Matthew pt. 40- Legalism, Sabbath, and the Easy Yoke

Matthew chapter 12. Matthew chapter 12.

Matthew 12 · chapter mention Matthew 12 · chapter mention

We're in verse one. Let's remember though, right

where we came from, Jesus has been praying.

Father, I thank you that you've hidden these things from the

wise. That means people who think

they're super smart. You've hidden it from the

prideful. You reveal things to the humble

and then Jesus speaks to the humble and he says, come to me,

all you who labor and are heavy laden, I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon me. Learn from me for I'm gentle and

lowly in heart and you'll find rest for your souls.

My yoke is easy. My burden is light at that time.

Chapter 12, verse one. At that time Jesus went through

the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and

they began to pluck heads of grain to eat.

But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, look, your

disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.

He said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was

hungry, and those who are with him, how he entered the House of

God and ate the bread of the presents, which was not lawful

for him to eat, nor for those who are with him, but only for

the priests? Or have you not read in the law

how on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the

Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you something greater

than the temple is here. And if you had known what this

means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice.

You would not have condemned the guiltless, for the Son of Man is

Lord of the Sabbath. Amen.

God, thank you so much for not just being Lord of the Sabbath,

but Lord of everything. You're Lord of the universe and

anything beyond it. You're Lord of all the King of

every little king on earth, the Lord of every little Lord on

earth. Every authority, every authority

structure that exists anywhere has been something that you

established and you put into place for the purpose of Your

glory in God. The Sabbath is no different.

It was for the purpose of your glory and it was to be a gift to

your people that bring us revelation today.

Not just on the Sabbath, but on the freedom that your law gives.

Not the bondage that it brings, but the true freedom that comes

from a loving, hungry obedience. Open our eyes, set us free in

Jesus name, Amen. We're going to talk today about

two things. We're going to talk about

legalism, a term I'll define for you, and we're going to talk

about the Sabbath and understanding what both of these

things are. Have you heard the term legalism

used before? Have you been in in the faith

for a long time? You've heard that used before.

If you've been, if you're new to the faith, you know what is What

is legalism? How are we going to?

Define that. What does it mean?

Legalism is typically defined in two ways.

When we're thinking about it theologically, what are the ways

that it shows up? One of them is the strict

excessive observance of commands in an attempt to increase

righteousness. So this definition, by this

perspective, it would say if I do blank, then I will be more

righteous. Basically it's saying if I do

this thing, then I will earn favor with God as a degree of

legalism. This is how really every world

religion functions except for Christianity, because every

world religion, every cult is all about what you must do.

You have to do this thing to earn this favor.

You have to do this thing to earn that favor.

Christianity says God has done this thing and giving you favor

through His Son Jesus Christ, you put faith in Him.

Oh, so I do. Something that doesn't count as

doing something that is just the normal grateful response of

someone who's been given everything.

So this idea would say, you know, oh, sorry.

What I wanted to say was this is how every world religion

functions. But even Christians can fall

into this trap at times. And we must be corrected and

relieved of this heavy lie with the truth of God's word, which

tells us that we have favor with God only because of the blood of

the Lord Jesus. So no more if, if I pray so

long, if I read enough Scripture, if I go to church,

this kind of legalism says I'm closer to God because of what I

do. But it's tricky because it

almost never says it that plainly.

So even when you're being legalistic in your behaviors, if

someone were to come to you and say, hey, you really think that

what you do takes you closer to God?

And they would say, no, no, no, I don't believe that.

I just believe that, and then they would proceed to explain

that functionally that is how they're behaving.

So it's a tricky thing. It can be a deceptive thing.

This first kind of legalism is so terrible because it minimizes

Jesus and his cross. It makes the the religion of

Christianity. It makes it a dead religion like

every other religion. It makes it empty, it makes it

void and it goes, well, Jesus did his part, but I have to do

my part too. No, no, you are as close to God

as you can be as far as he's concerned, because you're in the

Kingdom and you can't get any closer than in the Kingdom.

Well, I want to build fellowship with him, Pastor, as well you

should. So build fellowship with the

Lord and there's ways we build fellowship and build

relationship. But you're standing and your

righteousness has been earned and has been secured and that is

not a ladder that you can climb up and climb down.

Your wisdom and your maturity can change over time, hopefully

always for growth. But your position in Christ has

not changed. It will not change the day you

die and go to heaven. It will not be a better position

in Christ. It will be the same thing that

he secured for you on the cross that He is now also made in,

made a reality inside of your spirit.

Your spirit when it was born again, it doesn't get a new kind

of born again in heaven. There's no more change that's

going to happen with your spirit when you get to heaven.

It is secured and finished and perfected and you go, well, I

don't always experience this fruits well, because you also

still have flesh, which is why we still renew our mind with the

Word of God, because my mind is constantly being unrenewed just

because of my own flesh. The world, the devil, there's a

lot of factors that could come at play there.

So I need to continually renew my mind with the Word of God.

So we're not going to confuse a pursuit, a loving pursuit, with

a dead religion, but that's the distinction.

It is a heart disconnected. The second kind of legalism is a

separation of God's law from the separation of God's law from

God. It separates the law of God from

God, and it just says, here's the law.

I'm going to focus on the law. You go, well, it was never

intended to be a thing all by itself.

It came from someone and it came with a purpose.

The law isn't just something that exists by itself, you know,

natural human laws that we've created in our court system and

that environment. Yes, The law only cares about

the law. That's it.

The law doesn't care about what's right and wrong in the

earth. Do you understand that?

Because anyone could put any law on the books it could be written

in, and now it's the law. And that judge and that jury,

they're supposed to judge exclusively based upon the law.

The law only cares about the law.

But not so in the Kingdom. In the Kingdom, the law giver

matters above everything, and the law givers intent matters

above everything. So the second kind of legalism

divorces the law of God from God and also from its actual

purpose. It focuses on the letter of the

law without the spirit of the law.

It obsesses over rule keeping to the exclusion.

This is a distinction. Aren't we supposed to keep God's

rules? Yes, but it focuses on that to

the exclusion of people's needs and God's grace.

It says the law, the law, the law, the law, the law, no matter

what, the law, instead of hang on a second, what about human

compassion like God has? Hang on a second, what about

wise application like God makes? And we're going to see if, if

you're a little bit suspicious, I don't blame you, but I'm going

to show you where Jesus signs off on all of this.

