabbath law, all that they have done and what they've added to it, he said, that's not what we're dealing with. 00:13:30.320 --> 00:13:35.039 So the first part as we get into the weeds in this is the burden of elevated rules. 00:13:35.279 --> 00:13:37.120 The burden of elevated rules. 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:49.440 So they had added to, they had abused, they had perverted, they had created their own traditions, their own customs, their own rituals in a way that made it equivalent with the inspired word of God. 00:13:49.600 --> 00:13:53.919 And once again, it's easy to look in hindsight and say, I can't believe they would do something like that. 00:13:54.000 --> 00:13:58.159 Why would they make rules up so that you had to follow the rules so that you're right with God? 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:00.080 Have you been to church lately? 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:02.720 We do this all the time. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:10.480 We have an issue when we say that what man says is equivalent, even close to what the Bible says. 00:14:10.559 --> 00:14:20.240 But there are whole denominations that are that are fitted around the idea that when the leader says something, what he says is just as authentic as what God says in his word. 00:14:20.559 --> 00:14:27.200 And this elevation of rules and customs and rituals and traditions and laws, that's what Jesus is addressing. 00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:31.120 Pick it up with me, please, in Luke chapter 6, verse 3. 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.120 And he's hitting it right on the head. 00:14:33.200 --> 00:14:36.480 He's saying, Jesus answering them said, Have you not even read? 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:39.759 I love this, you know the Bible that you claim to be experts in. 00:14:39.919 --> 00:14:41.600 You know, let me let me just quote it to you. 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:46.960 Have you not even read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him? 00:14:47.039 --> 00:14:49.039 Now David was running away from Saul. 00:14:49.120 --> 00:14:51.919 He he had he had been warned that he was about to be killed. 00:14:52.000 --> 00:14:56.000 His men were with him, and and they found um the priest and the bread. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:14:58.159 Verse 4, now he entered the house of God. 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:02.240 This is also where he got the sword from from Goliath of Goliath's sword from the priest. 00:15:02.320 --> 00:15:07.679 And by the way, you read the story later, the priest is killed by King Saul for claiming the side with David. 00:15:07.759 --> 00:15:08.639 It's terrible. 00:15:08.879 --> 00:15:18.639 Verse 4, now he entered the house of God and took and ate the consecrated bread, which is not lawful for any to eat except the priest alone, and gave it to his companions. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:21.600 So David eats the bread, the presentation bread. 00:15:21.759 --> 00:15:24.320 The priest was supposed to eat all twelve loaves by himself. 00:15:24.559 --> 00:15:41.440 David, who is just as anointed as the priests were in a different way, and Jesus, who is even more anointed than David, he is saying, You understand that the priority here was following the will of God and not your man-made traditions, not your regulations, your rituals, your rules. 00:15:41.600 --> 00:15:42.879 This is not what it's about. 00:15:43.039 --> 00:15:48.320 I'm going to do something with this passage, and it won't take but a minute, but I found it helpful. 00:15:48.480 --> 00:15:49.840 And maybe you will too. 00:15:50.000 --> 00:15:51.440 And if you don't, don't tell anybody. 00:15:51.519 --> 00:15:54.399 But go back with me to Matthew chapter twelve. 00:15:54.639 --> 00:16:04.720 And every once in a while, when you come to a scripture, especially in the synoptic gospels, which it means the first three, they have similarities in the way they're formed and what they write about. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:08.559 Sometimes it helps to read the parallel passages in another gospel. 00:16:08.639 --> 00:16:15.279 And Matthew adds some things to this same episode that I thought would help us to kind of flesh this out a little bit this morning. 00:16:15.519 --> 00:16:21.120 Matthew chapter 12, and as you start reading the chapter, you'll see it looks very similar because it is. 00:16:21.200 --> 00:16:22.399 It's the same story. 