Good morning. I'm going to read from the scripture this morning. We're going to be studying Matthew 12, 1 through 14, and I'm going to read starting in Matthew 11, verse 28. Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle, and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." At that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath, and His disciples were hungry, and He began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. When the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, Look, your disciples are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. But he said to them, Have you not read what David did when he was hungry? He and those who were with him, how he entered the house of God, and ate the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests. Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are blameless? Yet I say to you that in this place there is one greater than the temple. But if you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would have not condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is the Lord even of the Sabbath. Now when he had departed from there, he went into their synagogue, and behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath, that they might accuse him? Then he said to them, What man is there among you who has one sheep, and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore, is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath? Then he said to the man, stretch out your hand, and he stretched it out, and it was restored as whole as the other. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against him how they might destroy him. Let's pray. Father, we are so thankful for this day. We are so thankful, Lord, for the Scripture that you brought before us. Father, we're thankful that You have prepared Scott's heart to prepare this message today. I'm thankful, Lord, that he is a man that truly fears You and will do right by Your Word. We pray, Lord, that You would open our hearts and bless his words as he speaks to us today. Amen. Here in this passage of Scripture, there are two conflicts that take place both on the Sabbath day. One, the disciples are eating grain and then Jesus healing a man on the Sabbath. There are many different contours to this text and things that we can learn. One of the things, though, that just stands out in every part of the text is God's design to do good to man. That every law of God is a law of love. And here, as there's this confrontation over the Sabbath, we find not only a conflict, but also how to celebrate the Sabbath day. You know, we in this church have been trying to learn how to observe the Sabbath day. And most of the people that have come here have thought that the Sabbath was not for today. for most of their lives. And of course, this is the view that's generally embraced in the modern church. And so, we've experienced a shift in our understanding and our understanding has caused us to make changes. Changes about really everything regarding the Sabbath. We've gone from thinking that the Sabbath was just another day except that you go to church. Our attitudes have changed about the Sabbath. The instruction of our children has changed. And our preparations for the Sabbath on Saturday have even been changed or modified. And as a result, it causes different kinds of struggles for us. When you have a new awareness of something, it means that you're in a learning curve. You're trying to find out what is pleasing for the Lord. And the truth about it is that nobody ever celebrated the Sabbath perfectly anyway. And even if you finally declare in your heart that you believe that the Sabbath is for today, that's really only the beginning of it all. Because each week, there comes around that day And you're faced again with the challenge to worship God all day long. To set your hearts upon Him for the entire day. And how difficult is that? The truth is, no one has ever kept the Sabbath. Not quite rightly. Not without some sin in it. Not without some distraction. So even if you set aside the day as a holy day unto the Lord, the entire day to set your heart on God, you're prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. This happens even during our Sabbath, even our celebrations like this today. Now, the problem that is presented here in this text is that the Sabbath was meant to be a blessing to man, but we often turn it into a curse. And there are typically two ways that we turn the Sabbath day into a curse. First, we ignore it. That's one way. The second way we ignore it is by making it a nightmare of man-made laws. so that we actually obliterate the heart of the Sabbath in the midst of our perception, a man-made perception of how we think we ought to observe the Sabbath. And so, what happens is that you end up with just another empty day full of a bunch of observances. And the focus here in this text is really twofold on this whole matter of the Sabbath. First of all, it's a battleground. Jesus is exposing how wrong the Pharisees were about the Sabbath, how they had made the Sabbath a curse. It was just evacuated of the true heart that Jesus Christ intended for the Sabbath when He inaugurated it. And so, in that battle that we see raging here, The Lord Jesus Christ declares Israel bankrupt. And He's proclaiming condemnation. He's setting Israel aside as He's been sending already His disciples to the cities to say, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Repent. And that there's coming judgment. And so, this is why In these verses, we read that this is related to the preaching of the Gospel to the Gentiles. So, outside of the range of our verse this morning is really an interpretive part of this text in Matthew 12. I want us to see it so you can see how this conflict is being played out. Look at verses 16 through 21. We're not going to get here, but we're headed there next week. Yet he warned them not to make him known, this is after the healing of the man with the withered hand, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet Isaiah saying, Behold my servant whom I have chosen, my beloved in whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my spirit upon him and he will declare justice to the Gentiles. he will not