1 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:09,480 You know, I just. I feel. I feel the faith that's welling up 2 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:14,600 in this room. Some of you in hardship and difficulty are going, 3 00:00:14,600 --> 00:00:17,800 God, I'm trusting you. I don't. I don't. I can't prove it 4 00:00:17,800 --> 00:00:19,720 in a court of law that you're going to come through. I just know 5 00:00:19,720 --> 00:00:21,360 you're going to come through because you've done it in the past. 6 00:00:21,760 --> 00:00:24,800 I believe you're going to do it again in the future. I trust you. 7 00:00:27,120 --> 00:00:32,840 I believe there are some of you that you're going. I'm wanting 8 00:00:32,840 --> 00:00:35,200 to believe it. Reggie, challenge me. I'm wanting to believe 9 00:00:35,200 --> 00:00:38,080 it. I'm not quite there yet. My prayer for you is that the faith 10 00:00:38,080 --> 00:00:43,320 in this room would allow you to see Jesus is worth trusting. But 11 00:00:43,320 --> 00:00:46,360 in saying that, I also want to say there are some of you and you're 12 00:00:46,360 --> 00:00:48,200 trying to pick and choose where you're going to trust the Lord. 13 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:52,080 I'll trust you in this area, but not in that area. I'll trust 14 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:56,180 you with what's going on in South Texas, but not going to trust 15 00:00:56,180 --> 00:01:00,340 you with my job, with my marriage, or I'll trust you in this 16 00:01:00,340 --> 00:01:03,100 relationship, but not my finances. God, I mean, that's mine. 17 00:01:03,100 --> 00:01:07,180 I. That you don't get to pick and choose. You trust him with everything 18 00:01:07,180 --> 00:01:11,220 or you don't trust him at all. Every Sunday, we remind you guys 19 00:01:11,220 --> 00:01:14,580 about the offering. This is not about filling coffers. This is 20 00:01:14,580 --> 00:01:17,540 not about making budget. This is about obedience to a God worth 21 00:01:17,540 --> 00:01:22,980 trusting in. And if you sing I trust in God and then say, but I'm 22 00:01:22,980 --> 00:01:26,300 not going to give to God, I want you to know you're not trusting 23 00:01:26,300 --> 00:01:30,180 in God. By the grace of God, we were able to send all these campers 24 00:01:30,500 --> 00:01:33,820 off to camp and to see the move of God. Not a single one of 25 00:01:33,820 --> 00:01:38,580 them who couldn't afford it was kept from going because we had 26 00:01:38,580 --> 00:01:42,340 scholarship money given by the generosity of this church to make 27 00:01:42,340 --> 00:01:47,180 sure every student who wanted to go was able to go to camp. Praise 28 00:01:47,180 --> 00:01:54,320 God. That happens because there's a church filled with people 29 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:58,320 who say, God, I trust you. I know I could use that money to pay 30 00:01:58,320 --> 00:02:01,040 this down or to buy this or do that. But, God, I'm trusting you 31 00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:04,520 and I'm giving to you what belongs to you. That's what the offering 32 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:07,480 moment is about. So I'm going to pray in just a moment. We're going 33 00:02:07,480 --> 00:02:09,520 to get into the Word, but I want to encourage you while I move 34 00:02:09,520 --> 00:02:11,720 into the message. If you haven't yet started to be faithful 35 00:02:11,720 --> 00:02:15,560 in your giving Trust him if you don't know how. Just in every 36 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:17,520 once in a while, in the seat back, there's a connect code you 37 00:02:17,520 --> 00:02:20,860 can scan with your phone or you can go to filler.org give. And 38 00:02:20,860 --> 00:02:23,460 once you go there, you just. That's. It's simple. Follow the process, 39 00:02:24,020 --> 00:02:28,620 set it up, and then you trust in God and watch him do so much more 40 00:02:28,620 --> 00:02:31,300 than you could ever imagine. Now, I'm going to pray for this, 41 00:02:31,620 --> 00:02:33,900 and then you can be seated and we'll move on with the message. Let's 42 00:02:33,900 --> 00:02:38,900 pray. God, we're telling you right now, we trust you in every 43 00:02:38,900 --> 00:02:43,140 moment, in the highs and the lows, when we have plenty, when we 44 00:02:43,140 --> 00:02:46,030 have little, when we. When things seem to go our way, when everything 45 00:02:46,030 --> 00:02:50,550 seems to be falling apart. God, we trust you. God, help us in 46 00:02:50,550 --> 00:02:53,750 the areas where we lack faith to look up to you and see that you 47 00:02:53,750 --> 00:02:59,830 are worth trusting in our giving, in our obedience, in the 48 00:02:59,830 --> 00:03:03,990 pain and suffering, in the joy and victory. We lift it all to you 49 00:03:03,990 --> 00:03:10,280 and we trust you. In Jesus holy name, we pray. Amen. Amen. You 50 00:03:10,280 --> 00:03:16,360 guys can grab a seat. Well, this morning we're going to continue 51 00:03:16,360 --> 00:03:20,320 on in our sermon series where we are going through the Gospel of 52 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:22,280 Matthew, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. We're going to be 53 00:03:22,280 --> 00:03:25,280 in Matthew 12. So you want to grab your Bible and head over to 54 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:27,880 Matthew 12 while you're finding Matthew 12. I'm going to 55 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,960 tell you that I've had a ton of people come up to me and tell 56 00:03:30,960 --> 00:03:34,120 me, hey, I've been praying for you. If you haven't noticed, I've 57 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:36,440 been gone for a couple of weeks. Hurts my heart that you haven't 58 00:03:36,440 --> 00:03:40,260 noticed I've been gone, but I have been. I've been in Africa. I 59 00:03:40,260 --> 00:03:42,980 was in Tanzania. Thank you. Somebody over here noticed. I'm so 60 00:03:42,980 --> 00:03:48,460 grateful for that. And I got to visit some Compassion sites with 61 00:03:48,460 --> 00:03:50,700 Compassion International and see some of the work they're doing 62 00:03:50,700 --> 00:03:53,340 there. And then my eldest daughter Abby, and I did something 63 00:03:53,340 --> 00:03:57,820 crazy. We attempted to climb Kilimanjaro, the tallest mountain 64 00:03:57,820 --> 00:04:02,740 in Africa. And I gotta be honest with you, I had no idea how 65 00:04:02,740 --> 00:04:06,000 stinking hard it was gonna be. It just seemed like a really long 66 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:10,680 walk uphill. And I saw the billefelds over here. Sharon, Wendell, 67 00:04:10,680 --> 00:04:13,840 they climbed it a number of years ago. And I went to ask them 68 00:04:13,840 --> 00:04:16,000 about it. I had heard they'd climbed it, and I was, like, super 69 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,680 excited to talk to them. And they weren't super excited back for 70 00:04:19,680 --> 00:04:23,640 me. And I was curious why, but they didn't tell me that much about 71 00:04:23,640 --> 00:04:26,040 it other than drink your water, take your altitude sickness 72 00:04:26,040 --> 00:04:32,060 medicine, and good luck. And when I did it, I went up there. And 73 00:04:32,060 --> 00:04:35,300 by the way, by the grace of God, we made it to the top. It was 74 00:04:35,300 --> 00:04:38,620 hard, but we made it. In fact, we have a picture we're gonna show 75 00:04:38,620 --> 00:04:42,420 my daughter Abby and I there at the highest point of Africa. I 76 00:04:42,420 --> 00:04:47,260 want you to know we're smiling. It looks easy. This is what 77 00:04:47,260 --> 00:04:53,020 it looked like. We looked like this. And then we went. I mean, I 78 00:04:53,020 --> 00:04:57,180 recorded a video and I sound delirious. Like, I'm talking. My 79 00:04:57,180 --> 00:05:00,310 speech is the third. And we made it to the top of the summit, 80 00:05:00,310 --> 00:05:04,070 right? I mean, it was just. My mind was gone. It was. The altitude 81 00:05:04,070 --> 00:05:08,350 sickness was so intense for everybody. We both felt like death. 