The Lord of the Sabbath

WEBVTT 1 00:00:02.399 --> 00:00:06.320 But won't you stand with me once more as we turn to our text for 2 00:00:06.400 --> 00:00:13.910 this morning, Matthew Chapter Twelve. Matthew Chapter Twelve, beginning in verse one. 3 00:00:19.510 --> 00:00:24.820 Listen, for this is the word of the Lord. At that time, 4 00:00:24.899 --> 00:00:30.179 Jesus went through the grain fields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry 5 00:00:30.219 --> 00:00:34.380 and they began to pluck heads of grain and to eat. But when the 6 00:00:34.380 --> 00:00:38.689 Pharisees saw it, they said to him, look, your disciples are doing 7 00:00:38.850 --> 00:00:43.289 what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. He said to them. 8 00:00:43.929 --> 00:00:47.850 Have you not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were 9 00:00:47.890 --> 00:00:51.799 with him, how he entered the House of God and ate the bread of 10 00:00:51.920 --> 00:00:55.520 the presence, which it was not lawful for him to eat, nor for 11 00:00:55.600 --> 00:00:59.479 those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you 12 00:00:59.600 --> 00:01:02.479 not read in the law how, on the Sabbath, the priests in the 13 00:01:02.600 --> 00:01:07.989 Temple Profane the Sabbath and are guiltless? I tell you, something greater than 14 00:01:08.030 --> 00:01:11.670 the temple is here, and if you had known what this means, I 15 00:01:12.870 --> 00:01:19.099 desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless, for 16 00:01:19.260 --> 00:01:25.819 the son of man is Lord of the Sabbath. He went on from there 17 00:01:25.859 --> 00:01:29.260 and entered their synagogue and a man was there are with a withered hand, 18 00:01:29.299 --> 00:01:34.609 and they asked him is it lawful to heal on the sabbath? So that 19 00:01:34.689 --> 00:01:38.170 they might accuse him. He said to them, which one of you who 20 00:01:38.209 --> 00:01:42.569 has a sheep, if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will 21 00:01:42.650 --> 00:01:46.530 not take hold of it and lift it out? Of How much more value 22 00:01:46.650 --> 00:01:51.200 is a man than a sheep? So it is lawful to do good on 23 00:01:51.319 --> 00:01:55.239 the Sabbath. And he said then he said to the man, stretch out 24 00:01:55.280 --> 00:01:59.719 your hand, and the man stretched it out and it was restored healthy like 25 00:01:59.879 --> 00:02:05.709 the other. But the Pharisees went out and conspired against him how to destroy 26 00:02:05.750 --> 00:02:08.870 him. That's for the reading of God's word. May he bless it's to 27 00:02:09.030 --> 00:02:24.020 us he may be seated. In our passage this warning, we read of 28 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:31.569 not one but two classic confrontations. Twice in our passage, the Lord is 29 00:02:31.810 --> 00:02:38.969 confronted by the Pharisees. They first bring a charge against him and his disciples 30 00:02:40.250 --> 00:02:46.319 and then, layer they lay a trap for him, hoping that Jesus will 31 00:02:46.360 --> 00:02:52.639 walk right into it. And as you can see, these two confrontations are 32 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:57.159 closely related. For not only are they related in their both confrontations by the 33 00:02:57.159 --> 00:03:02.430 Pharisees, but in both cases the topic is also the same. What is 34 00:03:02.509 --> 00:03:08.629 lawful to do on the Sabbath. And so in the first showdown, in 35 00:03:08.669 --> 00:03:16.139 the first confrontation, the Pharisees bring an accusation against Jesus disciples. And yet 36 00:03:16.180 --> 00:03:22.819 make no mistake, it's Jesus who is ultimately being challenged. I mean, 37 00:03:22.900 --> 00:03:25.500 look at who the fair address. They say, look, your disciples are 38 00:03:25.539 --> 00:03:30.169 doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath. But by doing so, 39 00:03:30.250 --> 00:03:36.889 ultimately they