quarrel nor cry out, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. A bruised reed he will not break, and smoking flax he will not quench, till he sends forth justice to victory, and in his name the Gentiles will trust." So, this is all part of the conflict and the setting aside of Israel and bringing the Gospel to the Gentiles. So, not only is it a battleground that's in this text, But it's also help for anyone who wants to learn how to observe the Sabbath faithfully. In that sense, it's such a beautiful revelation of God, of His mercies toward mankind, as He's given a day of mercy, a day for man. In this text, in this Sabbath text, is not really instruction about the dangers of breaking the Sabbath, but rather misunderstanding the Sabbath and therefore breaking it. and really the curses that stand for those who have a man-made kind of Sabbath. And that's really the danger that all believers in all times of history have, is that they make the Sabbath in their own image. They come up with their own kind of custom personalized day. This is what the Pharisees were doing. And so Jesus is confronting that tendency in us to try to create the Sabbath in our own image. And so it's a tremendous danger. Now, the whole context here, Jesus is declaring Himself to be the Son of God. The Pharisees are rising up against Him. He has sent out His disciples to the lost sheep of the house of Israel to proclaim repentance and the coming of judgment. And He's confronting the Pharisees And they do not like the new wine. They do not like the new wineskins. They like their own man-made laws and wineskins. And they're trying desperately to protect them. And so there's this conflict of kingdoms that is engaged here. The forces of darkness are rising up against the Son of God. He is an offense. And in chapters 11 and 12 is an explanation of the various kinds of offenses that are coming. and that Jesus Christ is bringing. So, 11 and 12 really hang together. As you're studying the Gospel of Matthew, it's important to understand how it's structured. It begins with narrative at the beginning in chapters 1-4, and then there's didactic text 5-7, the Sermon on the Mount. And then 8 and 9 is more narrative. And then chapter 10 is another section of didactic instruction where Jesus is instructing his disciples about how to engage the battle, how to spread the gospel. And then in 11 and 12 is narrative again. And in that narrative is this conflict. that we see. The hardness of the hearts of men, the pride, the insolence against the Son of God is being expressed in so many ways in these two chapters. And the theme of the whole section really centers around the conflict that Jesus is having with Israel and that Israel is having with Him. And it's revealed in the statement in verse 6 Blessed is he who is not offended because of me." In 11.6. And so, the whole chapter is about people who are offended by the Gospel and those who have drawn the wrath of God. Now, the offenses seem to me to be escalating in their intensity throughout chapters 11 and 12. First of all, I'm just going to call it a light offense of the doubts of John the Baptist. He's wondering if Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah. And the Lord Jesus says to his disciples, Blessed is he who is not offended because of me. And then right after that, the offenses seem to accelerate and the true colors of the people are exposed as Jesus tells a parable in the marketplace. He says, to what shall I liken this generation? It's like children sitting in the marketplaces. and calling to their companions and saying, we played the flute to you and you did not dance. We mourned for you and you did not lament. So, Jesus is really telling His disciples about what this conflict really is all about. Unbelief is totally irrational. It doesn't matter if you send John lamenting and playing the flute of a funeral, or if you send Jesus Christ eating and drinking, rejoicing, it doesn't matter what you say to this lost world. They are dead to you. They will not dance. They will not listen to you. And that's what the opposition really looks like. And so, what do you do with all of this unbelief? Well, you have to understand how a person even believes. And Jesus, next He proclaims that He hides Himself. He hides Himself from cities. He hides Himself from whole peoples. And their only hope is if God sovereignly chooses to open up their eyes. And so He continues to argue this point that He is the only One. And then He closes chapter 11 by saying, come to Me. all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." And he's talking about the burdens of all these man-made laws that the Jews had laid upon the people. And Jesus is saying, no, I have a true rest for you. And so, now that all these conflicts have been exposed in chapter 11, then as we move into chapter 12, We know the opposition just continues and the Pharisees are continuing to express their hatred to the Lord Jesus Christ, and particularly in the way that the disciples were celebrating the Sabbath day. And so as we move into chapter 12, There's just this continued escalation. They want to end up destroying Jesus for healing a man on the Sabbath. Not only are they criticizing the disciples for eating grain on the Sabbath day as they're going through the fields, they also want to kill Jesus Christ because He heals a man on the Sabbath. They've created so many laws about the Sabbath that they had completely lost their minds. And the chapter ends up by Jesus healing a demonized mutant man. And the Pharisees say, He casts out demons by the Prince of Demons. And then Jesus says, no, you're blaspheming. You're a brood of vipers. You'll be condemned. And then the scribes and the Pharisees come back and say, we're looking for a sign. And Jesus says, an evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign. And then finally, Jesus' mother and brothers want to even come and speak to Him. And Jesus says, who are my mother and my brothers? For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and my mother. And here, what we find is the whole issue that Jesus is driving at is what true righteousness is. And the Pharisees had made up a whole man-made righteousness. And Jesus says, no, no, it's obedience