82 00:05:08,590 --> 00:05:12,270 And it was one of the most anticlimactic things ever, because 83 00:05:12,510 --> 00:05:15,390 we've been hiking four and a half days straight up to get all 84 00:05:15,390 --> 00:05:18,470 the way up to 19,000ft. And you're there at the summit. And I 85 00:05:18,470 --> 00:05:20,750 thought I was gonna be like a. Whoo. I made it. And I was just like, 86 00:05:20,750 --> 00:05:24,440 get me down from this mountain right now. I mean, it was. It was 87 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:28,680 incredibly painful to make it up to the top. And I went back to 88 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:30,880 Wendell and Sherry. I saw them at prayer on Wednesday, and I said, 89 00:05:30,880 --> 00:05:33,400 why didn't you tell me? It was so hard. We didn't wanna discourage 90 00:05:33,400 --> 00:05:37,880 you. Wendell said after, or Sherry said after, when they had 91 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:40,560 talked to me before I left, that she went to her husband and 92 00:05:40,560 --> 00:05:44,240 said, he has no idea what he's about to do. And you were right. 93 00:05:44,240 --> 00:05:48,360 I had no idea how painful it was gonna be. But by the grace of 94 00:05:48,360 --> 00:05:51,080 God, we made it. Learned. I learned so many things. You're gonna 95 00:05:51,080 --> 00:05:54,610 be so sick of me talking about stories of the things that I learned 96 00:05:54,610 --> 00:05:57,450 on that mountain. But today, you're not going to hear a single 97 00:05:57,450 --> 00:06:01,290 story from it, because that's all. The stories are about work and 98 00:06:01,290 --> 00:06:03,850 about how God comes to you when you're working. But actually, 99 00:06:03,850 --> 00:06:07,810 the passage today is all about rest. It's about the Sabbath. So 100 00:06:07,810 --> 00:06:10,610 I'm going to have to save my Kilimanjaro stories for later. And 101 00:06:10,610 --> 00:06:13,250 we're just going to dig into Matthew 12 and learn what Jesus has 102 00:06:13,250 --> 00:06:16,530 to teach us about what it means to rest. Now, while you're 103 00:06:16,530 --> 00:06:19,970 finding Matthew 12, I want you to know it builds on what we finished 104 00:06:19,970 --> 00:06:23,430 with last week. So last week, it finished with some of the most 105 00:06:23,430 --> 00:06:26,910 beautiful words of Jesus when he says at the end of chapter 11, 106 00:06:26,910 --> 00:06:30,070 come to me, all of you who are weary. And burdened. And I'll give 107 00:06:30,070 --> 00:06:33,350 you rest. Take my yoke upon you, because my yoke is easy and 108 00:06:33,350 --> 00:06:37,150 my burden is light. So he's talking about the yoke of Jesus. 109 00:06:37,470 --> 00:06:41,230 Now in chapter 12, he's going to compare a different yoke, a yoke 110 00:06:41,230 --> 00:06:46,640 of the Pharisees, a yoke of religiosity, a yoke of slavery that 111 00:06:46,640 --> 00:06:50,400 is burdensome and cruel and life shattering. And he's saying 112 00:06:50,400 --> 00:06:55,640 there's two yokes, my yoke or religion's yoke. You choose. That's 113 00:06:55,640 --> 00:06:57,880 what he's getting to. In chapter 12, he's showing us the other 114 00:06:57,880 --> 00:07:00,960 yoke. So we begin in verse one. First couple of verses will 115 00:07:00,960 --> 00:07:04,760 set the stage. Here's what it says, Matthew 12:1. At that time, 116 00:07:04,760 --> 00:07:07,960 Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath and his disciples 117 00:07:07,960 --> 00:07:11,080 were hungry. And they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. 118 00:07:11,320 --> 00:07:13,960 But when the Pharisees saw it, they said to him, look, your disciples 119 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:17,960 are doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. Get out. I'm 120 00:07:17,960 --> 00:07:20,640 going to pause a little bit of history lesson for you. You won't 121 00:07:20,640 --> 00:07:24,000 understand what's going on unless you understand why the Pharisees 122 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:28,120 are so ruffled by what Jesus disciples are doing. So it says, 123 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:32,639 your disciples are not doing what's lawful on the Sabbath. Now, 124 00:07:32,639 --> 00:07:34,680 if you've been at this church for any length of time, you know 125 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:36,840 all about the Sabbath, because we talk about it all the time. But 126 00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:39,400 there may be some of you, you're joining us or worshipping 127 00:07:39,400 --> 00:07:42,250 with us online, you haven't heard much about the Sabbath. The 128 00:07:42,250 --> 00:07:46,130 Sabbath is the day of rest, comes from the creation account. 129 00:07:46,210 --> 00:07:49,490 Six days God created the world. On the seventh day, he ceased 130 00:07:49,570 --> 00:07:52,810 from his work and rested. By the way, the word Shabbat, which 131 00:07:52,810 --> 00:07:56,130 is where we get Sabbath from, the Hebrew word means to cease, means 132 00:07:56,130 --> 00:07:59,210 to stop your work. Now, the Jewish people, especially the nation 133 00:07:59,210 --> 00:08:03,210 of Israel, was defined by this seventh day of rest. It showed them 134 00:08:03,210 --> 00:08:06,250 that they had been freed from their slavery to become the people 135 00:08:06,250 --> 00:08:10,230 of God. If you know the story of Exodus, then the Israelites, you 136 00:08:10,230 --> 00:08:13,830 know, were slaves in the land of Egypt. And they, as slaves, were 137 00:08:13,830 --> 00:08:17,990 forced to work seven days a week. Their only value was found 138 00:08:17,990 --> 00:08:21,390 in how many bricks they could make for Pharaoh. In fact, when they 139 00:08:21,390 --> 00:08:25,229 tried to take a few days of rest to go worship God, Pharaoh came 140 00:08:25,229 --> 00:08:27,950 down on them and said, you're just lazy now. You don't even get 141 00:08:27,950 --> 00:08:30,990 straw. Go make more bricks. Make more bricks, because your only 142 00:08:30,990 --> 00:08:34,350 value is how many bricks you produce. But when God freed them 143 00:08:34,350 --> 00:08:36,590 through the ten plagues and the death of the firstborn, and they're 144 00:08:36,590 --> 00:08:40,100 set free, and they pass through the Red Sea and they get 145 00:08:40,100 --> 00:08:43,380 into the wilderness. God says, I'm going to give you ten commandments. 146 00:08:43,380 --> 00:08:45,900 And one of those, the fourth commandment, is that you rest. And 147 00:08:45,900 --> 00:08:49,620 here's why. To remind you and the world around you, you are no 148 00:08:49,620 --> 00:08:53,980 longer slaves to Egypt. Pharaoh doesn't own you. I own you. 149 00:08:54,460 --> 00:08:57,460 And the whole idea of the Sabbath is you can stop doing any 150 00:08:57,460 --> 00:09:00,700 work and still have value, because your value is based on my 151 00:09:00,700 --> 00:09:04,590 work for you, not your work for me. That's why the Sabbath was 152 00:09:04,590 --> 00:09:08,030 so incredibly important to the Jewish people. But there was one 153 00:09:08,030 --> 00:09:10,990 problem about the Sabbath in the Old Testament, in the law of 154 00:09:10,990 --> 00:09:14,990 Moses, is that God didn't give a whole lot of instructions on exactly 155 00:09:14,990 --> 00:09:18,990 what it means to work and not work. So, like, how do you know whether 156 00:09:18,990 --> 00:09:22,910 you're breaking the Sabbath or not? So over the centuries, there 157 00:09:22,910 --> 00:09:26,070 developed among the nation of Israel and the Jewish people, what's 158 00:09:26,070 --> 00:09:30,550 called the oral tradition, mostly known as the Mishnah. Now, 159 00:09:30,550 --> 00:09:34,870 the Mishnah is not the law of God. It's the law of men. Trying 160 00:09:34,870 --> 00:09:37,590 to interpret the law of God, that's a really important distinction. 