are coming to Jesus to challenge him. They're challenging his teaching, 40 00:03:37.210 --> 00:03:42.560 they're challenging his leadership. I don't want you to hear this is a 41 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:50.199 serious charge. Right. Either Jesus has no control over his disciples, so 42 00:03:50.360 --> 00:03:58.110 he's incompetent, or he's approving of their, quote unquote, lawlessness, and 43 00:03:58.270 --> 00:04:04.389 that makes him just as guilty. Right. So is he trapped as the 44 00:04:04.389 --> 00:04:10.340 Pharisees Challenge Jesus and the disciples? Maybe this is it, maybe they've finally 45 00:04:10.379 --> 00:04:15.459 found right, maybe they finally found a way to get him. Can they 46 00:04:15.579 --> 00:04:21.819 just now prove he's a lawbreaker. Can they finally dismiss Jesus as being irrelevant? 47 00:04:25.089 --> 00:04:28.569 Well, if you picture what's taking place in this scene, it's a 48 00:04:28.610 --> 00:04:32.930 little bit insane. If you think about it right, Jesus has a attracted 49 00:04:33.089 --> 00:04:39.560 this following, such a whatever he does, wherever he goes, he is 50 00:04:39.800 --> 00:04:46.560 being so closely watched. All eyes are on him, and not only him, 51 00:04:46.680 --> 00:04:49.680 even his disciples. What they do, what they are saying, how 52 00:04:49.800 --> 00:04:57.029 they're acting, all of it's up to public scrutiny and debate, to the 53 00:04:57.110 --> 00:05:02.550 point that here we have the disciples walking through a field plucking grains of seed 54 00:05:03.110 --> 00:05:10.779 and eating and this becomes a point of contention, this becomes a point to 55 00:05:10.939 --> 00:05:15.300 debate over. And what we see is Jesus is on the move right with 56 00:05:15.420 --> 00:05:19.379 his disciples. They've got places to go, there's there's ministry to be done. 57 00:05:20.180 --> 00:05:24.930 His disciples are hungry, they're on the move. They require energy, 58 00:05:25.089 --> 00:05:31.649 so they're plucking grain and eating it. So are the Pharisees correct? Are 59 00:05:31.730 --> 00:05:38.600 The disciples actually doing what is not lawful to do on the Sabbath? The 60 00:05:38.720 --> 00:05:46.199 law forbids harvesting on the Sabbath, but truly, this doesn't count as harvesting. 61 00:05:46.240 --> 00:05:50.750 In fact, the law makes a distinction between harvesting with tools and plucking 62 00:05:50.790 --> 00:05:57.709 by hand. It even wasn't even considered stealing to walk by someone's field and 63 00:05:57.870 --> 00:06:02.870 and take by hand what's needed to survive. So are they actually breaking the 64 00:06:02.990 --> 00:06:09.579 Sabbath law against harvesting by taking a few grains by their hands? Well, 65 00:06:09.620 --> 00:06:13.660 that would be a stretch. And yet this is exactly what the Pharisees are 66 00:06:13.699 --> 00:06:17.220 skilled at. They're skilled at stretching the law. This is what they were 67 00:06:17.300 --> 00:06:24.569 known for. If there were any uncertainties or any gray areas not specifically addressed, 68 00:06:25.009 --> 00:06:27.689 then the Pharisees would say, well, isn't it safer? Isn't it 69 00:06:27.889 --> 00:06:32.360 better to sort of air on the side of caution, even if it's not 70 00:06:32.519 --> 00:06:39.600 explicitly forbidden? Isn't it better to show restraint just in case? And the 71 00:06:39.639 --> 00:06:45.079 Pharisees would come up with all sorts of extra rules to serve as hedges, 72 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:50.829 to serve as fences further out around the and beyond the specific laws of scripture. 73 00:06:50.829 --> 00:06:56.149 After all, the thinking goes, if if the law is good, 74 00:06:56.230 --> 00:07:02.980 then more laws is even better. And so, given this kind of challenge, 75 00:07:03.060 --> 00:07:10.500 to present it to Jesus over something very minor or fringe about obeying the 76 00:07:10.540 --> 00:07:15.339 law on the Sabbath. How does our Lord respond? What does Jesus do 77 00:07:15.500 --> 00:07:19.170 when the Pharisees are so clearly reaching beyond the scriptures to make their challenge? 