00:16:22.559 --> 00:16:25.200 It's Matthew's um Matthew's account of it. 00:16:25.360 --> 00:16:28.720 But I'm just going to pick up what he adds, which is in verse five. 00:16:29.279 --> 00:16:36.240 He says, Or had you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple break the Sabbath and are innocent. 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:41.840 But I say to you that something greater than the temple is here. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:48.639 But if you had known what this means, I desire compassion and not a sacrifice. 00:16:48.960 --> 00:16:52.000 You would not have condemned the innocent. 00:16:52.399 --> 00:16:56.240 I desire compassion and not a sacrifice. 00:16:56.559 --> 00:16:59.200 You would not have condemned the innocent. 00:16:59.440 --> 00:17:10.079 What he's dealing with, what he's referring to, is Hosea chapter 6, verse 6, where I delight in loyalty rather than a sacrifice, and in the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings. 00:17:10.400 --> 00:17:24.000 When we understand that our relationship with God, and this is so easy to do, and it's so it's such a it's a it's a trap that we get set and we fall into all the time, our relationship with God is to be one of devotion and not duty. 00:17:24.240 --> 00:17:26.000 Now we don't, we still have duty. 00:17:26.079 --> 00:17:28.640 We still have things that we in obedience are supposed to do. 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:31.279 But I love the way John Piper talked about this years ago. 00:17:31.440 --> 00:17:38.960 He said, What if I I bought a dozen roses and I brought them home and I rang the doorbell and my wife answered the door and I said, Sweetheart, these roses are for you. 00:17:39.119 --> 00:17:46.880 And his wife got excited and received the roses, and he said, It's okay, you don't have to thank me because it's my job, it's my duty, I have to give you roses. 00:17:47.759 --> 00:17:51.680 That's not devotion, that's not love, that's not compassion, that's not joy. 00:17:51.920 --> 00:17:53.599 That's doing it because you have to do it. 00:17:53.680 --> 00:17:59.119 When when God gives us these obediences, these commandments, and we are to be obedient, it's not burdensome. 00:17:59.200 --> 00:18:02.960 It's a way for us to know him, to walk with him, to grow in our faith. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:04.559 These are his means of grace. 00:18:04.640 --> 00:18:07.039 This is how we engage with him. 00:18:07.440 --> 00:18:13.119 We don't earn the salvation, we don't earn the grace, but he gives us these privileges of being able to walk with him. 00:18:13.440 --> 00:18:22.559 So in Matthew chapter 12, what he's doing, he's he's elaborating, accentuating what he's talking about with the Sabbath rules. 00:18:22.640 --> 00:18:28.160 He says, those rules that you've created are negating the very reason that you're supposed to know me. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:35.279 You give the sacrifices out of a worshipful heart, not because you're afraid of someone looking over your shoulder and banging you upside the head. 00:18:35.440 --> 00:18:38.319 You're doing it because you love me and you want to be with me. 00:18:38.480 --> 00:18:41.920 And when we understand that and walk through this, everything changes. 00:18:42.079 --> 00:18:47.920 Now, just in case you think this is a one and done, let me, I'm gonna quickly refer to a few other verses. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:53.680 In Acts chapter 15, Jerusalem Council, whole lot of a mess. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:59.920 The Jewish people who would who had become Christians, I'm not sure all of them were, but they said you had to be a Jew before you could be a Christian. 00:19:00.079 --> 00:19:02.480 They had a whole council in Jerusalem, the early church. 00:19:02.640 --> 00:19:06.240 They get to this point, and and I love the way that I think it was Peter who said this. 00:19:06.400 --> 00:19:21.119 He stands up in verse in chapter 15, verse 10, says, Now therefore, why do you put God to the test by placing upon the neck of the disciples a yoke which neither our fathers nor we have ever been able to bear? 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:28.880 But we believe that we are saved through the grace of the Lord Jesus in the same way as they also are. 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:32.319 You don't have to add the customs, you don't have to add the rituals. 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:35.680 It's not talking about abandoning the law. 00:19:35.839 --> 00:19:42.799 It's saying you don't have to make it a bunch of rules where if you just do all the rules, you just obey all the rules, then you're good with God. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:44.000 That's not how you're saved. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:49.599 The verse said in verse chapter 15, verse 11, saved through grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. 00:19:49.759 --> 00:19:50.480 That's it. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:58.400 Another passage in Galatians, a whole nother book that talks about taking the law and perverting it, claiming you have to be saved by obeying the law. 00:19:58.559 --> 00:19:59.759 He gets to it in chapter 5. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:01.680 This is a climax for Paul. 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:05.519 He says it was for freedom that Christ set us free. 00:20:05.759 --> 00:20:11.440 Therefore, keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. 00:20:11.680 --> 00:20:17.279 Now, in case you are mishearing me or you're thinking I'm saying, just throw everything out the window, that's not what Jesus did. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:21.680 I'm not talking about the use of the law, I'm talking about the abuse of the law. 00:20:21.839 --> 00:20:23.039 So now let's keep going. 00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:28.480 You've got the burden of elevated rules, and you've got the burden of lowered priorities. 00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:31.039 Luke chapter 6, verse 6. 00:20:31.599 --> 00:20:33.440 This is the second episode. 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:40.640 On another Sabbath, he entered the synagogue and was teaching, and there was a man there whose right hand was with him. 00:20:40.799 --> 00:20:41.599 That's a big deal. 00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:43.519 Not just a hand, but his right hand. 00:20:43.599 --> 00:20:44.880 That's the hand of honor. 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:53.279 The scribes and the Pharisees were watching him closely, watching Jesus, to see if Jesus healed on the Sabbath, so that they might find reason to accuse him. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:20:55.279 I might have mentioned this, they're looking for a fight. 00:20:55.440 --> 00:20:56.160 That doesn't stop. 00:20:56.240 --> 00:20:58.720 It's going to climax to the point of the crucifixion. 00:20:58.960 --> 00:21:00.640 They're looking and wanting accusing. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:02.640 Verse 9 or verse 8. 00:21:02.880 --> 00:21:05.279 But he knew that they were what they were thinking. 00:21:05.680 --> 00:21:14.400 If you remember months ago now, when I talked about Simeon in Luke chapter 1, chapter 2, how it would reveal the hearts of man, this is being fulfilled now. 00:21:14.559 --> 00:21:16.400 Jesus knew their thoughts. 00:21:16.640 --> 00:21:21.039 He said to the man with the withered hand, get up and come forward. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:23.599 And he got up and came forward. 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:33.119 And Jesus said to them, I ask you, is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath? 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:36.480 To save a life or to destroy it? 00:21:37.440 --> 00:21:39.920 Now, once again, uh you probably closed it. 00:21:40.000 --> 00:21:40.640 I should have warned you. 00:21:40.720 --> 00:21:41.519 I'm going to do it one more time. 00:21:41.680 --> 00:21:46.079 Go back to Matthew chapter 12, and let me show you what's added to this. 00:21:46.960 --> 00:21:50.000 Matthew chapter 12 in verse 11. 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:58.000 Same, same episode, almost the exact same words, but in verse 11, he adds a little more. 00:21:58.079 --> 00:21:59.759 He says, he says to him, What? 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:07.680 Man is there among you who is a sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not will he not take hold of it and lift it out? 00:22:07.920 --> 00:22:12.480 How much more valuable then is a man than a sheep? 00:22:13.039 --> 00:22:15.359 So then it is lawful. 00:22:15.599 --> 00:22:18.720 It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:25.839 What the Pharisees had done, what the custom had said was if it's life threatening, yeah, okay, you can heal. 00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:28.640 But if it's not life threatening, so they would have had an inquisition. 00:22:28.720 --> 00:22:37.359 They would have they would have gotten together and they would have said, Now, this withered hand, yeah, it's a big deal, but he had a withered hand yesterday, and he'll probably have a withered hand tomorrow if we don't if Jesus doesn't do anything. 