to my law. Because that's really what is in conflict. This is a conflict of the law of God and the law of man. So, with such a long introduction, But I just wanted us to see there's this flow that really is unbroken throughout the whole section. We can't just take this section about the disciples walking through the grain fields and the healing of the man with a withered hand in an isolated section. It really comes in a whole package. So, here we are in this one section. And it begins in verse 1 with this accusation by the Pharisees of the disciples for breaking the Sabbath, verses 1 and 2. So, at that time, Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath and His disciples were hungry. So, the phrase, at that time, is important. It makes us aware of a number of things. First, at that time, the disciples are making their way to the temple. They're going to worship God on the Sabbath. And quite likely, they're doing what godly Jews did. They would recite the Song of Ascents on their way to the Sabbath. They were singing and making melody in their hearts to the Lord. In Psalm 120-130, there are 15 of them. There you go. beginning in Psalm 120. I'd like you to turn there and I'd like you to see the whole nature and character of what the disciples were most likely doing. They were making their way to the temple. And the Song of Ascents were written for godly Jews to make their way with their families to the temple. Psalm 120. In my distress, I cried to the Lord. And He heard me. Deliver my soul, O Lord, from lying lips. Go to Psalm 121, verse 1. I will lift up my eyes to the hills from whence comes my help. My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Psalm 122 I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord. Psalm 123 Unto you I lift up my eyes, O you who dwell in the heavens. Psalm 124, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, let Israel now say, If it had not been the Lord who was on our side, when men rose up against us, they would have swallowed us alive. So they're moving toward the Sabbath in a way that's consistent with the way the godly Hebrews were moving toward the Sabbath. at that time. It was at that time of the Sabbath. But also, at that time takes us back to the end of chapter 11 where Jesus says, Come unto Me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. This is about rest. The whole context that this passage exists in falls right after Jesus' admonition to come and rest. To come and have His kind of rest. And the burden The burden that they needed rest from was the burden of making themselves righteous before God. And the idea that Jesus is giving them is that He will give them rest. So, this is a specific example of Jesus Christ giving rest. And the weight of burden that that they were laboring under was the weight of burden that Jesus spoke of in Matthew 23, verse 4. They bind heavy burdens hard to bear and lay them on men's shoulders, but they themselves will not remove them with one of their fingers, but all their works they do to be seen by men. So, the weight was the sum total of the unbiblical, man-made laws of the Pharisees. imposed upon the people that created a heartless religion for them. That's the weight and the burden. And in Acts 15, verse 10, the same old problem persists where the Judaizers were trying to maintain the Old Testament ceremonial law and the man-made requirements that were, quote, a yoke which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear. So this yoke of man-made laws on the Sabbath is what's under contention here. And so whenever we read this, we have to ask ourselves, who am I like? Am I like the Pharisees, creating my own man-made laws for the Sabbath? Is that what I am doing? The Mishnah contained enormous detail about how man should celebrate the Sabbath. And if you read it, it's absolutely insane. I'm going to read you two sections from it just to give you the flavor of it. It is forbidden to carry about chopped straw in the quantities of a cow's mouthful. Stalks in quantities of a camel's mouthful. Stubble in quantities of a lamb's mouthful. Herbs in quantities of a kid's mouthful. leek and onion leaves, if fresh, equal in size to a dried fig, and if dry, in quantities of a kid's mouthful. The different kinds of fodder are, however, not to be counted together, as the prescribed quantities are not equal for all." These were the laws of the scribes and the Pharisees. Here's another one. The carrying out of an article of food the size of a dried fig makes one liable, and the different kinds of them are to be counted together. for the prescribed quantity is the same for all kinds, with the exception of husks, kernels, and stalks, likewise bran, both coarse and fine." So, it goes on and on and on with enormous amount of, honestly, ridiculous detail that had nothing to do with the laws of God for the Sabbath. Whenever you think about the Sabbath, think about the laws of God, not the laws of man. That's what was under contention here. They had spent so much time here now in the morning, most likely the disciples and the Lord Jesus, that they had not had time for their morning meal. But the Pharisees had a burden for them to bear. They weren't bearing it any longer. They were sort of skipping through the grain fields and eating. Now, the law said that it was lawful to do this, by the way, which is interesting. But they had just been instructed by Jesus about His burden that was light and the yoke that would fit them and the rest that would bless them. And now they are criticized by the Pharisees for this kind of rest that they're engaging in here. And so the question is, were the disciples breaking the Sabbath by going through the grain fields and eating the grain? No, they were not. They were not breaking the Sabbath at all. And there was no such biblical law against this, but there were rabbinical laws against it. Now it's interesting, Matthew Henry makes the observation, maybe it's true, he says that here Jesus is confronting the Pharisees for interpreting the law too tightly, whereas in Matthew 5, He was confronting them for interpreting it too loosely. By not making the law what it really meant in Matthew 5-7, now the Pharisees are interpreting it too tightly and adding so much to