WEBVTT 00:00:07.040 --> 00:00:12.800 This sermon was recorded at Faith Evangelical Free Church in Grand Forks, North Dakota. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:24.960 We've spent a good deal of time working our way through Matthew chapter 11. 00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:32.399 If you stuck with me most of the way, you ought to be fairly familiar with the content of that chapter by now. 00:00:32.719 --> 00:00:37.200 But I'd like to spend just a few moments briefly to review. 00:00:38.640 --> 00:00:44.560 It's important to have that chapter in mind as we continue on in the Gospel record. 00:00:44.960 --> 00:00:52.560 Matthew chapter 11 begins comparing and contrasting, really, the Lord Jesus Christ and John the Baptist. 00:00:52.880 --> 00:01:09.359 Jesus is ministering to people, he's healing diseases, he's teaching, he's instructing, he's demonstrating his deity, while John the Baptist, preparing the way for him, has found himself in prison about to give his life for preparing the way for Christ. 00:01:09.519 --> 00:01:16.239 And Jesus then confirms that yes, indeed, John is the one whom God sent to prepare the way. 00:01:16.799 --> 00:01:34.480 And you would think then that the popular response, the common response, the expected response to this prophetic fulfillment of everything that God had planned, that he had spent decades and centuries and even millennia paving the way for would be received with great joy and enthusiasm. 00:01:35.280 --> 00:01:38.719 But Jesus says that's not the case. 00:01:39.280 --> 00:01:46.959 He painted it in a picture, he said, you know, we, John and Jesus, played the flute for you, but nobody danced. 00:01:47.280 --> 00:01:50.319 We sang a dirge, but nobody mourned. 00:01:51.040 --> 00:02:00.560 So all of this preparation, all of this laying the groundwork and paving the road for the Lord Jesus Christ ended with him being rejected. 00:02:00.640 --> 00:02:06.959 And Jesus then described three different communities who received the most of his attention. 00:02:07.599 --> 00:02:20.879 They had the most of his teaching, the most of his miracles, and their reaction to him was compared to three Old Testament pagan communities, Sodom and Gomorrah, Tyre and Sidon, who rejected anything about God. 00:02:22.159 --> 00:02:25.120 But then Jesus said that God is sovereign over all of that. 00:02:25.439 --> 00:02:27.680 He does what is pleasing to him. 00:02:28.240 --> 00:02:37.759 And so, in the grand scheme of things, those who think that they are wise in this world don't end up seeing the good news of salvation in Christ. 00:02:37.919 --> 00:02:43.919 The Apostle Paul talks about that as there being a veil over their faces that they can't really see clearly through. 00:02:44.400 --> 00:02:50.479 But those to whom God has chosen have that veil lifted to clearly see and believe. 00:02:51.039 --> 00:02:58.639 And then we saw that that authority was given to Jesus, that authority to reveal God the Father was handed over to the Son of God. 00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:02.240 And so Jesus came to reveal God to us. 00:03:02.319 --> 00:03:06.000 And so he commanded us then to respond to his lordship. 00:03:06.080 --> 00:03:30.000 And we looked at that last Sunday on Resurrection Sunday, where Jesus said to us to come to him, to take his yoke upon us and to learn from him, to be his disciples, to follow him, to receive his authority and power and might by rejecting our personal lordship and coming to him, being his disciples, learning from him because he has a light burden. 00:03:31.599 --> 00:03:35.599 Now, what would you expect to come after all of that? 00:03:39.120 --> 00:03:43.520 We might expect to hear an account of discipleship. 00:03:44.240 --> 00:03:48.240 There are three commands come to me, take my yoke upon me, and be my disciple. 00:03:48.400 --> 00:03:56.960 So it would make sense that the next event is somewhat related to discipleship, of following Jesus, a life of being committed to him. 00:03:57.599 --> 00:04:00.560 Maybe we would expect an account of people rejecting him. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:13.520 After all of this, we see that there are communities of people that don't trust in him and that just reject him entirely, but yet still he extends that call to come to him. 00:04:14.159 --> 00:04:20.800 Maybe we would see some description of his authority because all things have been handed over to him. 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:29.040 Or maybe, maybe just the most recent thing, we would expect something about him being gentle and lowly. 00:04:31.040 --> 00:04:33.920 What about all of those? 00:04:34.879 --> 00:04:38.560 All rolled together into seven sentences. 00:04:39.360 --> 00:04:45.600 What about all of that truth, all of that description of the Lord Jesus Christ, what he's done, who he is, all rolled together? 00:04:45.759 --> 00:04:49.360 Well, that's what we have next in the beginning of Matthew chapter 12. 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:51.360 It's all rolled together. 00:04:51.519 --> 00:05:13.680 So if you like to read about Jesus being gentle and lowly, which you should, the book that we gave away a few weeks ago, if you like to study and to know Christ as gracious and forgiving rather than hearing of him being Lord and having an expectation of obedience. 00:05:14.319 --> 00:05:25.759 Or on the flip side, if you prefer to think of Jesus and to hear of Jesus being Lord rather than hearing about his love and his forbearance, being considerate and compassionate. 