00:22:37.440 --> 00:22:40.400 So let's just let Jesus wait till tomorrow. 00:22:40.640 --> 00:22:42.240 Jesus, this is not a big deal. 00:22:42.400 --> 00:22:44.000 It's not it's not life-threatening. 00:22:44.079 --> 00:22:50.160 Just and then Jesus comes back and says, I think you're missing what compassion and sacrifice. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:23:02.480 I think you're missing about how we're made in God's image and the love of God and how the religious rules weren't created, aren't supposed to be created to harm us, but they're supposed to be for our good and for God's glory. 00:23:02.640 --> 00:23:10.880 I think you're missing that this is about how God works and how man wasn't made for the Sabbath, but Sabbath was made for man. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:18.400 I think you're missing how this is supposed to be how we engage with our Savior and we are blessed by being with him. 00:23:18.720 --> 00:23:27.599 So someone's hunger in the first, and someone's health handicapped in the second, are both telling us the same thing. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:31.039 It matters to God how you're doing. 00:23:31.440 --> 00:23:32.960 He cares about you. 00:23:33.839 --> 00:23:44.160 He is not some sovereign, some king, some authority who's who's way out there on his throne with a little wicked sneer on his face, wondering what you're gonna do next that's gonna you're gonna mess up. 00:23:44.480 --> 00:23:57.759 He is absolutely holy, he is absolutely just, he is absolutely gracious, he has all the compassion, he has all of the mercy, he has all of the wrath, all simultaneously, 100%, all the time, all of his attributes. 00:23:57.920 --> 00:24:05.119 And in all of that, he is looking upon us, and in his love for you, he wants what's best for you. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:10.240 Now, what happens is that we get that twisted in our sinful, depraved, deprived minds. 00:24:10.319 --> 00:24:13.920 We tend to think that that means that what I want for me is what he wants. 00:24:14.000 --> 00:24:15.279 That's not what I said. 00:24:15.920 --> 00:24:21.200 How we define our needs and our wants and what's good and what's bad, it's not what I said. 00:24:21.519 --> 00:24:26.720 He is very, as our creator, as our God, he knows what you need. 00:24:27.359 --> 00:24:30.480 I love the theme this week, Psalm 23. 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:33.440 The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. 00:24:33.759 --> 00:24:44.319 I love the idea of teaching our children and reminding ourselves as adults that this is a God who is close to us, who knows you. 00:24:44.799 --> 00:24:47.519 He knows what you're worried about right now. 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:56.799 He knows your thoughts, he knows your heart, he knows what's going on inside of you, he knows what you need, he knows the burdens that you're bearing. 00:24:57.279 --> 00:24:59.359 He knows the pain that you're in. 00:25:00.160 --> 00:25:02.000 He knows the struggle. 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:07.200 And honestly, he knows the struggles you haven't even thought about that are coming. 00:25:07.519 --> 00:25:12.400 He knows the storm, he knows before the storm, after the storm, in the midst of the storm. 00:25:12.720 --> 00:25:13.519 He knows. 00:25:14.160 --> 00:25:21.920 And his love, his agape love, is strong, fervent, and secure. 00:25:22.960 --> 00:25:32.960 God demonstrated his own love for us in this, that while we were yet sinners, he loves us in the despite, even in the midst of the things that we do. 00:25:33.920 --> 00:25:36.240 When we we see him for who he is. 00:25:36.559 --> 00:25:38.400 See, Jesus could have waited a few hours. 00:25:38.559 --> 00:25:42.400 He could have waited till the next day, he could have, he could have done it in private. 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:47.039 This is his party, and he can do what he wants to do at his party. 00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:49.599 Luke chapter 6, verse 11. 00:25:49.920 --> 00:25:56.160 They themselves were filled with rage and discussed together what they might do to Jesus. 00:25:56.480 --> 00:26:04.960 When your heart and your mind is wrong, when you're filled with that bitterness and that anger, that madness, that folly, you're going to go the wrong way. 00:26:05.599 --> 00:26:10.000 And it's possible this morning, I don't think this is too much of a stretch. 00:26:10.240 --> 00:26:15.519 I think it's possible this morning you've already set your heart, maybe a few, maybe more. 00:26:15.759 --> 00:26:20.240 You've already set your heart that you don't think God believes, God knows, God cares. 