He, he's already done it in the passage we already read, He

signs off on a law, a technical law that was broken by David and

by the priest that day and Jesus gone.

Haven't you read that this happened?

So this kind of second kind of legalism, this means that you

often go into a Gray area where Scripture gives a principle.

Scripture says, hey, here's the principle.

Then you make an application, which isn't wrong.

You're allowed to make application, you should.

But then you take your application and you say this is

everybody's application. This is the standard, so the law

says this thing. But then you go beyond that, you

say, well, therefore that means all of this for all of you.

You go, well, there's room for there's room for some Gray

there. I don't like that.

I'm, I'm a black and white kind of guy.

I don't like Gray. But I have to admit when there

is Gray and you and I do, you and I both have to do that.

So this could mean we push something to an extreme and then

we label it sinful for everyone. You're sinning.

Well, no, Joe Michael, that's that's a conviction that you may

have. The principle from the word is

this, my brother, are you really obeying that?

Well, let's let's navigate that together.

Let us reason together and care for one another as Christians

sharpening one another. But that's a different thing

from saying this is the standard for everybody.

This is what God says. Hang on, is that what God is?

Is that what he said? Yes, it is.

OK. Well then case closed.

Is that what he said? No, it's not OK.

Well then case open. You know, there's there's

opportunity here for discussion and a wise counsel.

What might be a personal conviction for you or, or what

might even be good and wise and self controlled behavior for

you, you then claim is God's will for everyone.

And this is where we've gone too far.

What we're doing is adding to God's law.

This second kind of legalism is so terrible because it puts

heavy burdens and difficult yokes on people.

The very thing that Jesus was just talking about that he

doesn't do the very thing he was just inviting, he say, are you

heavy laden? And he knew the answer for a lot

of listeners was, yes, yes, we're heavy laden.

Yes, there's so much burden. There's so much difficulty

that's been placed on us. There's so much weight that the

Pharisees have put on us. The Pharisees would say, this is

the law of God, and you don't ever want to disobey that.

And everybody says, Amen, that's right.

That's actually freedom. That's actually protection.

That's actually blessing. And the Pharisees would then

say, so since this is the law of God, we're going to put this big

fence around it to make sure you never even get within 100 yards

of it. But God didn't say this. 100

yards was off limits. God didn't say you couldn't look

at the tree in the garden. He said you can't eat of it.

So Eve, by the time she's talking to the serpent, she says

God says we can't even touch it. Did God say you can't touch it?

Actually, he didn't say you couldn't he.

Said don't eat it. Well, it's not wise to touch it.

I could see your argument for that.

And yet that's not what God said.

So there's distinction there. I think there's some stuff

that's wise by all means. You can think that there's some

stuff that's wise and that's my conviction.

Then you should follow that, and you should also make sure you

can see the difference between the commands of God and the

wisdom that you might apply to His principles.

But people are burdened and heavy laden with many things,

and Jesus comes to set them free.

He does so over and over and over as he takes the yoke of the

Pharisees off of them. And Jesus says, come to me, take

my yoke upon you. I'm not a harsh taskmaster where

the Pharisees are going, hey, I noticed you did this wrong.

I know you're doing that wrong. I know what you're doing this

wrong on the Sabbath or that wrong on the Sabbath?

The Sabbath, which is intended to be a day of for God's people,

turned into a laborious effort day.

It became work to rest on the Sabbath after the Pharisees had

finished putting their rules around the Sabbath.

Do you see how stupid that is? People dreaded the Sabbath at

this point because it was so much effort to keep.

Because there was so much. You can only walk so many steps.

But then they make disclaimers. There's all kinds of Jewish

rules that they still keep to this day that allow them to

break Sabbath rules with their clever twists and turns.

Why? Because it's not about.

A heart submission who loves the Lord and who's after the spirit

of the thing. It's after the technicality.

You can take like 3000 and some steps, but you can't go beyond

that unless you take food with you because then you're

preparing. A meal and then that would.

Give you this loophole. It's nonsense.

Why? Because the human heart's always

looking for rules, regulations, and ways that it can be

victorious, where it can be prideful, where it can

accomplish, when really the human heart should be submissive

and say, Lord, the Lord is calling me into rest.

We're going to talk more about that.

But the Jews had done this very thing in our passage.

They had created a legalism, as we can call it.

Legalism isn't a word you'll find in your Bible, but it's one

that we've used to describe certain behaviors.

So the Jews had come up with all kinds of rules for the Sabbath.

This, the Sabbath is the 7th day of the week.

The Sabbath is Saturday. Technically, this was the this

is truly the day that the Lord rested on.

It was Saturday was the day that the Lord rested when he created

the heavens and the earth. He gave rest as a principle for

us In Genesis 2, two and three it says, and on the 7th day God

finished all the work He had done, and He rested on the 7th

day from all His work that He had done.

So God blessed the 7th day and made it holy because on it God

rested from all His work that He had done in creation.

We need to make clear God didn't rest because He was tired.

He never grows weak or weary. Amen.

He rested as an example to gift to His people.

He says, I'm going to show my people the principle of Sabbath.

I'm going to give them a gift of Sabbath.

Why? Because He's so kind.

Because His yoke is easy and His burden is light.

That was the purpose. Sabbath is supposed to be an

actual gift. This gift is so important to Him

that later He would include it. Even in the 10 commandments,

which we still obey today, The 4th commandment tells us,

remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

So the Sabbath was set aside for rest and for worship.

That's the heart, that's the spirit behind Sabbath.

Hey, rest and worship. That's the thing.

And then God begins to add other rules around it.

Why? Because he knows that people are

going to continue to violate it. He knows people are going to,

Hey, I want you to rest. I want you to Sabbath, I want

you to rest, I want you to worship.

Let this be a day of pleasure and, and rest and worship and

fellowship with the Lord and people go, well, can I this, can

I that, can I ask? So God says, all right, I'm

going to put some boundaries on this.

But then the Pharisees said, well, we're going to put

boundaries on the boundaries. And it just never stops.

It keeps expanding. It goes farther and farther and

farther until you're so burdened you're going.

Can I do this? Can I do that?