00:05:26.399 --> 00:05:45.839 If you would rather hear of the deity of Christ rather than his humanity or his condescension and compassion over his commanding supremacy over all things, if you land on one side or the other and you rather prefer to hear one thing rather than the other, then you better settle in. 00:05:46.319 --> 00:05:48.240 Because we get all of it. 00:05:49.040 --> 00:05:52.000 We get all of it right here. 00:05:52.399 --> 00:05:56.879 The text before us brings all of those attributes of the Lord Jesus together. 00:05:57.040 --> 00:06:07.920 We see him expressing supreme lordship coupled with compassion and gentleness, even with rebuke. 00:06:08.399 --> 00:06:17.920 And I trust that as we put all of it together, we're going to be led into a place of humble awe at what God in Christ has done for us. 00:06:18.879 --> 00:06:24.079 Let's look then at Matthew chapter 12, the first eight verses. 00:06:25.199 --> 00:06:32.639 As we'll see in a few moments, the section actually goes all the way through verse 14, but we're just going to deal with the first eight verses this morning. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:40.399 It says, At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath day, and his disciples were hungry. 00:06:40.959 --> 00:06:44.240 They began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 00:06:44.639 --> 00:06:49.360 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said, Hey, aren't you paying attention? 00:06:49.519 --> 00:06:50.959 Look what your disciples are doing. 00:06:51.040 --> 00:06:53.279 That's not lawful to do on the Sabbath. 00:06:54.240 --> 00:07:01.279 Jesus said to them, Haven't you read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him? 00:07:01.680 --> 00:07:10.000 How he entered the house of God and ate the bread of the presence, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? 00:07:10.720 --> 00:07:17.920 Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 00:07:18.480 --> 00:07:21.680 And I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 00:07:22.959 --> 00:07:32.399 And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. 00:07:32.720 --> 00:07:36.560 For the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:37.600 Amen. 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:46.560 Now before we get into what's happening here, we need to get a sense of where we are in the overall scope of Jesus' ministry. 00:07:47.199 --> 00:07:53.439 In our 2021 calendar, we are coming down from the mountaintop of Resurrection Sunday. 00:07:53.920 --> 00:08:06.800 But in the flow of Matthew's gospel, we are just now beginning to see the intense tension that exists between Jesus and the religious leaders of Israel. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:11.839 We have this issue here before us about the Sabbath day. 00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.240 And it's followed on the same day. 00:08:14.480 --> 00:08:23.680 Jesus goes from here talking to the Pharisees to the synagogue, and it's followed by an issue of him healing on the same day. 00:08:24.079 --> 00:08:31.680 So there's this interaction about the Sabbath day, followed by Jesus healing on the Sabbath day, and the reaction is recorded in verse 14. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:36.480 The Pharisees went out and conspired against him. 00:08:37.679 --> 00:08:39.919 How to destroy him. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:48.559 You can see that we're at a critical point in the ministry of Jesus. 00:08:48.799 --> 00:08:57.200 Now it's one thing to think, according to the Gospel of John, John chapter 1, verse 11, that Jesus came to his own people and they didn't receive him. 00:08:57.919 --> 00:09:01.440 That's a certain kind of rejection, right? 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:08.879 But it's taken to another extreme level when those people are out to destroy you. 00:09:10.320 --> 00:09:12.879 That's a different kind of antagonism. 00:09:13.519 --> 00:09:27.679 And this one day, this one Sabbath day is identified by Matthew as a key moment in that shift from indifference or unbelief to outright hatred. 00:09:28.480 --> 00:09:30.559 And we have to ask why. 00:09:31.200 --> 00:09:40.799 What would move people from an indifferent, unbelieving kind of place to one of wanting to destroy someone else? 00:09:41.039 --> 00:09:44.639 What's the big deal about eating kernels of grain on the Sabbath day? 00:09:44.720 --> 00:09:50.080 And why in the next section would healing a man on the Sabbath day be a no-no? 00:09:51.279 --> 00:09:56.960 Well, there are two simple answers to that, and simple answers are rarely enough. 00:09:57.279 --> 00:10:02.320 First, there are some cultural traditions that existed in Judaism that we need to understand. 00:10:02.559 --> 00:10:15.840 And second, there's this growing animosity toward Jesus, specifically from those who were leading the religious life of Israel, who were in charge of those traditions. 00:10:18.000 --> 00:10:25.679 The world of the Bible is really the same world in which we live. 00:10:26.399 --> 00:10:32.000 You see, in this situation, there were some status quo's getting challenged. 00:10:33.200 --> 00:10:37.360 And there were reactions to that status quo being challenged. 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:41.200 Patterns and tendencies change all the time. 