00:26:20.480 --> 00:26:26.079 It's possible that you're you're just bitter and you don't want to be healed. 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:28.079 But that's not what Jesus does. 00:26:28.319 --> 00:26:29.359 Jesus heals. 00:26:29.839 --> 00:26:34.799 Jesus comes, Jesus provides, Jesus does what only Jesus can do. 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:42.640 So I'm not bringing you, I'm not asking us as a church, I'm not asking you to come and follow a set of rules, although they have their place. 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:45.039 The law is significant, it is important. 00:26:45.119 --> 00:26:53.359 We're not going against the law or dismissing the law, but we're saying that we come to the gospel Jesus Christ and we let him be our Savior. 00:26:53.599 --> 00:27:00.000 So Luke chapter 6, verse 5, he was saying to them, The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. 00:27:00.240 --> 00:27:05.039 So let me let me work this, untangle this a little bit, and then we'll be finished. 00:27:05.359 --> 00:27:19.279 You see, instead of the wrong view of the Sabbath law and the burdens that those bring, that we care too much about the rules and not enough about people, about not loving God and loving one another, we need the right view of the Sabbath Lord. 00:27:19.440 --> 00:27:22.079 The wrong view of the Sabbath law is what they were doing. 00:27:22.160 --> 00:27:29.839 What we need, what we have to have, is the right view of our Jesus, of our Savior, of who he is and what he is about. 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:42.240 Because then when you come to the owner, when you come to the master, when you come to the big, big, big, big authority and director and sovereign, everything else, everything else will fall into place. 00:27:42.480 --> 00:27:43.680 Let me show you what I mean. 00:27:43.920 --> 00:27:45.599 Real quick, the blessings. 00:27:45.759 --> 00:27:48.240 You had the burdens, but now we have the blessings. 00:27:48.640 --> 00:27:52.319 Turn with me first to the blessing of Christ's glory. 00:27:52.480 --> 00:27:56.000 When he says the Son of Man, he's referring to Daniel chapter seven. 00:27:56.079 --> 00:27:59.680 And I'm going to read this really rather quickly, but I want you to see this. 00:28:00.000 --> 00:28:02.640 Daniel chapter seven, verse thirteen. 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:06.079 Daniel chapter seven, verse thirteen. 00:28:06.799 --> 00:28:16.000 I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming. 00:28:17.119 --> 00:28:21.839 And he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him. 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:41.200 And to him, to Jesus, the Son of Man, and to him was given dominion, glory, and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations, and men of every language might serve him. 00:28:42.880 --> 00:28:52.160 His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, and his kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. 00:28:52.400 --> 00:28:58.559 Now, I I know that we're we're moving at a good little trot here, and I know that that's easy to kind of read and say, Well, that's nice. 00:28:58.720 --> 00:29:01.519 I want to read it again, because you got to see what he's saying here. 00:29:01.680 --> 00:29:02.799 This is Jesus. 00:29:03.039 --> 00:29:29.039 I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven, one like a son of man was coming, and he came up to the ancient of days and was presented before him, and to him was given dominion, dominion, everything, glory, everything, a kingdom, everything, that all the peoples, nations, men, of every language might serve him. 00:29:30.079 --> 00:29:32.720 I'm not telling you this is an option for debate. 00:29:32.799 --> 00:29:36.079 I'm not telling you that this is something you can get a group together and kind of discuss. 00:29:36.240 --> 00:29:37.440 I wonder if we'll serve Jesus. 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:38.799 I wonder if he'll have all dominion. 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:41.920 I wonder if he'll be King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace. 00:29:42.079 --> 00:29:43.440 You don't get to decide that. 00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:46.319 The issue isn't whether or not you determine the truth. 00:29:46.400 --> 00:29:53.359 The question is whether or not you in faith and repentance are gonna believe that Jesus really is who he says he is, but he's not done. 00:29:53.599 --> 00:30:01.759 He says, after he says that all peoples, nations, men of every language might serve him, his dominion, the one that was given to him, this dominion, is everlasting. 