78 00:07:21.569 --> 00:07:26.209 Does he just dismiss him? No, you're wrong, move move away, 79 00:07:26.290 --> 00:07:30.519 move along right. No, he responds by taking them back to the scriptures. 80 00:07:31.600 --> 00:07:34.680 And yet he probably doesn't take them to where they were expecting to go, 81 00:07:35.480 --> 00:07:42.040 or where we were expecting to go. For rather than addressing this specific 82 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:46.230 issue of grain and what one does with it on the Sabbath, he goes 83 00:07:46.350 --> 00:07:51.269 to the core of where their disagreement truly lies. For, you see, 84 00:07:51.269 --> 00:07:56.629 our Lord doesn't take their bait. He doesn't start getting into what does or 85 00:07:56.709 --> 00:08:03.980 what does not constitute Sabbath observance or Sabbath disobedience. For Jesus refuses to be 86 00:08:03.019 --> 00:08:07.100 a doctor who only gives band AIDS and sutures after the damage has been done. 87 00:08:07.139 --> 00:08:11.779 Rather, he chooses to go to the heart, to the root cause 88 00:08:13.930 --> 00:08:18.370 of these disagreements and problems. He takes the Pharisees to the Scriptures to see 89 00:08:18.410 --> 00:08:22.209 where their fundamental problem truly lies. In fact, I love this. He 90 00:08:22.290 --> 00:08:31.920 says, have you not read whoa right already. Jesus is being incredibly offensive 91 00:08:31.959 --> 00:08:39.679 here. Asking Pharisees, have you not read? That is not an innocent 92 00:08:39.919 --> 00:08:45.549 question, it is a cutting rebuke. It'd be like telling a singer, 93 00:08:45.669 --> 00:08:50.549 have you seen the musical scales, telling an engineer, do you know how 94 00:08:50.590 --> 00:08:56.740 to add or subtract their pharisees, of course they've read the scriptures. That's 95 00:08:56.779 --> 00:09:01.980 their job. They study, they apply the scriptures. That's what they do. 96 00:09:03.419 --> 00:09:07.779 It's in their job description. So Jesus levels this cutting rebuke against the 97 00:09:07.820 --> 00:09:13.009 Pharisees. Look where he turns in the Scriptures. He says, have you 98 00:09:13.129 --> 00:09:18.049 not read what David did when he was hungry and those who were with him? 99 00:09:18.850 --> 00:09:22.929 He entered the House of God and ate the bread of the presence, 100 00:09:22.490 --> 00:09:24.919 which was not lawful for him to eat, nor any of those who are 101 00:09:26.000 --> 00:09:31.080 with him, but only for the priests. He's The bread of the presence, 102 00:09:31.080 --> 00:09:33.399 which was kept in the Tabernacle, was lawful only for the priests to 103 00:09:33.519 --> 00:09:39.669 consume. And yet Jesus takes us to a place where David and his men 104 00:09:39.750 --> 00:09:43.669 were starving. They ate the bread, and yet they were not judged for 105 00:09:43.830 --> 00:09:54.580 it. Here Jesus takes us to an exception to the rule. Jesus is 106 00:09:56.059 --> 00:10:00.820 identifying what happens when the sharp edges of the law rub up against those sharp 107 00:10:01.019 --> 00:10:05.860 circumstances of life, when the law runs up against real life situations, it 108 00:10:07.970 --> 00:10:13.450 creates needs for exceptions. For here we find two compelling laws at play, 109 00:10:13.490 --> 00:10:20.610 a law which values human life, a law which values mercy. And when 110 00:10:20.610 --> 00:10:26.080 it runs up against the ceremonial law, which one wins? Which Law Bends 111 00:10:26.120 --> 00:10:31.559 in service to the other? Jesus applies this dividic exception when he quotes from 112 00:10:31.559 --> 00:10:37.549 Josea six, as he tells the Pharisees, if you'd known what this means, 113 00:10:37.590 --> 00:10:43.429 I desire mercy and not sacrifice, you would not have condemned the guiltless 114 00:10:46.350 --> 00:10:48.190 