it. So Jesus replies, beginning in verse 3, and Jesus makes several arguments along down the line here in response to the Pharisees. And the first has to do with Ahimelech's example of giving showbread to David. So if you turn to 1 Samuel 21, verses 1-9, you'll find David was on the run. from Saul. And he was not in good spiritual condition at that time. And he was lying about his behavior, but he comes in and Ahimelech speaks to him. And he's hungry and David is looking for food. And Ahimelech gives him the showbread that was only supposed to be for the priests. And it's a complex discussion to try to figure out exactly what was the problem here and whether it was lawful or unlawful for him to do it. And here what we do find, Ahimelech has mercy on a hungry man and gives him food. on one who is declared to be king and he gives him food. And did Ahimelech sin in giving him the bread? Well, there are different opinions about that. I don't think he sinned in giving him the bread. He was having mercy on a hungry man at that time. And it's a very complex discussion. But the heart of the matter is very, very clear in this passage of Scripture. And that is about the design of the Sabbath and who governs the Sabbath. And that's the Lord Jesus Christ. Man has no right to govern the Sabbath by his own laws. That's really the heart of the whole thing. So, however you decide every detail about whether David sinned or Ahimelech sinned, I would say David sinned and Ahimelech didn't sin. Well, there might be other ways to nuance that. But whatever it means, whatever happened here, Jesus is giving this an example to contrast to the Pharisees their own behavior. And it could be that Jesus is giving this example to say, look, these disciples are doing something that was lawful on the Sabbath, and yet David is your hero, and he was given bread on the Sabbath. Don't you see the contradiction? Don't you see how hypocritical you are? I think that's most likely what he's trying to say there. But he appeals to these passages of Scripture, first of all, in 1 Samuel chapter 21. The Pharisees are not like Ahimelech at all. The Pharisees have no mercy at all. And Jesus is saying this to shut their mouths. So, in this first argument, Jesus is telling the Pharisees First of all, He's exposing their hypocrisy and He's also telling them that the high priest had mercy. And it demonstrates the kind of mercy that you have on the Sabbath. So then, secondly, Jesus cites Numbers 28, verses 1-10. He says, "...or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath?" and are blameless. So, he's talking about this scene in Numbers 28 where the priests are offering, on the Sabbath day, double. They offer double the amount of sacrifices. In other words, they do double duty on the Sabbath. Their day is loaded twofold. And is it sin for them to do that? And of course, it's not sin for priests to do that. It's a way that they also are sacrificing. It's an act of mercy of the priests. to do the double labor on the Sabbath. And that's the way that God ordained it. And so, Jesus is just identifying to them that it wasn't work even for the priests to do double duty on the Sabbath. And again, Jesus just seems to be exposing their hypocrisy. They accept that, but they're not accepting what was lawful with the disciples going through the grain fields on the Sabbath. He's exposing their duplicity. and their man-centeredness in all of these things. So, here's kind of an analysis of these here. Jesus is pointing out an incident when perhaps David did what was unlawful, but the priest was exercising mercy. And Jesus is comparing this thing of the showbread with the grain fields. And he's also comparing the priest doing double duty on the Sabbath with this situation as well. So, it is lawful to work in the service of God to be merciful to mankind. And then Jesus in verse 6 after affirming that there are works of necessity and works of mercy that are lawful on the Sabbath. After he establishes that with those two passages, you got that? Works of necessity and works of mercy are lawful on the Sabbath. Then in verse 6, he proclaims something that was probably triply offensive to them. He says, yet I tell you that in this place there is one greater than the temple. And so, he's proclaiming himself as greater than the temple. Of course, he is the temple. He's the fulfillment of everything that happened in the temple. Jesus Christ designed the temple. He himself was the temple. of God. And so he says there is something greater than the temple. And he's saying it is me. And it's as if Jesus is saying you think that this physical temple is everything, but no, it's about me. The temple is only important because of me. I am what the Sabbath is all about. And if all you can think of are your laws and you don't think of me, you don't understand the Sabbath at all. And that's what happens to us. We think about the things that are to be done, but not thinking about Him. And that's the problem with mankind. And that was the problem with the Pharisees. But they had advanced so much in their religious organization that they had completely forgotten about Him. They didn't understand the meaning of the temple. They had all these man-made rules they'd forgotten about God. When you think about that in your own observing of the Sabbath, it's a good and a right thing to prepare on Saturday for a Sabbath rest. It's good to go through various routines on the Sabbath. It's good to be involved in the preaching and the singing and the fellowship that happens on the Sabbath. But that's not what it's all about. It's not about the singing. It's not about the gathering. It's not about the preaching. It's not about the fellowship meal. It's not really about any of those things. Those are just sort of the things that facilitate what is all meant for. And it's meant for Jesus Christ. to meditate and feed upon Jesus Christ. And that's where you find rest for your souls. When the Sabbath day is a meditation about Jesus Christ. That seems to me, that's where, at least for me and my family, where we stumble the most. Where we lose our consciousness of Jesus Christ and our conversation drifts to all kinds of other things. Our minds aren't as much in Scripture or in singing or