161 00:09:38,230 --> 00:09:41,750 Now, in the Mishnah, there were 39 things that you were not 162 00:09:41,750 --> 00:09:44,310 allowed to do on the Sabbath because they were considered work. 163 00:09:44,870 --> 00:09:47,390 Now, you go back to the story of the disciples. They're walking 164 00:09:47,390 --> 00:09:50,350 through the grain fields and they're plucking off heads of grain, 165 00:09:50,350 --> 00:09:53,430 and they're eating it. Now, according to the Mishnah, not according 166 00:09:53,430 --> 00:09:55,630 to the law of Moses, but according to the Mishnah, they had 167 00:09:55,630 --> 00:09:59,600 broken four commandments by what they were doing. First of all, 168 00:09:59,600 --> 00:10:05,160 they had plucked heads of grain off the wheat. They were walking 169 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:08,280 right next to a wheat field. They would pluck it off. Now, according 170 00:10:08,280 --> 00:10:12,040 to the Mishnah, that was considered harvesting, and that was 171 00:10:12,040 --> 00:10:15,280 forbidden on the Sabbath. So they had broken one law already. 172 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:18,440 The second thing they would do, though, is once you plucked the 173 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,640 head of grain, you had to rub it in your fingers to separate the 174 00:10:21,640 --> 00:10:25,860 husk or the chaff from the seed. Well, that was considered threshing, 175 00:10:26,340 --> 00:10:29,140 and you were now working against. Threshing was forbidden 176 00:10:29,140 --> 00:10:32,620 on the Sabbath. So now you've broken two commandments. Well, then 177 00:10:32,620 --> 00:10:35,260 what you would do is you would. You would blow on it, so the 178 00:10:35,260 --> 00:10:37,660 husk would fly away. So you only had the seed. Well, that was 179 00:10:37,660 --> 00:10:41,540 considered winnowing, which was forbidden on the Sabbath. So 180 00:10:41,540 --> 00:10:44,700 now you've broken three commandments. Then when they got 181 00:10:44,700 --> 00:10:47,940 the Seed. And they put it in their mouth. That was considered 182 00:10:47,940 --> 00:10:51,150 preparing a meal for yourself, which was forbidden on the Sabbath. 183 00:10:51,150 --> 00:10:54,670 You could only do that the day before the Sabbath. So now they take 184 00:10:54,670 --> 00:10:58,910 it, they separate it, they blow it, they eat it. They have broken 185 00:10:58,910 --> 00:11:02,070 four commandments of the Mishnah, the law around the law. 186 00:11:02,470 --> 00:11:06,030 And the Pharisees are all bent out of shape. How dare they do that? 187 00:11:06,030 --> 00:11:09,830 They know the law. I love Jesus response to this. This is one 188 00:11:09,830 --> 00:11:13,270 of the things I most appreciate about Jesus. He is real 189 00:11:13,270 --> 00:11:16,190 quick to break the laws of men if it doesn't align with the law 190 00:11:16,190 --> 00:11:22,340 of God. He loves breaking the rules of men. This is exactly why 191 00:11:22,340 --> 00:11:24,380 he's allowing this to take place, because he's going to make 192 00:11:24,380 --> 00:11:27,580 a point. And so he comes back in and he tries to show them, guys, 193 00:11:27,580 --> 00:11:31,220 you are barking up the wrong tree. That's a yoke of slavery. That's 194 00:11:31,220 --> 00:11:33,900 not the yoke that I want to give you. That's the letter of the 195 00:11:33,900 --> 00:11:36,940 law, but it's missing the heart of the law. And that's why 196 00:11:36,940 --> 00:11:40,060 in verses 3 through 8, he tells them what God's heart actually 197 00:11:40,060 --> 00:11:43,460 is. He's trying to help them break free from the wrong yoke to 198 00:11:43,460 --> 00:11:46,140 have the right yoke. So let's keep on reading. Picking up. In verse 199 00:11:46,140 --> 00:11:50,740 three, it says, he said to them, have you not read what David 200 00:11:50,740 --> 00:11:53,700 did when he was hungry and those who were with him, how he entered 201 00:11:53,700 --> 00:11:56,460 the house of God and ate the bread of the Presence which it was 202 00:11:56,460 --> 00:11:59,139 not lawful for him to eat, nor those who were with him, but only 203 00:11:59,139 --> 00:12:02,620 for the priests. Or have you not read in the law how on the Sabbath 204 00:12:02,620 --> 00:12:05,300 the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? 205 00:12:05,940 --> 00:12:09,270 I tell you something greater than the temple is here. And if you 206 00:12:09,270 --> 00:12:12,710 had known what this means, I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you 207 00:12:12,710 --> 00:12:15,630 would not have condemned the guiltless, for the Son of Man is 208 00:12:15,630 --> 00:12:18,790 the Lord of the Sabbath. So what Jesus is doing right here is 209 00:12:18,790 --> 00:12:22,710 he's redefining for them what is and isn't permissible on the Sabbath. 210 00:12:22,710 --> 00:12:26,630 He's saying, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath, I get to decide. And 211 00:12:26,630 --> 00:12:30,110 he's saying, guys, you've missed the complete heart of God. 212 00:12:30,750 --> 00:12:35,390 He says, if you had only understood this, I desire mercy, 213 00:12:36,440 --> 00:12:39,880 sacrifice, you wouldn't have condemned my innocent disciples. 214 00:12:41,080 --> 00:12:44,640 That phrase, I desire mercy and not sacrifice is so beautifully 215 00:12:44,640 --> 00:12:48,480 important because that's the comparison of the two yokes. When 216 00:12:48,480 --> 00:12:51,640 it says sacrifice, it's not talking about giving up something 217 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:54,480 on behalf of God for your love of God. It's talking about the sacrificial 218 00:12:54,480 --> 00:12:58,360 system. It's talking about the rules and regulations. He's saying, 219 00:12:58,360 --> 00:13:02,000 I don't desire you to obey all the rules and regulations as the 220 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:05,300 highest thing, as if the law is the most important thing. I desire 221 00:13:05,460 --> 00:13:10,580 mercy. Now, that's taken from Hosea6.6. And if you were to read 222 00:13:10,580 --> 00:13:13,620 it in the Hebrew, it has one of the most beautiful Hebrew words 223 00:13:13,860 --> 00:13:17,580 written right there for mercy. It's the Hebrew word chesed. You 224 00:13:17,580 --> 00:13:20,579 got to say it all guttural like, like you're choking a chesed. 225 00:13:20,579 --> 00:13:24,260 That's the word, and it literally means loving kindness. 226 00:13:25,220 --> 00:13:31,260 Chesed. That's what I desire, loving kindness. That you exercise, 227 00:13:31,260 --> 00:13:34,660 kindness toward God and others because you've experienced my love 228 00:13:34,660 --> 00:13:39,960 for you. That's what. Not a sacrificial system, but loving kindness. 