I'm walking through a field. Can I grab some grain as I walk

and crush it in my hand and blow out the chaff and eat it?

No. Why?

Because you're now harvesting, which is forbidden on the

Sabbath. Is that true?

Well, we're going to find out. So he didn't rest because he's

tired. He rested as A to give us a

gift. The Sabbath is set aside for

rest and worship. A relief to you, a blessing to

you, a gift to God's people. The problem is that the Jews had

added 39 additional Sabbath laws specifically for the Sabbath

day. 39 Why? To make sure you keep the

Sabbath. What?

Can I just keep the Sabbath and obey the Lord?

Well, we're going to make sure you do.

We're here to help. We're like the government.

We're here to help. That's bad news. 39 more rules

that you can keep. They made the day of rest a day

of difficulty. That's what legalism always

does. It puts a heavy burden on you,

or Jesus only put a light one on you.

And Jesus's light burden was even a blessing.

Burden isn't the perfect word for it because Jesus's burdens

actually produce freedom. Holiness produces freedom in

your life. Holiness produces complete

relief, a real a relief of a clean conscience.

Come on, who's had their conscience cleansed and

sprinkled by Jesus? That clean conscience of going,

That's freedom. You mean I can't do this and I

can't do that and I can't do this.

That's the heart that is still seeking sin.

But the heart is walking and holiness is going.

What a. Relief that I'm free from sin

now versus the person who goes What am I allowed to do?

How far might I be able to go? Why would you want to go into

bondage? No, I don't want bondage.

Just want some fun sin. There's no such thing.

It's bondage. You're asking for slavery.

You just want like a small. Degree of slavery, just maybe a

little bit. I don't think you've really seen

Jesus yet. Then if you think that's

pleasure, then your, your taste buds are really off like your,

your whole perspective, your, your, your mind is so still

unrenewed. You need to, you need the word

of God to renew your mind so you can actually know what's good,

what's true and what's beautiful because you have a distortion,

you have perversion inside of you that's telling you something

backwards and wrong. I don't say that to condemn you.

I say it as a good news to know that, hey, you think that's good

and you go, OK, good news, there's something way better.

I'll put it to you that way for now, friend.

There's something way better. I can't even imagine that.

I know you can't, but you will. And trust me, it'll be

beautiful. It's going to free you of things

that you didn't even know you needed to be freed of.

That's the burden that Jesus gives.

But legalism always puts a heavier burden on you.

It always puts more work on you, more performance on you.

It puts an uncomfortable yoke on you that doesn't fit well where

Jesus has already custom made one for you that fits perfectly

already the the burden of someone else.

And they said, hey, let me lay this burden on you.

Hey, Chris, I've got this conviction.

I'm going to put it on you Now Chris is going, oh, that's not

quite, it's jabbing into my shoulders wrong.

It doesn't fit. You know, Joe Michael's a really

broad guy. You know, Chris is like so small

compared to me and like it just doesn't fit in right.

So it's just not the right yoke. Whereas Jesus makes a custom

fitted one, says, hey, hey, Chris, I'm going to lead you.

I'm going to lead you in your walk with me because Chris's

walk with Jesus is different from Joe Michael's walk with

Jesus. They should both be obedient to

the Bible and yet they're both going to be in different places

as they grow and as they walk. And Lord's going to say, I'm

training this son in this direction right now, and I'm

training this son in that direction right now.

I'm not training all of my sons in every possible direction at

all times. Why?

Because his sons aren't capable of that.

His daughters aren't capable of growing and walking that way.

We can't do everything all at once.

And he's gentle. He's gentle.

He's not going. We got to get this show on the

road. He's a shepherd of sheep.

So he says, hey, here's some food.

Come over here and eat now. Now I'm going to lead you to the

river. Now we got to walk through this

valley. I'm with you.

Don't be afraid. Now I'm taking up on the

mountain one step at a time. Stay with me.

Come to me. It won't be burdensome.

I'm with you. So look in verse one and two.

At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath.

His disciples were hungry and they began to pluck heads of

grain to eat. But when the Pharisees saw it,

they said to him, look, your disciples are doing what is not

lawful to do on the Sabbath. Why are the disciples in the

grain fields? Maybe they're just passing

through. Maybe Jesus said that

deliberately. Hey, let's walk through as we

go. Why?

Because in this culture, you eat when you can eat.

They don't have food in the refrigerators like you and I do.

They don't have the pantry that you and I have.

So when you're just walking and going about your day and you see

blackberries on the Bush, you go, praise God, thank you, Lord,

and you go eat some blackberries.

You grab a couple and then you're walking and eating some

blackberries. You got the food when you could

get the food because you're not going to go, Oh, we'll, we'll

hit the market on the way home, right.

Are we hitting the market on the way home?

Then when I hit the market, what are we doing today?

BBQ, let's go. So so we got BBQ way into the

house. But they would say, man, if we

see anything a little, oh, there's a wild strawberry.

I'll take that. Oh, a little bit of grain.

Thank you, Lord. So they're just taking what they

can as they go, which is lawful, by the way, according to the law

of God, which was completely lawful.

So they're walking through getting food where they can get

food. And the Pharisees say your

disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath.

Why are the Pharisees in the green fields?

What are you guys doing there? They hiding like haha I knew it

and we don't know or the field. Super small and they were just

walking by and on. Look at those guys.

I saw one guy do this and he Sabbath violator.

Bro, what do you think that was the point of the Sabbath?

You think that was what the Lord was after that a guy can't go

because he's harvesting. Look at the harvesting.

No, the law is that you can't take a blade and harvest.

We know the difference, right? Between a work day, right?

So. I knew the same thing for me.

You know what's what's it really look like?

Am I, you know, is is it really working on your Sabbath day?

Monday is my day off. That's my Sabbath day.

That's the day I've marked is mine.

You you mark whatever one you want for you.

I'd recommend for most folks at Sabbath is is great for Sunday

for many people, but I check one e-mail tomorrow.

Have I violated it? Are you?

You're working like. Well, yeah, I popped open my

phone for a minute. Well, my conviction will be not

to do that at all. Then by all means, you should

obey and follow your conviction. No big deal.

Well, I don't know if I should. I don't know if I could.

Well, you're, we're all going to answer to the Lord.

That should scare you more than the opinions of man.

