Luke The Orderly Account of Truth - Stop! You're Under A Rest - Luke 6:1-11

Father God, we thank you so much for this opportunity to be here in

your name, worshiping you, getting to open your word and hearing your inspired

words speak to us or God. So I just asked that our heart has

been prepared to receive the word that you have for us today, Lord God,

that we are sitting here waiting and anticipating you to speak to us not

only individually, but also as a body of a bought by your blood.

So, Lord God, we give you this time, and we expect and

we're grateful for this opportunity and can't wait to see what you have in sore

for us. We give you all glory, all thanks, all unto your

name. In Jee's name. Everyone said amen. Okay. So we have

been going through a series titled Luke The Orderly Account of Truth. In this

series, we've been going verse by verse through the Gospel of Luke, and

Luke tells us at the beginning of this gospel that the purpose for writing this

orderly account was for basically him to set forth this orderly, play by play

account of Jesus's life and ministry and what it meant and all these things.

And he was writing all these things down for I assume it's a friend or

a homeboy or something like that named Theophilis, and he writes these things down

for him so that Theophilis would be able to have certainty and his faith would

be able to grow and be caught. He'd have confidence in the things that

he had been taught about Jesus. Now what's awesome is that not only Theopolis

has gotten to benefit from that, but two thousand years later, here we

are sitting in a building on a Sunday evening, also getting to go through

this account. And that's what we've been doing, week by week, verse

by verse, going through this account of who Jesus is, why was he

significant in all these things? So we have been going through this series for

several months, and last week I gave a little bit more of an extensive

recap of all the things that we've gotten to cover so far. Today,

like I said, I have a lot to get through, so I'm not

gonna do as large of a recap. But if you did miss anything,

if you've missed the last couple of weeks, if you've missed the entire series,

it's not too late. We've recorded all of them. They're on YouTube.

Available to you so that you can follow along with all these teachings as

we've gone verse by verse. So let's recap for just the last couple of

weeks. The last couple weeks, we've been looking at Jesus's various run ins

with the religious leaders of his day. That was the self righteous, hypocritical

leaders who keep accusing Jesus of breaking the law or not keeping their customs.

And we've seen Jesus basically again and again pointing back to the scriptures or correcting

them or rebuking them in regards where they say you've broken this, and he's

like, what are you talking about? And so we've gotten he's being accused

of violating these laws and they're having these interactions. Last week, we saw

religious leaders specifically accused Jesus and his disciples of fasting, and they said,

we fast twice a week, We do all of these things for everyone to

see us. And well, they didn't say that, but that's why they

did, and that's what made him hypocritical, self rightous leaders. Right,

But they did all these things, and they wanted to know why if they

did these things, these holy people, why Jesus's disciples weren't following in that

practice as well. Jesus basically asks them, well, how could they take

part in fasting at a time of celebration, and that would have been confusing

to them. But what Jesus goes on to teach them, as we saw

last week, is that the bridegroom, the Messiah was there and that it

was a time to celebrate, not with mourning and fasting. But they were

still stuck in their own man made customs and were now missing the Messiah because

of it. Jesus then gave them a parable talking about how you can't try

to patch the new with the old, or the new onto the old without

destroying both. And what we talked through last week is that we can't try

to patch Jesus onto our old life, right, how many of us try

to do that? You can't we try. We were told that we have

put our faith in Jesus and we're this new creation, and we still try

to go like, Okay, well I'll be a new creation in these areas,

but I still like this. And so we talked about how you can't

try and take Jesus and just say I'll take these pieces that I like from

him. But that it's a complete overhaul of our old self that were to

take it off and put on the new life that is in Christ. And

now this week we're gonna look at another accusation and another question brought to Jesus,

but this time it's this time about another matter of the law, of

the Jewish law that was of the Sabbath, the day of rest. But

as we'll quickly see, what the religious leaders are calling the law was their

own inti interpretations and additions that they had made to God's law that ended up

forbidding doing what God would allow and actually want them to be doing. Okay,

so we're gonna look at that. If you're taking notes, today's message

is titled stop you're under a rest. Okay. The amount of times I

got asked if this was a typo, it's fair. I appreciate all of

you guys looking out for me to like dunk it. I mean, yeah,

yeah, thank you. So what we're gonna do. We're gonna read

through our text. It's eleven verses starting in chapter six. We're gonna read

through it and break it down together. This is God's word. Let's read

one Sabbath. Jesus was going through the grain fields, and his disciples began

to pick some heads of grain, rub them together or rub them in their

hands, and eat the kernels. Some of the pharisees asked, why are

you doing what is unlawful on the sabbath. Jesus answered them, have you

never read what David? When he and his companions were hungry, he entered

the House of God and taken the concentrated bread. He ate what is lawful

only for priests to eat, and he also gave some to his companions.