229 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:43,240 Because loving kindness is a yoke that is easy and light. But 230 00:13:43,240 --> 00:13:46,120 sacrificial system and rules and regulations, that's the yoke 231 00:13:46,120 --> 00:13:49,600 that kills. He says, you're looking at the wrong thing. You haven't 232 00:13:49,600 --> 00:13:52,439 even found out what pleases God. And he gives two stories to 233 00:13:52,439 --> 00:13:56,120 explain how they've missed the mark. The first one was about David, 234 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:58,640 and the second was about priests. So you look back at verse 235 00:13:58,640 --> 00:14:02,080 three. He tells a story about David. Now, this comes from 1 Samuel, 236 00:14:02,080 --> 00:14:06,110 chapter 21, a little background of that story. David has 237 00:14:06,110 --> 00:14:10,150 been anointed by Samuel to be the next king, but Saul is still 238 00:14:10,150 --> 00:14:13,790 king, and Saul is trying to kill David. David is on the run with 239 00:14:13,790 --> 00:14:17,070 a few people who've come with him, and they are famished and exhausted, 240 00:14:17,070 --> 00:14:20,950 and he's just trying to survive. And he goes up to the tabernacle, 241 00:14:21,110 --> 00:14:24,990 and there in the tabernacle is the high priest, Ahimelech. And he 242 00:14:24,990 --> 00:14:28,110 comes up to Ahimelech and he says, would you give us the bread 243 00:14:28,110 --> 00:14:32,210 of the Presence so that we can eat and survive? Now, here's what 244 00:14:32,210 --> 00:14:34,890 you need to know if you were here. Last summer, we did the whole 245 00:14:34,890 --> 00:14:38,090 Exodus series about the tabernacle. We talked about the Bread 246 00:14:38,090 --> 00:14:41,610 of the Presence. That was the table of showbread. It was right 247 00:14:41,610 --> 00:14:45,970 next to the Holy of Holies, inside the holy place in the tabernacle. 248 00:14:46,130 --> 00:14:49,010 And only the high priest and his family were allowed to eat that 249 00:14:49,010 --> 00:14:52,810 bread. David was not a high priest, and the people with him were 250 00:14:52,810 --> 00:14:56,530 not of that family. And so Ahimelech, according to the law, 251 00:14:56,530 --> 00:14:59,880 should not have given David that bread. But he does, because 252 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:03,280 he sees the anointed who is going to die if he doesn't eat. And 253 00:15:03,280 --> 00:15:07,120 he gives him the bread and his men. And God nowhere punishes David 254 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:12,120 or his men or Ahimelech for what he's done. Why? Because he showed 255 00:15:12,120 --> 00:15:15,760 chesed. He showed lovingkindness. And that was more 256 00:15:15,760 --> 00:15:20,360 important than rote obedience to the rules and regulations. I desire 257 00:15:20,360 --> 00:15:24,320 chesed and not sacrifice. He's saying, it's all over the Bible. 258 00:15:24,320 --> 00:15:27,870 You've just missed it. And then he goes to a second story about 259 00:15:27,870 --> 00:15:31,390 the priests. And he says, have you not read. He's referring to numbers, 260 00:15:31,390 --> 00:15:36,230 chapter 28, how the priests on the Sabbath have to break the Sabbath 261 00:15:36,230 --> 00:15:39,750 by offering the sacrifices in the morning and at night they don't 262 00:15:39,750 --> 00:15:44,870 get to stop. The priests have to do the work on the Sabbath, and 263 00:15:44,870 --> 00:15:49,550 they do it because it shows chesed back to God, loving kindness 264 00:15:49,550 --> 00:15:52,830 back to God. I offer these sacrifices because I love you, God. 265 00:15:52,830 --> 00:15:56,640 And he's saying, if you're willing to do that for the temple, 266 00:15:57,440 --> 00:16:00,760 can't you see that my disciples should be willing to do 267 00:16:00,760 --> 00:16:04,920 that for me? And then he explains why. Because something greater 268 00:16:04,920 --> 00:16:08,280 than the temple is here among you. Now, I want you to know that 269 00:16:08,280 --> 00:16:11,200 statement went poof right over the heads of the Pharisees. They 270 00:16:11,200 --> 00:16:14,920 had no idea what Jesus was talking about. But Jesus was trying 271 00:16:14,920 --> 00:16:19,320 to help them understand that the temple as beautiful and the tabernacle 272 00:16:19,320 --> 00:16:23,050 along with it, as beautiful as it was, was always just a shadow 273 00:16:23,290 --> 00:16:27,290 of what was to come. But Christ is what it was pointing to. 274 00:16:27,690 --> 00:16:30,170 Those of you who were here last summer, we talked about the 275 00:16:30,410 --> 00:16:33,490 tabernacle. I showed you element after element of how it all 276 00:16:33,490 --> 00:16:37,370 pointed to Jesus. And it was intended to be a picture of God's 277 00:16:37,370 --> 00:16:41,290 divine power and God's divine presence coming to earth. Even the 278 00:16:41,290 --> 00:16:44,010 way the inside of the tabernacle was made, with the curtains 279 00:16:44,010 --> 00:16:46,370 that had cherubim that looked like the angels of heaven and the 280 00:16:46,370 --> 00:16:49,290 colors that look like the tabernacle twilight of the sky, all 281 00:16:49,290 --> 00:16:51,610 of it was designed to make you feel when you walked into the holy 282 00:16:51,610 --> 00:16:54,010 place, like you were stepping up into the heavens in the presence 283 00:16:54,010 --> 00:16:57,450 of God. And it was intended to be a picture that heaven has come 284 00:16:57,450 --> 00:17:01,490 down to earth, the tabernacle and then the temple. But Jesus says 285 00:17:01,730 --> 00:17:05,490 all that which is to help you understand God himself was gonna 286 00:17:05,490 --> 00:17:09,010 take on flesh and come to earth. John, chapter 1, verse 14 287 00:17:09,010 --> 00:17:13,610 says, and Jesus, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. 288 00:17:13,610 --> 00:17:18,510 That word is and tabernacled among us. Jesus was always a true 289 00:17:18,510 --> 00:17:21,190 tabernacle. God's presence among us. He is greater than the 290 00:17:21,190 --> 00:17:24,310 temple. And he says, just like priests can serve the temple because 291 00:17:24,310 --> 00:17:26,950 it's God's presence. My disciples can serve me because I 292 00:17:26,950 --> 00:17:32,030 am God among you. He says, I'm the Lord of the Sabbath. And you've 293 00:17:32,030 --> 00:17:35,390 missed it because you made it about a bunch of rules and regulations 294 00:17:35,950 --> 00:17:39,990 and you missed that it's really about me. Can I be really 295 00:17:39,990 --> 00:17:44,440 honest with you? It's so easy for us to get our rocks and throw 296 00:17:44,440 --> 00:17:47,760 them at the Pharisees. Like those guys, man, they just missed 297 00:17:47,760 --> 00:17:51,280 everything. And we do the exact same thing. We don't even realize 298 00:17:51,280 --> 00:17:57,600 it. We turn Christianity into a bunch of do's and don'ts, into 299 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:00,480 this religious thing that we've got to do to try to please 300 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,800 God. I mean, if we go to church enough, if we give enough 301 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:06,680 money, if we serve, if we go on a mission trip, if we adopt children, 302 00:18:07,270 --> 00:18:10,190 if we help the poor, if we do all these things, then maybe, just 303 00:18:10,190 --> 00:18:15,390 maybe, Jesus will accept us and we'll make it into heaven. And 304 00:18:15,390 --> 00:18:19,590 that is not the message of the Bible. That's the law of slavery 305 00:18:19,670 --> 00:18:25,270 that leads to death. It's the wrong yoke. When I was hiking this 306 00:18:25,270 --> 00:18:29,150 past week, I met a guy from England, and really, really nice 307 00:18:29,150 --> 00:18:33,240 guy, but he's not a believer. And he was with us on our trip and 308 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:36,200 we were talking about. He's asking questions about how do you 309 00:18:36,200 --> 00:18:39,720 believe? And why would you believe in Jesus? And we got to the 310 00:18:39,720 --> 00:18:43,520 question about religions of the world and just asking, like, 311 00:18:43,520 --> 00:18:46,400 you know, we were literally at a time of climbing a mountain, and 312 00:18:46,400 --> 00:18:48,320 there were a number of different pathways to get