But what does work look like? What does rest look like?

Is this Sabbath? Is this work?

Have we made this thing a legalistic burden?

Or is this thing the joyous pleasure that it should be, the

refreshing and Worshipful time that it should be?

Your disciples are doing what's not lawful to do on the Sabbath.

Whose law says that? Does God's law say that or does

your law say that? Pharisees, according to God's

law, they were actually allowed to do what they were doing.

The Pharisees were referring to their own man made rules.

It's interesting though, Jesus doesn't even call them out on

that. He doesn't even say wrong wrong

and then quote the verses where you can say we're allowed to do

this and here's how we know. He proceeds to be sarcastic and

insult them. We'll get to that in a second,

but the Pharisees were referring to man made rules.

So here's the point we want to make.

We don't reject wisdom that we've learned and we don't

reject self-control that we've developed.

Your own convictions for wisdom and your own convictions

regarding self-control are yours to embrace.

That is the yoke that the Lord has put upon your back as a

blessing and a gift to you. And you go, I've developed some

wisdom in this area and maybe I can share this with some other

Christian brothers and sisters who are open and receptive and

we can have dialogue and you say, hey, something I've found

that's really helpful for me in walking in obedience to the

Lord's command, which is non negotiable.

Here's the way that I've found that is really helpful for me.

That's very important and very different from this is the way

you must obey the Lord's command.

Those are two separate things this.

Is the way you must. Obey that command versus this is

the way that I've walked in obedience to that and seen a lot

of blessing to it and it's really helpful to me.

That first believer might have shared it in faithfulness with

the next, but this one then might go on and share it in

foolishness to the to the third party.

You see how that can happen? No, the way you're.

Supposed to do it, you know, you heard your Michael say something

one time and you're like, oh, that's helpful to me but then

you go as you're discipling somebody else and you go this is

the way it must be hang on a second.

The word must be obeyed, and what it looks like, maybe

there's a little bit of. Maybe there's a little.

Bit of freedom in that some commands there isn't some

commands there's not it's, it's really clear and really simple.

Not much conversation to be had. But others there's a lot of

freedom and a lot of opportunity.

So we don't reject wisdom and self-control that we've

developed. That is a blessing of a yoke

that Jesus puts upon us to lead us into peace, to lead us into

rest and to lead us into worship to him.

But we also cannot go beyond God's commands.

Say I cannot go beyond God's commands.

We often bring legalism on to ourselves.

We do this. We might read a book or we hear

a story from a mature Christian that we admire and they say, I

do it like this. And we go, that is the way it

must be done. Now hang on, don't do that.

That was a wise way. That's been a blessing to them

and their life and their culture with the kids that they have

with their work schedule that worked well for them.

Does that is that a yoke that the Lord's putting on you?

I think it is. It seems good to me.

Let me pray and ask that fits perfectly.

Praise God. What a blessing you've received

in direction from the Lord through one of his Saints.

Or maybe you took that thing, you modified it a bit.

You go that doesn't quite work, but this would this feels like

rest from the Lord. And then also we've got to be

careful what the feels like because the the bottom line

question is, is the Lord's command being obeyed?

Are the Lord's words being obeyed?

If the answer is yes, then praise the Lord.

Enjoy the freedom that that the Lord has brought to you.

This rest. This is rest that the Lord wants

to bring to you, not a heavy burden.

You feel heavy burden, heavy laden for all kinds of things.

The Lord wants you to be free of that today.

So we hear that story of that St.

They I wake up at 5:00 AM, they say.

I pray for an hour, they say, and now we feel condemned.

That's what spiritual growth looks like.

That's what loving the Lord looks like.

The command is love the Lord your God with all your heart,

soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself.

Here's how you do it. Well, there's a lot of wise

approaches there. There's a lot of good conviction

around it. But be careful not to put a

burden and a yoke on yourself that Jesus didn't put there,

that St. didn't even tell you. You have to get up at 5:00 AM

and pray for an hour. But now I feel like I'm failing.

Or you don't read 3 chapters a day in your Bible.

Man, I'm only reading 3 verses. Oh no.

What command have you violated here?

None. You violated no command of the

Lord. Is it good to pray?

Is it good to read your Bible? And obvious, yes.

But don't go beyond what the Bible teaches.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and

strength. I'm falling short on that

constantly. All right, So, Lord, what would

what would the next step look like for me as your sheep?

Jesus, put your yoke on me. Put your burden on me that I can

bear. That will fit perfectly.

That will feel good. The backpack that even just fits

perfect. It's got the straps on it.

You're like, man, I feel good. I feel like I'm ready to go on a

hike. Got me a cool new backpack.

Is that just me? I'm the only guy who OK Matt's

like this. Me too, bro.

I get a new backpack. It's time to go.

Like I feel like I'm feel like I'm ready for something.

This is what it's like to walk with Jesus.

It fits perfectly and it's not too heavy.

It produces freedom. It produces rest.

It produces a blessing. I want to read to you from

Colossians chapter 2 further back in your New Testament,

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

right after Philippians, Colossians chapter 2.

Colossians 2 · chapter mention

I'm going to read to you verses 16 through 23.

This is this. The context here is specifically

the kind of thing we're talking about right now.

Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of

food and drink or with regard to a festival or new moon or a

Sabbath. What's he talking about?

He's talking about legalistic rules where people were debating

and arguing, are we allowed to Sabbath like this?

Are we allowed to eat this? Are we allowed to drink this?

Are we with festivals? Should we celebrate?

What feast should we celebrate? Hey, hey, hey.

Paul's saying don't let anybody condemn you.

Don't let anybody pass judgment on you.

He's saying don't let anybody put a legalistic burden on you

in regard to any of these issues.

Is it only these? Well, those are just the ones

he's addressing in that letter because that's what they were

facing. You and I and our culture and

our society, we face different ones.

We face different pressures. Here's one.

You're not going to like this because it's going to offend

you. How about a quiet time?

Come on, Saints, give me, give me a verse like give me the

command of God. Well, the command of God is love

the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength.

Yeah. Well, Joe, Michael, are you

saying we shouldn't have fellowship with the Lord?

Do you think that's what I'm saying?

Is that what you got from that? No, I don't think so.