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:43.600 They change even within generations. 00:10:43.840 --> 00:10:55.039 So we should expect things between our time and the Bible times to look different, to feel different, to sound a little bit different, but people don't change that much. 00:10:55.360 --> 00:11:05.519 The internal realities of sin and salvation and what's right and what's wrong, those kinds of things don't shift that much. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:12.480 But the way things look, the way things appear, the way things feel, those might be expected to be different. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:18.720 For example, it was very normal for people to walk through grain fields on the way to church. 00:11:19.200 --> 00:11:22.879 Jesus is on his way to the synagogue on the Sabbath day. 00:11:23.840 --> 00:11:32.399 I don't expect that many of you drove right through the middle of wheat fields or potato patches or whatever. 00:11:32.639 --> 00:11:33.840 We don't do that today. 00:11:33.919 --> 00:11:35.840 That was very normal in Jesus' time. 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:40.639 See, there weren't property lines that were distinguished by fences. 00:11:41.039 --> 00:11:50.559 There might be a pile of stones that marked the corner of a piece of property, and a pathway would transect a field right in the middle of it. 00:11:50.879 --> 00:11:56.080 So farmers and landowners would sow their seed right up to the edge of the pathway. 00:11:56.799 --> 00:12:08.559 It's like if you don't mow your lawn, if you don't take care of your lawn, and the grass grows knee high or waist high, it's very easy to walk on the sidewalk and pick that piece of grass with your hand without ever getting off of the sidewalk. 00:12:08.639 --> 00:12:09.919 That's kind of what we're dealing with here. 00:12:10.080 --> 00:12:12.720 Except it's in the middle of a field, and that was very normal. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:16.159 Nothing unusual about that kind of situation. 00:12:16.320 --> 00:12:17.919 And the disciples are hungry. 00:12:18.080 --> 00:12:21.120 Jesus didn't feed his kids before going to church on Sunday morning. 00:12:21.279 --> 00:12:22.639 So they're hungry. 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:25.919 They're looking for a snack. 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:30.080 That's a normal human experience. 00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:36.960 And so if there's if there's some grain growing alongside the sidewalk and they walk by it, they're just going to naturally pick it out. 00:12:37.039 --> 00:12:45.120 They're going to pick the head off the piece of grain, they're going to rub it between their hands to get the kernels out of the husk, and they're going to pop it in their mouth and eat it. 00:12:46.159 --> 00:12:46.879 So it happens. 00:12:47.120 --> 00:12:49.200 A little snack on the way to church. 00:12:50.399 --> 00:12:54.639 Only this wasn't your typical journey to church. 00:12:55.840 --> 00:12:57.840 It was on the Sabbath day. 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:02.559 And that's the sole reason for this conflict with the Pharisees. 00:13:03.279 --> 00:13:10.159 See, it wasn't wrong for the disciples to pick the heads of grain while walking along the path on a normal day. 00:13:10.480 --> 00:13:12.080 That was expected. 00:13:12.720 --> 00:13:17.759 But according to the Pharisees, it was wrong because it was on the Sabbath day. 00:13:17.840 --> 00:13:24.559 And because it was on the Sabbath day, which God commanded us to keep holy, they said, it's breaking the law. 00:13:24.720 --> 00:13:26.080 It's illegal. 00:13:26.720 --> 00:13:32.159 And that is the key to understanding this passage and the one that follows about the healing. 00:13:32.480 --> 00:13:40.799 So if you look down to verse 12, you'll see Jesus sort of concluding this saying, so it is lawful to do good. 00:13:41.600 --> 00:13:47.120 And that passage is healing somebody, it's lawful to do a good thing on the Sabbath. 00:13:49.759 --> 00:13:54.240 That points then to the overall issue that's going on here. 00:13:54.480 --> 00:13:57.600 And it's not that hard to see and to discern. 00:13:58.000 --> 00:14:03.840 There's a question about the appropriateness of things to do on the Sabbath day. 00:14:04.080 --> 00:14:12.799 What's right, what's wrong, what's acceptable, what's not acceptable, what does God allow, what does God not allow on the Sabbath day? 00:14:13.120 --> 00:14:24.720 But there's a secondary issue that goes hand in hand with that, and it's much more convicting to us in our day than an issue of the Sabbath day. 00:14:24.879 --> 00:14:26.159 And that's this. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:36.879 If there is a right and a wrong, if there's a proper and improper element to things to do on the Sabbath day, who gets to decide what's right and wrong? 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:40.559 Who gets to make that call? 00:14:44.320 --> 00:14:52.480 And what happens here is what often occurs today in our lives when similar situations arise. 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:58.399 I don't think that my home is that much different than most of your homes. 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:05.919 Every once in a while, Allison and I will say you don't get to decide that. 00:15:08.000 --> 00:15:13.120 Directed, of course, to people of smaller stature and much younger age. 00:15:15.360 --> 00:15:17.600 That's for mama or daddy to decide. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:25.039 Maybe it's something that that our kids can't really process through and and they're just too young for that. 00:15:25.200 --> 00:15:29.600 Maybe it's maybe it's something that we just need to decide and they don't have any input in it. 00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:31.759 Whatever the situation might be. 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:39.919 Now in our home, as in yours, I'm sure, that that kind of comment can be a problem sometimes. 00:15:40.720 --> 00:15:47.600 There can be a reaction to that lack of involvement, that lack of interaction. 00:15:48.559 --> 00:15:49.840 Why is that? 00:15:50.159 --> 00:15:57.360 Why is it then that when we don't get to have a say in something, we react. 00:15:58.799 --> 00:16:00.720 Often negatively. 00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:03.600 Well it's very common. 00:16:04.000 --> 00:16:08.080 There's a sense of ownership over the issue. 00:16:08.320 --> 00:16:20.960 There's a sense of responsibility over the question at hand, over the problem, over the time that's being spent, or over their own participation, our own involvement in a situation. 00:16:24.080 --> 00:16:31.200 Call it entitlement or ownership or arrogance or just sinful self-centeredness. 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:40.000 It comes down to the right, to the authority or to the responsibility to determine something. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:58.320 And when a decision goes against what we perceive to be the right direction or the proper decision, or what is appropriate, we get bit out of shape, don't we? 00:17:01.519 --> 00:17:10.240 When we when we have something go the opposite of what we think it ought to go, we we don't respond well. 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:15.200 So often even we don't realize that we have expectations until they aren't met. 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:22.240 We haven't processed through things, and then all of a sudden we get bent out of shape and we realize, you know what, I didn't realize I had that expectation. 00:17:23.359 --> 00:17:25.200 And then we react. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:28.880 And this is really hard in in the modern church. 00:17:29.200 --> 00:17:35.759 We tend to be possessive of our churches, like a like a child saying, This is my toy. 00:17:36.319 --> 00:17:38.960 It's this is my church, right? 00:17:41.119 --> 00:17:46.319 And we all have our own ideas about what church should or should not be, don't we? 00:17:47.279 --> 00:17:52.480 We all have our ideas of what Jeremy ought to be doing over there in the garage with our students. 00:17:54.640 --> 00:18:04.240 When we find one of those little yellow foam, styrofoam balls that they have from those Nerf gun fights, we all think, what is he doing? 00:18:06.559 --> 00:18:10.240 We all wonder about the music. 00:18:12.000 --> 00:18:15.039 We all wonder about how long are the prayers. 00:18:16.240 --> 00:18:19.039 You know, the preaching really shouldn't be that long. 00:18:20.319 --> 00:18:22.240 We all have our ideas, right? 00:18:23.119 --> 00:18:26.480 And those ideas are going to change from culture to culture. 00:18:26.799 --> 00:18:44.960 And so when when we come and our expectations aren't met, when our thoughts and and desires and our convictions and desires about what church ought to be aren't met, it feels like the people making the decisions are stepping out of bounds. 00:18:45.119 --> 00:18:49.359 And I'm starting to step where I shouldn't, aren't I? 00:18:52.400 --> 00:19:01.359 And then we we think sometimes, well, there my kids aren't aware of all of the things that go on in the decision-making process. 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:09.599 In our businesses, in our in our families, in church, we don't have the full perspective. 00:19:10.079 --> 00:19:12.240 And that's what happened here. 00:19:13.519 --> 00:19:18.240 Jesus came along and started teaching in the Pharisees' territory. 00:19:18.640 --> 00:19:25.920 Now, nothing that he is and nothing that he does, and nothing that he teaches is wrong. 00:19:26.319 --> 00:19:27.759 It's the exact opposite, right? 00:19:27.839 --> 00:19:31.359 He's the perfection of all of those things. 00:19:32.079 --> 00:19:35.440 But it's not what the Pharisees expected. 00:19:36.240 --> 00:19:42.319 They reacted because Jesus and, by extension, his disciples were overstepping their bounds. 00:19:42.400 --> 00:19:46.240 They were doing something that the Pharisees thought ought not to be done. 00:19:47.519 --> 00:19:55.519 Even about something that feels as trivial as picking some heads of grain and snacking on them on the Sabbath day. 00:19:55.839 --> 00:20:03.359 Now, according to some stricter sects of Judaism, the disciples were committing two offenses, not just one. 00:20:03.519 --> 00:20:05.359 They were committing two offenses. 00:20:05.519 --> 00:20:10.960 In some circles, it was considered unlawful to pick the head off of the stock of grain. 00:20:11.440 --> 00:20:12.720 That was one sin. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:19.039 And the second sin was to actually rub it between your hands to get the kernels of grain out of the head. 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:23.519 And both of those sins would then require a sacrifice of atonement. 