Then Jesus said to them, the son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.

On another Sabbath, he went into the synagogue and was teaching, and

a man was there whose right hand was shrivelled. The pharisees and the teachers

of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched

him closely to see if he would heal on the sabbath. But Jesus knew

what they were thinking, and said to the man with the shriveled hand,

get up and stand in front of everyone. So he got up and stood

there. Then Jesus said to them, I ask you which is lawful on

the Sabbath? To do good or to do evil, to save life or

to destroy it. He looked around at them all and then said to them,

or said to the man, stretch out your hand. He did so,

and his hand was completely restored. But the Pharisees and the teachers of

the law were furious and began to discuss with one another what they might do

to Jesus. So what we're looking at today are two accounts where Jesus has

confrontations with these religious leaders, and what Jesus is going to show them is

both his authority over the Sabbath and the heart and meaning of the Sabbath.

So that's kind of a little bit of an overview. But before we jump

into these two accounts regarding the Sabbath, what is that? What's the Sabbath?

Some of us grew up in church and might have somewhat of an idea.

Some of us may have not grown up in church, and so we

have literally no idea, and that's okay. So what I think is going

to be most helpful before we jump into our text is to actually look at

what God's Word calls the Sabbath. What are they talking about? Where do

they get this thing? Let's go look at that really quick, and then

we'll come back and have context now to break down the text that we're in.

All right, does that sound good? Cool? So we're gonna go

all the way back to Exodus. It's the second book in the Bible,

so all the way at the front. Basically, we're gonna go, We're

gonna look at the Ten Commandments. Even if you don't know them all,

or can't remember them all, or maybe you didn't grow up in church,

you've potentially at least heard of the Ten Commandments and the ten Commandments of the

commands that God had given to his people after saving them from slavery in Egypt.

After God saves them, he tells them that they will be his people

and that he will be their god, and he gives them these ten commandments

to live by. That's the short version of the story. Exodus is much

longer than that. So we're looking at Exodus twenty verses one through seventeen,

and God spoke all these words, I am the Lord, your God,

who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. So

he says, this is who I am, And now he's going to give

them the ten commands. He says, you shall have no other gods before

me. You shall make or not make for yourself an image in the form

of anything in heaven above, or on the earth beneath, or in the

waters below. And you shall not bow down to them or worship them.

For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous god, punishing the

children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generations of those

who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love

me. And keep my commandments. You shall not misuse the name of the

Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone getless who misuses his

name. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall

labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to

the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither

you nor your son or daughter, or your male or female servant, nor

your animals, nor any foreign or residing in your towns. For in six

days the Lord made the heavens, in the earth, the sea, and

all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore,

the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father

and your mother, so that you may live long in the land that the

Lord your God, or the Lord your God is giving you. You shall

not murder, You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You

shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's

house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female

servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

The reason today has a lot of messages. There's a lot of Bible,

which is not a problem. Right, that's a good thing. We get

to go through a lot of Bible. So those are the ten commandments.

And fourth on that list of commandments is to remember the Sabbath and keep it

holy. Now, if you don't see it yet, that's a big deal.

Only third after the commandment not to worship any other God and before the

commandment not to murder someone else, is the command to remember the Sabbath and

keep it holy. To me, that says it's a big deal. Why

if God. If before God tells you not to murder someone or steal or

commit adultry, he says, remember this day, it's a big deal.

Understanding this is also going to help us understanding the Jews of Jesus's day why

they thought this was such a big deal and had such a big uh.

It was a big issue if anyone were to break this commandment. Let's we'll

get it again. That section is verses eight through eleven in Exodus. Remember

the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do

all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your

God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you nor your

son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals,

nor any foreigner residing in your towns. This is why, for in six

days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all

that is in them. Everything he made everything. But he rested on the

seventh day, that after all of his work had been completed, not because

he was tired, because he was done. He rested. And therefore the

Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy. That is our reason.