really meditating on the Lord as much as they should. But the heart of the matter isn't the duty that's missing. The heart of the matter is the desire to fellowship with Jesus Christ an entire day long so that your soul would be made fat, so that you would find rest for your souls. because he does desire to have rest. The only place of rest for the human soul is in the presence of Jesus Christ. All these other things are sort of the structure and the context of it, but you can have all your structure right You can do everything that you're supposed to do on the Sabbath and have no rest in your soul. And so, Jesus is saying, something is greater here than the temple. It's need. You can go to the temple. You can do everything in the temple you're supposed to do, but if you don't know Me, you have not had the rest that I want you to have. So they forgot the main point of all of it. Because they were so worried about their structure. Of course, God gave structure, right? He gave us things to do, right? We should do those things. But our problem is we take structure and we just run on the structure heartlessly. And that's what was happening here. And then Jesus reproves the Pharisees for loving their ceremony more better than their mercy. That it was also a day for the love of God for mankind. This whole thing of fellowship that we have, what's the purpose of that? It's for the love of God. It's to have mercy on one another. As we're together, we are the people of mercy. We speak the truth in love. We forgive one another. We honor one another. We wait for one another. There are all kinds of things that we do in giving mercy toward one another. So, he says in verse 7, But if you had known what this means... See, they didn't know what it meant. If you had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless. So, Jesus says, if you had known what this means, and He goes back to Hosea 6-6 again. He's already done this, by the way, in Matthew. For some reason, Jesus really likes Hosea 6-6. Do you get that idea? He really likes it. He keeps going back to it. Hosea 6. Let's turn to Hosea 6. Verses 1-6. Let's read it. Just because Jesus quotes it so often, I think it would be helpful just to read it slowly to see what He's saying. Hosea 6. 1-6 Come and let us return to the Lord, for He has torn, but He will heal us. He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days, He will revive us. On the third day, He will raise us up that we may live in His sight. Let us know. Let us pursue the knowledge of the Lord. His going forth is established as the morning. He will come to us like the rain, like the latter and former rain to the earth. Oh, Ephraim! What shall I do to you? O Judah, what shall I do to you? For your faithfulness is like a morning cloud. Like the early dew, it goes away. Therefore, I have hewn them by the prophets. I have slain them by the words of my mouth. And your judgments are like light that goes forth. For I desire mercy and not sacrifice. and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. But like men, they transgressed the covenant. There they dealt treacherously with me." So, Hosea 6.6 is about a people who forget mercy. And they forget it like Like this imagery of a cloud. Like a morning cloud that goes away. Or like the dew that goes away. We woke up this morning and there was ice. There was frost on the ground. It's gone now. That's what he's talking about. Your desire for me, your knowledge for me is like that frost. It just goes away so quickly. And you completely lose a sense of my mercy. You lose your minds. You lose a sense of who you are in the world. You lose a sense of what the Sabbath is made for. That it's made for the knowledge of Jesus Christ and the mercy of Jesus Christ. That's what it's for. Imagine how joyful, how amazing our times together ought to be because of that. It's a time for mercy and it's a time for the meditations of the knowledge of God. There are two tables of the law, right? There's the first table and then there's the second table which has to do with mercy. And that's what he's talking about here. The knowledge of God is the first table of the law. The mercy of God is the second table of the law in our relationships with mankind. And so, the celebration of the Sabbath should be a day of both tables of the law. The knowledge of God and the mercy of God. So, as we're a church trying to learn how to celebrate the Sabbath together, this is a helpful kind of recalibration to go back and recall what the purpose of the Sabbath is. We're no different than the Pharisees who lose the sense of it. Who get caught up in the routine, the structure, and forget about the heart of the Sabbath. And then Jesus proclaims His authority over the Sabbath. Not only is He greater than the temple, in verse 8, He proclaims His authority over the Sabbath when He says, for the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath. Now, there are some commentators who say that in this statement, Jesus is abrogating the Sabbath. that He is taking it away. He's saying that the Sabbath no longer is in effect because He is the Lord of the Sabbath. But I would just say when you read, for the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath, it's more logical to read it by His affirming the perpetuity of the Sabbath. He is and will continue to be the Lord of the Sabbath. Perhaps, maybe this is the center of the text. Maybe it's something greater than the temple is here. Maybe it's, I desire mercy but sacrifice. But in that range, somehow, is really the heart of what Jesus is saying about the Sabbath as He's now teaching us again. about the Sabbath. I don't know how many Sabbath sermons you've heard in this church. More than one for sure. Well, now we're hearing another one. Do we have any more to learn? Is it time to remember mercy and the knowledge of God more maybe? Maybe we're hearing this text because we need it. Maybe because we as a church, we're getting too much accustomed to the form. And the Lord Jesus Christ and the knowledge of Him, and the mercy that we have toward one another. Maybe we need to be reminded of that today. So, the Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. Now, only Jesus Christ has the authority to say what should