00:20:27.440 --> 00:20:29.519 That's not the point these Pharisees make. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:35.759 To them, not honoring the Sabbath as a holy day was the massive deal. 00:20:36.319 --> 00:20:46.640 And in response, Jesus says to them, Yeah, guys, it's not your responsibility to decide whether picking and eating grain is appropriate on the Sabbath. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:52.880 Now it was right for them to honor the Sabbath. 00:20:53.440 --> 00:21:04.079 The Pharisees needed to follow the law of God, and that law of God, as I'm sure many of you could quote back to me from Exodus chapter 20, says, Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. 00:21:04.720 --> 00:21:07.200 Everybody knows this in Judaism. 00:21:08.160 --> 00:21:14.240 Six days you will labor, God said, because he labored for six days in creation, and on the seventh day he stopped. 00:21:14.400 --> 00:21:15.359 He rested. 00:21:18.160 --> 00:21:26.079 But Jesus is pointing this out because things started to get sticky on the definition of labor. 00:21:27.039 --> 00:21:30.799 What does it mean to work on the Sabbath day? 00:21:30.880 --> 00:21:37.680 What does it mean to expend effort and labor on the day that God said to rest? 00:21:37.839 --> 00:21:40.480 And where do we draw that line? 00:21:40.960 --> 00:21:56.799 Jesus informed these religious leaders that they had actually overstepped their bounds in deciding for themselves and for the whole people of Israel that picking grain and eating it on the Sabbath was, in fact, illegal work. 00:21:58.559 --> 00:21:59.759 You are wrong, Jesus. 00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:05.759 Jesus said to them, and you don't get to decide. 00:22:06.799 --> 00:22:11.279 Now we don't see the reaction to this until the end of the next episode. 00:22:12.000 --> 00:22:21.599 But they react like entitled toddl with no intent or desire to exhibit grace or relinquish control. 00:22:21.759 --> 00:22:23.119 But that's that's next time. 00:22:23.440 --> 00:22:28.319 Here, Jesus responds by keeping talking. 00:22:28.640 --> 00:22:32.480 He keeps on going like an attorney arguing his case. 00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:36.079 And he begins with a verbal slap in the face. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:39.200 Have you not read? 00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:43.200 Now, why is that a verbal slap in the face? 00:22:43.279 --> 00:22:45.359 Well, these are experts in reading. 00:22:45.599 --> 00:22:47.440 Of course they've read. 00:22:48.000 --> 00:22:49.519 He's referring to their Bibles. 00:22:49.680 --> 00:22:51.359 These are experts in their Bibles. 00:22:51.440 --> 00:22:58.559 They have spent their lives dedicated to understanding the Bible, frontwards and backwards, inside and out, upside and down. 00:22:59.200 --> 00:23:01.200 Of course they've read. 00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:03.359 Of course they've read. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:10.640 But in examining the wood, they've for some reason missed the fact that there's a tree. 00:23:11.599 --> 00:23:17.440 And in examining the tree, they've missed that there's a whole forest here. 00:23:21.359 --> 00:23:25.200 They thought that they were providing direction for God's people. 00:23:27.920 --> 00:23:33.599 But Jesus says, No, you've actually missed out on what Scripture says. 00:23:33.920 --> 00:23:36.960 You haven't actually read sufficiently. 00:23:38.400 --> 00:23:39.440 See, this is interesting. 00:23:39.599 --> 00:23:41.200 Jesus is challenged, and what does he do? 00:23:41.279 --> 00:23:42.880 He goes back to Scripture. 00:23:43.279 --> 00:23:45.119 He goes back to Scripture. 00:23:45.839 --> 00:23:52.480 Even though Jesus is here in the flesh in this moment, he doesn't refer to his own authority that has been handed over to him by the Father. 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:54.240 He says, What does the Bible say? 00:23:55.599 --> 00:24:02.720 And he says, in your setting up boundaries and in your setting up guides for the people, you've actually missed what the Bible says. 00:24:02.880 --> 00:24:10.319 You see, the Pharisees, by this point in time, had said that people could only walk so far on the Sabbath day. 00:24:10.799 --> 00:24:13.039 Generally about a half a mile. 00:24:14.960 --> 00:24:18.640 How many of you drove more than half a mile to church today? 00:24:19.279 --> 00:24:19.920 Yeah. 00:24:20.880 --> 00:24:21.920 Sorry for you. 00:24:22.079 --> 00:24:23.680 You need a sacrifice. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:30.240 Now this is in a day when they didn't have cars to transport them. 00:24:30.400 --> 00:24:33.119 You had to walk to get to the synagogue. 00:24:34.000 --> 00:24:35.279 But they they limited it. 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:43.839 And they limited how much you could carry because they determined that carrying over a certain amount was labor. 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:51.920 And they had come to the conclusion that you could only carry the weight of a dried fig. 00:24:53.279 --> 00:24:56.000 Now, fig is eh, maybe about that big. 00:24:56.880 --> 00:25:03.839 You dry that, you shrink it, you take all the moisture out, and you're left with a dried piece of fruit. 