to the 313 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:51,760 top. And he's going like, isn't it kind of like that? I mean, 314 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:54,600 God's at the top and we're all just trying to find different ways 315 00:18:54,600 --> 00:18:57,440 to make it to the top to get to him. Isn't that all religion is? 316 00:18:59,290 --> 00:19:01,970 And I had to answer his question, which, by the way, that 317 00:19:01,970 --> 00:19:05,810 may be a question some of you have, maybe some of you are online 318 00:19:05,810 --> 00:19:08,730 watching because you don't know what we teach around here. You 319 00:19:08,730 --> 00:19:10,970 don't know, how is Christianity different than Islam 320 00:19:10,970 --> 00:19:15,530 or Buddhism or Confucianism or Judaism, or, like, what makes it 321 00:19:15,530 --> 00:19:17,610 different? Which, by the way, if you don't have an answer to that, 322 00:19:18,090 --> 00:19:20,530 if your only reason for believing in Jesus because your parents, 323 00:19:20,530 --> 00:19:22,610 your grandparents believed in Jesus and you were born into it, 324 00:19:22,610 --> 00:19:26,060 you're missing it completely. You need to have an answer for that 325 00:19:26,060 --> 00:19:29,380 question. Why believe in Christianity when there are so many 326 00:19:29,380 --> 00:19:32,980 religions of the world? Well, here's the answer I gave to my friend. 327 00:19:33,780 --> 00:19:37,700 I said, listen, Christianity is categorically different than every 328 00:19:37,700 --> 00:19:40,140 other religion of the world. Because every religion is based on 329 00:19:40,140 --> 00:19:44,420 one thought. Every other religion that you obey the rules 330 00:19:44,420 --> 00:19:47,740 of that religion and you please the divine power and you get 331 00:19:47,740 --> 00:19:49,990 the reward from that divine power. Every religion in the world 332 00:19:49,990 --> 00:19:54,070 is based on that. You think about Judaism. If you obey the law 333 00:19:54,070 --> 00:19:57,030 of Moses, this is what the Pharisees were doing. If you obey 334 00:19:57,030 --> 00:19:59,710 all the rules and regulations, then Yahweh will be pleased with 335 00:19:59,710 --> 00:20:04,190 you and you will attain to life, abundant life. You go to Islam. 336 00:20:04,830 --> 00:20:08,630 If I obey the five pillars of Islam and do what I'm supposed to 337 00:20:08,630 --> 00:20:12,190 do, then I can please Allah and then I will attain to paradise. 338 00:20:12,830 --> 00:20:17,390 You go to Buddhism. If I obey the Eightfold pathway that leads 339 00:20:17,390 --> 00:20:20,750 to enlightenment, if I follow it correctly and do it well enough, 340 00:20:21,220 --> 00:20:24,460 then I will please the divine essence in the universe and attain 341 00:20:24,460 --> 00:20:29,100 to nirvana. If I go to Confucianism, if I obey the teachings 342 00:20:29,100 --> 00:20:33,140 of Confucius and walk in his way, I will arrive at intellect and 343 00:20:33,140 --> 00:20:36,700 intelligence and enlightenment. Any religion of the 344 00:20:36,700 --> 00:20:43,780 world is based on that, save one. Christianity at its core is 345 00:20:43,780 --> 00:20:46,460 not about what we do to make ourselves right with God. It's about 346 00:20:46,460 --> 00:20:50,280 what God did to make us right with him. It's not about us building 347 00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:52,960 a tower to make it up to heaven so we can make it up to God. 348 00:20:52,960 --> 00:20:55,000 It's about God saying they're never going to make it so he came 349 00:20:55,000 --> 00:20:59,760 down to earth in flesh to save us. Christianity is about what God 350 00:20:59,760 --> 00:21:03,200 did, not what we do. That's why it's categorically different 351 00:21:03,200 --> 00:21:07,520 than every other religion out there. But we can make it about what 352 00:21:07,520 --> 00:21:12,320 we do. About. If I just obey what Jesus said and fulfill all the 353 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:15,560 roles and check all the boxes. If the good, and I hear this all, 354 00:21:15,560 --> 00:21:18,650 if the good in my life can outweigh the bad, if maybe I just 355 00:21:18,650 --> 00:21:22,490 get to scale enough, maybe by the hair of my chinny chin chin, 356 00:21:22,490 --> 00:21:26,290 I'll make it into heaven. That's religion. That's the yoke 357 00:21:26,290 --> 00:21:31,290 of slavery. The reason why the yoke of Jesus is light and easy is 358 00:21:31,290 --> 00:21:36,930 because he accomplished it and we just accept it by faith. But sometimes 359 00:21:36,930 --> 00:21:39,650 we put on the wrong yoke and we don't even realize we're doing 360 00:21:39,650 --> 00:21:43,730 it. Telltale signs is that we're always tired, we're always 361 00:21:43,730 --> 00:21:46,930 angry, we're always overwhelmed. We never feel good enough. 362 00:21:47,760 --> 00:21:49,640 Or if we feel like we're obeying the laws, we feel better 363 00:21:49,640 --> 00:21:52,880 than everybody else and look down our noses at people. Those are 364 00:21:52,880 --> 00:21:56,760 the telltale signs that we've got the wrong yoke on. That's exactly 365 00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:00,360 what those Pharisees were doing, looking down their nose at 366 00:22:00,360 --> 00:22:03,159 here's man, Jesus coming to bring life. And they just won't even 367 00:22:03,159 --> 00:22:06,480 see it. They won't even believe it. That's why Jesus has 368 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:10,080 to show them on the most practical of levels that they're 369 00:22:10,080 --> 00:22:12,600 putting on the wrong yoke. This is exactly what he does in the 370 00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:16,190 next story, because he's going to do something phenomenal on the 371 00:22:16,190 --> 00:22:19,230 Sabbath and the Pharisees are going to hate him for it. Let's keep 372 00:22:19,230 --> 00:22:23,550 on reading, picking it back up. In verse nine, it says, he went 373 00:22:23,550 --> 00:22:26,990 on from there and entered their synagogue, and a man was there 374 00:22:26,990 --> 00:22:31,350 with a withered hand. And they asked him, is it lawful to heal on 375 00:22:31,350 --> 00:22:35,790 the Sabbath so that they might accuse him? So here's what it's saying 376 00:22:35,790 --> 00:22:38,270 they're doing, these Pharisees, they're trying to trap 377 00:22:38,270 --> 00:22:41,240 Jesus. They want to get him because they want to accuse him. 378 00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:44,680 They want to get some dirt on Jesus. Now, in the last story, they 379 00:22:44,680 --> 00:22:47,280 got some dirt on the disciples because they were breaking the Mishnah 380 00:22:47,280 --> 00:22:51,640 by harvesting and threshing and winnowing and preparing a meal 381 00:22:51,640 --> 00:22:55,200 for themselves. But apparently Jesus wasn't eating the grain, so 382 00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:57,400 they didn't have any dirt on Jesus yet, so they want to get some 383 00:22:57,400 --> 00:23:01,040 dirt on him. So they come up with a trick question. They say, 384 00:23:01,200 --> 00:23:04,600 is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath? Now here's why this was 385 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:09,290 a trick question. Because the answer was both yes and no, and they 386 00:23:09,290 --> 00:23:12,650 knew it. You see, there was this little caveat in the Mishnah 387 00:23:12,890 --> 00:23:16,970 that if somebody was deathly ill, it was lawful to heal on the 388 00:23:16,970 --> 00:23:20,130 Sabbath. But if they were not at the point of death, then you had 389 00:23:20,130 --> 00:23:24,530 to wait until the next day to do healing. It was not allowed. And 390 00:23:24,530 --> 00:23:29,130 they knew Jesus loved to heal on the Sabbath and he couldn't pass 391 00:23:29,130 --> 00:23:33,260 up a guy with a withered hand. And they were gonna catch Jesus saying, 392 00:23:33,260 --> 00:23:35,620 yes, it's lawful. And they were gonna go, aha, you're wrong. 