happen on the Sabbath. The Pharisees had all these authoritative statements that were contrary to Jesus. And they had made the Sabbath something that it was never meant to be at all. But we learn about the Sabbath from every genre and category of Scripture. In the history, in the law, in Genesis 2-3, we read that God blessed the Sabbath. In Exodus chapter 20, we know that He commanded it in the prophets. He made it very clear that breaking the Sabbath is a heinous crime and there's a judgment against not just individuals, but nations as a result. And now with Christ, Christ Himself, He keeps the Sabbath, and not one word that He speaks here discredits the Sabbath at all. Jesus is teaching how to keep the Sabbath, not how to abrogate the Sabbath. He's showing His disciples how it should be celebrated in view of the criticism that they're getting from the Pharisees. Later on in Matthew 24, we'll read, pray that your flight may not be on the Sabbath day. He's expecting that his children will still be celebrating the Sabbath day in that day. You see the same thing in the apostles. There's not a breath of the idea that any of the Ten Commandments passed away, that there are ten, not nine. And in the practices of the apostles, we see in 1 Corinthians 16, Paul is keeping the Sabbath. Why? because Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath, which communicates the perpetuity of the Sabbath day. And it's made for man. If you go to Mark 2, the parallel passage, Mark adds this beautiful phrase, the Sabbath was made for man. Was it just made for Old Testament man? Or was it made for man? And the Sabbath is made for man. It's good for the body as it disconnects us from monetary issues of life. It's good for the mind. The mind needs rest from grinding against all the concerns and things of our work. Do any of you have concerns about your work? Well, the Sabbath day is designed to just set those all aside. and to stop it, to stop the grinding and the fear and all the different things that happen to men as they're considering their work, as they're laboring in their fields by the sweat of their brow. And they're bleeding from the thorns and the thistles that assault them in their workplace, which is designed by God that you would bleed in the workplace so that you would return to Him. and even turn to Him on the Sabbath day. It's good for the soul. What shall a prophet of man do if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul? It's good for the heart. It's good for the conscience. The day to confess before God. It's good for your family. It's good for the church to bring people together. It's good for your relationships. It gives you brothers and sisters. is good for your nation, because it blesses your nation when you keep the Sabbath. And it curses your nation when you break it. So, the Sabbath is good. It's good for man. Now, Matthew 12 turns from the grain fields to the synagogue in verse 9. So look at verse 9. where Jesus demonstrates His authority now by healing in a synagogue. Now, when He had departed from there, He went into their synagogue, and behold, there was a man who had a withered hand. And they asked Him, saying, Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath that they might accuse Him? Then He said to them, What man is there among you who has one sheep and if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not lay hold of it and lift it out? Of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath." Then he said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched it out. and it was restored as whole as the other. It's interesting, you know, three Gospels report this incident. And the question was a hypocritical question. Because they asked Him only because they wanted to condemn Him. That was the only reason. And then Jesus asks two questions. The first question is, what man is there among you? What man is there among you? And he's exposing how hard they've become toward people. How jaded their laws made them toward people. What man is there among you? And the second question is, of how much more value then is a man than a sheep? It almost comes off like a stupid question. But all the laws had made them so stupid that they needed a question like that. And then the logical conclusion, therefore, it is lawful. Therefore, it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. And then there's that amazing moment where Jesus said to the man, stretch out your hand. And that's when Mark says the Sabbath was made for man, right after that moment. It was made for man. It's good for man's body. It's good for his soul. It's good for everything. But it's not good for him at all if it's encrusted with man-made laws If the only thing you think about is the structure and you forget the knowledge of God and mercy, it's totally meaningless if you forget those two things. So, we always have to be aware that we can attach too much meaning to our ceremonies, like the Pharisees did, and forgetting the health that God desires for us on that day. That's why the Puritans called it the market day of the soul. It was the happiest day of the week. Because it was a day for man. It was for your body, for your soul, for your family, for your church, for your nation, for your relationships. It was good for absolutely everything. The malfunctions that you have regarding the Sabbath are the same malfunctions that the Pharisees had. We want to do our own thing. We want to make up our own laws. And we think we have a better idea. That's always the beginning of a heartless, loveless Sabbath coming on the way soon. And then in verse 7, there's a plot to kill Jesus. I'm sorry, verse 14. Then the Pharisees went out and plotted against Him how they might destroy Him. So, this healing on the Sabbath enrages the Pharisees because He's exposed their hypocrisy. And He's told them that they have no love for man and they have no love for God. even though they have this big temple and they have all these laws and it's so well ordered, but there's nothing to it at all of any value, which is why Jesus is going to come and destroy the temple in 70 AD and completely obliterate Judaism so that it cannot be practiced again. So, let's talk about some applications. First of all, And this is obvious. Trust the Son. The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath. He made mankind. He made the Sabbath for man. And it's the maker of something that really determines the value of something. Like if I had a Stradivarius violin in my hands right now, you would think it would be the best sounding violin that you'd ever seen if you hadn't seen one before or heard one before. Because the Maker determines its value. But here Jesus says He made the Sabbath. And this is the way that we ought to think about it. Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath. And He is good and He made it for good. On the other hand, if you despise the Sabbath, then you have to understand whose hands you are in. You're in Pharaoh's hands. Pharaoh never gave his people a Sabbath. That's why God delivered them, so that they could have rest. The whole imagery of deliverance from Egypt is about deliverance from bondage. Deliverance from that abusive devil. who hates your soul. But to trust the Son of Man, that our tendency to go back and be with Pharaoh on the Sabbath, to have no rest, is such a bad tendency. We should just trust Him. Trust what He said is true about the Sabbath and just take it from there. Number two, As we're learning how to observe the Sabbath, let's just remember the purpose of the Sabbath is for these two purposes. But I want to turn us to a psalm that Moses wrote. A psalm for the Sabbath day. Psalm 92, verse 1. Please turn there because I want to make a point out of Psalm 92, verse 1. It is good to praise the Lord and make music to Your name. O Most High, to proclaim Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night. You've heard that phrase, declare Your lovingkindness in the morning and faithfulness by night. That's about the Sabbath day. Of course, that should be every day as well. But to proclaim Your love in the morning and Your faithfulness by night. to the music of a ten-stringed lyre, and the melody of the harp. For You make me glad by Your deeds, O Lord, I sing for joy at the work of Your hands. How great are Your works, O Lord! How profound are Your thoughts! The senseless man does not know. Fools do not understand. That though the wicked spring up like grass and all evildoers flourish, They will forever be destroyed, but you, O Lord, are exalted forever. For surely your enemies, O Lord, surely your enemies will perish. All evildoers will be scattered. You have exalted my horn like that of a wild ox. Fine oils have been poured upon me. My eyes have seen the defeat of my adversaries. My ears have heard the rout of my wicked foes. And verse 12 is what I'm driving at. The righteous will flourish like a palm tree. They will grow like a cedar in Lebanon, planted in the house of the Lord. They will flourish in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age. They will stay fresh and green, proclaiming, the Lord is upright. He is my rock. There is no wickedness in Him. as we're learning about how to keep the Sabbath. It's so important that we keep the right images before our eyes about what this day is all about. Here, it's like flourishing in the house of the Lord like a palm tree. Even when you're in old age, you can still flourish in the house of the Lord. You get older and older and older, but you can still be like a flourishing palm tree, no matter how old you get. God is so kind to do that for His aging ones. And to conceive of our times together like this, to know that this is what we're doing. We're coming to feed upon the waters of living water. To eat the living bread so that we would flourish in the house of our God. in the land of our pilgrimage. To know that that's what this is for. Yes, we do have structure. Yes, we do certain things. But it is all for the flourishing of a palm tree. Or like a cedar of Lebanon. Like a great and mighty tree. Like a beautiful, luxuriant palm tree. That's what God desires for us here as we gather on the Sabbath day. And after we leave here, to do the same kind of thing. To continue. Do everything we can to flourish ourselves. And then the third thing I want to say, third application, is just how important it is to think biblically about the Sabbath the way that Jesus has just instructed us. We've just been instructed by Jesus about what the Sabbath day is all about. And you ought to know with certainty what it is all about. Is it a new covenant option? Is it an old covenant bondage? Is it a sports day? Is it any kind of day you want? Is it a waste of time like Bill Gates said it was? What is it? The Bible has enough to say for us that we can celebrate the Sabbath rightly. Of course, in Matthew 12, the whole heart of the Sabbath is mercy and sacrifice and the knowledge of God and the Lordship of Jesus Christ. In Exodus 20, it's the duty to keep the Sabbath. In Nehemiah 13, it's the consequences of not keeping the Sabbath and the calamity that comes even on nations for rejecting it, Or you can go to Isaiah 58 and see what a day for delight it is meant for. Isaiah 58 verse 13 says, If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words. then you shall delight yourself in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father." The mouth of the Lord has spoken. All the different passages of Scripture about the Sabbath answer different questions. And we should know those. Our families should understand what those are all about. So that we celebrate the sin that comes around every week, rightly. How easy it is to lose it. just like the Pharisees lost it. And then I want to close with one story. And I want to use this story to say, don't underestimate the importance of the Sabbath and keeping it rightly for times of revival. And our times are in need of revival. Stephen Williams, a young lad, came from a line of Puritan immigrants who came to America in a big wave of people coming to the colonies in the 1630s. And Stephen Williams was ten years old. when he was captured by Indians. He was held for 18 months. His father was a pastor. Many people from his village were taken away from Deerfield in 1704 during a terrible raid. And he survived his captivity and he came back to New England and he became a blessed pastor in the Connecticut River Valley. He was there during the times of the Great Awakening. But