That is why this day is to be kept holy. So the people of

God are told to remember the Sabbath and keep it holy. And how they're

to do so is by doing no work on that day but resting, just

like the Lord did. After the creator of the unterse made everything in six

days, he rested on the seventh day and were told that he blessed that

day and made it holy. So God's people were commanded to remember that day

and keep it holy and model after God, working for six days and then

taking a day off, And this was taken very seriously by God. Later

in the law we see the severity of breaking this law EXITDUS thirty one.

Observe the Sabbath because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it is

to be put to death. Uh oh right, Like right, all of

a sudden, you go like, oh, that's the you know what I

mean. It's not like I got to bring a sacrifice. It's like,

oh, I am the sacrifice, right, I'm the one getting put to

death. This is helpful context for us to understand why this was such a

big deal. Those who do any work on that day must be cut off

from the people, and that's not just outside the camp that's dead. For

six days work is to be done, but the seventh day is a day

of Sabbath rest holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath

day is to be put to death. They're like, we cannot be more

clear. This is what you are to do. Don't work or you're gonna

die. This day is holy. These are lights are to observe the Sabbath,

celebrating it for generations to come as a lasting covenant. Now, this

might seem like an over the top punishment. Honestly, when we read,

yeah, the Old Testament is specifically the books of the Law, and we're

seeing requirement and sacrifice and ceremony that happens that God requires of his people so

that he can live in their midst we sometimes go like, man, this

all seems over the top. But really the problem isn't with God being over

the top. It's that we and our unfortunate state, we don't understand the

holiness of our God, even to this day. We don't understand how just

how holy He is. So we see things like this and we go like

that seems so over the top. But especially we have a low view of

God. We have a low view of his holiness, and that's an us

problem. God is so holy, and he's so righteous, and he's so

good that evil and wickedness and sin are destroyed from his mere presence. And

so he says, I'm gonna be a part of you. You're gonna be

my people. And if I show up and you're not cleansed from your sin,

y'all gonna die. That's what's gonna happen. So this is what it

looks like to purify yourself so I can live among you and have you be

my people. And here's the deal. God takes his holiness very seriously.

And the reason is is because we should too. We should take God's holiness

seriously. So God is very clear you were to keep his Sabbath day holy.

He's like, this is my holy day. I'm holy, and this

day I'm saying is holy. So act like it. He says, remember

it by doing no work, and it was punishable by death. So if

you couldn't work on that day, what were you supposed to do? Well?

Like we just saw thro'ugh some celebration, celebrating. But let's look a

little bit further. Leviticus twenty three three. It says there are six days

when you may work, but the seventh day is a day of sabbath rest,

a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work.

Wherever you live is a sabbath to the Lord. So God's people were to

rest on this day. But it was also a day where people would come

together to worship their Holy God and enjoy this day of rest to God's glory.

And that's actually as we're going to see time and time again, we've

already seen it through the series Jesus when he's teaching a lot of times it's

in the synagogue on Sabbath. That's when they would come together to worship and

fellowship and then usually go home and spend the time together eating and enjoying God's

day and resting with one another. So all of this was to show that

the Sabbath was a big deal, and because it was a big deal to

God, it was a big deal to his people. We all caught up.

That's why the Sabbath was like, that's what the Sabbath was. That's

what the Sabbath meant to the Israelites of Jesus's day. So now we're going

to get into our text back in Luke. We're gonna look at the first

two verses, a question is brought to Jesus. It says this one Sabbath,

Jesus was going through the grain fields, and his disciples began to pick

some heads of grain, rub them in their hands, and eat the kernels.

Some of the Pharisees asked, why are you doing what is unlawful on

the Sabbath. So once again, here on the Sabbath day, Jesus' disciples

are walking through the grain fields. While they're going through the grain fields,

obviously you're somewhat hungry, start plucking grains, rubbing them in their hands so

that they can get the kernel. They start eating it. Now, the

Pharisees, who have been all over Jesus' case as we've been seeing the last

several weeks, accuse him, kind of by proxy, of breaking the law.