00:25:04.960 --> 00:25:10.720 That's what you could carry on the Sabbath day without needing to sacrifice for sinning by carrying more. 00:25:10.960 --> 00:25:13.200 Oh, but there was grace involved, right? 00:25:13.519 --> 00:25:22.000 There was grace because if by chance what you carried was half of that weight, you got to carry it twice. 00:25:24.720 --> 00:25:27.279 Half plus a half equals one, right? 00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:31.680 And other sects of Judaism went even further. 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:36.720 The other sects of Judaism said that you couldn't speak any secular words, whatever that means. 00:25:37.440 --> 00:25:39.920 You couldn't, you couldn't dust your home. 00:25:40.079 --> 00:25:42.400 You couldn't lift dust is the term. 00:25:42.720 --> 00:25:45.279 You couldn't lift the dust in your home. 00:25:45.599 --> 00:25:48.400 And if you did, you had to provide a sacrifice for that sin. 00:25:48.480 --> 00:25:51.200 You needed atonement for that sin. 00:25:51.359 --> 00:26:01.839 You see, just like in our world, the strictness varied from group to group, from sect to sect, from group of Pharisees to group of Sadducees to the Essenes, whatever. 00:26:02.079 --> 00:26:11.680 But regardless, this act of picking grain and rubbing the kernels to eat them was thought of as work that violated the law of the Sabbath day. 00:26:12.559 --> 00:26:21.119 The disciples, and thus Jesus being responsible for them, was not keeping the commandment to honor the Sabbath day as holy. 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:30.400 And in response, Jesus challenged these experts in the law to remember a particular piece of Old Testament history. 00:26:30.799 --> 00:26:34.319 He says, All right, you claim that you know your Bibles. 00:26:34.559 --> 00:26:37.599 Let's think about David at a small place called Nob. 00:26:40.720 --> 00:26:41.759 Where's Nob? 00:26:42.079 --> 00:26:42.720 What's Nob about? 00:26:42.960 --> 00:26:44.400 Well, these guys would have known. 00:26:44.720 --> 00:26:54.160 They would have known that because of the involvement of the Philistines, the tabernacle had to be taken down from Shiloh and moved to a safer location. 00:26:54.880 --> 00:26:57.759 It was temporarily set up at this place called Nob. 00:26:58.240 --> 00:27:06.160 And this was during the time when David had been anointed as the new king of Israel by Samuel, but Saul was still living. 00:27:06.880 --> 00:27:11.039 Saul didn't want this up and comer around, so Saul was trying to get rid of David. 00:27:11.200 --> 00:27:13.359 David was on the run with some of his men. 00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:20.160 And one day while he was on the run with some of his men, they forgot to eat breakfast. 00:27:20.400 --> 00:27:22.559 Maybe they didn't eat breakfast, maybe they didn't have breakfast. 00:27:22.720 --> 00:27:23.759 They're hungry. 00:27:24.799 --> 00:27:30.720 They come upon the tabernacle temporarily set up at Nob, and David knows the bread of the presence is in there. 00:27:31.039 --> 00:27:33.599 Well, what's the bread of the presence? 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:37.119 You can look for yourself in Leviticus 24. 00:27:37.599 --> 00:27:43.519 But basically there are twelve large loaves of bread that were to be made and set on a table every single week. 00:27:43.759 --> 00:27:50.400 When the week was done, that bread was replaced with fresh loaves, and the old loaves went to the priests as their food. 00:27:50.720 --> 00:27:52.079 That was a strict law. 00:27:52.319 --> 00:27:57.839 God said, this is what it's for, this is what you do, and it belongs only to those priests. 00:27:57.920 --> 00:27:58.720 It's their food. 00:27:58.880 --> 00:28:02.799 This is holy bread, it belongs only to those holy priests. 00:28:03.119 --> 00:28:06.799 And yet here's David coming along asking, Is there food here? 00:28:07.039 --> 00:28:08.240 Give it to me. 00:28:08.480 --> 00:28:11.519 And the priests give him the holy food. 00:28:11.599 --> 00:28:16.799 And Jesus mentions here, it was not lawful for him to eat. 00:28:17.039 --> 00:28:19.359 Nor was it lawful for those who were with him. 00:28:19.440 --> 00:28:21.359 And notice that Jesus says that twice. 00:28:21.680 --> 00:28:23.200 Those who were with him. 00:28:23.759 --> 00:28:26.079 David had friends and companions that were with him. 00:28:26.160 --> 00:28:27.279 It wasn't just David. 00:28:27.359 --> 00:28:33.119 That might be able to be explained away because he's the newly anointed king, and who's going to say no to the newly anointed king, right? 00:28:34.799 --> 00:28:39.039 But Jesus twice says those who were with him. 00:28:39.359 --> 00:28:41.200 Verse 4. 00:28:42.240 --> 00:28:43.519 And then again. 00:28:45.279 --> 00:28:46.559 Verse 2 and verse 4. 00:28:46.720 --> 00:28:48.240 Verse 2 and verse 4. 00:28:51.519 --> 00:28:55.759 David was allowed to eat the bread of the presence, which broke the law. 00:28:56.240 --> 00:28:58.319 Requirement set in place by God. 00:28:59.119 --> 00:28:59.759 Why? 00:29:00.240 --> 00:29:04.480 Well, probably in part because he was the anointed king. 00:29:04.960 --> 00:29:11.039 So David was not your common person coming to the tabernacle looking for some food. 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:17.119 And Jesus, of course, in this situation is even greater than David. 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:23.839 But the point that Jesus is making here is that David and those who were with him were hungry. 