393 00:23:36,020 --> 00:23:38,300 Cause this guy's life wasn't threatened and they were gonna have 394 00:23:38,300 --> 00:23:41,740 him trapped. The guy had a withered hand. It doesn't say exactly 395 00:23:41,740 --> 00:23:45,540 what that means. But likely he was paralyzed and turned in. And 396 00:23:45,780 --> 00:23:49,420 he had probably been that way his whole life, decades. This was 397 00:23:49,420 --> 00:23:53,540 not life threatening. He could have waited till the next day to 398 00:23:53,540 --> 00:23:58,460 heal him. But Jesus doesn't fall into their trap. He sets the 399 00:23:58,460 --> 00:24:02,360 trap. He springs it because he wants to show them just how off they 400 00:24:02,360 --> 00:24:05,760 are. And I love how he steps right into it and says, guys, let 401 00:24:05,760 --> 00:24:09,040 me teach you something. Listen to his response, Pick it back up. 402 00:24:09,040 --> 00:24:13,640 In verse 11, he said to them, which one of you who has a sheep, 403 00:24:13,640 --> 00:24:16,600 if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold of it 404 00:24:16,600 --> 00:24:20,960 and lift it out of how much more value is a man than a sheep? 405 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,760 So is it lawful to do good on the Sabbath? So it is lawful to do 406 00:24:24,760 --> 00:24:27,440 good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, stretch out your 407 00:24:27,440 --> 00:24:31,320 hand. And the man stretched it out, and he was restored, healthy 408 00:24:31,320 --> 00:24:34,320 like the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired 409 00:24:34,320 --> 00:24:40,080 against him. How to destroy him. Isn't that sad? These Pharisees 410 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:44,080 had just seen a real miracle of Almighty God. And the only way 411 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:48,720 they can respond is by saying, we gotta kill this guy. I'm curious. 412 00:24:48,720 --> 00:24:50,880 Any of you in here have watched the Chosen at all? Raise 413 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:53,720 your hand if you. Okay, good. A lot of you, if you haven't, I strongly 414 00:24:53,720 --> 00:24:56,590 encourage you to go. It's just vibrant the way it brings to life 415 00:24:57,230 --> 00:25:01,790 the stories of the Bible. But there's this story is done in video 416 00:25:01,790 --> 00:25:06,070 fashion in the Chosen, and it's phenomenal to watch that juxtaposition 417 00:25:06,070 --> 00:25:08,670 of a man whose hand is withered and watch it be healed, 418 00:25:08,750 --> 00:25:11,350 and then to watch these Pharisees, instead of rejoicing in 419 00:25:11,350 --> 00:25:14,390 it, wanting to kill him. Your mind is blowing, going, how could 420 00:25:14,390 --> 00:25:17,430 they respond that way? But here's how they could respond that 421 00:25:17,430 --> 00:25:21,110 way. They had already determined Jesus was evil and he 422 00:25:21,110 --> 00:25:23,310 needed to go down because he was a threat to their way of life. 423 00:25:23,630 --> 00:25:26,030 So no matter what happened, they were going to take him down. 424 00:25:26,510 --> 00:25:29,950 And it was time for Jesus to call out their hypocrisy. That's 425 00:25:29,950 --> 00:25:34,670 why he says, which one of you who has a sheep that's fallen into 426 00:25:34,670 --> 00:25:39,630 a pit won't take it out on the Sabbath? Now, here's what's interesting. 427 00:25:39,870 --> 00:25:43,350 I don't know if you know this or not, but there is nowhere in the 428 00:25:43,350 --> 00:25:48,300 law of Moses or the Mishnah or any oral tradition that allows a 429 00:25:48,300 --> 00:25:52,460 Jew to pull an animal out of a ditch. It is forbidden everywhere. 430 00:25:52,460 --> 00:25:55,380 In fact, in the oral tradition all over the place, it says, if an 431 00:25:55,380 --> 00:25:58,900 animal falls into a ditch, you may not rescue it until the next 432 00:25:58,900 --> 00:26:03,420 day. It says it very clearly. There is no allowance for you to 433 00:26:03,420 --> 00:26:06,740 pull an animal out of a ditch when it falls into it. And he says, 434 00:26:06,900 --> 00:26:10,100 which one of you, if your animal falls into a ditch, won't 435 00:26:10,100 --> 00:26:13,270 pull it out, saying, every single one of you will. And you want 436 00:26:13,270 --> 00:26:16,430 to know why you'll do it? Jesus tells them, because that animal 437 00:26:16,430 --> 00:26:19,230 matters to you. And you'll break the law to do what matters 438 00:26:19,230 --> 00:26:22,030 to you. By the way, I don't know if you know this or not. You 439 00:26:22,030 --> 00:26:26,830 do the exact same thing. The other day, I got a call from my daughter 440 00:26:26,830 --> 00:26:30,590 who was out walking, and she was probably like 3 miles away from 441 00:26:30,910 --> 00:26:35,950 the house, but she called frantically because a couple of dogs 442 00:26:36,430 --> 00:26:40,870 had gotten loose, and they were pit bulls. And she was scared. 443 00:26:41,270 --> 00:26:44,470 A friend of ours recently got bitten by a dog being out for a walk. 444 00:26:44,470 --> 00:26:47,070 And she was understandably terrified that there were these two 445 00:26:47,070 --> 00:26:51,030 pit bulls following her on her walk. And so she calls me, frantic, 446 00:26:51,030 --> 00:26:55,229 saying, daddy, help. And you want to know what I did? I ran out 447 00:26:55,229 --> 00:26:58,270 to my garage, got in my car, and I sped off and I broke every 448 00:26:58,270 --> 00:27:02,790 single law of this land to get my daughter. There was a stop sign. 449 00:27:02,790 --> 00:27:06,000 You think I stopped? No, man, I didn't even do California stop. 450 00:27:06,000 --> 00:27:10,320 I just around the corner, it said 40 miles. You think I was going 451 00:27:10,320 --> 00:27:12,840 40? I don't know how fast I was going, but I promise you it was 452 00:27:12,840 --> 00:27:15,840 not 40. I was going way, because I'm going to get. If a police 453 00:27:15,840 --> 00:27:17,720 car got behind me, I'm like, come on, brother, we're going to 454 00:27:17,720 --> 00:27:20,920 go save my daughter. We ain't stopping till we get here. You want 455 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:24,000 to know why? Because this is my daughter, and I love her. And 456 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:27,440 I'll break whatever law I have to to save my daughter. By the way, 457 00:27:27,440 --> 00:27:30,440 so will you. And if you wouldn't, I slap you in the face 458 00:27:30,440 --> 00:27:34,440 for not being willing to break a law to save your daughter. When 459 00:27:34,440 --> 00:27:38,600 something matters to us, we're gonna break every single law in order 460 00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:43,000 to make sure that that thing is protected. Jesus knew that about 461 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:47,480 these Pharisees, and that's why he says, you do it for a sheep, 462 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:52,960 but you won't do it for this man. He's pointing out the hypocrisy, 463 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:58,360 the deadness of the yoke of slavery to laws. You think it's sacrifice, 464 00:27:58,360 --> 00:28:01,440 but it's chesed loving kindness. Here's a man with a withered 465 00:28:01,440 --> 00:28:05,740 hand. What would be lovingly kind of me, it would be to heal him. 466 00:28:06,620 --> 00:28:11,020 And that's why he says, all y' all, watch this. Stick out your hand, 467 00:28:11,180 --> 00:28:14,140 and immediately the