Why are your disciples doing this? What we need to understand. What's

gonna be helpful for us to understand. We talked about this a lot last

week, is that what the Pharisees called the law wasn't just what God had

explicitly said in the Old Testament, but was also how they had interpreted what

God had commanded. What I mean is God said you're not to work on

the Sabbath, but rest and keep it holy. The rabbis and teachers asked

the questions or the question, well, what is work? And here's the

deal. I think that's it is a valid question to go like, if

the punishment is death for working, I would like to be very clear as

day to know what working is, as I would like to keep my head

right. I would like to stay alive. So what is work? Not

an unreasonable question. What is unfortunate, though, is what happened is they

started to interpret what work was, and as they started to define it and

kind of worked through, like, well, what would we quantify as work

on this day to make sure we're not doing it. Once they made their

decisions, they started teaching that as the law as what God required of the

Israelites, which resulted in about one thousand extra laws and commandments of dues and

don'ts for the Sabbath day. That's for one day, the day of rest.

You're like, now there's a thousand things that I can or can't do,

and here's the deal. I have to share what some of them are

with you. Okay, this is gonna be helpful, So you want to

know there what is work? What is work? Well, you couldn't shake

out a shirt on the sabbath because if you killed a spider that's work,

or if you killed an insect, that would be considered work. You couldn't

drag a chair because if it kicked up dirt, that's kind of like plowing,

right, Thus it's work. Okay, It kind of gets more ridiculous,

honestly. Some things are like you can't cook an egg, all right,

not even in the hot sand can't. You can't do it, No,

no workarounds. Other things are you're only allowed to travel three thousand feet

a day from a home, okay, So from a doorway of a home,

you're only you're allowed to travel three thousand feet. But if at the

end of the three thousand feet there is food there that quantifies a home,

and there you now gain an extra three thousand feet, okay. Or if

you're walking in an alleyway and you place down a piece of rope or a

stick that is now a doorway thus a home, and you've gained yourself another

three thousand feet. You couldn't bathe because if you accidentally spilled water on the

floor, that's like washing it. Thus that's work. So we laugh because

we see how ridiculous and burdensome this day would have now become. And none

of these things came from God. They were the commandments of men, taught

as if they were God's word. And do you know who would have known

this better than anyone one? The law giver, the one who made the

laws. Right. So Jesus's disciples are in the field eating grain as they

go along, and the religious leaders start to accuse Jesus of breaking the law.

Now, in the Old Testament, there actually is a there is a

law where if you're a foreigner or someone traveling to a different land and you're

happening to walk through someone else's green field, you're allowed to pluck it with

your hands, no problems. You're not allowed to use a sickle because that

would be considered harvesting and harvesting someone else's field at that right, So it's

like you could provide for yourself if you were hungry. There was these things

in there, So they were doing what was permitted according to God's law,

but not according to the traditions and the additions and interpretations of the religious leaders.

But what Jesus answers when Jesus answers them, which is awesome. We

love when we get Jesus answers. It's very interesting because Jesus does point them

back to the scripture, but he doesn't say, no, see, we

can't do this, or you should know we do this. He points to

kind of an interesting story to make his point. Let's look at it,

Verses three through five. Jesus answered them, have you never read? Which

is like, that's so insulting to a pharisee, Like I didn't even think

about this till right now. Like the amount of times he asks them,

have you read? And they're like the people who are known for having read?

You know what I'm saying. Okay, Jesus answered them, have you

never read? What David did? When he and his companions were hungry.

He entered the House of God, and taking the content crated bread, he

ate what is lawful only for priests to eat, and he also gave some

to his companions. Then Jesus said to them, the son of Man is

lord of the Sabbath. Okay, Jesus. So, Jesus points to this

incident where David was on the run with his companions from King Saul, who's

trying to get him. And they get to the house of the Lord,

they're hungry and they need food. And so if you actually go look at

the story, like there's a conversation with the priests and the priest is like,

are you pure right now? And he's like yeah, And so they

end up giving a bread and all this stuff, and the Pharisees would have

known the situation of the story. But Jesus's point is saying, look,

we're looking at the situation where this is the rule. The bread was only

meant for the priests, and these men showed up and were hungry and we're

fed. Here's a bigger point that Jesus is getting at. Then just look

someone else did, That's not what he's doing. But if we actually look

in Matthew and Mark, there's this same account of Jesus being accused and accused

in question is there also and there's a couple other things that Jesus says that

are not in the Gospel of Luke that also helped provide a little bit more

clarity at the heart of what Jesus is getting at by telling the story.

Well, let's look at Matthew twelve five through seven right after you kind of

gives an example of David and taking the bread. He says, or haven't

you read in the law that the priests on Sabbath duty That meant the priests

had to work on Sabbath in the temple, desecrate the Sabbath, and yet

are innocent. I tell you that something greater than the temple is here.