And yet this helpful practice that came into the body of

Christ decades ago has now for many become a burdensome kind of

point of condemnation. How's your quiet time?

Tell me about your quiet time. Tell me a quiet time.

Quiet time, Quiet time. Well, fellowship with the Lord.

And if you're not fellowshipping with the Lord, don't you want

to, don't you think that would be a signal of growth and love

for him? So we could, we could take that

from many different angles. We're not condemning quiet time,

but I'm I'm not wanting to burden you with a label and a

perspective because your quiet time is going to look different

from your quiet time. I don't know, do I have a quiet

time? This is the first time I've

heard about it. Am I supposed to?

Well, the Pharisees would say yes and they'd give you 15 steps

and you can find books on it. But again, these are all

intended to be helpful resources.

This is the wise St. saying, Hey, this is a great blessing.

This is a common Christian discipline that many have found

to be very wise and helpful. Do we see, can you see the

practice in Scripture of getting alone with the Lord?

Oh, oh, you better believe you can.

All over the place, all over the place, particularly with Jesus

seclusion and isolation with the Father.

Is there good godly principle there?

Absolutely. But should we get condemnation?

Absolutely not. Let's keep going.

Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in questions of

food and drink or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a

Sabbath. These are a shadow of things to

come. But the substance belongs to

Christ. So that means if there's a

statue out of the yard, the substance is the statue, the

shadow is not the thing, but everybody gets excited about the

thing. This thing, you got your back to

the statue, you go look at this shadow, it points to Jesus like.

But but there's Jesus. Remember, you can have Jesus.

You can have him himself. So have your quiet time.

Open up your Bible. Read your Bible, Saints, read

your Bible. Pray.

This is your pastor telling you to pray.

This is your pastor telling you to read the Bible.

Did your pastor tell you how long to pray just then?

Did he tell you how much to read your Bible?

But I will tell you, love the Lord your God with all your

heart, soul, mind, and strength. But don't think that because we

do any of these things, we're earning favor.

Don't think because we're doing any things, we have changed our

position in Christ. As you do those things, all that

will do is deepen your fellowship, which is awesome and

what you want because you love Him and because you want to know

Him more. That's what we're after.

I want deeper fellowship with him because I love him.

That's the distinction. Legalism is motivated by the

action, whereas what we're supposed to do is motivated by

the heart. I love the Lord.

Therefore, sure, there's a ton of action in my life.

A heart that loves the Lord will have action, lots of action,

lots of behaviors, lots of disciplines, lots of

self-control, lots of obedience. But it will all be out of a

motive of what I love him. So I do the thing instead of I

do the thing to prove that I love him.

Now you just love him, and all kinds of great actions will flow

out of that. These are a shadow of the things

to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.

Let no one disqualify you. Insisting on asceticism like an

extreme humility, extreme, excessive, obsessive humility.

Let no one disqualify you. That's someone saying you're

doing it wrong, Chris. You're doing it wrong because

you're not doing it like me. It's one thing to say you're

doing it wrong because you're not doing the word.

Brother, I'm coming to you with love and compassion and

conviction. Hey, man, it's an uncomfortable

conversation, but this is me caring for you.

That's different from you're not doing it the way I do it, the

way I say it has to be done. Let no one disqualify you.

Insisting on asceticism and worship of angels.

And going on in detail about visions, this is somebody who's

promoting their own personal revelations and.

Experience and saying I've experienced this and I've

experienced that, I've experienced this.

Like OK, I'm glad you've had all these visions with the Lord.

That's personal between y'all. I need to stick with the word

and what the Lord walks me through and what the Lord leads

me through. Puffed up.

That's what legalism always does.

It puffs me up because look what I did, look how good I'm doing.

My quiet time streak is unbroken for like 6 years.

Oh man, my quiet time streak is on fire right now.

I mean, oh, glory to God, you know, glory to God, glory to

God. I'm just saying six years

though, like not a day have I missed a quiet time.

But no, it's not about me though.

It's about the Lord. I just, you know, praise the

Lord, glory to God. So that's what I do whenever I

get legalistic, I get puffed up instead of like, yeah, I, I

thank God, I am faithful in my quiet time.

I've, I've enjoyed that fellowship with him, consistency

for a long time. It's it's just good to be with

him. Those are two different

perspectives. One was like, look at me, which

is what legalism ends up doing. It puffs up, puffed up without

reason by the sensual, by his sensuous mind.

That's the flesh and not holding fast to the head.

That's Jesus, from whom the whole body nourished and knit

together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a faith

that is from God, saying we need the whole body of Christ to

strengthen and bless us. If with Christ you died to the

elemental spirits of the world, Satan, the satanic perspective

that the world has, why? Why as if you were still alive

in the world do you submit to regulations like do not handle,

do not taste, do not touch, don't do this, don't do that,

don't do that? He's saying if you're alive in

Christ and you're dead to the things in the world, why are you

submitting to these regulations? He said these people who are

putting these bondages and these burdens on you, you can't eat

that. You can't drink that.

Your Sabbath thing wrong. No, we still celebrate this

festival. No, we're in Christ, but we

don't have to wait. I'm a Jew.

I'm you're a gentile. You're doing it wrong.

Do we eat bacon? Do we not eat bacon?

We eat. Bacon, by the way, praise the

Lord. Which is it?

He's going. Why are you getting caught up in

all this? Do not taste, do not touch.

Referring to things that are perish, that perish as they are

used according to human precepts and teachings.

These have indeed so he acknowledges.

Indeed they have an appearance of wisdom in promoting a

self-made religion and asceticism.

That extreme humility and severity to the body.

Look how I punish my body, Look how I deprive myself, Making me

the hero and severity to the body.

But they're of no value in stopping the indulgence of the

flesh. That's what's crazy, that's

what's wild. The argument that the legalist

makes is this is crucifixion of the of the flesh.

But the argument that the Holy Spirit makes to the Apostle Paul

is you can do all these outward things and you still have not

crucified the flesh, because it's still done from a heart of

pride, saying, look at me. Look at me.

How I crucify the flesh. Bro, you just messed up because

you're still looking at the outward thing instead of the

heart that's motivated by love for the Lord.

So people have different convictions on different things.

Some have a conscience that won't allow them to participate

with anything on Halloween, and that is totally fine.