notice. This is also the theme, then, of the Pharisees next challenge 115 00:10:48.230 --> 00:10:54.500 to our Lord. In the synagogue, they attempt to trap Jesus by bringing 116 00:10:54.539 --> 00:10:58.460 to his attention a man with a withered hand. They ask him is it 117 00:10:58.019 --> 00:11:03.570 lawful to heal on the sabbath, so that they might accuse him, accuse 118 00:11:03.649 --> 00:11:11.330 him of breaking the Sabbath. But Jesus isn't falling for it. He refuses 119 00:11:11.409 --> 00:11:16.169 to act according to their expectations because he answers their question with a question of 120 00:11:16.250 --> 00:11:20.639 his own. He says to them which one of you who has a sheep, 121 00:11:20.720 --> 00:11:22.639 if it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will not take hold 122 00:11:22.679 --> 00:11:28.879 of it and lift it out? So that earlier in the field, Jesus 123 00:11:28.879 --> 00:11:33.909 directed the Pharisees to exceptions from the Scriptures itself, here in the synagogue Jesus 124 00:11:33.950 --> 00:11:41.190 directs them to exceptions even in their own practice. Not only do the Pharisees 125 00:11:41.269 --> 00:11:45.909 not fully read, not only do they not fully understand the law, they 126 00:11:45.950 --> 00:11:50.460 also themselves are inconsistent and when applying it, they've set up such high and 127 00:11:50.580 --> 00:11:56.259 lofty requirements on top of the law. And yet this only serves to further 128 00:11:56.299 --> 00:12:03.730 highlight their own disobedience even to their own man made scruples. So he reminds 129 00:12:03.769 --> 00:12:07.809 them of how much more value is a man than a sheep. So it 130 00:12:07.970 --> 00:12:11.809 is lawful to do good on the Sabbath. Then he said to the man, 131 00:12:11.889 --> 00:12:15.759 stretch out your hand, and the man stretched it out and it was 132 00:12:15.879 --> 00:12:22.120 restored healthy like the other. Do you see here when the fourth commandment is 133 00:12:22.200 --> 00:12:28.879 confronted by the sixth commandment, which one holds sway, for Jesus, human 134 00:12:28.960 --> 00:12:35.389 life is more important, and that's highlighted here to a great extent. This 135 00:12:35.509 --> 00:12:39.710 man wasn't on the verge of death, was he? He'd had a withered 136 00:12:39.750 --> 00:12:43.750 hand for a long time. He could surely survive another day. If you 137 00:12:43.870 --> 00:12:46.820 just wanted to come back and heal him then, and yet to prove his 138 00:12:46.940 --> 00:12:52.299 point, to show the Pharisees the meaning of love, the meaning of mercy, 139 00:12:52.620 --> 00:12:56.860 Jesus heals the man and ironically, he does so without much work. 140 00:12:58.460 --> 00:13:01.649 He does it with a word. Stretch out your hand and his hand was 141 00:13:01.730 --> 00:13:07.610 restored. So, both in the fields and here in the synagogue, Jesus 142 00:13:07.610 --> 00:13:13.360 highlights the necessity of mercy which overrides the ceremonial or external obediences of the law. 143 00:13:16.120 --> 00:13:18.879 And in our passage, Jesus points out another exception to the rule. 144 00:13:20.000 --> 00:13:26.279 In Verse Five, he says, or have you not read in the law? 145 00:13:26.440 --> 00:13:30.230 How, on the Sabbath, the priests in the Temple Profane the Sabbath 146 00:13:30.309 --> 00:13:35.509 and are guiltless. Write. The priests in the temple were called to work, 147 00:13:35.629 --> 00:13:41.429 they were called to Labor on the Sabbath, though the day was to 148 00:13:41.460 --> 00:13:45.259 be a day of rest. There was no rest for the sacrifices which were 149 00:13:45.299 --> 00:13:50.700 being offered. and Jesus applies this exception by saying, I tell you, 150 00:13:50.580 --> 00:13:56.970 something greater than priests is here with you. No, he says something greater 151 00:13:58.649 --> 00:14:03.649 than the temple is here. So if priests had an exception for their labor 152 00:14:03.809 --> 00:14:07.330 in the