If you had known what these words mean, I desire mercy, not sacrifice,

you would not have condemned the innocent. And in Mark what he says

at the end of this point, when he's getting called out, Mark two

to twenty seven says, then he said to them, the Sabbath was made

for man, not man for the Sabbath. So what Jesus is getting at

is that man was not created just to keep a bunch of rigid rules for

a day. Right. God didn't make a bunch of people, and his

image is to go like, all right, now, here's what you gotta

do for this random from this day. But that there's an aspect where the

Sabbath was actually meant to be a blessing for man, a day of rest,

rejuvenation, and a holy day unto the Lord. But what the religious

leaders had done was take this day that was meant to be a blessing and

turn it on its head. They'd made it a burden instead of a blessing.

They wouldn't allow people to satisfy their hunger if it meant breaking their man

made regulations for keeping the Sabbath. They would prefer the self righteous sacrifice over

the mercy and compassion of taking care of other people's needs. Jesus calling them

on it, what's better here is Jesus. He kind of plays like the

I didn't know what card it is, the God card. I literally he

plays the card that says like I get to make the call, you know.

He lifts up the badge. I have a higher security clearance than you,

and he says, the Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.

The Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath. First of all, anyone

to call themselves lord of the Sabbath, that would seem kind of out there

in the first place. God is the one who instituted and created and made

the Sabbath. Jesus uses this title for himself, which is actually one of

his favorite titles that are throughout the Gospels, that the Son of man.

He refers himself as the son of Man, which one of the places we

get that from is in Daniel. We're gonna look that really quick because it's

helpful for understanding what Jesus is saying to them. It's crazy, And Daniel

says, in my vision at night, I looked, and there before me

was one like a son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven.

He approached the ancient of days and was led into his presence. He was

given authority, glory, and sovereign power. All nations and peoples of every

language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away,

and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed. That's who Jesus

just said he was. He said, that's who I am, all authority,

sovereign power. I'm going to tell you about the Sabbath. So Jesus

tells him who he is. Jesus is equating himself with God because he is

God, He's the God man, He's God in flesh. So Jesus tells

them, I make the rules. And really what he's saying is I define

this, not you, and I desire mercy and compassion for those in need

on this holy day, he is saying, I define what work is.

He's the law giver, so they're saying you're breaking the law, and he's

saying, I define what we can do. And he's not because he's not

breaking anything. He's just saying, you've added intact on these things that would

now keep us from satisfying our hunger. That's not what it's about, which

brings us to our second Sabbath day. Account Luke six six through seven says

this, on another Sabbath, he went into the synagogue and was teaching,

and a man was there whose right hand was shriveled. The Pharisees and the

teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they

watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. Jesus is

on another Sabbath day, is teaching and there's a man who's there with a

shriveled hand. The Pharisees weren't there to listen to Jesus or to understand him

any better. They're literally sitting there, going like he's gonna say something that

we can get him. I'm sure of it. And then they're looking.

They see the guy with the shriveled hand. They're like, maybe he's got

something else planned. They're literally looking for reasons to accuse Jesus. And this

is a side note, we need to be careful of that. How much

in our relationships across the board do we sit there and not listen and we

just kind of go like, they're gonna say something, they're gonna mess up,

and I'm gonna get them right, I'm gonna this is this is gonna

be a game changer. We need to be careful right because we do that.

Literally, we could do that in our marriages. We could do that

our coworkers, we do our brothers and sisters in Christ. We could do

that to our pastors. We could do that to God. How could you

do this? How can I follow you? If you're like this, We

look for these reasons to accuse. And here's the deal. If you look

for a fault, you will find it. Even if it's unreasonable or uninvalid,

you will find one. It just might be ridiculous. So which is

what we're seeing here. Literally they're like, is he gonna heal? Because

we're gonna get him? And like they would keep this we'll get to it.

Okay, sorry, all right, eight through nine. But Jesus knew

what they were thinking, which is crazy, right, Jesus literally just reading

their minds that to the man with a shriveled hand, get up and stand

in front of everyone. So he got up and stood there. Jesus is

literally about to make a point. He's literally like, you're looking for a

reason to accuse. I'm just gonna give it to you. I'm gonna bring

this guy over here and put him in front of you. Jesus is awesome.

So he got up and he stood there. Then Jesus said to them,

I ask you which is lawful on the Sabbath, to do good or

to do evil, to save life or to destroy it. So Jesus knows

what they're thinking. Now ask them a question, and it's a Jesus question.