But what's not fine is if they were to say it's wrong for other

Christians to allow their children to dress up as a zero

superhero and get candy from the neighbor.

You see the distinction there? Yeah, my heart doesn't allow me

to do that because of this, that and the other.

Hey, no problem, sister. No problem brother, that's a

yoke that's on you and and I don't consider that a

burdensome. Can we discuss it?

I'm curious. I'd love to have some

conversation. Maybe one of us is misguided.

Maybe both of us are. We love each other though.

We're the body that's connected bones and ligaments and joints.

Let us reason together. Let's navigate together.

And maybe we come away from it in the same convictions that we

have, but that's OK. We know each other better and

we've enjoyed fellowship and we've prioritized the command of

the Lord. How sweet it is when brothers

dwell in unity, right? Some people aren't comfortable

doing certain stretches because yoga has its root in Hinduism

and that's totally fine. But what's not fine is if they

were to say it's wrong for Christians to perform all

Christians to perform certain stretches.

Some people aren't comfortable being alone with the opposite

sex who isn't their spouse. But it's wrong for them to say

no Christian should ever be alone with the opposite sex that

isn't their spouse, because to do so would be sinful.

Isn't there some wisdom argument to be made here?

Absolutely. There's all kinds.

There's always an argument for something.

There's always a reason for something.

I I I hold to that policy 99.9% of the time.

Not 100. No, not 100.

Why? Because there's not a.

Command of God for it God does God.

Does give commands He give. He gives lots of them.

Lots of them. God's command is that we

shouldn't lust. God's command is that we

shouldn't covet our neighbor's wife.

God's command is that we shouldn't fornicate.

God's command is that we shouldn't commit adultery.

But the man made rule obsesses in an attempt to increase

righteousness and places a mandatory yoke on everyone

instead of a hey, here's a here's a wise principle.

I've walked out. Hey, here's something I've

chosen to do and I've just feel like it keeps me safe, keeps me

free from accusation from an enemy potentially.

Like I can see all those arguments.

By all means, stick with it. It's fine.

But you can't label that as this is spiritual maturity.

Well, maybe for you it is, but don't put a burden on people

that Jesus didn't put on people. A glass of wine was intended to

be a gift to man, but a legalist would say that is forbidden.

Why? Why is that forbidden?

Because drunkenness is forbidden.

Oh, we totally agree brother. Drunkenness, intoxication, not

an option for the believer so. But anyway, back to the glass of

wine. How is that?

Well, you know, my granddad was an alcoholic.

My dad was an alcoholic. And I have those temptations.

Oh, so brother for you is probably not wise, is what

you're saying? Yeah, absolutely.

Oh, let me. Let me put the bottle of wine

away. We don't need wine with the with

the pasta tonight. I want to be a blessing to my

brother. So I'm also not going to fight

for my freedom if it could cause my brother to stumble or be

hurt. But my brother also has to

recognize that this isn't a a yoke on everyone, but it might

be a yoke on you. That might be wise.

Some of you would say I I I need to not touch alcohol.

Why? Well, it's not that the Lord

forbids you to touch alcohol, it's just that you go with me

like I don't stop and well, then by all means don't touch it at

all. That's that's wisdom.

We we can understand that God has provided wisdom as we all

grow and we don't condemn one another for any of it.

The standard of the word of the Lord is enough.

The crazy thing again about legalism is like what Colossians

says, all this rule following is actually powerless to stop the

indulgence of the flesh. You can, you can't do it.

You can't stop the flesh with the flesh.

You can't fight that fire with fire.

You have to fight that fire with the water of the Holy Spirit.

That's the only thing that can quench it.

Living water that bubbles up out of you.

A renewed mind with the Word of God that actually does things

out of a motive of love. Let's keep going back in Matthew

Matthew verse three or chapter 12 verse three.

He said to them so this is super sarcastic and very much a jab

and very much a poke in the eye from Jesus.

So y'all y'all know where I get it from?

By the way, have you not read? So Jesus says this like 11 times

throughout the gospels to the Pharisees, which is like a super

duper slap in the face to Pharisees.

Dudes who like read all the time and had memorized all the time

just goes hey. Hey, Bible teachers, have you

guys read the Bible? And they're like, he knows

they've read it, but he's just going it's it's right here.

Let me he goes, let me read it to you.

Have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who

are with him, how he entered the House of God and ate the bread

of the presents, which is not lawful to do or for those who

are with him, but only for the priests.

So it's not just a jab to them. But he also says because he

knows they've definitely read. But it is a question for us.

Have you read What is your protection from legalism?

The Word of God is your protection from legalism.

Knowing what God has actually said and what He actually hasn't

said is your protection. It is your blessing.

It will continue to renew your mind and continue to set you

free. The Bible protects you from

legalism. The Bible protects you from

false doctrine. It's in first Samuel 21 where

you can go read the account of David in the presence and going

into the temple. He's running for his life from

Saul at this point he comes into the temple.

So understand this bread of the presence.

They bake this special bread. It's a special recipe.

It's a special way, all the things just for the Lord and it

goes into the presence and it's it's left there for a week and

after a week that bread is taken.

It is to be eaten only by the priests.

No one else is allowed to eat it.

That is a clear. Command of God in the Scripture.

And then they replace it with a fresh set of loaves each week.

So this is what happens week after week after week.

Well, David comes him, he and his men are hungry, and they

come into the temple. And he goes to the priest and he

says, do you have anything for us to eat?

He says, we just have this bread that we just baked, but it's the

bread of the presence. And David goes, well, we're

hungry. And the priest has a decision to

make in this moment. The law.

Clearly says it's this only for the priest to eat.

But the priest then says, all right, I'm going to give this

bread to David and his men. Why?

The priest makes it a decision based upon compassion for

people. The priest makes a decision

based upon the anointed king of Israel.

So there's a whole another point you could teach here where Jesus

and his disciples ought not even be going through a field eating

grain on the Sabbath. Why has someone not prepared to

feast for the king, the Lord of heaven and earth already?

He is the anointed king, and yet he is not yet the ruling king,

similar to David. So obviously Jesus is the

greater David. So the the the.

Pharisees are at fault in ways they don't even recognize.

But every Sabbath this special bread is replaced.