temple made with hands, how much more of an exception for those 153 00:14:07.370 --> 00:14:13.639 who labor in and for the True Temple? In Christ? The True Temple 154 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:20.360 has come. The Old Temple had signified God's presence with his people. Their 155 00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:24.629 God dwelt in the midst of his people of Israel. Now, in Christ, 156 00:14:24.669 --> 00:14:28.629 our Lord has come in the flesh. Christ is the fulfillment of the 157 00:14:28.909 --> 00:14:37.990 temple, because he is Emanuel, he is God with us. And so 158 00:14:37.070 --> 00:14:43.139 Jesus directs the Pharisees False accusation to find its answer in true mercy, in 159 00:14:43.620 --> 00:14:52.220 true who worship. And if you play close attention, it's a little odd 160 00:14:52.250 --> 00:14:58.450 in that these exceptions that Jesus goes to, they don't seem to apply to 161 00:14:58.490 --> 00:15:05.490 the disciples situation, do they? David and his men were on the verge 162 00:15:05.529 --> 00:15:13.480 of starvation, with the disciples that hungry. Likewise, though, Christ is 163 00:15:13.559 --> 00:15:18.200 the fulfillment of the Temple of God with us. How does there eating grain 164 00:15:20.080 --> 00:15:28.549 fulfill some priestly act or priestly worship or sacrifice. After all, remember, 165 00:15:28.590 --> 00:15:31.750 if the disciples are not really guilty of breaking the law in the first place, 166 00:15:33.350 --> 00:15:39.740 why is Jesus even talking about exceptions to the law? That's like getting 167 00:15:39.980 --> 00:15:43.659 pulled over for going fifty five miles an hour in a fifty five mile an 168 00:15:43.700 --> 00:15:46.700 hour zone and when the police asks you, what are you doing, saying 169 00:15:48.419 --> 00:15:54.169 giving reasons for why you're in such a hurry. Why not tell the Pharisees 170 00:15:54.169 --> 00:16:02.090 they're wrong? Well, he's highlighting their misunderstanding. He knows they're wrong, 171 00:16:03.690 --> 00:16:08.279 but he's highlighting their misunderstanding because they claim to be experts in the law, 172 00:16:10.960 --> 00:16:17.159 and so Jesus shows them how they fundamentally do not understand it. They are 173 00:16:17.200 --> 00:16:22.590 not reading the scriptures properly, because the point is not that if they were 174 00:16:22.750 --> 00:16:26.350 reading properly, they'd know what is and what isn't lawful to do on the 175 00:16:26.429 --> 00:16:33.500 Sabbath. The point is that if they were reading properly, they'd know who 176 00:16:33.620 --> 00:16:40.419 it is they're addressing. You See, our Lord directs us not to more 177 00:16:40.460 --> 00:16:47.730 nuanced policies, but to a person, for reason that truly at the heart 178 00:16:47.769 --> 00:16:51.970 of their disagreement, these questions, these these challenges, these are not born 179 00:16:52.009 --> 00:16:56.889 out of a love for God or a love for their neighbor. They're born 180 00:16:56.970 --> 00:17:00.879 out of their own hatred for Christ. For while the Pharisees would blame the 181 00:17:00.919 --> 00:17:06.440 disciples for eating on the sabbath or try and trap Jesus for healing on the 182 00:17:06.480 --> 00:17:11.759 Sabbath, look what they themselves do on the Sabbath. In verse fourteen, 183 00:17:11.799 --> 00:17:18.630 the Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. Is 184 00:17:18.710 --> 00:17:26.190 that lawful to do on the sabbath or any other day? And so in 185 00:17:26.269 --> 00:17:30.660 our passage, is Jesus here just casting aside the Sabbath, is he? 186 00:17:30.900 --> 00:17:34.220 Is he just doing away with the fourth commandment? No, he doesn't say 187 00:17:34.259 --> 00:17:40.700 it's okay, we no longer have to keep the Sabbath Day holy. What 188 00:17:40.819 --> 00:17:44.970 he does instead is remark coble, is that he directs us to himself. 