Right. We've encountered some of these, and we're only going to encounter

more of them as we go through the Gospel of Luke. Jesus question basically

means you can't answer it without exposing your heart. Jesus is gonna ask you

a question, and depending on how you answer that, it's gonna say a

lot about you. And this, this question exposes the pharisees inconsistencies. If

they answer that it's good to heal on the Sabbath, well, then how

could they accuse Jesus If they're like, yeah, you should do evil.

I mean that just makes you look bad, right, Like, that would

be ridiculous, So they can't say that. But what Jesus is once again

challenging is their notion that to follow their rigid, man made rules is better

than to do good for others. And it's their rules, it's their rules.

He's saying, your rules are keeping us from doing good. These are

not God's rules. And like we talked about last week, when we start

to draw the line farther than where your God has drawn the line, God

says, this is the boundary. Don't do this, don't do any work,

remember me, keep it holy. And then they started to draw the

line. They're like, and that three thousand feet right. We run the

risk of becoming legalists when we do that, teaching others to follow our commands

over following what God actually requires, or even in a roundabout way, prohibiting

what God has given us as a blessing and a gift. God's given you

this day of rest, and you're like, I don't even want to get

out of bed because what if my you know, what if I'm kicking up

dirty like you're like, you know and they find out about it. You

know, like I'm I don't want to be that guy. So now this

day is no longer a blessing of rest and rejuvenation and holy unto the Lord.

It's burdensome. And I really needed to be clear about what I'm saying

is that these there are commands from God that we as believers are to follow.

I'm supposed to follow them and obey them, but they need to be

God's commands, not the traditions or commandments tacked on by men. Okay,

that just needs to be clear, because Jesus isn't saying, like, out

of love and compassion, throw God's lots to the wind. That's not what

he's saying. He's just saying, you're missing it. That's not even the

law, bro. Like that's that's not he didn say, bro, But

like like he's just saying, that's not even it. So preor Jesus,

the Lord of the Sabbath, he is bringing it back to the original line

of the law. And he's trying to teach them the heart of the Sabbath

and God's heart for his people. God is not just a rule giver,

but a blessing giver. Besides, the rules that he gives are not just

for blindly following the letter of the law of it says do this, so

do this, but his what he commands us and what he puts in his

law actually teach us about his heart and who he is, a holy,

righteous, good, and gracious, loving God. And the religious leaders had

taken out all the blessing, all the blessing and made it a burden to

the extent that if Jesus were to heal someone on the Sabbath, then it

would be a violation according to their standard, because by their own book,

once we're going to a couple more loss from them. By their book,

the only healing a physician could do is if the man wasn't gonna make it

past the day, like literally like, ah, I think you got a

couple hours still left in you, right like if they made we're gonna make

it past the day, then the physician would leave it for the next day,

or if a woman was in labor. Those are like the two reasons

that the physician could help. Basically, the way I thought about this is

that the Sabbath didn't cover pre existing conditions like that's that's kind of how that

like worked out and in their book and their mind, right, But thank

God they aren't the rule the real rule makers, because their commands had no

heart. But Jesus's commands do so. Look at Verses ten through eleven.

He looked around at them all and then said to the man, stretch out

your hand. He did so, and his hand was completely restored. Amazing.

Right, we should celebrate Jesus for what he just did. But the

Pharisees and the teachers of the law were furious and began to discuss with one

another what they might do to Jesus. Jesus heals a man. Jesus lets

his disciples eat because they're hungry. Jesus shows compassion in contrast with the religious

leaders. Man made regulations that kept them from showing love like Jesus would.

The things that they had had put into law and tacked on as extra would

keep them from literally just loving other people. Jesus tells us that the greatest

commandment is to love God with everything, and that the second is like it

to love your neighbor as yourself, that all the law hangs on those things.

And I actually heard a pastor say this a while back, and I

was just like, was that if you look at the ten commandments, the

first four are about loving God and versus, and then the five through ten

are about loving other people, about loving your neighbor. And I was like,

oh, literally, is right there? Old dang it. They're like,

ah, okay, you know, you really don't know much, like

that's just kind of way you find out, right, But it's just really

cool, Like it's all been there, loving God and loving your neighbor.

And Jesus doesn't tell them to set aside God's commands in the name of love.