he was a pastor in a little town called Long Meadow in Springfield, Massachusetts. And he wrote a covenant for reformation during his time being a pastor there. And I want to read you the covenant for reformation, because what we've just been encountering here at the words of the Lord Jesus, is one aspect of reformation that's always necessary among God's people. The reforming of the practices of keeping the Sabbath are so important for reformation. And as we cry out for reformation in our own lives, in our families, in our church, and in our own community, let's be aware that the keeping of the Sabbath is part of that reformation that's necessary. that we have so many things to be reformed, and we have so far to go as a church. But let's keep this in mind that this is one aspect that's critical for reformation. And Stephen Williams understood that as a young pastor. I'm going to read to you the introduction to the covenant, and then I'm going to read to you the covenant, and then we'll close. And I hope you'll understand why I'm doing this. Here's the introduction to the covenant. The Lord, our God, who is holy in all his ways and righteous in all his works, has lately by many rebukes of his providence shown his displeasure against us in this land. Does that sound like our land? Particularly by a distressing war and by very many great and sore sicknesses, especially in some places, and by awful and distressing storms. and tempests, and by an amazing earthquake on this past year, whereby the inhabitants of the land were greatly terrified. And very lately, and by a very sore and distressing drought, whereby fruits of the earth with us have withered and languished, and we're in danger of being wholly lost, whereby God is calling upon us to acknowledge and confess our sins. which are procuring causes of His judgments. "'Tis true and ought with all thankfulness to be acknowledged that God has not proceeded to extremity with us." In other words, He hasn't gone as far as He could in judging us. He hasn't come to extremity with us. But in wrath, has remembered mercy. Has bestowed very many favors upon us. Gives us health in a considerable measure and favors us with peace at present. and considerable plenty. He gives us space to repent and calls upon us to amend our ways and doings and obey His voice. We desire to be in the use of all proper means to promote reformation. And particularly, we desire to promise carefully to endeavor to reform those God-provoking evils that prevail among us and conscientiously to discharge those duties that are wickedly neglected. We would therefore, relying upon God's grace, solemnly give up ourselves to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, looking for help and acceptance through Christ, who is the mediator between God and man. Especially for grace to do the duties we now particularly promise to endeavor conscientiously to discharge, which are the following. And this is the covenant for reformation. that he wrote, number one. That we carefully and religiously keep up the worship of God in our families, number two. That we endeavor to carry becomingly and obediently those God has set over us civil and sacred authority. Number three, that we will carefully endeavor to behave ourselves soberly and not unnecessarily frequent taverns and drinking houses and tarry long in them and endeavor to avoid every appearance of evil, of excessive drinking. Number four, that we will justly deal with men to abstain from violence, fraud, oppression, carefully pay our honest debts, or if disenabled by the providence of God, we will take due care to inform our creditors of it and desire their allowance and forbearance. Number five, we will endeavor to behave ourselves chastely and modestly, avoid immodest carriage forbearing wanton songs, lascivious discourses, and will endeavor to possess our bodies in sanctification and honor. And particularly, we do declare our abhorrence of that notion, advanced by some of late, that it is no breach of the seventh commandment for persons that have made private promises to one another, to have carnal knowledge of one another, although not joined in marriage. Number six, we will watch against unpeaceable behavior ungoverned passion and murmurings. Number seven, we will not forget to communicate to the needy as a duty. Number eight, we will be thankful for our promises and careful for one another's good name. Number nine, we will take particular care of our families to give our children good education and keep our families under government. We'll take care that our children and servants and those under our care duly attend the worship of God carried on in the family and in public. and particularly that they attend the public catechizing and will take special care. Number 10, we will not allow nor unwittingly entertain company in our houses unseasonably nor any rude or debauched company in our houses at any time lest we bring guilt upon ourselves. Number 11, we will carefully endeavor to keep holy God's holy Sabbaths. Number 12, we promise faithfully to watch over one another and cheerfully and willingly give and receive Christian reproof as there be an occasion." It's a covenant for reformation. And there are so many things that are upon us that need to be reformed in our lives. We know that. And yet, this one matter of the Sabbath is one of them. And the Lord Jesus has come and instructed us now about these two things that are so important. that the Sabbath is about the knowledge of Him and it's about the expression of mercy. toward one another. And I'm so grateful for this text coming at this time. After having all of us been instructed on the Sabbath a number of times, now here we are again, that we would be reminded so that our days together would be sweeter, so that our meditations would be helpful to one another, and so that it would truly be a day of delight as God has designed it. Let's pray. Father, I pray that You would give us the knowledge of these things, that You would help us not to rage against You as the Pharisees did regarding Your commandments, setting them aside for their own traditions, that You would, O Lord, help us to set aside our traditions and to take Your yoke upon us and to learn from You. Amen.