189 00:17:45.009 --> 00:17:51.369 Jesus says he's greater than the temple. Jesus says he is the Lord of 190 00:17:51.529 --> 00:17:56.210 the Sabbath, and that means not only that he has authority to judge what 191 00:17:56.369 --> 00:18:00.039 is and isn't lawful to do, but greater than that, who Jesus is 192 00:18:02.440 --> 00:18:08.640 affects how we rest on the Sabbath Day were. You See, a part 193 00:18:08.640 --> 00:18:14.069 of me with just love to to turn to more practical concerns of what it 194 00:18:14.190 --> 00:18:18.230 looks like to obey the fourth commandment and light of Christ's finished work on the 195 00:18:18.630 --> 00:18:21.710 cross, and we could get a list going right of what is and isn't 196 00:18:21.710 --> 00:18:27.059 lawful to do on the Sabbath. As much as I want to address the 197 00:18:27.140 --> 00:18:33.460 differences that exist between all the new testaments, wouldn't that be a disservice to 198 00:18:33.539 --> 00:18:37.099 do so from this passage? It's a good and important questions to consider, 199 00:18:37.140 --> 00:18:41.690 especially that transition from the last day of the week right to the first day 200 00:18:41.690 --> 00:18:47.849 of the week worship. But notice here that our Lord doesn't take us to 201 00:18:47.930 --> 00:18:52.049 the particulars of what is and what's not lawful to do on the Lord's Day. 202 00:18:52.809 --> 00:18:57.599 Doesn't mean he doesn't care about what we do. Rather, he's addressing 203 00:18:57.680 --> 00:19:03.119 the heart of the matter. Let's make sure we go also to the heart 204 00:19:03.319 --> 00:19:07.759 of what our Lord is saying, for our Lord grounds his teaching for us 205 00:19:08.240 --> 00:19:14.309 in Verse Eight, when he says that the son of man is Lord of 206 00:19:14.309 --> 00:19:21.589 the Sabbath. To hear what Jesus is saying when he says this. What 207 00:19:21.710 --> 00:19:27.579 Jesus is claiming is an authority, not only to teach or instruct things about 208 00:19:27.579 --> 00:19:33.460 the sabbath, but primarily he's claiming to have an identity, and not just 209 00:19:33.539 --> 00:19:40.529 any identity. For who is the Lord of the Sabbath? Who created the 210 00:19:40.569 --> 00:19:45.490 Sabbath? Right? Think back to genesis too. After finishing his work of 211 00:19:45.609 --> 00:19:51.369 creation, our Lord says that on the Seventh Day God finished his work that 212 00:19:51.490 --> 00:19:53.720 he had done and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that 213 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:59.200 he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy because 214 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:02.960 on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation. 215 00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:08.549 To Be Lord of the Sabbath is to be the Lord who rested on that 216 00:20:08.750 --> 00:20:14.430 seventh day of creation. To Be Lord of the Sabbath is to be the 217 00:20:14.470 --> 00:20:18.789 one who created all things then and set aside this day of rest. From 218 00:20:18.789 --> 00:20:23.539 the beginning of time bound up and then, who we are as image bearers 219 00:20:23.579 --> 00:20:27.819 of God, as part of our very nature, is that we were created 220 00:20:27.900 --> 00:20:33.740 to work and to rest. But I love that Jesus doesn't just say I 221 00:20:33.859 --> 00:20:38.009 am Lord of the Sabbath. There's what he says, the son of and 222 00:20:38.970 --> 00:20:45.450 is Lord of the Sabbath, for Christ is fully God and fully man. 223 00:20:48.450 --> 00:20:52.720 Christ himself is not just God present with us, but God in the flesh, 224 00:20:52.559 --> 00:21:00.240 son of God and a son of Adam. For the rest that God 225 00:21:00.359 --> 00:21:04.670 entered into on the seventh day is a rest that Adam never fully achieved, 226 00:21:06.950 --> 00:21:10.910 though made in God's image, Adam was to work in the garden and to 227 00:21:11.069 --> 00:21:15.630 rest in the Lord and yet, because of sin, his