That's not what he's saying, but that the rules that they had added

to God's law kept them from seeing the seeing the love that was in the

law, that this beautiful day is here given for rest, and that is

soul that is from our loving Savior, our loving God. And then they

found a way to ruin it. They took this blessing to the people and

now made it a burden. And I needed the band to come up,

please and thank you and These same accounts that we were looking at today in

Luke can be found in Matthew twelve and Mark two. But here's something that's

actually really cool. When I was reading commentaries, they pointed it out that

before Jesus starts to have these interactions where with these religious leaders who've tacked on

and added all these rules and regulations that were not required by God. Right

before Jesus gets into that, in chapter eleven of Matthew, he tells the

people who are coming to listen to him teach something incredible. It's one of

the I think, honestly, most beautiful and amazing things that Jesus ever said.

Let's look at a Matthew eleven twenty eight throughs. Come to me,

all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and

humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls, beautiful Jesus.

In Matthew, before Jesus starts addressing how the Pharisees have made God's law

burdensom by the additions, he tells the people around him, come to me,

there's no burden, and I will actually give you rest. It's amazing,

and that's rest from the legalistic requirements that were brought by these religious leaders.

And Jesus tells them to come to him and learn from him that not

only would they find rest, but that they would even find rest for their

souls. And what was the fair response to Jesus's compassion. They wanted to

figure out how to get rid of Jesus. Just like they had found a

way to get rid of the rest that the Sabbath was meant to bring.

They wanted to get rid of Jesus, who would provide the ultimate rest.

They got so caught up in trying to follow the letter of the law that

they missed the heart of the law. And honestly, how many of us

do the same thing Sunday after Sunday go to church. It was all right,

I guess it was okay, that was cool. We miss the heart

of all of it. It is a blessing and it is amazing and it

is good. But if we get into the habit of just doing like I

go to church, I gather with other believers, the people of God,

because that's what I'm supposed to do, and we just are following the letter

of the law. We're gonna miss the heart. We're gonna miss out on

the joy and the peace and the rest, and really we're gonna miss out

on the blessing that the Sacred Assembly is meant to bring, that we get

to actually experience with one another. Now here's the deal. For Christians.

There's actually no mandate in the New Testament of which what day is the Sabbath

and keeping the Sabbath and all those things. There isn't an explicit thing that.

Actually, if you look at the New Testament, it seems like there's

more questions about it where they're like, well, some guys like every days

Holy another guy's like, no, it's this one right, So we have

these these different things, But we can look at what they did, we

can look at what their practice was, and what we actually see is that

even though there was no mandate, we know that believers were called to get

together to worship together. And here's the deal. Sabbath can be understood as

one day in seven that is set aside for rest and set apart for the

Lord, and after Jesus had risen from the dead and ascended into Heaven after

dying for our sins. We see that the early Church starts to meet together

to worship and celebrate on Sundays, the day that our Lord rose from the

dead, and they would refer to it as the Lord's Day, which is

actually kind of cool. I heard another pastor talking about it, and how

just even a cool picture is that in the old Covenant you worked six days

grinding it out so that you could finally get rest. But how under the

New Covenant we start our week with rest, and we work out of that

rest for the rest of the week. Those who tried to justify themselves by

works of the law hope to enter the rest eventually at some point, but

they will get nothing. But for those who put their faith in Jesus,

we rest in the finished work of Jesus on the Cross, and out of

that rest of the finished work of Christ, to be good before God,

we now serve others and love others, and show them compassion and mercy.

And Hebrews four six through eleven says Therefore, since it still remains for some

to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed

to them did not go in because of their disobedience, God again set a

certain day calling it today. This he did when a long time later he

spoke through David, And as in the passage already quoted today, if you

hear his voice, do not harden your hearts, for if Joshua had given

them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. Okay,

just bear with me. Right here, this is where I want you to

focus in on. There remains then a sabbath rest for the people of God.

For anyone who enters God's rest also rests from their works, just as

God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest

so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience. When we

put our faith in Jesus, we enter God's rest, having rested from our

works and trusting in Jesus's finished work on our behalf. That is true rest

and brings true rest for our souls. We no longer live our lives trying

to justify ourselves before God so that we can finally just go like, am

I good? Am I? Okay, am I gonna make it? But

we rest and trust in christ finished work, and that brings us rest.