man is healed. That's what the Sabbath is 468 00:28:14,140 --> 00:28:18,860 for, he's saying. And these Pharisees had completely missed it. 469 00:28:19,260 --> 00:28:25,220 And if we're not careful, so do we. It's so easy to turn Christianity 470 00:28:25,220 --> 00:28:30,620 into rules. Do this, don't do that. Be a good little boy. Don't 471 00:28:30,620 --> 00:28:34,280 make that mistake. As long as you don't sleep around, as long as 472 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:36,520 you don't get drunk, as long as you don't take drugs, as long 473 00:28:36,520 --> 00:28:38,920 as you don't steal from, as long as you don't do the big sins, 474 00:28:39,320 --> 00:28:42,800 you're gonna be okay. As if it's rules and regulations and we 475 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:48,120 miss the whole heart of God. When he says no, it's about you recognizing 476 00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:51,360 I've loved you and you love me back and the people around you. That's 477 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:54,360 what the heart of Christianity is about. And one of the telltale 478 00:28:54,360 --> 00:28:57,040 signs of whether you believe in that heart or not is what you 479 00:28:57,040 --> 00:29:00,870 do on the Sabbath. That's why Jesus went right to the Sabbath as 480 00:29:00,870 --> 00:29:06,070 he's comparing the two yokes. My yoke is easy and light. The yoke 481 00:29:06,070 --> 00:29:11,550 of the Pharisees of slavery to religion is crushing. And one of 482 00:29:11,550 --> 00:29:15,470 the ways you can see it is how you take the Sabbath. You see, these 483 00:29:15,470 --> 00:29:18,830 Pharisees had begun to believe that the Sabbath was the highest 484 00:29:18,830 --> 00:29:22,470 value and that you had to obey all the rules and regulations to 485 00:29:22,470 --> 00:29:27,160 honor the Sabbath. This is why in Mark, chapter 2, verse 27, Jesus 486 00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:31,040 says the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. In 487 00:29:31,040 --> 00:29:34,440 other words, the Sabbath was meant to be a gift of life and joy 488 00:29:34,440 --> 00:29:40,480 for us, not a burden that crushes us. But that's where it gets 489 00:29:40,480 --> 00:29:44,800 distorted. And even some of you, when it comes to the Sabbath, 490 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:49,040 the Lord's day for the Jew, it was on Saturday. That was the seventh 491 00:29:49,040 --> 00:29:52,350 day for them for rest. But since the early church, they moved 492 00:29:52,350 --> 00:29:55,550 it to Sunday because we wanna worship on the day Jesus was resurrected 493 00:29:55,870 --> 00:29:59,430 on Sunday. So the Christian church has been gathering to worship 494 00:29:59,430 --> 00:30:04,870 and Sabbathing on Sunday since early times. And we can turn it into 495 00:30:04,870 --> 00:30:08,310 rules and regulations that become burdensome. Well, you know, 496 00:30:08,310 --> 00:30:11,790 you can't do homework on Sunday. You can't do laundry, can't 497 00:30:11,790 --> 00:30:14,550 do yard work, can't do this and this and this. And we feel like 498 00:30:14,550 --> 00:30:18,580 Sabbath is me just sitting at home, bored of tears. I guess I gotta 499 00:30:18,580 --> 00:30:20,900 be a good little Christian if I want to please God and make it 500 00:30:20,900 --> 00:30:26,580 into heaven. That's the yoke of slavery, of religion. It was always 501 00:30:26,660 --> 00:30:30,780 meant to be a light and easy yoke. Sabbath was meant to be a day 502 00:30:30,780 --> 00:30:34,500 of delight, A day where you don't have to work and you still 503 00:30:34,500 --> 00:30:37,180 have value because it's what God has done for you, not what you 504 00:30:37,180 --> 00:30:40,980 have done for God. You're not defined by how you get ahead at work 505 00:30:41,140 --> 00:30:44,610 or how nice your yard looks or. Or how much laundry you get done 506 00:30:44,610 --> 00:30:47,530 or how put together you are as you step into the office on Monday. 507 00:30:47,690 --> 00:30:50,250 None of that matters. You let go of all of it and you have value 508 00:30:50,410 --> 00:30:53,610 because of what God has done for you. It's a day for you delight. 509 00:30:53,610 --> 00:30:58,810 Eat rich foods, join time with family and friends, resting and enjoying 510 00:30:58,810 --> 00:31:01,130 all the things God has given you. It's meant to be a delight. 511 00:31:01,690 --> 00:31:05,450 And we turn it into a burden. Cause we put on the yoke of slavery 512 00:31:06,010 --> 00:31:08,650 to rules and regulations. And we think that's what Christianity 513 00:31:08,650 --> 00:31:15,840 is. Jesus is saying, my Sabbath, that's my time of healing. 514 00:31:16,400 --> 00:31:20,720 If there's anything I do on the Sabbath, it's healing. Because 515 00:31:20,720 --> 00:31:24,800 my yoke is light and my burden is easy. I want to remind you something. 516 00:31:25,680 --> 00:31:31,040 Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever. He does not change. 517 00:31:31,840 --> 00:31:36,170 And just like in these days, he healed on the Sabbath. I think 518 00:31:36,170 --> 00:31:41,530 Jesus still delights on healing in the Sabbath. Today we're 519 00:31:41,530 --> 00:31:44,730 going to have a moment where we're going to have some prayer in 520 00:31:44,730 --> 00:31:47,730 this Sabbath day. This Christian Sabbath day may be a time 521 00:31:47,730 --> 00:31:51,329 for you to come forward and to let Jesus do what he delights in 522 00:31:51,329 --> 00:31:54,970 doing, to bring healing to you on the Sabbath. Maybe for some of 523 00:31:54,970 --> 00:31:58,170 you, you've got some physical ailment, something that you need. 524 00:31:58,170 --> 00:32:00,650 I had a gentleman come up to me this morning in the other service 525 00:32:01,190 --> 00:32:04,790 saying that he struggled severely with diabetes. And I anointed 526 00:32:04,790 --> 00:32:06,830 him with oil and I prayed over him. And he came up to me saying, 527 00:32:06,830 --> 00:32:09,590 my numbers have never been better. My doctor was overwhelmed. 528 00:32:09,910 --> 00:32:12,590 And even his doctor said it was the power of prayer that did 529 00:32:12,590 --> 00:32:19,430 that for him. I want you to know I got no power to do anything 530 00:32:19,430 --> 00:32:22,910 other than to ask God. And God has the power because he loves to 531 00:32:22,910 --> 00:32:27,200 heal on the Sabbath. Jesus showed us that there are some of 532 00:32:27,200 --> 00:32:29,600 you who are here and you need physical healing. We have elders 533 00:32:29,600 --> 00:32:32,440 of our church. According to James 5, we have little vials of 534 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:36,040 olive oil that will anoint you with in obedience to the Scriptures 535 00:32:36,040 --> 00:32:38,800 and pray for healing, believing that Jesus loves to heal 536 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,080 on the Sabbath. Listen, he doesn't just do physical healing. 537 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:45,880 Some of you need healing in your marriage. Some of you need healing 538 00:32:45,880 --> 00:32:50,240 in your finances. Some of you need healing in some kind of relationship 539 00:32:50,240 --> 00:32:53,200 or in your job or healing from an addiction or whatever. You need 540 00:32:53,540 --> 00:32:55,940 healing in your mind and heart. With anxiety and depression 541 00:32:55,940 --> 00:33:01,020 overwhelming, you need healing in your inner being. Jesus loves 542 00:33:01,020 --> 00:33:06,140 to heal on the Sabbath. And he's inviting you to come. In a moment, 543 00:33:06,140 --> 00:33:09,940 you can come and you can ask Jesus to do what he loves to do. 544 00:33:10,180 --> 00:33:13,060 It just requires faith. Before I do that, though, one last thing 545 00:33:13,060 --> 00:33:17,100 I want to say he wants to give us the greatest kind of healing of 546 00:33:17,100 --> 00:33:19,900 all. And that's not physical healing. It's not financial healing. 