00:29:24.799 --> 00:29:26.960 There was a basic human need. 00:29:28.720 --> 00:29:34.079 That bread, that bread of the presence in the tabernacle was intended for a specific group of people. 00:29:34.240 --> 00:29:37.200 But if the newly anointed king needed it, he could have it. 00:29:37.519 --> 00:29:44.400 But even more, if the people were in need because of hunger, they could have it. 00:29:45.839 --> 00:29:57.279 So if Jesus is greater than David, and if Jesus' followers are hungry, why can they not eat on the Sabbath day? 00:29:57.759 --> 00:30:00.240 See, the Pharisees would never condemn David. 00:30:02.720 --> 00:30:06.160 Why then are they condemning his disciples? 00:30:07.440 --> 00:30:12.480 To look at it another way, the Pharisees don't get to decide what is right and wrong. 00:30:14.000 --> 00:30:24.880 Jesus declared that the Sabbath laws were not ever intended to restrict a person from doing what was needed for life. 00:30:25.920 --> 00:30:29.680 So satisfying hunger on the Sabbath is not sinful. 00:30:29.839 --> 00:30:30.400 Praise God. 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:31.680 Hallelujah. 00:30:35.359 --> 00:30:37.039 How did Jesus do this? 00:30:37.359 --> 00:30:39.200 He appealed to Scripture. 00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:41.759 He didn't say, these are my rules. 00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:43.279 He said, No, what does God say? 00:30:43.920 --> 00:30:45.119 What does the Word of God say? 00:30:45.200 --> 00:30:48.000 And how does the Word of God fit this situation? 00:30:49.839 --> 00:31:01.759 These were people who knew the law inside and out, upside and down, but somehow they had neglected the fact that, oh, there's a situation where somebody got to eat bread that didn't belong to them and should never have been given to them. 00:31:02.079 --> 00:31:04.720 Why was God gracious to them? 00:31:06.480 --> 00:31:07.599 But there's more. 00:31:07.839 --> 00:31:14.880 Jesus gives a second argument in verse 5 that comes with biblical evidence. 00:31:15.119 --> 00:31:22.240 He starts talking about the temple and the priests and the priests sacrificing animals on a daily basis. 00:31:23.039 --> 00:31:24.960 The priests worked hard. 00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:28.480 They were essentially professional butchers. 00:31:30.000 --> 00:31:39.440 If you've ever processed your own animal, whether it's a farm animal, you're processing a beef or you're processing a deer or whatever, you know that's that's work. 00:31:40.000 --> 00:31:44.880 Imagine doing that over and over and over again, day after day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year. 00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:45.920 They worked hard. 00:31:46.000 --> 00:31:52.400 They received animals from the book from the worshippers, they prepared the animals for sacrifice, and then they performed the sacrifice. 00:31:52.480 --> 00:31:59.839 And then get this on top of the required sacrifices of every day, on the Sabbath, those required sacrifices doubled. 00:32:01.759 --> 00:32:06.079 They had to work twice as much, twice as hard on the Sabbath. 00:32:06.960 --> 00:32:07.920 No, wait a minute. 00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:10.319 You can find those details in Numbers 28. 00:32:10.960 --> 00:32:21.440 If God intended to limit the amount of work done on a Sabbath such that his people couldn't even satisfy their hunger, then how come the priests get a free pass? 00:32:23.440 --> 00:32:30.880 When the priests are working double on a Sabbath day, why can't the disciples pick some years of grain to satisfy hunger? 00:32:31.119 --> 00:32:32.480 Fair question, right? 00:32:35.279 --> 00:32:40.720 Verse 5, have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 00:32:40.960 --> 00:32:44.799 I tell you something greater than the Sabbath, than the temple is here. 00:32:44.880 --> 00:32:48.000 And that gives you the key for understanding what Jesus is saying. 00:32:49.359 --> 00:32:53.599 Jewish thought of the time, God stood at the top. 00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:56.799 Nothing and nobody was greater than God Himself. 00:32:57.119 --> 00:33:02.960 So if you were going to say, swear on your Bible like people do today, they would say, God is at the top. 00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:04.319 You're going to swear on the name of God. 00:33:04.480 --> 00:33:09.200 Well, if you're going to do something that's close to that, but not quite that high, the temple's right underneath of it. 00:33:10.640 --> 00:33:13.279 The only thing greater than the temple is God Himself. 00:33:15.039 --> 00:33:16.960 God had established the temple system. 00:33:17.119 --> 00:33:19.759 He'd established the sacrificial system. 00:33:20.000 --> 00:33:23.200 He had commanded that the priests function in certain ways. 00:33:23.279 --> 00:33:27.599 And so all they're doing is being obedient to what God had called them to do. 00:33:29.279 --> 00:33:31.200 It's the domain of God. 00:33:31.359 --> 00:33:34.640 Everything about their work and their lives is centered on the temple. 00:33:34.720 --> 00:33:42.960 And so if the temple service meant working on the Sabbath, the thought that it's okay with God because it's his temple. 00:33:43.359 --> 00:33:45.759 God gives the orders for his temple. 00:33:47.200 --> 00:33:48.880 And what does Jesus say? 00:33:49.200 --> 00:33:54.799 He says, I tell you, something greater than the temple is here. 00:33:56.079 --> 00:33:57.200 Wait, what? 00:33:57.839 --> 00:33:59.680 What's greater than the temple? 