work was incomplete 228 00:21:15.869 --> 00:21:19.819 and the work of his children would remain incomplete. As the sabbath rest followed 229 00:21:19.819 --> 00:21:26.299 God's people even into the promised land. The Promised Land itself was to be 230 00:21:26.339 --> 00:21:30.940 a land of peace, a land of rest. And yet Hebrews tells us, 231 00:21:30.660 --> 00:21:34.970 and Hebrews for that if Joshua had given them rest, God would not 232 00:21:36.009 --> 00:21:38.170 have spoken of another day later on. So, then, there remains a 233 00:21:38.289 --> 00:21:44.130 sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has 234 00:21:44.130 --> 00:21:48.200 also rested from his work, as God did from his. For Jesus, 235 00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:52.599 to say that the son of the the son of man, is Lord of 236 00:21:52.720 --> 00:22:00.839 the Sabbath means that a son of Adam has done what Adam could never do 237 00:22:00.470 --> 00:22:06.750 or never did, that a son of man, a son of Adam now 238 00:22:06.990 --> 00:22:14.470 rules over the Sabbath. And how does he rule? How does he reign 239 00:22:14.990 --> 00:22:21.500 as Lord of the Sabbath? Well, this is the same Lord who has 240 00:22:21.539 --> 00:22:26.740 anticipated these events by announcing in the verse directly prior to the One I read 241 00:22:26.779 --> 00:22:33.250 at the end of chapter eleven. Notice what this Lord of the Sabbath has 242 00:22:33.329 --> 00:22:40.210 to say to you. Come to me, all who labor and are heavy 243 00:22:40.210 --> 00:22:45.920 laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, 244 00:22:45.319 --> 00:22:48.640 learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you 245 00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:53.599 will find rest for your souls from my yoke is easy and my burden is 246 00:22:53.680 --> 00:23:00.910 light. What does it look like for us to then rest on the Lord's 247 00:23:00.910 --> 00:23:11.589 Day? At its heart, it looks like receiving. Since Christ is our 248 00:23:11.750 --> 00:23:17.700 rest, since he is our peace, then our rest is first and foremost 249 00:23:17.740 --> 00:23:22.579 a gift from God, for in Christ our rest has been won, it 250 00:23:22.740 --> 00:23:27.569 has been achieved, and as Lord of the Sabbath, he has obeyed where 251 00:23:27.609 --> 00:23:33.089 Adam failed. As Lord of the Sabbath, he now bestows the blessings of 252 00:23:33.250 --> 00:23:38.890 Heaven upon his people. As Lord of the Sabbath, he calls us to 253 00:23:40.009 --> 00:23:45.279 rest, not simply from this activity or from that activity, but primarily to 254 00:23:45.480 --> 00:23:52.400 rest in him. And as we gather each and every Lord's Day, we 255 00:23:52.519 --> 00:23:57.869 gather to a place of rest, a place of refreshment, for we remain 256 00:23:57.950 --> 00:24:04.430 pilgrims on our way too, our eternal rest. And yet is Christ meets 257 00:24:04.509 --> 00:24:10.900 with us, here, we're also given a foretaste of that great and final 258 00:24:10.940 --> 00:24:17.460 day where we will truly be at rest, where we will be united fully 259 00:24:17.619 --> 00:24:22.380 and finally as the people of God. Therefore, as we gather among each 260 00:24:22.420 --> 00:24:29.369 other, as we respond to the Lord in prayer, in confession, in 261 00:24:29.569 --> 00:24:36.609 faith, with gratitude, we don't do these things out of any prideful arrogance, 262 00:24:37.170 --> 00:24:41.200 but let us come as weak, let us come as those needing rest, 263 00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:47.599 for here, with Christ, we find true and lasting peace, as 264 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:51.759 were called to place our faith not in ourselves but in Christ. He is 265 00:24:51.920 --> 00:24:56.109 the Lord of the Sabbath because he has entered the Sabbath Rest and he bestows, 266 00:24:56.230 --> 00:25:03.230 he gives that rest to you. Amen. Let's pray