547 00:33:19,900 --> 00:33:22,670 It's not relational healing, not even emotional healing. It's 548 00:33:22,670 --> 00:33:26,470 spiritual healing. The most important kind of healing of all 549 00:33:26,950 --> 00:33:31,070 is that he would heal your very soul. That's what the whole 550 00:33:31,070 --> 00:33:34,550 Sabbath is about. It's the whole reason Jesus came to earth 551 00:33:34,950 --> 00:33:39,230 wasn't to make your life easy. It was to save your soul. And the 552 00:33:39,230 --> 00:33:44,270 Sabbath is just a picture of what Christ does. The Sabbath is 553 00:33:44,270 --> 00:33:46,510 a picture of Jesus. This is exactly what it says. I want you 554 00:33:46,510 --> 00:33:48,990 to. We're going to finish in the book of Colossians, chapter 2, 555 00:33:48,990 --> 00:33:53,390 verses 16 and 17. Listen to what Paul the apostle says here, 556 00:33:54,030 --> 00:33:58,390 Colossians 2, 16. Therefore, let no one pass judgment on you in 557 00:33:58,390 --> 00:34:01,710 questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a 558 00:34:01,710 --> 00:34:06,110 new moon, or a Sabbath. These are a shadow of the things to come. 559 00:34:06,590 --> 00:34:11,670 But the substance belongs to Christ. Notice what he says. All 560 00:34:11,670 --> 00:34:14,750 these different things, including the Sabbath. The Sabbath 561 00:34:14,750 --> 00:34:19,760 is a shadow. Christ is the substance. That fourth commandment 562 00:34:19,760 --> 00:34:22,520 in the Ten Commandments to honor the Sabbath and to keep it 563 00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:25,720 holy was always designed to point us to Jesus Christ. You go, 564 00:34:25,720 --> 00:34:28,720 well, how does that point to Jesus? Well, remember what the Sabbath 565 00:34:28,720 --> 00:34:33,600 is. I cease from my work and my identity is found in what God 566 00:34:33,600 --> 00:34:37,080 does for me, not what I do for him. Well, that's the whole message 567 00:34:37,080 --> 00:34:41,280 of the Gospel. The message of the Gospel is I cannot build my tower 568 00:34:41,280 --> 00:34:45,049 to heaven. I cannot earn my righteousness. In fact, my own attempts 569 00:34:45,049 --> 00:34:48,369 to be righteous are filthy rags before God. I can never overcome 570 00:34:48,369 --> 00:34:51,089 the mountain of debt I've incurred for offending a holy God 571 00:34:51,089 --> 00:34:54,169 who has been nothing but good to me. And the more I try to do it, 572 00:34:54,169 --> 00:34:57,729 the more I offend the God who sent his Son to save me. So what 573 00:34:57,729 --> 00:35:02,529 do I do? I cease my own efforts to save myself. I Shabbat. 574 00:35:03,089 --> 00:35:07,769 I rest and I trust that what Jesus did was enough. I don't have 575 00:35:07,769 --> 00:35:10,649 to pay back God for the wrong I've done to him. Jesus paid for 576 00:35:10,649 --> 00:35:13,960 it on the cross. I don't have to be righteous. Jesus was righteous 577 00:35:13,960 --> 00:35:16,720 for me, and I receive it. That's why right there on that baptistry, 578 00:35:16,720 --> 00:35:19,720 it says, Jesus in my place. Every person who gets baptized puts 579 00:35:19,720 --> 00:35:23,880 on a shirt that says Jesus in my place. Cristo en mi lugar. Because 580 00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:27,760 it means Jesus did everything for me and I stop trying and I just 581 00:35:27,760 --> 00:35:32,840 receive it. That's what the Sabbath reminds us of. And yet there 582 00:35:32,840 --> 00:35:36,560 are many of you who are here this morning. And when I was talking 583 00:35:36,560 --> 00:35:39,360 earlier about trying so hard to make your life right, you know, 584 00:35:39,600 --> 00:35:44,180 I'm talking to you. You're so deflated, so broken, because you've 585 00:35:44,180 --> 00:35:47,980 tried to change and you keep failing and you feel worthless. You 586 00:35:47,980 --> 00:35:51,940 feel like it's impossible. You feel like you just can't seem to 587 00:35:51,940 --> 00:35:55,100 get it right. You're never going to get it right. Jesus got 588 00:35:55,100 --> 00:35:59,140 it right for you. You have to trust in what he did, not what you 589 00:35:59,140 --> 00:36:03,180 do. I cannot tell you how many people I've talked to, and they tell 590 00:36:03,180 --> 00:36:05,980 me, yeah, I know I need to get baptized. There's a few things in 591 00:36:05,980 --> 00:36:09,150 my life I got to clean up first. I gotta get some things right 592 00:36:09,150 --> 00:36:13,790 first. When I get that, then I'll come. No, no, no, no, no. That's 593 00:36:13,790 --> 00:36:18,950 the law. That's the yoke of slavery to death. The reason why 594 00:36:18,950 --> 00:36:23,630 the yoke of Jesus is light and easy is because it's already finished 595 00:36:24,430 --> 00:36:29,470 on the cross. What did he yell out? It is finished. We don't have 596 00:36:29,470 --> 00:36:34,850 to add to it. We don't clean up to come to him. We come to him 597 00:36:34,850 --> 00:36:38,090 in our crud and our junk and our mess and our brokenness, and 598 00:36:38,090 --> 00:36:45,050 he cleans us up. Some of you, you need to let him clean you up. 599 00:36:45,690 --> 00:36:49,290 Come in your filth. Come in your brokenness. Come in your despair. 600 00:36:50,250 --> 00:36:54,690 Come needy. That's what repentance is. I'm a failure. I can't 601 00:36:54,690 --> 00:36:57,490 change. I can't make it to heaven. So I'm going to trust that 602 00:36:57,490 --> 00:37:00,820 you came down from heaven to me. And I'm gonna let Jesus change 603 00:37:00,820 --> 00:37:04,620 my heart. That's when you find freedom. That's when your soul gets 604 00:37:04,620 --> 00:37:07,620 restored. That's when he reconciles you to God and your life 605 00:37:07,620 --> 00:37:12,380 is made right. I can't make that decision for you, but you can 606 00:37:12,380 --> 00:37:14,820 make it. This morning, I'm gonna invite you to stand to your 607 00:37:14,820 --> 00:37:17,300 feet. Right now, I'm gonna invite the prayer team to come spread 608 00:37:17,300 --> 00:37:23,380 out all over the front. If today you're ready, you're ready 609 00:37:23,380 --> 00:37:25,300 to stop trying to save yourself, stop trying to make yourself 610 00:37:25,300 --> 00:37:28,330 right, stop trying to be good enough and to raise your white flag 611 00:37:28,330 --> 00:37:31,530 and say, I can't do it. But, Jesus, I trust in you, then you can 612 00:37:31,530 --> 00:37:34,250 come down front and let us know that you're ready to trust Jesus 613 00:37:34,250 --> 00:37:37,130 in your place. And maybe today, before the service is over, 614 00:37:37,130 --> 00:37:39,610 you can express your faith in baptism. What will happen is somebody 615 00:37:39,610 --> 00:37:42,809 will meet with you. We'll take you over to the counseling room where 616 00:37:42,809 --> 00:37:45,490 you can talk with somebody about what it means to follow Christ. 617 00:37:45,970 --> 00:37:48,330 And if you're ready, today can be your day. We'll give you shorts 618 00:37:48,330 --> 00:37:51,450 to change into a T shirt that says Jesus in my place. And you can 619 00:37:51,450 --> 00:37:55,860 declare freedom in Christ today. But you gotta come. Also want 620 00:37:55,860 --> 00:37:59,820 to remind you, if you're in need of a miracle, someplace where 621 00:37:59,820 --> 00:38:02,780 he brings healing to your life, whatever that healing is. Jesus 622 00:38:02,780 --> 00:38:07,700 loves to heal on the Sabbath. Come in faith and let him bring healing. 623 00:38:07,780 --> 00:38:10,580 He's got to come forward and let us pray for you. We're ready. 624 00:38:10,900 --> 00:38:12,100 You respond as you need to.