And now this priest makes the decision and he thinks, does God

want David to go hungry? And the answer was no, he

doesn't. So he gives him the bread and

then apparently they go make, they bake more bread that day,

say, hey, bake up some more lows.

What happened to the other ones? Just bake up some more lows.

I've got it taken care of, said the priest.

And Jesus very plainly here signs off on it.

Would you agree? Sure.

Seems to me that Jesus is signed off on.

It's all right. What the law?

The law. So here we have the law was.

Clearly. Broken versus the Pharisees who

are making up a law that wasn't even broken.

There is saying y'all broke the law.

First of all, no they didn't. But now.

But why? Why we're?

There, by the way, Pharisees. I will point out a.

Scenario to where the law was broken.

Do you have a problem with that? And they're going no comment.

Yeah, that's what I thought. That's what I thought.

Legalism is not compassionate. Legalism will always just put

another, another layer on top of it.

Here's another layer. You're not heavy enough, you're

not spiritual enough. If you do this, then you'll get

there and then you do that and I still don't feel spiritual

enough. You can always find a Christian,

unfortunately, who can find another brick to put onto your

back and go, this is the thing that will make you spiritual.

This is the thing that'll make you religious.

This is the thing that'll make you mature and you go, OK, I'll

do it. Burdensome.

And Jesus says, man, cut this. The whole thing falls off your

back and he goes, come to me if you're burdened, if you're heavy

laden, I'll give you rest. Walk with me.

I will teach you My yoke is easy, my burden's light.

Walk with me. What a relief.

The Lord loves you and He gives you that blessing.

So keep going here in verse five.

Or have you not read in the law? He does it a second time.

Or have you not read in the law? How on the Sabbath, the priests.

In the temple. Profane the Sabbath and are

guiltless. So he uses a strong word.

They profane the Sabbath and they're like, how do they do

that? He goes.

They're guiltless. How the priests profane the

Sabbath because they were required to work.

Why? Because it's worship.

Remember, the purpose of Sabbath is rest and worship.

Well, the priests are worshipping.

They're they're ministering and they're worshipping.

So that's why they're accomplishing these tasks.

They had to lift the sacrifice, they had to prepare the

sacrifice, they had to do certain things on the Sabbath.

It was work, but they're how are they not violating the Sabbath?

Well, Jesus just pointing it out.

He's saying, guys, the point, the point, which is what you're

going to see next week again as well, man was not made to keep

the Sabbath. The Sabbath was made for man.

That was, that was Jesus. Point I didn't make, man, to go

look at the Sabbath. That's your.

Leader, he says, hey mankind, here's the Sabbath, enjoy, Enjoy

the rest. Enjoy the worship.

Well, do I have to? I don't know if you heard me.

Enjoy the rest. Enjoy the worship.

So the priests work and they do things that others don't do.

They'll if others did those things that the priests did,

they would have been wrong. But the intention is rest and

worship. So the priests are just fine

because they're doing what contributes to worship.

Verses 6, Verse six. Now I tell you something greater

than the temple is here. Jesus is talking about Jesus

super dope as usual. He's saying you're, you're so

focused on the temple, you're so focused on the Sabbath.

He goes, I invented the Sabbath, I gave it to you.

I'm greater than the temple. I'm going to.

Destroy the temple and rebuild it.

By the way, this temple, my life, I will lay it down and I

will pull it back up again. My authority is greater than the

Sabbath, is what he's saying, because I invented the Sabbath.

I tell you something greater than the Sabbath is here.

And if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not

sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless.

God hates the condemnation of the guiltless.

So that's why Jesus was so defensive of the weak and the

heavy laden against the Pharisees, because they just put

another burden on you. Jesus then wants to defend you

in the same way. He said I don't burden you, I

don't crush you with these things.

And he's telling him you would not have condemned.

Who's the guiltless? His disciples.

And the disciples, they don't know.

If Jesus hadn't have been here and the disciples were walking

on their own, they'd be like, man, they caught me and they'd

have felt bad about it. Oh man.

What are you doing over there? Nothing, Rabbi.

So and so. We're just passing through the

field. Hey, guys, guys, stop.

And then they have a then they're condemned and they feel

guilty about it and they go home and pray that night.

God forgive me for earlier today for violating your Sabbath and

Jesus going. You haven't done anything wrong.

You shut up. You don't know what you're

talking about or the Sabbath. I made the Sabbath.

Someone greater than the Sabbath is here.

Someone greater than the temple is here and if you had

understood. Mercy is better than sacrifice.

You would have never condemned the guiltless.

This is how Jesus is protecting you from a burden that he didn't

build for you. Sabbath is a gift to man because

it is designed to take you closer to Jesus.

Legalism doesn't actually take you closer to Jesus.

The Sabbath has also not been abolished.

I want to make it plain for you to understand where we are

today. And yet it has come through the

cross, and it exists now in a new and better covenant for us,

still calling us to rest and still drawing us to worship.

So the early church moved our Sabbath day to Sunday.

We did it to honor the resurrection day of our Lord

Jesus. That's what the early church did

and decided. Now you have Colts who still

focus on Saturday as Sabbath. Have you heard of 7th Day

Adventists? So you know you're talking to a

7th Day Adventist whenever you want to talk to them about the

Lord and they and all they want to talk about is Sabbath,

Sabbath, Sabbath, Sabbath. Why?

Because it's a burden. It's a burdensome legalism,

which is all every religion is. It's all every cult is.

It's built on. There's some core tenet and core

principle that they focus on their obedience to instead of a

loving relationship with God, they focus on obedience to this

particular command. The 7th Day Adventists, they

need freedom. They need the freedom of Christ

to actually recognize that Jesus is Lord instead of Saturday's

Sabbath. I mean, you could be like, Hey,

how do I get into the Kingdom of heaven?

They'd be like, well, let me tell you about the Sabbath.

And they, and they'd walk you through the Old Testament verses

and they would start stacking bricks and you'll even feel it

by the time the conversation is over.

If you're not free in Christ and actually have knowledge of the

word. Have you not read?

Because if you have, it'll set you free.

And then they they're quoting verses to you and you're going,

why am I feeling crushed by the Bible?

Something they write you can use verses to crush.

But that doesn't make it wise and right.

A man who could know these things.

Welcome to the safety and the wisdom of the body of Christ, of

pastors in the body of Christ, who love you and who are.