00:30:02.000 --> 00:30:03.200 Verse 14. 00:30:03.519 --> 00:30:05.200 It's never going away. 00:30:05.440 --> 00:30:08.480 There's not going to be a point where you say, I wonder if we're gonna have a reboot. 00:30:08.640 --> 00:30:15.119 I wonder if we're gonna have a uh uh impeachment, I wonder if I wonder if he's gonna do something where someone else is gonna have to take his place. 00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:17.759 He will always be. 00:30:18.480 --> 00:30:23.359 He will never not be who he is, will not pass away. 00:30:23.599 --> 00:30:28.720 His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. 00:30:29.119 --> 00:30:38.720 Now, once again, this is the human, fully got, fully human, standing in front of the Pharisees, talking about I wrote this. 00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:41.279 I I created this. 00:30:41.680 --> 00:30:44.319 I made you, I made all of this. 00:30:44.720 --> 00:30:52.720 And you're trying to manipulate it, abuse it, twist it in a way that gives you power and authority when the authority, the glory belongs to me. 00:30:52.880 --> 00:30:55.279 There's one other part, the blessing of Christ's authority. 00:30:55.519 --> 00:30:57.279 Luke chapter 6, verse 10. 00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:04.720 After looking at them all, he said to him, the man who had the withered hand, stretch out your hand. 00:31:04.960 --> 00:31:06.240 And he did so. 00:31:06.720 --> 00:31:08.720 And his hand was restored. 00:31:09.839 --> 00:31:11.359 Stretch out your hand. 00:31:12.559 --> 00:31:14.160 Stretch out your hand. 00:31:15.200 --> 00:31:17.440 Stretch out your withered hand. 00:31:19.920 --> 00:31:21.519 I don't know if you're catching this. 00:31:21.759 --> 00:31:23.039 Because it took me a minute. 00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:29.359 And whenever I question whether or not you understand that, it's because 20 times I've already questioned it and I've got figured out. 00:31:29.440 --> 00:31:30.960 So it's not an assault at all. 00:31:31.039 --> 00:31:33.680 If anything, I'm projecting you got this quicker than I did. 00:31:34.000 --> 00:31:42.079 Jesus told a man who was handicapped and could not extend his hand to extend his hand. 00:31:42.799 --> 00:31:44.640 His hand was withered. 00:31:44.960 --> 00:31:48.160 He told a man who didn't have doing. 00:31:49.279 --> 00:31:53.759 He gave a command, and in the midst of the command, he didn't just, his word is life. 00:31:53.839 --> 00:31:55.200 He didn't just give the command. 00:31:55.359 --> 00:31:59.599 He enabled the man to obey the command in the midst of giving the command. 00:31:59.920 --> 00:32:11.039 He healed a man in the process of the man doing something impossible that he couldn't have done if God himself had not said, I'm healing you, and not done what Jesus alone was doing. 00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:17.200 It was Christ's authority that didn't just give the word, gave the power and the impetus behind the word. 00:32:17.599 --> 00:32:25.440 Didn't just say, thus saith, it's because he thus saith that we are able to, as his children, when he says, follow me, we follow. 00:32:25.599 --> 00:32:27.440 When he says repent, we repent. 00:32:27.920 --> 00:32:31.039 When he says trust in glory, we trust in his glory. 00:32:31.599 --> 00:32:34.960 When he says that we are to die to ourselves, we die to ourselves. 00:32:35.119 --> 00:32:37.519 When he says live to Christ, we live to Christ. 00:32:37.680 --> 00:32:47.119 Not because in and of ourselves we can do this, but because he has the authority, he and he alone, to say, do it and we do it. 00:32:47.440 --> 00:32:50.400 And because of that, he's healed. 00:32:50.799 --> 00:32:53.039 See, that's that's what this is. 00:32:53.279 --> 00:33:03.200 It isn't a bunch of Pharisees on one side and a bunch of religious people in a different denomination or sect or whatever on the other side coming against each other and say, who's right, who's wrong? 00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:05.519 This is man and this is God. 00:33:05.759 --> 00:33:08.319 And God gets to say what God gets to say. 00:33:08.640 --> 00:33:10.480 He gets to give authority. 00:33:10.799 --> 00:33:14.319 He wrote the law, he enforces the law. 00:33:14.559 --> 00:33:15.920 He doesn't break the law. 00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:21.839 If anything, he broke the interpretation of the law that was misinterpreted because they didn't understand it. 00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:26.559 He gives and he provides and he heals. 00:33:26.880 --> 00:33:27.200