00:34:00.960 --> 00:34:02.079 God himself. 00:34:05.759 --> 00:34:07.440 So what are you saying, Jesus? 00:34:07.599 --> 00:34:10.800 Well, in a veiled way, Jesus is saying that he's God. 00:34:12.719 --> 00:34:19.679 But more importantly, he's saying that God has the priority to give grace in the time of need when he so chooses. 00:34:20.159 --> 00:34:26.000 God chooses to do so with his priests in the temple, and he chooses to do so in a time of need for human beings. 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:38.559 In other words, the law of God, as given in the Ten Commandments and as given to ancient Israel, was never intended to be served by human beings, but rather to be an aid and a help to human beings. 00:34:38.719 --> 00:34:53.360 That's why, when Mark records this same situation in his gospel, in Mark chapter 2, verse 27, it says the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 00:34:53.679 --> 00:35:02.480 So if the Sabbath ends up being hard and creating hardship for human beings, something's not quite right there. 00:35:04.079 --> 00:35:16.159 God began the institution of the Sabbath on the seventh day to give aid, to give help, to give rest and refreshment to human beings, not to starve them. 00:35:17.599 --> 00:35:25.119 So if restricting the fulfilling of man's needs is what's happening, then it's going beyond its created intent. 00:35:25.199 --> 00:35:30.000 And so by now we begin to start getting this idea of why Jesus asked. 00:35:31.360 --> 00:35:32.960 Aren't you reading your Bible? 00:35:35.840 --> 00:35:42.559 Because if you were reading your Bible and you were putting all these things together, you would begin to see that what you're saying isn't right. 00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:45.679 He just goes back again and again. 00:35:46.079 --> 00:35:46.880 What does the Bible say? 00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:48.239 What does the Bible say? 00:35:48.800 --> 00:36:04.159 But there's a third argument that challenges the Pharisees' perspective, and it's the second time actually that we've seen Jesus pull out this passage of scripture from Hosea 6, 6, where he says in verse 7 here, I desire mercy and not sacrifice. 00:36:04.559 --> 00:36:12.000 Jesus says, if you had known God's desire for mercy and not sacrifice, well, of course they know. 00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:19.039 They know their Bibles, they know this, they know that Samuel said that to Saul in the book of Kings. 00:36:19.920 --> 00:36:25.840 They know that it's repeated throughout the Old Testament, finding its greatest expression in Hosea 6, 6. 00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:36.079 It comes up in Matthew chapter 9, verse 13, where Jesus was confronted by the Pharisees saying, Why in the world are you eating supper with those tax collectors and those sinners? 00:36:36.559 --> 00:36:37.920 They're the scum of the earth. 00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:39.119 Why are you spending time with them? 00:36:39.199 --> 00:36:45.679 And Jesus said, Don't you know that this is the living out of God's desire to show mercy? 00:36:47.679 --> 00:36:48.880 Why do you need to learn this? 00:36:48.960 --> 00:36:50.719 You ought to have known this already. 00:36:51.119 --> 00:36:55.360 You who read your Bible, you who know what God expects, why do you not know this? 00:36:55.440 --> 00:36:57.280 And so he brings it out again here. 00:36:57.519 --> 00:37:10.960 Even in your own law, if you knew it well enough, it declares that God prefers showing mercy to those in need versus demanding obedience to law when there is a strict need. 00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:13.519 So this is a matter of authority. 00:37:13.760 --> 00:37:16.719 Who has the right to declare what's right or wrong? 00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:22.239 Who has the right to declare whether something is legal or illegal on the Sabbath day? 00:37:22.960 --> 00:37:32.960 According to the Jewish people, according to the Old Testament, only God had that right. 00:37:35.039 --> 00:37:37.599 So what do we see happening here? 00:37:38.960 --> 00:37:46.800 We see Jesus saying to everybody, I'm the one that calls the shots here. 00:37:49.519 --> 00:37:52.880 Now why is it important for us to start in chapter 11? 00:37:53.760 --> 00:38:04.880 It's important because all things have been handed over to the Son in order to reveal the Father. 00:38:06.320 --> 00:38:08.719 And so Jesus is living that out. 00:38:09.199 --> 00:38:11.920 He's saying, all things have been handed over to me. 00:38:12.000 --> 00:38:12.800 Do you know what that means? 00:38:12.880 --> 00:38:15.360 That means I am Lord of the Sabbath, even. 00:38:17.360 --> 00:38:29.840 You don't have the right, the authority, the power to decide what's right or what's wrong about the day that I made to help you. 00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:39.039 If only you would have read your Bible a little bit better and been a little clearer on it, you would have understand that you're going too far. 00:38:40.639 --> 00:38:42.400 So this is a matter of priorities. 00:38:42.639 --> 00:38:43.920 What are the priorities? 00:38:44.079 --> 00:38:46.079 What is the intent of God's law? 00:38:46.239 --> 00:38:51.360 The intent is to drive people to Him, not away from Him. 00:38:51.679 --> 00:38:55.039