And now we're good. Now what do I do? All right? My

life is good. I don't have to justify myself before God. Jesus already

lived the perfect life for me. Now what now? What am I supposed

to do? And they're not supposed to grind to earn my salvation? Now

I don't know what I'm supposed to do. But we have this opportunity now

that our most fundamental need as a human being to be reconciled before God has

now been taken care of. Well, now we get to offer ourselves.

Say Lord, I've you've taken literally, you've taken care of every need I

have. So what would you have me do? And I'll just do that.

I know everything else is taken care of. Let me do that.

Put me on your mission and out of this rest. I'm going to work.

But how many of us have our own systems in place that keep us

from entering and experiencing the blessing of rest that God has provided. We need

to look at our lives, the most important being that if you try to

justify yourselves by works instead of Christ's work, you will never find rest.

So hear his voice and don't harden your heart like the religious leaders, and

come to Jesus and find rest it's a promise you can go to him with

that. There's also a practical aspects here for us as believers, where do

you find your rest? Because we have an aspect where internally we have found

our rest, and honestly, if we learn how to be satisfied with that,

it would do wonders. But there's other aspects of physical rest that we

should look into. Because God tells us to rest. He said that it

was good that they would rest, and we need to be careful because we

will define things as good for our rest that are contrary to what God would

define as good for rest. Okay, I'm sorry for saying that as hard

as possible. Okay, there are lots of things that we go like,

oh, I'll find rest in this or in this or in this this is

actually my leisurely time, and we don't ask God, what would you have

how would you have me rest? What do you want that to look like?

And a bare minimum we see him say rest from work, remember the

Sabbath, Rest from work. There's a principle there, even if we're not

under the law, rest from your work and keep it holy. There's that

aspect of understanding why we even do it. In the first place. So

when is your day of rest out of seven, the time that you set

aside for God's worship where you celebrate and enjoy the rest that God has provided

for us in Christ and just in this life. And for most of us,

that is going to be the Lord's Day Sunday. And honestly, it's

kind of crazy because in today's world we only for a lot of us,

and for some of us, we only work five days a week, right,

and yet we still find ways to fill up that entire weekend with godless,

unholy, unrighteous, unrestful work. We'll fill up an entire weekend with

that. We have our things that keep us from enjoying the blessing that God

is given to his people. We turn to things like vacations, our kids,

extracurricular activities, our football. Right, this is the best message to

have right after Super Bowl Sunday, right, right, this is the Lord's

work. Just to be clear, we didn't even plan this. It the

Lord's plan, the Lord's will, or other sports. We go to those

things as if those things could give us the rest that we seek or the

rest that we need. And those things aren't bad in and of themselves.

But where is your time to rest in the Lord with his people? And

how do you fight for it? We'll find so many reasons and excuses,

be like today it's not the day I'm gonna go do this other thing that's

really not gonna do anything for me, But we convince ourselves that it will.

Or maybe we're teaching our children what we should prioritize, or what real

rest looks like or where to find it. To God's people in the old

tenn and in a day of rest was number four on the list of God's

commands, but for most of us it'd be number eleven. So when is

that time for you? And how do you keep it holy? And here's

the deal. This is not for rule keeping sake, but this is for

your soul, not in a salvation sense, in just a rest sense.

Literally, God says he could say you have to work seven days a week.

He could say that, but he doesn't. He says, take it

day, remember it, fight for it, keep it holy. That as

God saw it fit to work six days in rest, how much more do

we actually need it? The heart of God and his day of rest is

for our good. It's something to be enjoyed. It's a blessing. But

just like the religious leaders, how are we keeping ourselves from realizing the goodness

of this command and the blessing that it's supposed to bring. God says that

it is good that you have a day of rest, and the Son of

Man is lord not only of the Sabbath, but of you, of me,

of us, And he says, this is what is good for you,

because nothing else is going to give us the rest that we seek.

Nothing else is going to give us the rest that Jesus offers and provides.

And honestly, if we can't see how things like going to church or taking

a day off to rest, unto the Lord, is good, we need

to repent because we've looked at what God has offered and said, I'm sure

I could find something better. I'm sure I can find something else that will

actually give me the rest that I seek. Like we know better than our

creator, we're dissatisfied with what he calls good. We need to not be

looking for a reason to accuse. We need to look for how is this

good? And it's because he has called it good and he's called us to

it. So today, if you hear his voice, don't hearten your hearts,

but seek that which is good, as defined by God himself, and

seek to put it into practice in your life, for God's glory and your

good. Would you, guys please stand