Faithful to look at the whole counsel of the word of God, not

just let's build a doctrine around this, let's build a

church around this. The Sabbath has not been

abolished and yet it has come through the cross and it exists

now in a new and better covenant, still calling us to

rest, still drawing us to worship.

So yes, we have moved it to honor the the resurrection day

now for Sunday. And that's what the church has

been doing for a couple thousand years.

Is that a big deal? No, it's not.

It's not a big deal. It's OK.

It's right. You can still honor the Lord.

What was the principle? The Lord said I'm taking a day

out of the week for rest and for worship for my people.

So do we obey? The 4th commandment or not or

sorry. Do we have to obey the 4th

commandment? No, we don't have to.

We get to the Lord of the Sabbath, calls you to rest and

calls you to himself. So my counsel, notice that

transition there, my counsel as your pastor is that most people

should use Sunday. It is for most folks in our

culture, in our society, in our moment.

For most folks, Sunday is a great day to use, to set apart

for rest from work and to gather for worship with the Saints.

Years ago I had an uncle who he wasn't even a Christian, but he

told me once he said if you've got to work seven days a week,

you're doing something wrong. It's just a just a worldly man,

worldly still. But I remember as like a, you

know, 1718 year old kid, him saying that just being like,

that's just so true, just such a simple for him.

He goes, if you got to work seven days a week, you're,

you're doing something wrong or you're in the wrong job.

Like some like he just had this understand something's broken.

Where did that come from? Well, revelation from God, why

seven days? Why not sick?

Why, why can't we work seven days a week?

What are the rules around all this stuff?

Do you know why you work 40? Days a week, you can thank Henry

Ford. 40 days a week, that's a lot.

That's a lot of work. Do you know why you work 40

hours a week? Because Henry Ford decided that

that's how he wanted the efficiency of his factory to

run. So Western civilization now

functions that way. But now as a man, if you don't

work 40 hours a week, you're a little bit lazy, right?

You feel that you're working how much, dude?

That's like. Isn't that strange how we can

feel a little bit of guilt from something all because Henry Ford

wanted his factories to function for a certain way and he wanted

all of his little worker bees and his assembly line to go a

certain way? I don't condemn Henry Ford.

You run your factory however you want, man.

It's your factory. People can work there, they can

quit. But now 40 hour workweek.

That's the standard. That's the standard.

You got to work that much if you work, and then if you work too

much. Yeah, I definitely see that says

problematic. If you don't work enough,

though, you should feel shame and condemnation.

But my uncle knew better. You got to work seven days a

week. You're doing something wrong.

So yes, enjoy the rest that the Lord brings to you.

It is a gift, it is a blessing. Jesus calls you to himself.

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give

you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn

from me, for I'm gentle and lowly in heart, and you will

find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my

burden is light. What a cup of cold water to a

dry soul. Thank you, Lord.

So enjoy the Sabbath. Look forward to it.

Walk by faith and Sabbath. Even as an act of faith.

Let your Sabbath day of rest you go.

There's still so much work to do.

I know I got plenty of work to do too.

You don't rest and you don't Sabbath because everything's

done. That's not the point.

You rest in you Sabbath because the Lord is gifting you rest and

Sabbath. Sabbath is not something that

you earn or you deserve. When When Saturday finishes, you

finish yard work, you finish stuff and you go.

Who? Finally, tomorrow's Sunday.

I've earned it. No, you didn't.

It is a gift. Receive it.

Receive it, or whatever day it may be.

You go. What am I supposed to do on my

Sabbath? There's no rules.

If I laid in a hammock all day, I'd.

I'd go crazy. You don't have to lay in a

hammock all day. What would bring refreshment?

What would blame? Bring blessing.

Maybe you go for a walk. Maybe you meet with friends.

I don't condemn you, I don't put a yoke on you, I don't put a

burden on you. But I do tell you, keep the

Sabbath, keep it holy, rest and worship, rest from work and

worship the Lord, and even do that as an act of rebellion

against the flesh and against the world.

And enjoy your Lord, who is Lord of the Sabbath, the Son of man.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for sending Jesus to bring the

blessing of rest to our souls. The greatest rest He's given us

is taking the shame of sin, the guilt of our condemnation, the

weight of a guilty conscience, and cleansing us and sprinkling

us so that we could be clean, so that we could be relieved, so

that we could be refreshed. Help us to not allow anyone to

judge and condemn us when it comes to food and drink and

festivals and moons or books or days or movies or clothing.

But help us to have humble hearts.

Make us a people with who who are really truly tender in our

conscience, but with an ear not attuned to the demands of man,

but an ear attuned to the teaching of Jesus.

Jesus, you said that we should come to you if we're burdened,

if we're heavy laden and you give rest to our soul.

God, I pray that you would even bring rest to our minds.

Reform our entire life, continue to shape us, continue to

structure us, continue to bless us with this freedom and with

this discipline. Even as loving parents give

their children a bedtime because they love their children and

they want them refreshed and healthy and strong.

So you bless your people with rest.

God forgive us for not prioritizing Your word.

I pray that your Saints would walk out of here today as light

as a feather. I pray they would walk away

refreshed, understanding that each of us has a yoke given by

Jesus that fits. There's a weight that's on us,

but it's perfect for our season and for our moment.

Jesus doesn't lead all of His sheep the same exact way all the

time. He cares for you individually,

He knows you intimately, and He's going to continue to lead

you for it. Don't go beyond the word of God

in your own life or in others lives.

Receive His refreshment and be happy to give it away as well.

And now the Lord bless you and keep you.

The Lord make His face Shinedown upon you and be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you great

peace in Jesus name, Amen. Are y'all coming up for prayer,

Adam or is it Donna, Kieran? OK Adam and Angelina are going

to be just over here. If anyone would would like

prayer, there's something we're going to be doing from now on

after our services. Oftentimes I want to be able to

get to folks and be available to talk to as many people as I can

just because I love y'all and often times don't get to do

that. So each week you'll see either

Adam and Angelina are going to be up here just to answer prayer

requests and pray with you, or Don and Karen will be up here to

do that. So you'll see them alternating.

So we just want to normalize that so you can say, hey, I want

somebody to pray with me. That's exactly what we're going

to set them apart to do, to bless you and encourage you.